There's only a few days to go until Government 2026, our annual conference exploring the key questions for government over the next 12 months. With @darrenpjones.bsky.social, Mel Stride, Ed Balls, Baroness Casey and more See what we have lined up 👇 www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/govern...

New minister appointed - to a role he's kind of already doing: Josh Simons, currently at CO, going to DSIT. The FT reported that he'd be taking on digital ID full time- that programme moved from DSIT to CO, so not clear if that is indeed what he is doing (or if govt is just as confused as me...)

New to Bluesky? Or just interested in the workings of government in the UK? Check out our @instituteforgovernment.org.uk starter pack here - find all my fantastic colleagues and follow for their insight and analysis go.bsky.app/P7JZCH

Looking forward to this, one for @studyofparl.bsky.social and others interested in the role parliaments play during crises and emergencies.

Fantastic line-up for our big @instituteforgovernment.org.uk conference next week, including Darren Jones, Chief Sec to the PM, talking about his unique role in government. All the info on how to join us is here: www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/govern...

This & the HdZ one last week v good as everyone says. but also v depressing? Both essentially say you must ignore the system to get stuff done in govt - bring it all into No10 (Bew), or don't bother working cross-govt (HdZ). That's probably right in the moment, but v bad for long run state capacity

Really looking forward to this event in a couple of weeks - info on how to join us in Paolo's posts below:

Will Keir Starmer’s ‘EU reset’ deliver in 2026? The government’s increasing enthusiasm for getting closer to the EU is not reciprocated in Brussels, says @jillongovt.bsky.social www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/keir...

Got 2 minutes? Tell us how we can improve our yearly deep dive into public services

A new head of delivery at No10: www.gov.uk/government/n...

The government set up 7 new public inquiries in 2025 Which means as we start 2026 there are 27 public inquiries currently underway (21 statutory inquiries) This is a huge number, at the start of 2016 there were only 10 public inquiries ongoing

EVENT | In conversation with Eluned Morgan MS, First Minister of Wales 📆 Thursday 22 January, 11:00–12:00 Join us to hear @prifweinidog.gov.wales discuss her priorities as First Minister and Welsh Labour’s vision for Wales’s constitutional future www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/conver...

Trump 2025 had significant impacts on British politics and policy - but looks like it was just a warm up for 2026...

It was interesting to talk to @matildamartin.bsky.social about what to look out for in digital ID this year - a lot for govt to consider and many questions still to answer...

The government is delivering a radical rebalancing of funding towards more deprived councils, writes @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social. Though, with limited funding, it has required the government to make tough decisions about who loses. www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/deli...

The government is following through on its pledge to rebalance funding to the places that need it most, writes @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social. Though, with limited funding, it has required the government to make tough decisions about who loses www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/delivering-r...

EVENT | In conversation with Eluned Morgan MS, First Minister of Wales @prifweinidog.gov.wales joins us to discuss her priorities as First Minister, relations with Westminster, the 2026 Senedd election and the future of devolution. Tickets here: www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/conver...

One area where the government is achieving growth: the number of public inquiries

Inquiries themselves are often (fairly) criticised for being overly legalistic & poorly designed to achieve policy change. But government ministers also need to take responsibility, their early decisions (in setting the purpose, scope, powers & chair) shape much of what follows

📝Our new @instituteforgovernment.org.uk report with @jackpannell.bsky.social & @emmanorris.bsky.social out today sets out out the underlying problems with the way public inquiries are established We argue ministers need better support to make informed decisions about how an inquiry should be set up

NEW | How can the government ensure inquiries are set up to succeed? Early decisions can set inquiries off on the wrong path. Our report makes a series of recommendations for reforms designed to ensure inquiries are fit for purpose www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

NEW: judge-alone trials would save just 2% of time in the Crown Court. In total, we estimate reforms to jury trials would save <10% of court time. Great write-up from @reporterrwright.ft.com here www.ft.com/content/8a9f...

Public appointments are being streamlined. But will it work? The success of the updated governance code depends on ministers and departments putting it into practice. Read the new comment from @howesdaniel.bsky.social @drmatthewgill.bsky.social www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/publ...

A case study well worth noting, with a recurrent theme that policy targeting is crude - due to: political incentives; easy levers not aligning with need; markets requiring careful stewardship; central decision-making being in tension with local sensitivity. Reads across to many other policy fields!

Starting now - tune in live and submit your questions for our panel www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/trump-...

Civil service numbers continue to rise. Voluntary and mutually agreed exits not leading to a reduction yet Particularly surprising - Cabinet Office grew by 695. More than half the number of people slated to leave through voluntary exit schemes *added* in just 3 months See Dan’s great charts here

1/ The latest ONS data on public sector employment shows that the civil service has grown (again). After 2 consecutive quarters of plateauing growth, the CS grew in Q3 by 3490 (0.6%) to 520440 FTE. This is the highest quarterly increase since Labour came to power. @instituteforgovernment.org.uk

TODAY | The Trump challenge: Chaos, confusion and government communications Join our webinar with @alastaircampbell2.bsky.social on the impact of Trump’s unpredictable approach to facts, accuracy and communication www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/trump-...

as Trump throws a $ 10bn lawsuit at the BBC, @instituteforgovernment.org.uk picked a good day to discuss the President's impact on communications - with Katy Balls from @thetimes.com @alastaircampbell2.bsky.social @alexgathomas.bsky.social - sign up www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/trump-...

This looks like it'll be a great event:

Interesting from the PM at the Liaison Committee: not minded to put the position of the independent adviser on ministerial interests, but he "never closes [his] mind to further steps that could be taken"

Great blog from Megan on the latest set of @instituteforgovernment.org.uk Ministers Reflect interviews

Fascinating interview, including quite a long, frank section on how hurt Murray was (understandably!) on being sacked as Scottish secretary. Interesting that he's willing to go on the record with this as a minister - shows perhaps how loose the PM's and his team's grip on things are now...?

New comment | Three things the government needs to do to make the child poverty strategy work The child poverty strategy is a concrete shift towards prevention but ministers must take action to implement it effectively. www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/chil...

🎄 🎶Four mayors delayed, three ministers reflect and a House of Lords battle renewed 🎶 🎄 @drhannahwhite.bsky.social @akashpaun.bsky.social @jackpannell.bsky.social and @rebeccamckee.bsky.social on this week’s Inside Briefing podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i...

One of the best thing we do at IfG (in my unbiased opinion) is the Ministers Reflect archive. Megan has summarised our three most recent interviews here, but cannot reccomend enough going down the rabbit-hole of Ministers Reflect interviews as some pre-xmas procrastination.

Excited to publish our latest batch of Ministers Reflect interviews! We spoke with former health secretary and chancellor Sajid Javid, former Wales secretary and chief whip Simon Hart, and former Defra secretary Theresa Villiers. Some highlights… www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/ministers-re...

Fab insights from Megan on the latest set of @instituteforgovernment.org.uk Ministers Reflect interviews - do check them all out in her thread:

This should be a great event... What can govt communicators do when Trump blows up their grid on a daily basis. Have we now normalised ignoring facts and is politics just performance art? Does our system of government have any protections if someone followed populist playbook?

It was great speaking to Sajid Javid as part of @instituteforgovernment.org.uk Ministers Reflect series A few quotes that stood out to me "The world of business is black and white - you need to make money" "Politics is anything but black and white. It's all grey. Even success and failure is grey"

A strong OBR is in everyone’s interests In our latest comment, @gemmatetlow.bsky.social tells us why replacing Richard Hughes with someone seen as more compliant to the government’s views would bring a high cost to the government and the country www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/stro...

Great new piece from @akashpaun.bsky.social on the decision to delay next year’s mayoral elections. “even on the government's own terms… then the case for shifting these polls to 2027 is far stronger than delaying them until 2028” www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/mayo...

A strong OBR is in everyone’s interests Replacing Richard Hughes with someone seen as more compliant to the government’s views would undermine the OBR's independence, bringing a high cost to government and the country, says @gemmatetlow.bsky.social www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/stro...

NEW 🚨 Today we have launched three new #MinistersReflect with former chancellor Sajid Javid, former chief whip Simon Hart and former Defra secretary Theresa Villiers about their time in the May, Johnson and Sunak governments. Read their interviews www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/ministers-re...

1/ Today we publish the first policy briefing in our new @instituteforgovernment.org.uk DevoLab series. In partnership with @impurbanhealth.bsky.social, and following on from our event in July, we’ve explored how devolution can address health inequalities 🧵

This is one of the points that @hcdunlop.bsky.social made in her great blog about digital ID: how can government make the public case for what it wants to do? www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/gove...

Great to be at the launch of the anti-corruption strategy - looking forward to hearing what this panel has to say about whether it will make a difference…

From 2028/29, responsibility for all future deficits will pass from councils to central government. @amberdellar.bsky.social says this could set the trajectory of SEND reform throughout this parliament www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/cent...

ICYMI: Punchy blog on last week's mayoral election announcement from my @instituteforgovernment.org.uk colleagues: www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/gove...