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Ed Miliband's vision for future Labour welfare policies fell apart in the detail
Kristian Niemietz
8 June 2013
comments

In his speech in east London yesterday, Ed Miliband hoped to reframe the debate by outlining a distinctively Labour approach to welfare policy. Distinctive perhaps but, from a policy perspective it...
Housing and bread: an analogy
Kristian Niemietz
2 May 2013
2 comments

Nobody quite remembers when and why this law originally came to pass, but at some point in the distant past, the government of Analogistan introduced a nationwide statutory limit on the amount of...
Fiddling with Housing Benefit won't solve the cost explosion
Kristian Niemietz
27 June 2012
6 comments

The previous government made the mistake of trying to reduce poverty without paying attention to the supply side factors driving up the basic cost of living. It churned out billions in tax credits...
The marginal gains from working for UK families
Philip Booth
29 May 2012
comments

In my last blog post I looked at the complexities of the UK tax system. Unfortunately, in order to make it remotely comprehensible, it was greatly simplified. The example taken was a relatively...
Benefit cap: with friends like these, the poor don’t need enemies
Kristian Niemietz
30 January 2012
4 comments

Once again, Britain is about to become the Bangladesh of Europe. At least this is the impression one could gather from listening to the poverty lobby and the wider anti-cuts front, including...
The benefits cap is popular - but it isn't right
Tim Leunig
27 January 2012
10 comments

The government’s proposed £26,000 cap on benefits for those out of work applies irrespective of circumstances and the family’s history. It will hit two groups: those with very...
New plans by Grant Shapps are a recipe for increasing homelessness
Richard Wellings
11 January 2012
7 comments

Housing minister Grant Shapps recently announced plans to make the unauthorised subletting of social housing a criminal offence, with offenders facing up to two years in prison. The...
‘Slum landlords’: The Economist is barking up the wrong tree
Kristian Niemietz
4 January 2012
4 comments

There is agreement across the political divide in Britain that there is a serious shortage of affordable housing. But the debate about the causes seldom goes beyond red herrings and side issues,...
Housing Benefit cuts: too little bang for the buck
Kristian Niemietz
30 January 2011
comments

Kosovo-style social cleansing, expelling the poor, even ‘final solution’ – the debate on Housing Benefit (HB) cuts has been accompanied by a host of gory metaphors, and no doubt...
Why Housing Benefit should be paid from locally raised taxes
Kristian Niemietz
9 November 2010
8 comments

Even if the debate about Housing Benefit has gone wrong in many ways, it is a good thing that it is being held at all, if only to raise awareness about the issue. The HB bill is running at about...
The mass exodus from London is not going to happen
Kristian Niemietz
3 November 2010
1 comment

Foreign observers reading the British press may be forgiven if they expect death squads roaming the streets of London from next April on, expelling the capital’s poor. There has been no...
Behind the Housing Benefit debate
Peter King
28 October 2010
4 comments

After a slow start to the debate about the coalition’s reforms to Housing Benefit things seem to be hotting up somewhat. The government proposes capping payments to households at a...
The DWP on welfare reform: good on the generalities, weak on the details
Kristian Niemietz
10 September 2010
comments

“The welfare state is now a vast, sprawling bureaucracy that can act to entrench, rather than solve, the problems of poverty and social exclusion.” The above quote does not come from a...
Housing Benefit: Osborne’s approach does not address the dynamics of cost explosion
Kristian Niemietz
29 June 2010
5 comments

Some of the old video recorders made in the 1980s had an annoying kink: they could not hold the freeze frame mode for long. Shortly after pressing the pause button, they would automatically switch...
Making the country work again
Richard Wellings
19 May 2010
7 comments

Even Margaret Thatcher didn’t manage to dismantle Britain’s disastrous welfare system. Judging by the policy plans of the Lib-Con coalition, there is little reason to be optimistic that...
Ending child poverty: no social worker left behind
Kristian Niemietz
31 March 2010
1 comment

Unemployment figures may still look bleak, but there is one occupational group which can be thoroughly relaxed about their future employment prospects. If Ending child poverty: mapping the route to...
How to cut Britain’s £20 billion Housing Benefit bill
Richard Wellings
15 March 2010
2 comments

The cost of Housing Benefit (HB) has exploded over the last five years, rising from £13.5 billion in 2004/05 to £20 billion in 2009/10. This is a cause for deep concern, not just...
The right and wrong form of government intervention
Peter King
24 February 2010
comments

Classical liberals, and many Conservatives, will tend to take a dim view of government intervention, but should they be equally dismissive of all government action? Take a couple of examples from...

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