New Economics Foundation

The New Economics Foundation, the UK’s only people-powered think tank, is pleased to announce the appointment of Miatta Fahnbulleh as Chief Executive. Miatta brings to NEF a wealth of experience in...

We’re in the midst of political party conference season and we’ve already had more headlines and drama than most years… But apart from politicos and journalists gossiping about party splits, are the party conferences actually offering any answers to the problems this country faces? Lots of the headlines have been about internal disagreements in Labour and the Conservative party, but what have they and the other parties had to say about housing, Brexit, investment,...

Theresa May’s speech on Brexit has created a scramble amongst British politicians and European leaders – that’s the Florence speech, not the coughing conference speech. The proposal of a two-year transitional period to help soften the bumpy ride ahead has been met with mixed reviews, even amongst the Cabinet. Today, Michael Gove, Secretary of State for the environment, has demanded that fisheries is removed from any transition deal, opting for a ‘hard break’ in...

Creating a fairer, more equal society by supporting communities to take control of the resources which underpin our daily lives lies at the heart of NEF’s work. And nowhere is the need for community control more acute than in the UK’s dysfunctional housing sector. As the crisis in housing deepens across the country, people are increasingly finding themselves unable to access decent, affordable accommodation. So what can communities do to address their housing...

Think tank launches campaign calling on Government to stop selling public land New interactive map shows public land sites up for sale – and brings communities together to save it Campaign launch comes in wake of party conference season dominated by housing – but with no party fully addressing the public land sale People all over the country are coming together to stop the Government from selling public land, in a new campaign launched today by The New Economics...

We often talk about the housing crisis, and the unaffordability of homes and rent – but we rarely talk about the land beneath our homes, and its role in the crisis. Across the country, a lack of affordable land is stoking the affordability crisis, forcing up the price of homes and rents. Despite this, and under the radar, the government has been pursuing a massive sale of public land – encouraging cash-strapped public authorities to sell their hospitals,...

Responding to the Prime Minister’s speech to Conservative Party Conference, Joe Beswick, Housing Lead at the New Economics Foundation, said: “This speech was trailed as the start of a new council housebuilding revolution. Instead, the Prime Minister flattered to deceive. All we got was a bit of extra cash for existing programmes which are failing to deliver the housing people need. “If the Prime Minister were serious about addressing the housing crisis, she would...

Theresa May confirmed yesterday that a whopping £10bn more would be earmarked for Help to Buy. Under this scheme, the government lends buyers of new-build homes a 20% equity loan so that they only need a 75% mortgage and a 5% deposit. May said this huge injection of funding would help the ‘just about managing’. But evidence from the scheme to date suggests that it is more likely to help those on higher incomes than struggling young renters. Here are four reasons...

This is a guest post by Karel Williams, Professor of Accounting and Political Economy at Alliance Manchester Business School. The views of guest contributors are not necessarily those of the New Economics Foundation. Conference season, autumn 2017, and the commentariat’s gaze  is fixed on the novelties: the Tories may not survive as our default party of government if their factionalised party tears itself apart on the terms of Brexit; the Labour opposition...

If we learnt anything from the Grenfell tragedy, it was that for too long, social housing tenants’ voices have been ignored. Residents knew the tower was unsafe – but nobody listened to them. Earlier this week we heard from the leader of the Labour Party a real commitment to increasing tenant power. His promise to give social housing tenants a ballot on the decision to regenerate their estate would be an important first step in putting tenants back at the heart of...