Devolution

This online event explained the rationale, risks and design choices behind assigning England's mayoral authorities a share of local income tax.

The government has committed to sharing tax revenues with England’s regional mayors. What decisions have to be taken on how this works in practice? 

Andy Burnham enters Downing Street with no shortage of ambition.

Could devolution boost UK growth, or would it widen regional divides? We ask what shifting power from Westminster would really mean.

What does local government do, why are councils under financial pressure, and how might reform change the future of local services?

All parties’ plans would add to the fiscal challenges facing the next Scottish Government – albeit to very different extents

This comment compares the political parties’ main proposals for schools in Wales at the upcoming 2026 Welsh elections.

While their visions differ, all parties’ plans would add to the fiscal challenges facing the next Welsh Government – albeit to very different extents

Scotland has more funding and more powers, but the next Holyrood government still faces tough choices on tax, spending and public services.

Scotland’s child poverty rate is lower than in the rest of the UK – but ambitious 2030 targets are set to be missed

Wales’s employment rate is falling further behind the rest of the UK, posing a challenge for the next Welsh Government

English hospital services are in a relatively poor state - yet still look substantially better on many measures than those in Scotland and Wales

Wales leads on council tax revaluation – but has followed England on a range of ill-advised tax policy changes

Scotland has made its tax and benefit system more progressive than the rest of the UK’s, but unnecessarily complex and distortionary.

Reform UK's Welsh manifesto echoes Conservative proposals while leaving the spending cuts needed to fund its tax ambitions unspecified.

A tax-cutting manifesto lacking a credible plan for the accompanying spending cuts.

After a period of growth, Scottish Government funding is set to flatline, forcing tough trade-offs on taxes, benefits and public service spending.

Our analysis of the 2026–27 Scottish Budget highlights a difficult outlook for both spending and investment in Scotland. 

Pupil numbers are falling rapidly across the UK. This report analyses the choices facing policymakers and past declines in pupil numbers.

The government’s proposed reforms to English local government funding will lead to big changes in councils’ budgets.