Increasing renewable energy generation was one of the big environmental achievements of the Coalition Government. The share of Britain’s electricity generated from renewable energy increased from 9% in 2011 to 25% in 2015. By displacing polluting coal from the grid, renewables have contributed significantly to major falls in greenhouse gas emissions over that period. From being a fringe element, renewables now play a central role in powering Britain’s homes and businesses. And as renewable capacity increases, their costs fall. In…

I’ve got some good news for you, and some bad news. Let’s start with the good, because we need it right now. At the moment, we are witnessing the greatest improvement in living standards ever to take place. Poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, child labour and infant mortality are falling faster than at any other time in human history. Life expectancy at birth has increased more than twice as much in the last century as it did in the previous 200,000 years.…

Gordon Brown’s latest proposal for a “third option” in Scotland sounds suspiciously familiar. The more Brown and Blair keep talking, the more we are reminded of what New Labour and the “third way” got wrong, and a comparison with today’s politics is instructive. New Labour was the political superpower of its day, reaching into Tory heartlands with its soft left policies. They reigned supreme and made bad decisions: Blair’s failure to plan for post-war Iraq is exhibit A, while the…

It is vital that as many eligible people as possible are heard in the democratic process to ensure we build a democracy that works for everyone. The EU Referendum in June marked a historic high point in the level of democratic participation in this country, with a record 46.5 million people registered to vote. The introduction of Individual Electoral Registration has meant joining the electoral roll is faster and more accessible than ever before. It now takes just a few…