Latest news with #TonyBlairInstitute
The Independent
5 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Tony Blair think tank urges Rachel Reeves to invest billions and not just ‘balance the books' in spending review
Rachel Reeves must invest billions to prioritise economic growth in Britain and not just 'balance the books' in the spending review, Tony Blair 's think tank has warned. The choices made next week by the chancellor will show how 'bold' the government is willing to be to deliver growth, the Tony Blair Institute said. Both Sir Keir Starmer and Ms Reeves have said that making the country better off is their number one aim in government. But earlier this week Ms Reeves was warned by experts that she will have to increase taxes and cut public spending amid rising prices and the impact of Donald Trump 's trade war. On Wednesday, Ms Reeves reasserted her manifesto pledge not to raise taxes, insisting the spending review is "fully costed and fully funded" and she would not need to find new money. But the Resolution Foundation joined critics from within government to warn that Ms Reeves may have no choice but to trim public services as pressure grows to fund defence, the NHS and policies such as more free school meals for the poorest children. The Tony Blair Institute warned that while Ms Reeves would have to make 'tough choices' they would have to be the correct ones, as it called for investment in a range of areas including innovative 'green' technologies, greater use of AI and a new NHS body focused on preventative medicine. An analysis by the organisation warned: 'The upcoming spending review will show how bold the government is willing to be to deliver its growth mission.' TBI executive director for policy Sam Sharps said: 'Next week's spending review cannot just be an exercise in balancing the books. While tough choices will be necessary, making the right ones will be essential. 'The UK cannot afford to keep throwing more money at outdated delivery models. We need a smarter, more integrated and more responsive digital state. 'Artificial Intelligence offers a powerful opportunity to free up staff time, improve service quality, and reduce long-term costs across public services. But real gains will only come with serious investment in infrastructure, capability, and coordination. 'TBI estimates that investing £4 billion per year across the public sector could yield £11 billion in net annual savings by the end of this Parliament - rising to £40 billion by 2040.' He added: 'Even in tough times there is scope to do a lot. Applied in the right way, government spending can provide the tools to build a stronger economy, better public services and a healthier, more productive country.'
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Starmer has entered the ‘degeneration' phase. His MPs are in despair
Shortly after the general election, The Daily T – the podcast I present with colleague Camilla Tominey – held a live event for Telegraph readers at our headquarters in central London. It was a very jolly affair, with prosecco on hand as Camilla, Gordon Rayner, our Associate Editor, and I discussed the state of politics and answered questions. The biggest worry in the audience was that Starmer was simply Tony Blair in disguise, and was being 'run' by Labour's most successful Prime Minister in history via his think tank, the Tony Blair Institute. This was nonsense, I suggested. Blair was far too Right-wing for Starmer. Chatting afterwards, a number of attendees came up to me to make a point about what being 'Prime Minister of the country' meant to them. 'We have to give him a chance,' one Conservative voter said. 'He won, it's good to end the chaos, and he is the leader now. As long as he is sensible, we will see how it goes.' This is a very British view of politics and one I wholeheartedly support. The office of Prime Minister is one to be respected, politicians need time to affect change and following the psychodramas of Boris Johnson and the rest a period of calm would be very much welcomed. I wonder how that Conservative voter is feeling now. After a reasonable opening day speech about governing for everyone, Starmer has induced nausea. Freebie gifts revealed that it was still 'one rule for them'. With no discussion or preparation, the Winter Fuel Allowance was scrapped for all but the lowest paid pensioners. A £22 billion 'black hole' appeared to come as a shock to the Chancellor despite every sensible analyst saying before the election that the public finances were shot. The Budget raised taxes after Labour promises that it would not. 'I need to fix the foundations,' Rachel Reeves told voters as the polls started slipping. Starmer agreed. 'Growth' was everything and 'tough Labour' would not be indulging in any U-turns. Even that gargantuan and ever-increasing benefits bill would be tackled. Being controversial can have a point in politics – as long as you stick to the course. Starmer has done the opposite, the lead character in a political tragedy about a man who wanted to be king but did not know why. The PM has confused noise from opponents, backbenchers and pressure groups with the very different purpose of running the country. The result has been strategic chaos – a disaster for anyone residing in Number 10. Where once he was positive about the effects of immigration, now he is talking about 'an island of strangers'. Where the cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance were an absolute necessity – now they will be at least partially reversed (although when and by how much will be a political running sore for months to come). The two child benefit cap is likely to be lifted. The UK will be in and not in the European Union. I speak to many senior Labour figures every week. They pinpoint the disastrous local elections as the moment Starmer buckled afresh, casting around in desperation for anything that might shift momentum. A caucus of Red Wall Labour MPs, led by Jo White, demanded changes, particularly to disability benefit cuts. 'We will not budge,' Downing Street insisted, exactly as they had done over the Winter Fuel Allowance. Few believe that position will hold. Negative briefings are starting to swirl around Morgan McSweeney, Starmer's chief of staff. Enemies point out, and there are many, that the 'hard choices' approach has given way too easily to 'I'll U-turn if you want me to'. Policies that MPs expended a lot of energy defending are now being abandoned, the quickest way to lose faith on the back benches. Nearly 200 Labour councillors lost their jobs in the May elections, a rich seam of angry activists who blame the man at the top. Starmer and Sweeney go back, to the dark days of the Hartlepool by-election loss in 2021 when Labour was trounced by the Conservatives. Starmer considered quitting and outsourced much of his political thinking to McSweeney, who picked him up and dusted him off. The Corbyn-lite approach that had won the PM the Labour leadership was jettisoned and 'sensible Starmer' took its place, the dry technocrat who would focus on what works. Labour MPs of the modernising tendency fear Corbyn-lite is creeping back. Adrift in a sea of collapsing personal ratings, Starmer is trying his own form of 'back to basics' – the basics of 'all will have jam' Left wing economics. 'We have no idea who is driving the bus,' said one well placed Labour figure on the chopping and changing at the centre. 'It is not about jam today or jam tomorrow. With no growth there is no jam.' Reeves is in an increasingly precarious position. She marched into the gunfire with a degree of political bravery, insisting that her decisions had to be taken to re-energise the economy. My Treasury sources insist there are glimmers of hope that the strategy is working. The first three months of the year saw growth above estimates. Business confidence has started to pick up. In the spending review on June 11, the Chancellor will announce billions of pounds in capital investment in transport hubs, energy, schools, hospitals and research and development. These are the right policies. The PM is striding in the opposite direction, creating a tension between Number 10 and Number 11 that never augurs well for good government. When Labour published its manifesto in 2024, the only person beyond Starmer himself to appear regularly in the glossy photographs was Reeves. Now it would be Angela Rayner, who is noisily demanding more tax rises. Like grief, governments travel through five phases. Euphoria, honeymoon, stability, degeneration, failure. Starmer has managed to leap-frog the first three and has entered 'degeneration' well before the first anniversary of a victory which gave him a 171 seat majority. Even his allies look on baffled, failing to understand that government is difficult, that you cannot gyrate between policy positions and expect appalling poll numbers to improve. Leading requires courage, vision and an ability to communicate. Consistency is the prosaic truth that the Prime Minister has failed to grasp. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Times
UK's free trade deals ‘do not align with service-dominated economy'
The government should focus on targeted deals that play to the UK's strengths in services and digital trade, rather than broad, slow-moving free trade agreements, a new report from the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) has said. The institute said that traditional, heavily goods-focused deals were slow to negotiate and less aligned with Britain's service-dominated economy. It added that following the progress on the free trade agreement (FTA) with India, the UK now had agreements in place or pending with most of its major trading partners. Instead of pursuing diminishing returns from traditional broad-based FTAs, the government should shift more of its resources towards negotiating market access deals that focused on the UK's strengths, such as in digital services, the report added. Between 2020 and 2024,
Daily Mail
20-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Half of British adults should be able to get their hands on fat jabs through the post, says Tony Blair
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has said that half of the UK should be allowed to get their hands on fat jabs under widened criteria. Researchers at the Tony Blair Institute have suggested extending the measure for eligibility could allow at least 14.7million Brits to get weight loss medication via the post which would in turn boost the NHS. The think tank have called for the eligibility criteria for the drugs to 'drastically lowered', to make them available to people who are overweight but not yet obese. As part of their research, they have also suggested the jabs to be made available over the counter, without the need to see a GP first, and for weight management services to be offered through the NHS App. Such moves would boost the nation's health and wealth and help to tackle inequality, it argues. Obesity is now one of the biggest drivers of ill health in the UK, placing an 'immense strain' on the NHS, the benefit system and wider economy. But the TBI warns obesity is more prevalent in deprived areas and the current slow rollout of fat jabs on the NHS will 'perpetuate access based on the ability to pay rather than need'. The NHS rations the drugs to around 50,000 people a year at specialist weight-loss clinics, although 4million people with a body mass index higher than 35 are eligible. A BMI over 30 is classed as obese, and 40 or above is classed as severely obese. A further 500,000 people are thought to obtain the treatment privately for around £200 a month. The new TBI report demands a 'faster, broader approach to the rollout' and suggests a BMI threshold of just 27, which is overweight. Drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy have been shown to significantly increase productivity in the workforce, with users typically fitter and taking fewer sick days. In trials, weight-loss drugs helped people lose up to a fifth of their body weight, which can reduce their risk of diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Ministers are examining ways to make weight-loss jabs more accessible and Treasury officials are holding talks on their economic benefits. The TBI says the NHS's current approach is 'unlikely to slow, let alone reverse rising obesity rates over the next 12 years ' and the need for a GP referral 'inhibits' potential for broader rollout as it is 'wildly resource intensive and hugely expensive'. Economic modelling by the Institute shows reducing the qualifying BMI is expected to deliver cost-benefit neutrality by 2035 and net gains year on year afterwards, with cumulative fiscal benefits estimated at £52billion by 2050. Comparatively, on the NHS current rollout schedule, cost-benefit neutrality is expected to be achieved by 2053. The report says access to the fat jabs should be means-tested, so only patients who are eligible for free prescriptions can access them at no cost. Dr Charlotte Refsum, director of health policy at TBI, said: 'If the government is looking to improve health and drive economic growth, tackling obesity - as part of a wider prevention agenda - must be a key priority. 'Anti-Obesity Medications are effective, well tolerated by those taking them and highly scalable. 'The government must follow its instincts and be bolder - providing faster, broader access in a more convenient way that meets them where they are - online, at home and in the high street. 'The cost of treating obesity may be high but the cost of not treating it is higher.' A study presented at the European Congress of Obesity earlier this month found semaglutide - sold under the brand name Ozempic as a treatment for diabetes or Wegovy for weight loss - provided an annual productivity boost equivalent to £1,127 per person. The drug helped each patient avoid five sick days a year on average, and enabled people to carry out an extra 12 days of unpaid productive activity, such as volunteering or childcare, saving the state resources. In total this would equate to an extra £4.5billion a year in British economic productivity if the 4million people eligible for the drug on the NHS could have it. Dr Nick Thayer, head of policy at the Company Chemists Association, which represents major pharmacy chains such as Boots and Superdrug, said: 'Weight loss medicines have the potential to significantly reduce the burden of obesity on the NHS and transform the lives of millions. 'The economic impact of allowing many to return to work, offers the government a vital avenue to increase growth and workforce productivity. 'Community pharmacies have a proven track record of delivering preventative healthcare interventions at scale. 'Building on the expertise developed through private services, community pharmacies would be well placed to deliver wraparound weight loss care, to increase access where needed.' Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: 'Obesity is a huge drag on the NHS, the economy, and the quality of people's lives, and these medications are an exciting innovation. 'We're working with the NHS to trial new approaches and digital-first technologies to get these treatments to people faster, all while safeguarding capacity in our health service. 'For too long patients have been failed by inaction, but under our Plan for Change we'll tackle obesity head-on.
The Sun
19-05-2025
- Health
- The Sun
‘Game-changing' fat jabs must be rolled out more quickly on NHS demands Wes Streeting
THE NHS must 'get with the times' and speed up its roll-out of weight-loss jabs, says Health Secretary Wes Streeting. He insists the service 'can and should go faster' — after research last week suggested the injections could transform Britain's health. 2 Under current plans, it might take 12 years to issue Mounjaro to all 3.4million people eligible. Studies indicate prescribing the drug widely could slash heart attack and cancer rates, as well as helping us live longer. The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change says the drug could save the UK £52billion by 2050 if given to 15million patients. Mr Streeting hailed the as 'game-changers' and said: 'I want to see us put our foot down on the accelerator. 'We need to get with the times and make sure those who might not be able to afford these drugs are able to access them. "I absolutely accept the challenge that the NHS can and should go faster and we're looking at what we can do to speed things up.' Tirzepatide, sold under the brand name Mounjaro, has been approved for NHS use by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. NHS England is rolling it out, starting with the highest-priority patients — 220,000 over three years. Critics say going too slowly will risk the health of millions. With the jabs available privately, some 1.5million used them in March. I lost 5st on Mounjaro - weird side effects are worth it, it's life-changing Everything you need to know about fat jabs Weight loss jabs are all the rage as studies and patient stories reveal they help people shed flab at almost unbelievable rates, as well as appearing to reduce the risk of serious diseases. Wegovy – a modified version of type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic – and Mounjaro are the leading weight loss injections used in the UK. Wegovy, real name semaglutide, has been used on the NHS for years while Mounjaro (tirzepatide) is a newer and more powerful addition to the market. Mounjaro accounts for most private prescriptions for weight loss and is set to join Wegovy as an NHS staple this year. How do they work? The jabs work by suppressing your appetite, making you eat less so your body burns fat for energy instead and you lose weight. They do this my mimicking a hormone called GLP-1, which signals to the brain when the stomach is full, so the drugs are officially called GLP-1 receptor agonists. They slow down digestion and increase insulin production, lowering blood sugar, which is why they were first developed to treat type 2 diabetes in which patients' sugar levels are too high. Can I get them? NHS prescriptions of weight loss drugs, mainly Wegovy and an older version called Saxenda (chemical name liraglutide), are controlled through specialist weight loss clinics. Typically a patient will have to have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher, classifying them as medically obese, and also have a weight-related health condition such as high blood pressure. GPs generally do not prescribe the drugs for weight loss. Private prescribers offer the jabs, most commonly Mounjaro, to anyone who is obese (BMI of 30+) or overweight (BMI 25-30) with a weight-related health risk. Private pharmacies have been rapped for handing them out too easily and video calls or face-to-face appointments are now mandatory to check a patient is being truthful about their size and health. Are there any risks? Yes – side effects are common but most are relatively mild. Around half of people taking the drug experience gut issues, including sickness, bloating, acid reflux, constipation and diarrhoea. Dr Sarah Jarvis, GP and clinical consultant at said: 'One of the more uncommon side effects is severe acute pancreatitis, which is extremely painful and happens to one in 500 people.' Other uncommon side effects include altered taste, kidney problems, allergic reactions, gallbladder problems and hypoglycemia. Evidence has so far been inconclusive about whether the injections are damaging to patients' mental health. Figures obtained by The Sun show that, up to January 2025, 85 patient deaths in the UK were suspected to be linked to the medicines.
