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Wed, 5 February 2025

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Will Tanner

Will Tanner

Oiling the machine - inside the Number 10 policy unit
Parliament
By Will Tanner
Oiling the machine - inside the Number 10 policy unit
The Policy Unit provides prime ministers with crucial advice on the direction of departmental policy. Will Tanner, former deputy chief of staff at No 10, argues it would be perilous for Keir Starmer to ignore its value
Apprenticeships are failing working class school leavers
Education
By Will Tanner
Apprenticeships are failing working class school leavers
A record number of 18-year-olds - almost four in 10 - accepted a place at university last year. Unfortunately, too many of them - around one in five - will graduate encumbered with a lot of debt but no greater chance of higher earnings for their troubles.
We must break the cycle of short-termism and futureproof levelling up
Political parties
By Will Tanner
We must break the cycle of short-termism and futureproof levelling up
The biggest test of levelling up is whether it can survive a change in the political weather. The United Kingdom economy has been unbalancing for decades and will only be rebalanced by the concerted effort of successive governments.
Conservatives must remember why they won in 2019 if they want to triumph again
Economy
By Will Tanner
Conservatives must remember why they won in 2019 if they want to triumph again
The last general election is now sufficiently long ago, or perhaps so much has happened since, that people are starting to forget its significance. That the result was historic hardly needs to be noted: the Conservatives became the first party in history to increase vote-share at four subsequent elections and reduced Labour to their worst defeat since the 1930s.
If levelling up is the vision, net-zero and scientific innovation are the tools
Communities
By Will Tanner
If levelling up is the vision, net-zero and scientific innovation are the tools
There needs to be a ruthless focus on delivery. The Prime Minister’s success in the red wall was built on his bonhomie and good intentions, but he will suffer if voters fail to feel improvements by the time they next go to the polls.