Casey Smith

💷The investments in Scotland announced by the Chancellor today are welcome, so long as they create the kind of manufacturing jobs that provide security and opportunity for workers in the long-term, and the benefits are felt in the wider community.

@caseysmithippr.bsky.social 🗣️

IPPR Scotland: 10th Anniversary Conference | IPPR Ten years ago, in the wake of the Scottish Independence referendum, there emerged a clear need for a think tank to support progressive policymaking and fos

🎉10th ANNIVERSARY🎉

A decade ago, IPPR Scotland was established in a big moment of change to support progressive policymaking.

📢Now, as Scotland faces fresh challenges, we’re hosting a major conference to ask: What next?

🗓️Save the date: 29 Oct 2025

www.ippr.org/events/ippr-...

Filling the funding gap: at what cost to Scotland’s public services? | IPPR The MTFS was accompanied by a Fiscal Sustainability Delivery Plan which was preceded a week earlier by the Public Sector Reform Strategy.  The MTFS did not

📢 Scotland’s Medium Term Financial Strategy is out — and it warns of a £2.6bn resource funding gap by 2029/30. The big question is: how will it be filled? @stephenboydippr.bsky.social's latest blog addresses this question 🧵(1/4)
www.ippr.org/articles/fil...

🎯The broad settlement for Scotland in today's Spending Review is welcome but not enough to meet its fiscal challenges.

👀All eyes should now be on the upcoming industrial strategy.

@stephenboydippr.bsky.social reacts ⤵️

Full statement on our website: www.ippr.org/media-office...

🗳️Voters in Hamilton have shown they want to a fairer, greener future, but can Scottish politicians afford to be complacent? Certainly not.

✅2026 cannot be a contest mired in negativity but a battle for the high ground.

@stephenboydippr.bsky.social

The Scottish Government projects that mitigating the two-child limit in Scotland would lift 15,000 children out of child poverty. However that leaves 225,000 children still in poverty. 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦

UK Government must abolish the two-child limit as a starting point, but a far bolder action plan is needed.

⚠️The CCC published expert advice on how the Scottish government can tackle the climate crisis.

📺 @davehawkey.bsky.social spoke to @laurapiper.bsky.social of STV to elucidate further: "What we need now is a policy package that can step up to deliver [the simple things recommended by the CCC]."

Watchdog urges Scotland to take action after repeatedly missing climate targets Climate Change Committee says original goal of a 75% emissions cut by 2030 will now be delayed by up to six years

"IPPR said Scottish ministers should draw up new climate 'missions' to set overarching policies for sectors with the biggest climate impacts... which would mandate action."

We're quoted in @severincarrell.bsky.social's excellent piece in @theguardian.com 👇

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Singapore on the Clyde? | IPPR What does “radical” look like? Well, according to a new report published by Sir Tom’s eponymous Hunter Foundation, Scotland should learn from Singapore by

Tom Hunter believes that Singapore provides a useful template for Scotland's economy.

Is he right? Um, no...

www.ippr.org/articles/sin...

There are different routes to national prosperity - Singapore and Scotland are not analogous - I’d suggest looking across the North Sea to the Nordics for lessons on what a better economy and society looks like…🇩🇰

An important event this evening marking 60 years of @carersscotland.bsky.social stressing society’s obligation to uphold the rights and entitlements of all carers to a decent and fulfilled life.

YouTube video by Institute for Public Policy Research IPPR Scotland on child poverty on ITV Peston

📺Great to have our child poverty analysis feature on @itvpeston.bsky.social!📺

👀 @johnswinney.bsky.social asked why the Scottish government is miles away from hitting its own child poverty target.

We are clear child poverty is not inevitable. #ChildPoverty #Scotland

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQJp...

The First Minister has the right priorities - however it is not totally clear from today's Programme for Government how we chart a course towards meeting those priorities.

We await further detail on specifically child poverty (meeting those 2030 targets) and hard yards still to go on climate.

Thank you to the Jimmy Reid Foundation for hosting today’s fringe event at @scottishtuc.bsky.social conference. We joined @ipprscotland.bsky.social for a panel discussion on tax justice, expertly chaired by Lynn Henderson. Thanks to the audience for such an engaging discussion.

Programme for Government 2025/26: An IPPR Scotland briefing | IPPR Since the start of this decade, Programmes for Government (PfGs) have been announced in the context of various challenges (Brexit, the climate emergency, C

📢New briefing 📢

Ahead of FM @johnswinney.bsky.social's Programme for Government, we set out proposals focused on his four priorities—eradicating child poverty, growing the economy, tackling climate change, and ensuring high-quality public services (1/2)
www.ippr.org/articles/pro...

How do parents navigate the complex system of child maintenance?

📺 @davehawkey.bsky.social gave evidence virtually to the House of Lords Public Services Committee on Child Maintenance last week.

➡️ Also read our research with @opfs.org.uk and @fifegingerbread.bsky.social opfs.org.uk/wp-content/u...

Poll: Scots do not trust either SNP or Labour to fix soaring energy bills Bills will rise on April 1 - and new polling has revealed Scots do not trust either the SNP or Scottish Labour to stop the trend

"The political debate is lopsided, focusing on electricity while ignoring our dependence on gas for heating. This is an amazing omission given gas makes up half of a typical Scottish energy bill." @davehawkey.bsky.social tells @alexofbrown.bsky.social @scotsman.com
www.scotsman.com/news/politic...

Poverty levels broadly stable over last decade Latest Accredited Official Statistics and Official Statistics published

Child poverty stats for 2023/24:

- at 22% relative child poverty remains significantly higher than the Scottish Government's interim target of 18%
- Scottish figure is much lower than the UK (31%) demonstrating impact of devolved policies

www.gov.scot/news/poverty...

📻 Even in a ‘better than best case employment scenario’, where no parent is paid less than the real living wage, unemployment is halved and 40,000 economically inactive parents get into work, the government's 2030 child poverty target would be missed. @davehawkey.bsky.social on BBC Radio Scotland⤵️

Achieving the 2030 child poverty target: The distance left to travel | IPPR While 2023 will be the first year we see the full impact of the 'game changing' Scottish Child Payment, there is widespread pessimism that the target will

Today @ipprscotland.bsky.social publishes new analysis showing that by 2030 child poverty in Scotland will be:

- well below the rest of the UK due to devolved policies
- more than twice as high as the Scottish Government's current target

@davehawkey.bsky.social

www.ippr.org/articles/ach...

📢 Today we publish analysis warning that without urgent investment, over 210,000 Scottish children (22%) will be trapped in poverty by 2030

🏟️ That’s enough children to fill Murrayfield Stadium x 3 - and double the legal target

Read the briefing 👇
www.ippr.org/articles/ach...

I've written on what other lessons Grangemouth can learn from a history of deindustrialisation in Scotland - and why a just transition, if it is to mean anything, needs to bear fruit now. 👇

t.co/htbWU7EVmn

Grangemouth the town is struggling - it has been for a long while, even with the refinery in operation

During this period of transition it makes it all the more urgent that locals see and feel that things are finally moving in a positive direction

That means new jobs and opportunity on site ASAP 👷‍♂️

Grangemouth’s future: £3.5bn private investment needed to secure new industries A new £1.5m study outlines nine long-term industrial options for Grangemouth, requiring £3.5bn in private investment. The projects could create…

There is risk workers made redundant this summer will struggle to quickly find new jobs

It's essential both governments redouble efforts to turn potential developments into tangible opportunities for those made redundant and local young people

IPPR Scotland Director @stephenboydippr.bsky.social

There should be a deep and rapid reassessment of the just transition process in Scotland - it must be far less traumatic for the workers concerned 👩‍🏭

IPPR Scotland director @stephenboydippr.bsky.social responds to the Project Willow report on the closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery 👇

Right now - we require answers. SG will likely feel pressure to follow suit on cuts to eligibility, meanwhile UKG needs to clarify how it's reforms work for the devolved nations (namely Scotland and Northern Ireland)

Let's avoid making vulnerable people feel more uncertainty!

For UKG - choosing to merge assessment for UC health element with PIP - how does that work in Scotland?

Adult Disability Payment is the devolved equivalent to PIP. Does (devolved) ADP eligibility rules determine whether Scots receive (reserved) UC health element?

Scottish Government fear 'really severe budget cuts' after Labour welfare shakeup The Scottish Government is bracing for severe budget cuts as UK ministers push ahead with a radical overhaul of disability benefits. Labour's £5bn…

Big questions for SG & UKG from
@ipprscotland.bsky.social on welfare announcement:

Stricter eligibility for PIP in rUK = fewer recipients/less spending on welfare

A cut in spending will impact Holyrood - does SG align on cuts or raise tax to stand still?

www.heraldscotland.com/news/2501882...

2030 and beyond: Great British Energy's role in the green transition | IPPR Achieving this requires bold, but focused, actions, without burdening GBE with conflicting objectives. In this report, we offer an implementation strategy

🔋 UK Gov must stick to its ambition for GB Energy: a fully funded public clean energy company delivering 5% of electricity in 5 years

💡 Devolved nations are pivotal to net zero - collaboration is essential

New from @ippr.bsky.social @josephevans.bsky.social⤵️⤵️

www.ippr.org/articles/203...