Stephen Boyd

🎲 NEW REPORT | Fairer gambling taxes could raise £3.2bn to scrap the two-child limit & benefit cap, lifting 500,000 children out of poverty. The plan targets the most harmful, least-taxed parts of the industry. Find out more: www.ippr.org/articles/reforming-gambling-taxation

You pay VAT on essentials like food and clothes. Gambling companies? Exempt. Many also pay little or no UK corporation tax, despite making billions from UK players 💰 It’s time they paid their fair share www.ippr.org/articles/reforming-gambling-taxation

Landmark asset not a 'white elephant' after all and the employee ownership boom Employee ownership in Scotland continues to blossom. And the resurgence of a landmark development once dubbed a 'white elephant'

♦️Delighted to say our latest edition of Business HQ Monthly is out today. @heraldscotland Read all about it here:

☑️ We have a summer sale on - one year of The Herald for just £20.

www.heraldscotland.com/news/2537116...

Inequality and Institutions in 20th Century America Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

Very sorry to hear about the passing of Peter Temin. His 2007 paper - Instututions and Inequality in 20th Century America - with Frank Levy had a massive influence on me. Easy to forget how contentious these ideas were at the time

share.google/DWyuGjxczrTm...

The UK needs a national identity based on commonality Labour must contest the right’s attempt to connect the grievances of ‘white British’ people to those who are not white

Many people in Britain sense the relationship between them and others has changed. Populists speak directly to this, but progressives can too

My piece in today's FT on.ft.com/4or0GxW

Too misty for summit views on Beinn Eighe today but still...

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-...

Down in one: how private equity swallowed the BrewDog Unicorn Thanks for all the money, Punks

the art of the deal eh?

www.ft.com/content/5da2...

The roots of the British malaise lie in a sick economy Political responses to a bad situation tend towards either charlatanism or timidity

"A starting point, in my view, must be recognition that the Thatcher experiment failed: it did not transform the underlying performance of the economy for the better. This must now be admitted"

www.ft.com/content/8a49...

'I needed to find a way to like the guy': Sandy Grierson on playing Fred Goodwin The rise and fall of the Royal Bank of Scotland will be recalled in new National Theatre of Scotland production Make It Happen.

Rehabilitating Goodwin's reputation seems...an odd motivation to write a play?

"“I think you’ve got to absolutely take your hat off to his ability. He seems to have been so calm under pressure. It is remarkable...I think he was victimised to an extent"

www.heraldscotland.com/life_style/2...

I remain amazed how political commentary on the bond market still winds me up, because it so often treats that market like a political actor rather than the market that it actually is. So I've just read, from one of the best political commentators in the UK, that 1/4

My column from yesterday's Herald Business supplement.

"It's difficult not to be critical of the Scottish government for the ever-diminishing purpose and clarity around economic policy in Scotland

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...

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

Our belated response to the Medium Term Financial Strategy:

• nothing new or interesting on growth
• frustratingly conservative on taxation
• strong on shift towards preventative action but progress LONG overdue
▪︎ maintaining frontline jobs implies big cuts elsewhere

share.google/GbdGLcxIxCpG...

Not debating immigration How should we debate immigration? Here's my advice: don't. Debates don't work, at least not as they should. They don't favour the truth, but plausible liars and for those who can best appeal to prejud...

"The marketplace in ideas is broken; peddlars of crap do not exit as they would in a well-functioning market. Even if immigration scaremongerers could be proven wrong, they'd not shut up"

@chrisdillow.bsky.social

share.google/7apTVq3EznF9...

Senior Research Fellow, AI and the economy | IPPR The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is an independent charity working towards a fairer, greener, and more prosperous society.

Excited to be hiring a Senior AI Research Fellow @ippr.org . With AI progressing rapidly, the economic and social impacts could be huge – from job disruption to misinformation. We design bold, sector-specific policies to ensure AI delivers public value.

www.ippr.org/jobs/senior-...

🎯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...

🌡️Stalled progress on reducing greenhouse gas emissions raises urgent questions about how Scotland meets its targets for net zero.

🎯Action is needed now, and the upcoming Climate Change Plan will be the litmus test for meeting the moment.

Reducing poverty in Scotland: what works best? | IPPR The reaction to the Chancellor’s decision to abolish the winter fuel payment (WFP) was somewhat paradoxical.

With the Winter Fuel Payment back in the news...here's a blog I wrote last December:

"Measures are prioritised due to political salience and outdated caricatures of disadvantaged groups rather than a sober appraisal of where need is currently most pressing"

www.ippr.org/articles/wha...

It isn't possible to design a school system where everyone leaves with the skills needed for the workplace because *they're all going to do different jobs*.

Workplace training needs to be done by employers.

What Italy Can Teach about Reform UK’s Rise in Scotland As Reform UK moves beyond its English heartlands and gains ground in Scotland, Davide Vampa draws lessons from Italy’s populist radical right to understand what this shift might mean. He shows how suc...

New blog!

What Italy Can Teach about Reform UK’s Rise in Scotland.

As Reform UK moves beyond its English heartlands and gains ground in Scotland @davidevampa.bsky.social draws lessons from Italy’s populist radical right to understand what this shift might mean: edin.ac/3FnWXQ4

🚨 NEW REPORT: Progressive parties are losing the battle of ideas – and votes – to the populist right. The centre-left must reinvent or die. Today, we launch a new project to forge a bold new identity for progressives in the 21st century.

Read here: www.ippr.org/articles/fac...

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.

If you are interested in public policy do look at the new @theifs.bsky.social report on the impact of Sure Start - a powerful piece of work. Here are the estimated benefits and costs.

Really pleased @nuffieldfoundation.org supported this programme of work.

Not the prettiest of games but delighted for Ange. Anticipating an epic press conference!

⚠️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]."

⚠️It is time to focus on adopting “climate missions”: coherent plans to coordinate change that everyone eventually will be a part of.

We respond to the Climate Change Committee's advice published today⤵️

@davehawkey.bsky.social

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...

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...

Spoke to @leaskyd.bsky.social about the Scottish middle class who...

"...might be prepared to pay more tax to pay for measures which disproportionately benefit them, but they have yet to demonstrate commitment to a more extensive social model for all"

bsky.app/profile/leas...