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Ben Franklin

@bjafranklin.bsky.social
239 followers 347 following 35 posts

Deputy Chief Exec. International Longevity Centre UK. Former Chief, Centre for Progressive Policy. Before think tanks I did some stuff at HMT and the FCA.

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Reposted by Ben Franklin
Stuart McDonald @actuarybyday.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Ageing isn’t a 2070 problem – it’s happening now. In my latest podcast @bjafranklin.bsky.social @ilcuk.bsky.social shares how longer, healthier lives could boost the economy, reshape work & retirement, and unlock opportunities we’re missing. 🎧 www.lcp.com/en/podcasts/... #LongevityEconomy #Ageing
lcp.com
Beyond Curious with LCP: The Longevity Challenge
In this episode, Stuart McDonald and Ben Franklin, Deputy Chief Executive Officer at International Longevity Centre, discuss ageing, its fiscal and social impact, and how policy and work reforms could...
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Filipe Campante @filipecampante.bsky.social · 07/09/2025
Excellent column by Ezra Klein, and you should read all of it. He gets it. Stop Acting Like This Is Normal www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Stop Acting Like This Is Normal
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Owen Winter @owenwntr.bsky.social · 06/09/2025
Britain is now one of very few countries where Gen Z are firmly left-of-centre
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Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
A careful study of every populist episode since 1900 finds catastrophic consequences, which play out slowly. On average, incomes fall behind by nearly 15% over 15 years. For the U.S., this is a cost of about $13k per person per year. Over a lifetime, that's million bucks.
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UK Politics News // Papernaut @ukpolitics.papernaut.co · 15/06/2025
THE GUARDIAN: Young carer faces £2,000 repayment demand after DWP's flawed advice, highlighting systemic failings in support for Britain’s carers. This story exposes the fragility of a lifeline for those most in need. - by Patrick Butler
theguardian.com
Young carer who unwittingly breached allowance rules forced to repay £2,000
Rose Jones, who cared for mother from age of eight, twice wrongly advised by work coach on joining DWP job scheme
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Ben Franklin @bjafranklin.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
My piece ahead of Spending Review explores how govt can signal it's serious about reform and inclusive growth against the backdrop of an ageing and unhealthy population. The huge fiscal pressures mean structural reform is even more important.
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Ben Franklin @bjafranklin.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
🚨 New role! 🚨 Excited to join @ilcuk.bsky.social as Deputy CEO — the UK’s leading voice on demographic change and its impacts for health, pensions, the future of work and more. Vital issues today. Huge opportunities.
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Frederik Hjorth @fghjorth.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
🚨 New publication 🚨 : Happy to share that my paper, "Losing Touch: The Rhetorical Cost of Governing" is now forthcoming at @cpsjournal.bsky.social. Short 🧵 about the paper here 👇 1/10
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Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf-uk.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
UK’s paternity leave entitlement is worst in Europe – just 2 weeks on low pay A more generous offer will support families financially and help them make more equal choices around who cares For the first time @centrepropolicy.bsky.social modelling for JRF establishes the economic benefits too 🔽 1/2
"The UK has the worst paternity leave offer in Europe. Making Statutory Paternity Leave more generous will deliver on financial security for families and economic growth." Louise Woodruff, Senior Policy Adviser at JRF.
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Mike Brewer @mikebrewerecon.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Excellent summary. There is even more in the DWP documents, including confirmation that an expected 150,000 people will lose carer's benefits. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67e3fa...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
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Ben Franklin @bjafranklin.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Personal news update: This week is my last at the @centrepropolicy.bsky.social after 6 and a half brilliant years. There have been too many highlights for my highly limited Bluesky abilities so have put out an extended post on my time and next steps here: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
linkedin.com
This week is my last at the Centre for Progressive Policy after 6 and a… | Ben Franklin
This week is my last at the Centre for Progressive Policy after 6 and a half brilliant years. It’s been a delight to hold a variety of leadership positions…
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David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
This is a compelling analysis of why Labour will lose in 2029. Starmer, like Wilson, will continue until the contradictions in his economic policy become politically untenable, and the resulting U turn will be seen as a defeat rather than seizing new opportunities open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...
open.substack.com
How Labour can avoid defeat in 2029
Attlee and Wilson were punished for delaying the inevitable. Starmer can avoid their fate – if he acts fast
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JamesSmithRF @jamessmithrf.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Essential reading from my colleagues at @resfoundation.bsky.social here on yesterday's benefit changes: www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications... Bottom line: it's hard to escape the conclusion that many of yesterday's reforms are about making cuts rather than improving the system.
resolutionfoundation.org
A dangerous road? • Resolution Foundation
Yesterday’s Green Paper marks a serious attempt by the Government to tackle two major concerns: the growing spend on disability benefits, and the large number of people who are not working through ill...
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
Tension for the government's "good jobs everywhere" ambition clear in this paper on East Mids 83% of people work outside the 8 sectors govt is backing through industrial strategy How do we: a) shift some of the 83% over into the 8 sectors? b) improve work for *everyone else*
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Ben Franklin @bjafranklin.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
With all the fixation on technology/AI to improve productivity, this essential point about how technology often drives increasing costs in healthcare is conveniently overlooked. Good piece about the bigger picture on healthcare demand and spending from @sallygainsbury.bsky.social
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Ben Franklin @bjafranklin.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Prompted by the government's recent Plan for Neighbourhoods and @iconeighbours.bsky.social interim report, I wrote a short piece reflecting on the challenges people face in my neighbourhood and how policy can respond.
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Jo Bibby @jobibby.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Cuts to welfare won’t solve the working age health challenge. Coverage of new @healthfoundation.bsky.social report in todays @theguardian.com It’s not enough to reform welfare - there must be more support for people in work but in ill health www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
More support for people in ill health to stay in work ‘could save UK £1bn’
Commission for Healthier Working Lives warns against cutting benefits and calls for proactive route for 8m affected
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Ben Franklin @bjafranklin.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
An alternative way forward. Well done Tom Clark for this piece. The crisis facing us is more acute and existential than financial crisis or pandemic. Austerity and destitution is not the way to respond as we rearm for the dangerous years ahead.
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Ben Franklin @bjafranklin.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
Quick thread on today's commitment to £1.5bn for neighbourhood renewal channeling John Prescott's New Deal for Communities of the 2000s. www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...
mirror.co.uk
Rayner rolls out £1.5billion pot to boost 75 neighbourhoods - see list of areas
A total of 75 areas will each receive up to £20million in funding over the next decade to help revive high streets, youth clubs, parks and libraries, the government said
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Ben Franklin @bjafranklin.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Nice piece from my colleague @tanyasingh99.bsky.social . New shiny sectors are important, but can't forget about lower paid sectors too in understanding our productivity malaise and spatial inequalities.
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Ben Franklin @bjafranklin.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Good piece by the great @drodrik.bsky.social on the competing factions and unholy alliances in the Trump administration.
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Peter Foster @pmdfoster.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
The mad merry-go-round of spending on stop-gap accommodation for homeless. Up 80% in a year. Huge waste of money that isn’t fixing the problem. New report out from LSE and @crisis-uk.bsky.social reported in @financialtimes.com w @amyborrett.ft.com @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social on.ft.com/43d3q9U
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Tanya Singh @tanyasingh99.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
The UK's falling fertility rates and ageing population need proactive thinking now—waiting until we reach East Asia's situation isn't an option. Great to have contributed to this @smfthinktank.bsky.social collection, which makes a strong progressive case for action.
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Diane Coyle @dianecoyle1859.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Not sure how often this link works for free, but here is my latest article, 'The Right Kind of Growth for Everyone': academic.oup.com/cjres/articl...
academic.oup.com
The right kind of growth for everyone: policy challenges during the digital and green transformations
Abstract. The UK, like other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) economies, has experienced a dismal decade and a half since the
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Adam Briggs @admbriggs.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
The details of the 2025/26 PH grant allocations are now available, including the £200m uplift announced first thing this morning. However, the grant value is still 26% lower per person in real terms than 2015/16. Short 🧵 on why today's uplift is important and why it needs to be just the start. 1/
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Jennifer Williams @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
Wrote about whether Labour has a plan for regional growth, after a speech last week in which the most eye catching headlines were all in the south east on.ft.com/3EnEmCR
on.ft.com
Does Labour have a plan for regional growth?
[FREE TO READ] Rachel Reeves’ proposals have drawn criticism for their focus on the south-east and the scarcity of northern projects
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Ben Franklin @bjafranklin.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Useful piece seeking to do the impossible - putting some numbers on the impact of Trump's tariffs and some historical precedent inc. William McKinley, who imposed a whopping 49.5 per cent tariff in 1890!
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The Institute for Fiscal Studies @theifs.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
NEW: 2025–26 will continue the trend of substantial above-inflation increases in funding for English councils, but their costs have also been outpacing inflation. Read Kate Ogden's response to the final England local government finance settlement: ifs.org.uk/articles/ifs...
Quote from IFS Senior Research Economist Kate Ogden: "2025–26 will continue the trend of substantial above-inflation increases in funding for English councils. Unfortunately, their costs have also been outpacing inflation, and with a tighter outlook for funding from central government looming from 2026–27 onwards, tackling the demand and cost drivers impacting councils’ budgets is becoming increasingly urgent."
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
Like other economists I'm being asked to comment on Trump tariffs. We should do so - it's our job. But first we should make the point stated eloquently here by @alanbeattie.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/c26b...
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Giles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
I can be as critical as anyone of the government's occasionally muddled message on growth but Look! At! This! Chart!! Anything they've done pales next to this GIGANTIC UNFORCED ERROR COMMITTED IN 2016! (fagpacket maths follows) on.ft.com/4hzyvbJ
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Louise Woodruff @louisewoodruff.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Luke Charters MP at PMQs today raising improving paternity leave and sharing new @jrf-uk.bsky.social and @centrepropolicy.bsky.social modelling which shows increasing statutory paternity leave to 6 weeks (with pay at 90% of earnings) could result in economic gains of £2.6bn in the near term.
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Luke Charters MP @lukecharters.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
At PMQs today, I’ll be outlining the economic opportunities we can create by improving paternity leave. This is about ensuring dads across the UK can play a meaningful part in their children’s lives while delivering an extra £2.6bn annually of economic growth.
buff.ly
Improving Paternity Leave Provisions Could Boost The Economy By £2.6bn
Expanding the statutory level of paternity leave for fathers could deliver £2.6bn of long-term growth to the UK economy, according to new research.
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Abby Jitendra @abbyabhaya.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Growth alone won't tackle poverty but poverty reduction measures generate growth - like a paternity pay system which helps mums care less and work more. With @centrepropolicy.bsky.social we've estimated the growth impacts could be big. Government should be acting now.
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Ben Franklin @bjafranklin.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Important piece in House Magazine on the economic value of increasing paternity leave. Pleased to have supported this vital @jrf-uk.bsky.social research.
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Ben Franklin @bjafranklin.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
Good piece re Labour's approach to growth.
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Ben Franklin @bjafranklin.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
Nice piece summarising recent theories of economic growth adopted by different chancellors and current apparent lack of coherence. But is there a compelling grand theory of everything, or is less dogmatic but evidence based pragmatism the sensible path forward?
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Ben Franklin @bjafranklin.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
Lots of media focus on autumn budget as cause of rising UK gilt yields. But this largely misses the point - expectations of stagflation at home and abroad are causing rising borrowing costs for many countries:
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Ben Franklin @bjafranklin.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
Good thread re social care reform - not another commission. And let's not forget social care pressures manifest themselves in higher NHS pressures at high cost. Fixing social care is critical to enabling a more preventive healthcare system.
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Ben Franklin @bjafranklin.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
Great piece from Annabel Smith on yesterday's devo White Paper. A pragmatic first step in providing additional powers, and joined up budgets, but the proof will be in how we can deliver in every community across the country.
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Ben Franklin @bjafranklin.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
Useful piece from the OBR about their modelling of health improvements on economic outcomes articles.obr.uk/scenarios-fo...
articles.obr.uk
Scenarios for the impact of better or worse health on the public finances
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Ben Franklin @bjafranklin.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
If you've not read it yet, this is a nice piece from my colleague Tanya about delivering successful missions. It was published on the eve of the Prime Minister's speech. Very pertinent as govt. rightly seeks to drive forward a public service reform agenda to deliver the missions.
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Jon Will Chambers @jonchambers.co.uk · 03/12/2024
Great new special episode of The Power Test looking at 6 months of the government and what next to really change Britain - recorded live at @centrepropolicy.bsky.social's Inclusive Growth Conference with @samfr.bsky.social @ayeshahazarika.bsky.social @claire-ainsley.bsky.social @dhnnjyn.bsky.social
thepowertest.substack.com
Can you feel it? Labour's big task
Recorded live at the Centre for Progressive Policy’s Inclusive Growth Conference on 28th November, this special episode The Power Test looks at where we are six months into the new Labour government a...
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Jennifer Williams @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
A big read from me: How England’s growing army of mayors are being deployed in the drive for growth (featuring a fair few unanswered questions) on.ft.com/3Vk4tAd
on.ft.com
Can England’s new breed of mayors help fix its left-behind regions?
[FREE TO READ] Westminster sees local figureheads as a new response to old challenges, but they will need resources and real power in key areas
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Growth and Reform Network @growthandreform.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
Yesterday, at CPP's annual Inclusive Growth Conference, we were pleased to welcome Devolution Minister Jim McMahon OBE MP (@jimmcmahon.co.uk), to deliver a keynote speech. On the same day, the government announced an overhaul of council funding to deliver better outcomes. 🧵1/4
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Ben Franklin @bjafranklin.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
It was brilliant to host you at this year's conference! Brilliant insights into the govts. vision for working with places to drive forward the govts. missions. Even in tough economic times, transformation is possible.
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Jim McMahon MP @jimmcmahon.co.uk · 28/11/2024
Great to speak at the Centre for Progressive Policy conference today on the important of delivering the governments missions, wider and deeper devolution, rebuilding local government and reforming public services. Working as partners in power we will transform the country for the better.
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Growth and Reform Network @growthandreform.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
We kicked off #IGConf24 with powerful opening thoughts from Ayesha Hazarika and CPP’s Interim CEO @bjafranklin.bsky.social, reflecting on a critical mission for growth.
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Grace Hetherington @gchetherington.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
Always exciting to see the beautiful branding IRL for @centrepropolicy.bsky.social #IGConf24! Today’s the day - come and say hi if you’ll be here.
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
We have published our response to the government's consultation on the industrial strategy Green Paper, Invest 2035. Full thing downloadable in this short blog from me, which focusses on some of the areas govt should go much bigger on: www.progressive-policy.net/publications...
progressive-policy.net
Setting the right priorities for the UK’s Industrial Strategy
CPP responds to the government's industrial strategy Green Paper.
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Ben Franklin @bjafranklin.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
With the devo white paper imminent, a great time to have the minister speaking about this govt's vision for growth and reform.
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