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George Bangham

@georgebangham.bsky.social
445 followers 232 following 29 posts

Head of Social Policy @neweconomics.bsky.social Ex HM Treasury/No10/Resolution Foundation

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Reposted by George Bangham
Tax Justice UK @taxjusticeuk.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
We’re at Labour Party Conference with @patmillsuk.bsky.social for our panel “The Wealth Tax Conversation”. Thanks to Anneliese Dodds MP for chairing and @georgebangham.bsky.social of @neweconomics.bsky.social, Stephen Kinsella and @arunadvani.bsky.social of @centaxuk.bsky.social for joining.
Panellists sit at a table
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George Bangham @georgebangham.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Vs. Help to Buy, this scheme would be better targeted towards lower-income households. But where will funding come from? Landing the PM’s pledge for record council housebuilding requires more grant funding for council homes: important that this isn’t diverted. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Andy Burnham announces new homes scheme for first-time buyers
Exclusive: Policy initiative for England will help more young people on to property ladder, prime minister tells Guardian
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Reposted by George Bangham
Neal Hudson @resi-analyst.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
My June 2025 FT column on Help to Buy giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
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George Bangham @georgebangham.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Bringing back Help to Buy would be a mistake. Yes, housebuilding volumes have slumped, but the way to revive them is to frontload funding for new council homes, not a demand subsidy that pushes prices up for all. New @neweconomics.bsky.social paper on this topic coming soon…
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George Bangham @georgebangham.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Dale Vince gets the first half right… Finally closing the gap between CGT and Income Tax at the Budget: a no-brainer. But tying this very good policy to calls for more Personal Allowance hikes: please spare us. www.telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/ca...
telegraph.co.uk
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Jo Michell @jomichell.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
We really need two new words to replace the profoundly ambiguous 'investment'. One means 'spend money in a way which increases productive capacity', the other means 'extract rent for wealth holders'. Can you guess which sense it is used in here?
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George Bangham @georgebangham.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Good news from DWP today, with a new grant to fix a small but important problem in the Universal Credit system: conditionality rules that disincentivise young people aged 16-19 from taking up apprenticeships that unlock well-paid work. @neweconomics.bsky.social highlighted this in a report in May
Screenshot of DWP press release: A new bursary, worth up to £4,500 per year per household, will remove a barrier that can otherwise discourage young people from taking up an apprenticeship, helping them build the skills and independence that lead to long-term, well-paid work.
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George Bangham @georgebangham.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Promising news. Extremely difficult to do this before 2029 though: even the mansion tax takes 2.5yrs (with a small number of properties). Is this policy credible if it takes more than one parliament to bring it in? inews.co.uk/news/politic...
inews.co.uk
Burnham actively looking to scrap council tax and stamp duty
The i Paper understands that the Government is considering two options for a replacement property tax, with more than 100 Labour MPs backing major reform
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Fantastic piece this. So many maddening bits where you go 'there's a really easy solve here!'
theguardian.com
Young, ambitious and out of work: ‘I’ve gone from Oxford to zero jobs. It’s a bit of a fall’
About 1 million 16- to 24-year-olds are not in employment, education or training – and the obstacles they face are bigger than ever. Those unemployed for a year or more explain how they are coping
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Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Point about Farage’s drift from xenophobia to outright racism is that the Tories wilfully threw open the Overton window - and Labour have refused to redraw the norms clearly. And now every tragedy will be forced into this frame and we have to keep fighting a rearguard action to condemn the rhetoric.
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New Economics Foundation @neweconomics.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
The Milburn review published today is warning of a 'lost generation' of young people not in work or education. But crucially it identifies that this is a systemic problem, not an issue of individual responsibility. @georgebangham.bsky.social responds.
Quote from George Bangham, head of social policy: When over 1 million young people are neither in employment, education nor training, this points to a system-wide failure. It’s refreshing to see the Milburn review identify this, and reject lazy tropes about this problem somehow being young people’s own responsibility. Most young people want to work, but too few jobs are available to them in many local areas, as NEF research has shown. Job vacancies are at their lowest level in 12 years, outside of the pandemic lockdowns – and young people are struggling more than others to land the few jobs available.
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George Bangham @georgebangham.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
First time since autumn 2013 that the number of 18-24 year-old NEETs surpasses 1 million. A sorry milestone and a system-wide failure. It’s refreshing to see the Milburn review identify this, and reject lazy tropes about this problem somehow being young people's own responsibility.
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Tony Yates @t0nyyates.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Not denying the scope for reform but 1) it’s essential, just and inevitable that some are going to get back far more than they contribute 2) the welfare system *is* sustainable already and it’s a libertarian trope that it is not. [Deleted and reposted due to confusing typo].
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Beth Stratford @bethstratford.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Finally, we have data to show vast majority of landlords earn supernormal returns: even with high interest rates, 63% outperform a 60:40 equity-gilt portfolio & 71% beat the broader real estate sector. Proud to have co-authored this with @autonomy-institute.bsky.social autonomy.work/portfolio/th...
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Generation Rent @generationrent.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Today is Cost of Rent Day. The point in the year when England’s renters have basically earned only for their landlord. In 2026, that’s until 11 May, over 4 months of wages or benefits gone on rent. High rents are driving people into poverty. Watch to find out more:
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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Michael Lewis's book The Fifth Risk is all about how the modern federal government was set up to reduce & eliminate a vast array of invisible problems, which it has done so well that it opened a door to wreckers who claim it did nothing, & are now making that lie true—with disastrous results
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George Bangham @georgebangham.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Interesting suggestion that HM Treasury might consider regulating private rents. Putting aside the obviously unwise one-year rent freeze suggested here, there’s several modern rent control systems to learn from like in Ireland, Scotland, Spain and France. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Rachel Reeves considering rent freeze to limit Iran war fallout
Exclusive: Sources say chancellor is examining exceptional measures to protect household budgets
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
Palantir put out a 22-point summary of their CEO's book The Technological Republic. It's pitched as a defence of the West, but if you read it through the VDA framework, verification, deliberation, accountability, what it's actually doing looks rather different. twitter-thread.com/t/2045574398...
Opening text of a thread by Palantir from X
Because we get asked a lot.

The Technological Republic, in brief.

1. Silicon Valley owes a moral debt to the country that made its rise possible. The engineering elite of Silicon Valley has an affirmative obligation to participate in the defense of the nation.

2. We must rebel against the tyranny of the apps. Is the iPhone our greatest creative if not crowning achievement as a civilization? The object has changed our lives, but it may also now be limiting and constraining our sense of the possible.

3. Free email is not enough. The decadence of a culture or civilization, and indeed its ruling class, will be forgiven only if that culture is capable of delivering economic growth and security for the public.

4. The limits of soft power, of soaring rhetoric alone, have been exposed. The ability of free and democratic societies to prevail requires something more than moral appeal. It requires hard power, and hard power in this century will be built on software.
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
Extremely normal and fine for a company to put this in a public statement
21. Some cultures have produced vital advances; others remain dysfunctional and regressive. All cultures are now equal. Criticism and value judgments are forbidden. Yet this new dogma glosses over the fact that certain cultures and indeed subcultures . . . have produced wonders. Others have proven middling, and worse, regressive and harmful.

22. We must resist the shallow temptation of a vacant and hollow pluralism. We, in America and more broadly the West, have for the past half century resisted defining national cultures in the name of inclusivity. But inclusion into what?
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George Bangham @georgebangham.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
“Lunch with George Clooney at Lake Como; a walk-on role in Star Wars; a Lamborghini blessed and signed by the late Pope Francis.” Some excellent stories about Omaze in this New Statesman piece by my colleague @hollies.bsky.social… with some reflections on what it says about our political economy.
newstatesman.com
Is Omaze too good to be true?
The property giveaway is just another facet of Britain's never ending housing crisis
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Tony Yates @t0nyyates.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
If the govt tried to shield incomes and demand entirely from the current cohort, rather than just redistribute, the BoE would find itself pushing back with higher rates, as, to repeat, the economy can't magic more supply to meet unchanged demand.
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Nye Cominetti @nyecominetti.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
I missed this: Govt published LPC's remit for the 2027 minimum wage rates on Monday (the rates coming in next month are already set). Main take-away is Govt wants a more cautious approach to the youth rates. It has dialed up the 'worry about employment' bit of the remit. www.gov.uk/government/p...
gov.uk
Low Pay Commission Remit 2026: National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage
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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Crikey (Source: reporting from the Tories' Spring Conference in Harrogate - www.thenewworld.co.uk/patience-whe...)
But Badenoch sees things in absolute terms and she has had enough of what she calls “separatism”. Her new Commission will tackle this perceived evil. It “will set out the culture that we want people to assimilate into. What we expect and what we will enforce”.

While that last word might come as a shock to sensitive souls, the Conservative leader relished it. “Conference, we are bringing enforcement back to this country,” she trilled. “We tried to be nice to everybody, avoided tough decisions and it didn’t work. No more.”
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 12/03/2026
“This technology disrupts humanities-trained—largely Democratic—voters, and makes their economic power less. And increases the economic power of vocationally trained, working-class, often male, working-class voters.” —Palantir CEO Alex Karp newrepublic.com/post/207693/...
newrepublic.com
Palantir CEO Makes Shocking Confession on Disrupting Democratic Power
They’re saying the quiet part out loud now.
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YouGov @yougov.co.uk · 09/03/2026
Opposition to the United States' military action against Iran has risen by 10pts among Britons over the last week Support: 25% (-3 from 2 March) Oppose: 59% (+10) yougov.com/en-gb/daily-...
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George Bangham @georgebangham.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
It's too early to know if the Iran war will lead to a 2022-style energy price shock. But in any case the Treasury should urgently build new infrastructure to support households with energy bills: it can't wait until crisis hits. I've sketched out some early thoughts open.substack.com/pub/georgeba...
open.substack.com
Now is the time to prepare for another energy price shock
The Iran war might UK energy bills to spike like in 2022, but in any case the Treasury should be preparing for a better response than last time
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
I love how Ipsos show the margin of error on their charts. Should be industry standard!
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Chris Giles @chrisgiles.ft.com · 04/03/2026
This is just the most incredible chart... if the UK government implements current policies on taxes and benefits, public debt is stable (contrary to what the OBR always mistakenly tells us) My column as.ft.com/r/e69f1407-e...
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New Economics Foundation @neweconomics.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
If the Iran war leads to a spike in energy prices, the government will have to intervene to support households who will struggle most with bill increases. NEF head of social policy @georgebangham.bsky.social says in response to the spring statement.
Quote from George Bangham, head of social policy: If the Iran war leads to an energy price shock in Britain, households and businesses won’t be able to afford the pain and the Treasury will have to step in to help. The government should immediately prioritise building a better crisis infrastructure for energy costs, that at the very least supports the most vulnerable households with big rises in energy bills.
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Legal C @legalclaret.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
To be fair to Mr Farage, stopping the people who won’t vote for you from voting is quite good election tactics. The rest of us need to to recognise this is the first step in delegitimising the election process. The “we did win this election” approach. /1
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
The real threat to democracy doesn't come from 'family voting'. It comes from the losing side refusing go accept they've lost
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New Economics Foundation @neweconomics.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
"It's unfair to blame people for not having jobs, when the jobs simply aren't available." @georgebangham.bsky.social talking about the benefits system and work on BBC One's Sunday Morning Live
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Toby Nangle @tobyn.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Where do parents find the time to parent? Less sleep, work and screens. Amazing chart feat. in @alphaville.ft.com Further Reading. homeeconomics.substack.com/p/where-do-p...
Difference in time use between working parents of small children vs working non parents. Areas above zero are activities parents do more of; areas below are what they give up. 

Compiled by analyzing the Census Bureau’s American Time Use Survey.

Analysis and chart by Aziz Sunderji, https://homeeconomics.substack.com/p/where-do-parents-find-the-time
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Karlin Lillington @klillington.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
And here is my story: ‘Absolute hell’: Irishman with valid US work permit held by Ice since September www.irishtimes.com/world/us/202...
irishtimes.com
‘Absolute hell’: Irishman with valid US work permit held by Ice since September
Seamus Culleton has been in a detention facility in Texas for nearly five months despite having no criminal record
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George Bangham @georgebangham.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Excited to join @neweconomics.bsky.social today as Head of Social Policy, focusing on living standards, housing, social security etc. (and also to start saying things online again, now I’m no longer a civil servant!). Please do get in touch if you’re interested in working together!
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