Could street votes be the key to unlocking the UK’s housing crisis? Our new paper with @britishprogress.org explores how ministers could turn to residents to help create thousands of new homes.

What if the residents of a street could collectively decide to build more homes on it - and share directly in the benefits?

That's street votes. In our new paper with @labourtogether.bsky.social we set out how community-led street votes could help Steve Reed build 1.5 million new homes.

There is nothing leftwing about nationalising Thames Water — Labour Together Those of us on the left should ignore the tempting siren calls from Zack Polanski to nationalise Thames Water. If we actually care about fixing our rivers and keeping bills low, it’s much more progressive to make privatisation work.

I know nationalising Thames Water sounds appealing, especially if you're on the left.

But in a blog post today I argue it's actually the least progressive option available.

If we care about clean rivers and lower bills, we need to make privatisation work. Here's my argument: 1/6

This is really good to see and a key recommendation from the paper I wrote on decentralisation a while back.

www.labourtogether.uk/all-reports/...

Speech text from link in next post

Fantastic to see @rthonwesstreeting.bsky.social creating deputy mayors for health to join up the NHS with other services in an area - starting with @andyburnham.bsky.social in GM and Oliver Coppard in South Yorkshire.

This takes forward something that I have long thought was a good idea.

We've got a new game that puts you in the shoes of a council leader. Try to win re-election and avoid bankruptcy - it's difficult...

I built a game to demonstrate one of the UK’s big political problems. Check it out.

This is a *fantastic* way of making a point.

Fixing the shop front of the state — Labour Together The contract between councils and residents has broken down. People pay more council tax every year and get less out. This paper argues for a big bang reform: nationalise the funding of adult social c...

The pressures you face in the game aren’t hypothetical.

@danmead.bsky.social ’s new Labour Together paper, Fixing the shop front of the state, sets out why councils are being squeezed and what needs to change.

Read it here: www.labourtogether.uk/all-reports/...

Council Simulation — Labour Together

We’ve built an interactive game to show what the pressure of adult social care looks like in practice. In Run the Council, you take charge of a fictional council for four years. Can you run ‘Northfield Council’ amongst mounting financial pressures? Play here: www.labourtogether.uk/council-sim

Fixing the shop front of the state — Labour Together The contract between councils and residents has broken down. People pay more council tax every year and get less out. This paper argues for a big bang reform: nationalise the funding of adult social c...

I wrote this paper because too many people feel like they’re paying more and getting less from local government.

Council tax keeps going up, but the services people actually see: bins, potholes, parks, libraries, street cleaning. Too often feel like they’re getting worse.

Local government finances are in trouble. Council tax is outdated and regressive. Social care is underfunded.

But council tax reform sits in the “here be dragons” bit of British politics, since it contributed to Thatcher's downfall 36 years ago. But @danmead.bsky.social has a solution! 1/

A quote from the Bloomberg article, " The government should not accept any proposal from L&VW that waters down or offers wiggle room on pollution targets," said Dan Mead economics adviser from the think tank Labour Together

Dan Mead our Economics Adviser is quoted in Bloomberg today with his reaction to Thames Water's latest proposal.

Our previous report on Thames Water:
www.labourtogether.uk/all-reports/...

Bloomberg piece: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Cap energy prices, raise taxes — Labour Together The conventional wisdom in Whitehall is that we should "wait and see" before doing anything about rising energy prices, and then only help with "targeted measures” for the most vulnerable people. That...

Rising energy prices need more than 'wait and see.'

@jameshowat.bsky.social sets out the case for capping prices at pre-war levels, a temporary income tax rise, and capping welfare, pension and wage uplifts at 2% to break the inflationary cycle.
labourtogether.uk/blog/cap-energy-prices-raise-taxes

Statements from the chair of Labour Together's board, Baroness Sally Morgan, and CEO, Alison Phillips:

Build the rail! Save the snails! — Labour Together Why does British infrastructure cost so much? This paper, by economist Dan Davies, argues that Britain’s adversarial planning system forces developers to gold-plate solutions to hypothetical problems....

Terrific report on that by @dsquareddigest.bsky.social for Labour Together, this:

Policy Unit Roles — Labour Together Labour Together is hiring Policy Unit rules. Apply now to join the team.

We're hiring for our Policy Unit.

If you love rigorous policy work, political strategy and making the case for how to build a better Britain, we want to hear from you. Roles are at Senior Adviser and Director level.

Apply here: tinyurl.com/4xsk7vc6

Closing date: 14th Jan

Yesterday, we put out a report on the most important issues to voters.

We know that immigration now tops the traditional most important issues question (see below from @yougov.co.uk).

But that doesn't tell the full story.

Here is a rundown of the experiments we did to test this out (A THREAD):

I found this so interesting. We talk about polling results endlessly but rarely discuss how we ask the questions. This salience vs importance question is fascinating.

'Bread, circuses, and polling errors: Are we truly measuring what matters?' - LabourList Pollsters who ask questions that add nuance are rewarded with a richer look at the public’s outlook argues Labour Together's Calum Weir.

As immigration dominates the brief this morning, here’s my two cents on the salience vs. the importance of the issue:

labourlist.org/2025/11/immi...

(Full report linked below - Many thanks to @emmaburnell.bsky.social!!)

The UK has very few mass transit systems compared to peers

The map below shows how far behind France and Germany we are in mass transit. In France, every place with over 150,000 people has some form of tram or metro.

But if mayoral areas can 'become builders' as @tracybrabinmayorwy.bsky.social puts it in the foreword, we can turn this around.

🧵

1/9

Great lineup for the final day of Labour party conference!

Featuring Chris Ward, Peter Kyle, Darren Jones in convo with Beth Rigby, Liz Kendall, Sarah Edwards, Jonathan Reynolds, and Rachel Reeves.

📍All events will take place in Arena Room Aire (*except as noted).

At ‘How Broken is the Social Contract – and How Do We Fix It?’ fringe from @togethercoalition.bsky.social @labourtogether.bsky.social
Brendan Cox opens, describing firm foundations of tolerance and trust in uk society; alongside worrying trends of rising dissatisfaction, prejudice & division.

Piece Hall in Halifax

Three statements of local ambition stand in Halifax, West Yorkshire: the Town Hall, the Borough Market and the Piece Hall. Such monuments of civic pride still bear the names of farsighted local leaders from past generations.

🧵

1/13

The worst possible message emerging in British politics is "We'll tolerate jobless serial criminals if, and only if, they are being racist".

The North East, Yorkshire and Humber and North West have the highest rates of premature mortality by local authority area across England.

There are clear inequalities in life expectancy and child poverty across the country, particularly affecting the North.

See the data below from @healthfoundation.bsky.social showing premature mortality by local authority area and region.

1/3

Aire Park in Leeds. Trees with a blue sky and buildings in the background.

Parks and playgrounds are integral to places, allowing people to relax, children to play and more. Hard to imagine NYC without Central Park, or Ilkley without its moor! This builds on a historic legacy of Victorian era council developing them for the good of their communities.

Short 🧵

1/3

What has London’s Bakerloo line got to do with the government’s ability to invest in the North?

Put simply, if we let London raise more money from high land values to pay for its infrastructure, this frees up more government spending for the rest of the country.

Read below to see detail 👇

This is how we pay for the Bakerloo Line extension One weird trick can extend the Tube, level up the north and make the Treasury happy.

This is how we pay for the Bakerloo Line extension FREE TO READ!)

takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/bakerloo-e...

The 1985 Transport Act was one of the biggest policy failures of recent decades. Nothing better describes this than the chart below by @jburnmurdoch.ft.com.

A combination of new powers and funding through 'bus franchising' is looking to reverse this.