Economy and Industry
Class is developing new economic and industrial policies that promote growth instead of austerity and place fairness at the heart of economic strategy.
A number of projects are underway looking at active industrial policy and the role of the state, financial sector reform and regulation as well as a focus on developing a system of progressive taxation.
Projects
- Election 2015: What’s at stake?
- What Britain Needs - Conference 2014
- In the public interest: the role of the modern state
- Thomas Piketty - Capital in the Twenty-First Century
- A Social State for 2015
- An Active Government
- Growth not Austerity
- A Fair Economy
Publications
- Unlucky Dip: The Damaging Impacts of Online Gambling
- Work in 2021: A Tale of Two Economies
- Coronavirus and the Workers Emergency: Labour Market Realities 2020
- The Progressive Toolkit: A Guide to Talking About the Issues We Care About
- Tackling Inequality: The Role of Trade Unions
- Labour Market Realities: Workers On The Brink
- Autumn Budget Briefing 2017
- Fiscal Austerity to Economic Renewal
- Renewing Public Ownership: Constructing a Democratic Economy in the Twenty-First Century
- Spring Budget 2017 Briefing
- Briefing: Autumn Statement 2016
- Budget Briefing 2016
- Briefing: Spending Review 2015
- Briefing: the Government’s proposed new Trade Unions Bill
- The ‘budget surplus’ rule scam
- Briefing: The Queen’s Speech 2015
- Briefing: The Tax Lock
- The First 100 Days
- Briefing: Publicly-owned railways
- Briefing: Productivity
- Election 2015: What’s at stake for fairer tax?
- Election 2015: What’s at stake for work, pay and unions?
- The check-off system for union fees
- Trade unions and economic inequality
- Securing a decent deal for workers
- State intervention for wage-led development
- In the public interest
- Public services
- Renewing Public Ownership
- The importance of the labour movement in tackling inequality
- State and finance in financialised capitalism
- Without Social Europe there can be no Social Britain in our lifetime
- Why immigration is good for all of us
- Banking in the public interest
- BRIEFING: Bankers’ Bonuses
- Reconstruction after the Crisis: A Manifesto for Collective Bargaining
- Austerity Illusions and Debt Delusions
- Boom-time for legal loan sharks
- In Land Revenue
- Financing the Social State
- Towards a new tax consensus
- Fiscal austerity
- Rising inequality and financial crises
Blogs
- In the UK, a Two-Tier System is for Life, Not Just for COVID.
- Molly-Mae and the Myth of Meritocracy
- Britain Will Fail to Reduce Poverty Until It Tackles Inequality
- The Return of the State and an Agenda for Common Ownership
- Building back better? Not for the working class
- Close Tax Loopholes for the Rich and Powerful
- Second Lockdown Blues
- Wind Pledge Lacks Cash
- Too Little Too Late
- Mass unemployment still looms
- This cannot be the end for Covid support
- Boris Johnson Has Failed Miserably
- Post-Pandemic: Real Public Services
- ‘Not levelling-up’: Our Panel Reacts to the Budget 2020
- Can We Make Things Less Terrible?
- Labour’s Small Business Manifesto Assessed
- Tackling Excessive Pay
- Labour Laws Fit For The 21st Century
- Our Laws & Courts Are Stacked Against Workers
- We Can Win A Green Manufacturing Future Ourselves
- Making The Case For Public Investment
- Modern Day Slavery Rife In The UK
- The Case for Insourcing Public Contracts
- Flogging a Trojan Horse – Uber’s IPO
- The Great British Post Bank
- Where’s The Value in Social Care?
- Spring Statement Farce While Services Suffer
- New Habits For A New Economy
- No More Corporation Tax Cuts
- Labour Market Realities: Insecurity, Stress and Brexit
- Public Support Capping Pay Ratios To Curb Fat Cats
- The Fat Cat Diet: A progressive plan for wage fairness
- Brexit Uncertainity Already Hurting Workers and Public Services
- Let’s Talk About The Economy
- CLASS Panel Reacts to the 2018 Budget
- Unions Hold Key To Unlock Equality
- The Workers Outsourced Will Never Be Defeated
- Amazon Workers Across Europe Take On Jeff Bezos
- Return Water To Its Rightful Owners - The Public
- Government Ideological Obsession With Outsourcing Behind Carillion Collapse
- Labour Market Realities: Growing Precarity for Housing Workers
- Privatised Rail System Is Virgin On The Ridiculous
- Introducing the Progressive Economy Forum
- Deliveroo Riders Force Accident Cover but Gig Workers Still Exploited
- We March and Strike When Policy Suggestions Aren’t Enough
- First Carillion, Now Capita? We Need To Change How We Outsource
- Obsession Over Government Debt Is Bad for the Economy
- University Or Not, Young People Have It Stacked Against Them
- Bad Economics is Holding Britain Back
- The Problem With In-Work Poverty
- Women in the Workplace: Thoughts for International Women’s Day
- Fudging the funding on pay
- Labour Market Realities 2018: Workers on the Brink
- Can We Provide for 7 Billion People Without Wrecking the Planet?
- Brexit: What Is A Customs Union And Why Does It Matter?
- Assessing the UK Government’s Approach to Artificial Intelligence
- Labour Market Realities: Privatisation and the Railways
- “Too Little, Too Late” - Our Panel Respond to the Industrial Strategy White Paper
- ‘A Huge Disappointment’: Our Panel Reacts to the Budget 2017
- Making the UK a Good Place to Work: Why We Still Need Collective Bargaining
- Trouble in Paradise: Corporates Are Still One Step Ahead of Regulators
- No Rate Rise Without a Pay Rise
- How is Brexit Affecting Workplaces? An Interview with GMB’s Neil Foster
- Corporate Governance Reform: Business as Usual
- The Financial Crisis: What’s Changed Since August 2007?
- Q&A: Increasing Corporation Tax
- But Where Will the Money Come From? Q&A with Ann Pettifor
- Industrial Strategy and the Importance of Worker Voice
- Labour Market Realities: Public Sector Workers
- Spring Budget 2017: Our Panel Reacts
- Spring Budget 2017: Dr Faiza Shaheen Reacts
- Gender Equality Must Be at the Heart of the Budget
- Don’t Be Fooled - The Economy Isn’t Working For Everyone
- One Day Without Us: Why the UK Needs Migrants
- Labour Market Realities: February 2017
- Brexit White Paper: The Elephant in the Room
- Mayism and Trumponomics – A New Economic Order?
- What Have We Learned from May’s Brexit Speech?
- Where Next for the Labour Market? Interview with GMB on Uber
- A Dummies’ Guide to Tackling Inequality
- Autumn Statement 2016: Reactions from Our Panel
- The 2016 Autumn Statement: Tackling Inequality, or Business as Usual?
- Class Conference 2016: Where Do We Go from Here?
- The rise of zero hour contracts and what Sports Direct can teach us
- Fighting tax avoidance by big business: can we go it alone?
- Lloyds cuts 3,000 jobs: where’s the accountability?
- 4 reasons why negotiating new trade deals won’t be easy after Brexit
- Theresa May’s brand of inequality
- Brexit: What next?
- Brexit: The new class war?
- Queen’s Speech: response
- Putting inequality back on the centre-left agenda
- Brexit is not the answer to the new generation of free trade agreements
- Economic growth slows, and the problem is bigger than the EU Referendum
- The 2016 Rich List: Another sign that our economy is defunct
- Government U-turns on Trade Union Bill as peers threaten rebellion
- Promoting economic democracy in the twenty-first century
- The Panama Papers reveal deep problems at the heart of our economy
- It’s time to halt the UK’s great public asset boot sale and build Britain’s first social wealth fund
- The increase to the minimum wage should be welcomed, but the fight against inequality is being lost
Events
- Is the finance sector fit for purpose? With Yanis Varoufakis
- Election 2015: Glasgow - What’s at stake for work, pay and trade unions?
- Class Conference 2013: Leading the Debate
- Explaining the Economy from the Left
- Brexit: The Future of Our Economy - with Verso Books
- Does the EU work for working class people?
- Post-Election Public Debate
- Leeds - Defeating austerity, free trade deals and attacks on trade union rights
- Election 2015: Bristol - What’s at stake for fairer tax?
- Election 2015: Birmingham - What’s at stake for the economy?
- Employment Law after the election: what kind of laws do we want?
- TUC Congress 2014: Challenging Power, Raising Living Standards
- Labour Party Conference 2014: Wealth, Inequality and Power
- Eve of Gala Rally @ The Durham Miners’ Gala
- Costas Lapavitsas’s book launch: How to Change the Post-Crash Economy
- TUC Congress 2013: Reconstruction after the crisis: A Manifesto for Collective Bargaining
- Labour Party Conference 2013: Austerity and the Alternative
- Labour Party Conference 2013: Achieving a Social State
- A think tank for working people: Class Yorkshire Launch
- A think tank for working people: Class North West Launch
- GMB Congress 2013: Why is Class such an important GMB investment?
- Scottish Labour Party Conference 2013: Resisting cuts in welfare - the case for universalism
- Class Parliamentary Launch - Why Inequality Matters
- Labour Party Conference 2012: Equality - The Real Alternative
- TUC Congress 2012: Why Inequality Matters
- Class Launch Seminar: Towards 2015 - Strategies for Jobs and Growth
News and press releases
- No end in sight on UK wage squeeze as three quarters of workers expect to be poorer in 2018
- CLASS Statement on Budget 2017
- CLASS Factsheet: Excessive Pay Levy
- Press Release: Statement on CLASS’ Excessive Pay Levy Used in Labour Party Manifesto
- CLASS Statement on Spring Budget
- Class announces Faiza Shaheen as new Director
- Eminent economists denounce Osborne’s budget surplus plan
- 79 leading economists attack Osborne’s plans to entrench a permanent budget surplus
- Think tank says downgrade in growth forecasts is a response to the threat of further austerity
- PRESS RELEASE: Selling off Royal Mail is hugely counterproductive for the stability of the economy
- Leading progressives put forward far-reaching policies for the first 100 days of government
- Centre for Labour and Social Studies (Class) responds to Labour’s Youth Manifesto
- Centre for Labour and Social Studies (Class) responds to Cameron’s announcement on apprenticeships
- Centre for Labour and Social Studies (Class) responds to Labour’s non-dom announcement
- Academics condemn Coalition’s economic legacy
- Class responds to the launch of Labour’s new Work Manifesto
- Class responds to Ed Miliband’s speech launching Labour’s business manifesto
- Read all about the Class Election 2015 Series: What’s at stake?
- Class Conference 2014: The Film
- Class Conference 2014: The Photos
- Class Conference 2014: The Highlights
- New Class/YouGov poll finds 2 in 3 people want to cap executive salaries
- Centre for Labour and Social Studies (Class) responds to Eurostar sell off
- Think tank says privatisation of services has consistently led to lower outcomes
- Think tank says UK is “out of step” with the rest of the world by shunning public ownership
- Thomas Piketty to debate top advisor to Ed Miliband in parliament
- General Secretary of European TUC and lead MEP candidate call for renewed Social Europe
- Renowned economist calls for European Green New Deal to tackle Europe’s economic instability
- The government has done almost nothing to address the fundamental causes of the financial crisis
- New poll reveals nearly 4 in 5 Britons feel they are not personally benefitting from economic recove
- New Class-YouGov poll released today shows that most people are not benefitting from the recovery
- Class at conference season: Submit your events for our Progressive Guide to Labour Party Conference
- Class launches new policy library resource for trade unions and researchers
- Think tank calls for action against rip-off payday lenders
- Class holds North West launch & commits to giving working people in the UK a strong political voice
- Health inequalities widen as rising mortality and falling life expectancy buck long-term trends
- Class – Budget spokespeople
- Zoe Williams paper launches new Class series – A Social State for 2015
- Audio recordings from Class economics seminar now available
- British voters back Hollande’s anti-austerity agenda
