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A Decade of National Renewal

A Decade of National Renewal

Our programme of work exploring how we can usher in a decade of national renewal.

A quarter of the way into this century, change is in the air. People want out of the status quo. But into what? The radical right is not just gaining in the battle of votes but in the battle of ideas: about who the state is for, how it should be governed, its relationship to markets and the world, and where the threats are coming from. The progressive engine of ideas seems to have run out of steam: we seem nervous of making moral arguments and disconnected from people’s lives. When we don’t have new ideas, we reach back for old ones or imitate others. Neither of these approaches will work at a moment of great change and challenge. This project marks a new chapter in IPPR’s history of helping to renew the progressive project.

The Decade of National Renewal programme is a major initiative to rethink progressive politics in a time of great change and challenge. We’re convening thinkers and practitioners across disciplines and inviting external voices to develop imaginative but practical answers to the big questions of our time. We are trying to offer a sense of what progressives could stand for in the future, not just the recent past. The danger for progressives is they are perceived to be defending the status quo, while the radical right offers a route out of it. The collapse of conventional ideas makes this a time of great political openness: we should be meeting that with imagination, not intimidation.

Latest media

“Progressives are losing ground not only in the battle of votes but the battle of ideas against the populist radical right. They are stealing the left’s claim as the go-to people to change society. Progressive parties are seen as defenders of the status quo instead of vehicles of change.

“This project is trying to find the thing that replaces the Third Way. We will offer a sense of what progressive parties could stand for in the future, not the past: a new left for a new age.”

Dr Parth Patel

Explore our work

  1. A lighthouse shines a light into a dark seascape at the edge of a cliff on the coast of Wales

    Britain's strategy for a decade of danger: Our nation, our continent, our world

    Britain's foreign policy needs a grand strategy that clearly defines the country’s strategy for security, growth and migration.

  2. Reclaiming Britain - a response

    The IPPR report Reclaiming Britain, authored by Parth Patel and Nick Garland, marks an important development in the world of progressive think tanks. 
  3. A close-up photo of a house flying an England flag from an upstairs window

    Reclaiming Britain: The nation against ethno-nationalism

    How can progressives respond to the increasing ethnonationalist narratives of the political right?
  4. A female carer pushes an older female wheelchair user along a path in a residential area on a sunny day

    Who will care?: How can we meet the scale of the care challenge?

    Progressives need to see a better future for care: as a functioning, reliable and affordable public service.
  5. Southport high street on a sunny day. A colourful selection of people out shopping and some planters full of flowers

    Places to come together: Rebuilding local solidarities against the far right

    A discussion paper on the fight for local investment and why government must create, facilitate and maintain spaces where solidarity might thrive.