POLICE, CRIME, SENTENCING AND COURTS BILL: MYTH AND REALITY
Many of the criticisms of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill are misplaced or overblown, argues John Larkin QC, former Attorney General for Northern Ireland and Senior Fellow at Policy Exchange, in a new paper on the myths and realities surrounding the Bill, following its third reading in the House of Commons.

In a Foreword to the paper, Peter Clarke CVO OBE QPM, former Head of Counter-Terrorism Command at New Scotland Yard, writes: "The ability to assemble and protest peacefully must be protected as a fundamentally important right. The Bill achieves this. Secondly, significantly more protection must be given to the rights of all other citizens to go about their daily lives without suffering disproportionate and severe levels of disruption." Read his Foreword, republished by The Spectator, and the report.

ADJUSTING THE NORTHERN IRELAND PROTOCOL
The Government will update Parliament on "finding the necessary adjustments" to the Northern Ireland Protocol before the summer recess later this month, Rt Hon Lord Frost CMG, Minister of State, announced at a Policy Exchange event yesterday with Rt Hon Brandon Lewis CBE MP, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Lord Frost stressed that “there are no deadlines here” and that he still believes the UK and EU can reach an agreement but added that "all options remain on the table for us".

Rewatch the conversation, which was chaired by Dean Godson, Director of Policy Exchange, and read coverage of the event in Politico and the BBC.

CARBON DIVIDENDS: GOVERNMENT CONSIDERING MAJOR POLICY EXCHANGE PROPOSAL
Recommendations in line with Policy Exchange’s 2018 report, The Future of Carbon Pricing, are being considered by the Government, according to the front page of The Times. Plans for an annual dividend paid directly to families to offset the cost of future carbon taxes are under consideration, reflecting Policy Exchange's own recommendation for the revenues from a UK carbon tax to be distributed to all citizens as a "carbon dividend".
 
Read The Times front page story and Policy Exchange’s 2018 report, The Future of Carbon Pricing.

POLICY EXCHANGE’S JUDICIAL POWER PROJECT CITED IN PARLIAMENT
"Professor Ekins, of the Judicial Power Project attached to the think-tank Policy Exchange, is a brilliant legal mind. We will pay close attention to his arguments," argued Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, in a debate in Parliament this week on the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill. In closing the debate, Chloe Smith MP, Minister for the Constitution and Devolution, also quoted Sir Stephen Laws' KCB QC (Hon), former First Parliamentary Council and Senior Fellow at Policy Exchange's Judicial Power Project, evidence to the Joint Committee on the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act.  

Research by Professor Ekins, Head of the Judicial Power Project at Policy Exchange, and by Sir Stephen Laws, which has highlighted the flaws in the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, can be found here. Read the debate in Hansard.

POLICY EXCHANGE’S BRITAIN IN THE WORLD PROJECT CITED IN PARLIAMENT
Viscount Trenchard highlighted the work of Stephen Booth, Head of the Britain in the World Project at Policy Exchange, in a debate in the House of Lords on the UK Commonwealth Trading Relationship yesterday. He specifically highlighted that Stephen Booth has "written about the positive results from the Prime Minister's recent summit with Narendra Modi." Viscount Trenchard was referring to a ConservativeHome article by Stephen Booth on the UK-India summit in May this year.

Further research on post-Brexit trading opportunities by Policy Exchange's Britain in the World Project can be found here. Read the debate in Hansard.

NO TO 'ABSOLUTE ZERO' EMISSIONS
Greta Thunberg’s calls for 'Absolute Zero' carbon emissions ignores the reality of life and is bizarrely luddite, according to Benedict McAleenan, Senior Adviser, Energy & Environment at Policy Exchange, in an article for ConservativeHome. The solution instead should be Net Zero, achieved through the use of ‘Negative Emissions Technologies’. Read his article here.