What are the Right-Wing press and think tanks up to this week?

The big themes of the week

1. Immigration and asylum: keeping the pressure on

The asylum debate remains a major focus, with coverage of proposed accommodation for asylum seekers near Piddington and Bicester, residents’ concerns and calls for tougher action. The Daily Express framed local objections around whether women were being listened to, while the wider debate has included proposals from Reform UK to suspend the asylum system for five years.

2. Tax, spending and the case for a smaller state

With the Chancellor’s Budget approaching on 28 October, arguments about taxation, welfare and business costs are intensifying. The Sun has attacked the prospect of further tax rises and argued for welfare cuts, while business groups have called for changes to employer National Insurance to encourage recruitment.

3. Andy Burnham under sustained political attack

The Sun‘s 15 October editorial attacked Burnham over sluggish economic growth, welfare reform, his dealings with Manchester City executives and the prospect of tourist taxes. The Daily Mail has also pursued questions about his relationship with the club’s ownership. They are so ratteld by Labour’s improvement in the polls they’re doing all they can to smear him.

4. Culture-war issues remain part of the agenda

On 16 October, the Daily Mail led with criticism of government proposals to improve pupils’ speaking skills.

Rather than welcoming the improvement, promoted by Lucy Powell, which aims to reform the national curriculum so that verbal fluency and communication skills are embedded alongside traditional academic subjects, the Mail is having a meltdown.

5. The future of the Telegraph and media ownership

On 16 October, Reuters reported that the UK government had cleared Axel Springer’s planned acquisition of Telegraph Media Group from a further competition investigation. This is a significant development for the ownership of one of Britain’s most influential right-leaning newspaper groups.

Why it matters: newspaper ownership affects the long-term institutional landscape in which political arguments are produced. The immediate question is what the change means for editorial independence, newsroom priorities and the paper’s future direction.

The blogs, campaign groups and think tanks behind the headlines

The newspaper stories are only one part of the picture. Campaign organisations and policy institutes help develop the arguments, statistics and proposals that can subsequently enter political debate and media coverage.

TaxPayers’ Alliance — welfare and the public finances

The organisation’s recent output includes a report arguing that Britain’s fiscal problems are worse than those of the 1970s, a critique of tax rises and constituency-level analysis of benefit spending. Its 12 October material claimed benefit costs had risen faster than median pay in 502 of 526 constituencies across England and Wales.

The argument to watch: welfare spending is becoming unaffordable and tax increases risk undermining growth.

The questions to ask: which benefits are included, how the figures are calculated, whether higher spending reflects inflation or increased need, and how the proposed alternatives would affect household incomes.

Read: TaxPayers’ Alliance blog  · Fiscal policy report 

Migration Watch UK — immigration and border control

Campaign and research organisation

Migration Watch’s recent commentary has returned to the question of whether the post-Brexit immigration system has delivered meaningful control over migration. Its September analysis, Ten Years Since Brexit, We Still Have Not Taken Back Control, questions the record on immigration numbers.

The argument to watch: governments have failed to deliver the immigration controls promised after Brexit.

The questions to ask: are the figures about net migration, work visas, asylum applications or settlement? These measure different things, and a claim about one should not automatically be treated as a claim about all the others.

Read: Migration Watch UK blogs 

Policy Exchange — the policy development pipeline

Policy institute · Public services and the economy

Policy Exchange’s recent publications include The Rural Penalty, examining how NHS funding formulas affect rural and coastal communities, and Legislating for Candour?, published on 14 October. Its broader programme addresses productivity, housing, healthcare and regulatory reform.

The argument to watch: how institutional reform, changes to public-service delivery and economic restructuring might improve outcomes.

The questions to ask: what evidence supports each proposed reform, who gains or loses from it, and whether the analysis adequately accounts for regional inequalities.

This newsletter is produced with the assistance AI