Peter Hourston
Former Research Assistant
All work
Fiscal rules in the UK since 1997
Fiscal rules are restrictions on fiscal policy set by a government to constrain its own decisions on spending and taxes.
Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is the UK’s official independent economic and fiscal forecaster.
Current UK fiscal rules
What are the government’s current fiscal rules and is it on track to meet them?
The art of the devolution deal
Too little attention has been paid to how devolution deals are negotiated and implemented and how Whitehall should support them.
Local elections: four things we learned
Peter Hourston looks beyond the headlines to identify four key takeaways from the 2023 local elections in England.
Sunak's little local difficulties and Starmer's big local victories
The Guardian’s Rafael Behr joins the podcast team to crunch the numbers and examine what the local election results mean for Sunak and Starmer.
Scottish government 2023/24 budget
The Scottish government’s annual budget allocates devolved spending in Scotland for the next financial year and sets some tax rates.
The levelling up white paper one year on: progress on devolution but big tests to come
The next month will be a crucial test of the government’s ability to deliver the levelling up white paper’s devolution vision.
Levelling up and innovation
A review on what innovation policies are likely to contribute to levelling up by increasing productivity in places outside of London and South East.
Levelling up and infrastructure policy
A review on what infrastructure policies are likely to contribute to levelling up by increasing productivity in places outside the South East.