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Expert Roundtables: Insight Summary

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In 2025 we hosted four roundtable discussions in Glasgow, Cardiff, Newcastle and Belfast. These sessions brought together experts in academia, business, economics, government, public policy and the third sector to grapple with some of the big fiscal policy challenges we all face. This report summarises these discussions. 

  • Budgets and finance
  • Communities
  • Economy
  • Government and public services
  • Social justice
  • Carnegie UK
  • 29 September 2025
  • ISBN: ISBN 978-1-917536-02-8
  • 3 minute read

Overview

Ahead of these roundtables, we circulated a discussion paper produced with Carnegie UK Associate Eleanor Ryan. The paper set out broad tax and spend trends and projections for each part of the UK and highlighted relevant issues of current concern about our collective wellbeing, identified through our annual Life in the UK index.  

We also highlighted the concept of the social contract between citizens and the state in the UK as an important aspect of the debate about how governments could more effectively raise and spend public money in pursuit of policy outcomes. 

The roundtables explored common policy themes and successful approaches, bringing together learning and understanding from across the nations and jurisdictions of the UK. 

The following key themes emerged from the discussions: 

  • The social contract: There was widespread recognition from stakeholders that the current social contract between citizens and the state, in so far as any exists, feels under strain. Framing fiscal policy issues in the context of a social contract could prove useful to policymakers, but it is important to recognise the multiple social contracts that exist informally and operate between different levels of society.   
  • Optimism and vision: A central conclusion from the conversations we held was the necessity for governments at all levels to demonstrate a clear vision for the fiscal policies they seek to pursue. Doing so is seen as essential to restore optimism and hope among both policymakers and the public.  
  • Leadership and capability: There is a need for renewed confidence among decision makers to champion bold ideas in areas of tax and spend policymaking.  
  • Coherence and accountability: The importance, and current lack, of structural policy coherence and consistent accountability in decision-making across the UK was an important recurring theme from stakeholders.   
  • Enabling risk and local innovation: Risk aversion and structural barriers were cited regularly as impediments to innovation in fiscal policymaking. There is a need to create policy environments where responsible, evidence-informed risk-taking is accepted and encouraged.  

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