No Time To Waste
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Sir Keir Starmer walked into Downing Street on Friday 5 July with a landslide government majority of 174 and a working majority of 181 – saying “the work of change begins – immediately”.
The new Prime Minister is acutely conscious that the public are impatient for change – it is no accident that both Starmer and his new Chancellor Rachel Reeves have repeated there is “No time to waste”.
But delivering on the promise of change will not be easy. Standing outside Number Ten, on the morning of his victory, Starmer warned as much, saying that “changing a country is not like flicking a switch”. Seven weeks on, in his speech in the Downing Street rose garden, he repeated that “change would not happen overnight”.
In part, this wariness draws on the experience of Sir Tony Blair, who was frustrated by the speed of delivery in his first term. Blair discovered the hard way, both that “national success is not a matter of pushing buttons and pulling levers” and that “when you arrive in No. 10 and pull on the levers of power, you discover they are not connected to anything!”
But more than this, Starmer’s warnings that things will take time recognises the key political challenge facing Labour: delivering when things are difficult. The Government has inherited a difficult economic situation – the imminent Budget and Spending Review are expected to result in both tax rises and spending cuts – which severely curtails their room for manoeuvre. Yet the public has entrusted Labour with power on a promise of better times ahead.
Labour is acutely aware that their hopes of a second term depend on them squaring the circle. With voter behaviour increasingly volatile, and trust in government fragile, they must deliver on their promises. They hope that by persuading the public the Conservative Party left a dismal inheritance, by being clear about their objectives (‘Mission-driven government’) and relentlessly focussing on delivering against them, they can begin to rebuild trust and win again.
We hope this report serves as an early guide as you consider how your organisation will work with the new Government. And, of course, we’re here to help and discuss our insights in more detail as you do.