LONDON – It could not come soon enough. After 14 years, Britain at last has a government motivated by re-energising a sluggish economy rather than channelling lucrative state contracts to wealthy friends, according to The Observer.
A government keen to close the gap between young people from different backgrounds rather than impoverishing children. And one that aims to restore the NHS to its world-leading status rather than neglecting it and leaving people unable to get the care they need.
Standing on the steps of Downing Street on Friday, prime minister Keir Starmer delivered a message of hope, pledging to remind the country that politics can be a force for good, and government can change people’s lives for the better.
It was a decisive and deserved victory: the largest majority any government has secured since 1997, just shy of that achieved by Tony Blair.
Starmer has promised change. “We will be judged on actions, not words,” he said at his first press conference as prime minister. That change is evident in his initial decisions. In appointing his cabinet, Starmer has almost without exception moved shadow cabinet ministers into their government briefs, a sign of his commitment to expertise and stability rather than big jobs as favours for allies.
Labour has been elected on a platform to pursue five missions: to boost economic growth to the fastest in the G7, to transition the UK to clean energy by 2030, to transform the NHS, to halve serious and violent crime, and to remove barriers to opportunity for children and young people. Starmer emphasised that he would personally chair the delivery boards responsible for each of them.
They would be ambitious at the best of times. After more than a decade of Tory neglect of infrastructure and public services, worsened by the external shocks of a pandemic and an energy price spike, they will be very difficult to deliver.
Labour must make the most of its huge mandate and transform its electoral strategy into a governing strategy.
Alongside economic stability, it needs to go beyond its manifesto commitments to lay the foundations that can address Britain’s productivity crisis.
Labour should commit to a programme of public investment in affordable housing for rent for young people and young families. This will not only boost jobs and growth but will help tackle the housing crisis.
Finally, Labour will never make the NHS fit for the future without ensuring all older people can access the personal care they need to live dignified lives.
A majority of over 170 means Labour has no excuse for not confronting head-on the challenge of reforming social care that politicians have avoided for decades.
