As the local election results came in, one voter asked why she had voted Reform, said ‘Labour’s just gone back on all its promises’. It seems that, although much of what the government is doing is popular, Labour has failed to convince voters that they are actually pursuing their promises. And some in the media, and especially in Reform, have been happy to use some difficult decisions to create a narrative that Labour has abandoned its values.
There have certainly been some unpopular decisions – and some missteps – but there has also been a great deal of activity in pursuit of the things which the ‘Reform curious’ believe in. But the media like drama, personalities and the ups and downs of party fortunes more than the dull behind-the-scenes work of government. And real change takes time.
Keeping promises?
A useful summary comes from the independent Full Fact factchecking team. They have been monitoring the government’s performance. From the 300 plus promises in Labour’s 2024 manifesto they have taken 54 of those Labour said were most important.
So far, they find a fairly positive picture, with three quarters of them on course (11 achieved, 13 on track, 16 in progress). Eight are classified as ‘wait and see’. But three are ‘off track’ and three are shown as ‘unclear/disputed’. Labour will argue, for example, that increasing Employers’ National Insurance is not breaking their promise not to ‘increase taxes on working people’, but many don’t see it like that.
But people are often unaware of this, and we at East Anglia Bylines have been trying to help fill the gap. We have already reported on Labour’s legislative programme. Here we are offering an account of some of the things which may have passed below the radar.
Living standards
Living standards regularly tops the polls of issues voters care about, but improving them involves long-term economic policies, and progress is not always evident to voters. Slowing inflation may be a real achievement, but people still experience prices rising.
Labour’s decisions to raise the minimum wage for three million low-paid workers and to retain the triple lock on the state pension, mean that most of the poorest are now a little better off. Average wages have been rising faster than inflation, though many will be hit by rising fuel costs and council taxes. The decision to implement the Pay Review Board’s recommendations for the public sector may also help recruitment and the quality of public services in the long term.
Reducing child poverty was one of the achievements of the last Labour government and a new Child Poverty Taskforce is to publish a 10-year-strategy shortly.
However, the decision to link the winter fuel allowance to other benefit rates did penalise a group of pensioners earning just above the new threshold.
Health and social care
In the mid 2010s, international comparisons showed the NHS performing better than services in comparable countries, but since then the service has been struggling with the loss of European staff after Brexit and the impact of Covid. And public confidence is at an all-time low. Settling the junior doctors’ strike has made some impact on restoring services, but there are still major issues.
A ‘Change NHS’ consultation, launched in October to seek views on NHS reform, attracted 220,000 responses from people within the service and the general public. This feedback is to inform a new 10-year plan for the NHS for publication before the summer.
In the meantime, NHS England reports that 3.1 million more NHS appointments have been delivered since the election. Hospital waiting lists have fallen for six consecutive months despite a record level of A&E admissions, and new cancer diagnosis targets are being met.
One key strategy is to find ways of delivering more health services locally to reduce the numbers needing expensive hospital care. An additional £80mn has been invested in the Advice and Guidance scheme which provides specialist support to GPs. As part of its plan to recruit another 1000 GPs, the government has also changed funding regulations, which were preventing GP practices from recruiting new GPs.
Housing
The country suffers from a chronic shortage of housing, and a key policy is a massive expansion of housing. Following a major consultation, the government has published its plans which include new housing targets for local authorities and funding to recruit more planners.
A ‘New Towns Taskforce’ has been created to prepare plans for the next generation of new towns. These would allow coherent integrated planning, rather than simply expanding existing settlements which puts pressure on transport and other services. Local authorities were invited to propose possible sites for developments of 10,000+ homes. An interim report was published in February and a final report, with a list of potential sites, is expected this summer.
Borders and immigration
Polling regularly shows high levels of concern about immigration, though some suggest that this is more about irregular arrivals and asylum delays than net migration itself. A new Border Security Command has been created and funded with a budget of £75mn, to coordinate the work of all agencies pursuing organised crime gangs.
Since the election, 24,000 people whose asylum claims have failed have been returned to their home countries: the highest number for eight years.
Environment
The climate crisis clearly matters and 80% of voters support the government’s plans, including its net zero target, though they may differ about how to achieve it, and the right are keen to claim that the government’s plans are wasteful, impractical and damaging for the environment.
In September, 131 new green energy projects were approved – the largest number ever – with capacity of 9.6 gigawatts in total. This includes offshore and floating wind, tidal and solar projects, and the two largest windfarms in Europe. However, there is public resistance to some infrastructure required to connect windfarms to the grid, and to the use of agricultural land for solar farms.
A Flood Resilience Taskforce has been created. Ministers from four departments and representatives from a dozen interested organisations will advise ministers on flood warning, flood recovery and insurance issues.
Finally
Space constraints make this inevitably a selective account. We may well not approve of everything the government is doing, but it is clearly not the case that they are ‘doing nothing’. Much of it is popular, and it is certainly not reversing all its promises.
We will have more to report on these and other topics over the coming months.
