«Andy Burnham inherits a lot of problems and unresolved issues from the Starmer government.»
And a lot if not most of those issues were inherited from the previous 14 years of Conservative government.
Which points to the biggest advantage of Reform UK and Greens: thei record of government is empty so voters cannot blame them.
«Here is a quick tour through just some of them.»
Ah but most are just "ordinary administration". The Conservatives and New Labour have not lost 60-80% of their voters because of failing at "ordinary administration".
«And that’s before they face any of these difficult decisions. Good luck everyone!»
The real issue the government and the political class face is this one and none of the political parties is remotely addressing this (but the "deep state" have looked at it):
"I work as a sysadmin in a small financial organization in one of the economically deprived countries in Africa. Work is good and not too demanding but the only problem is the pay. I am a fairy experienced professional, I have about 2 years experience in systems administration and bachelor's degree in Computer Science. I get around $172 a month after subtracting employee taxes [probably $200 before taxes]. Life here is not very expensive, living costs like rent, food and transport cost around $114 a month. It leaves me with just over $50 to spare. This is what most people are getting when they start off in any IT career by the way( sysadmin, developers etc...)."
An important "detail" of this quote is the global market wage of $200/month for a skilled STEM graduate with some experience; that means that the wages of 90-95% of UK workers are grossly unsustainable in the global labour market.
But the most important "detail" of the quote above is "living costs like rent, food and transport cost around $114 a month" because if the same were true in the UK then UK worker wages could be competitive with those of the global labour market.
So the big problem that all UK governments have failed to overtly address is that property prices and business profits depend on a large mass of buyers whose purchasing power from wages is grossly unsustainable, and property and business business owners are the core constituencies of all major parties.
The Conservatives lost 60-80% of their voters because in 2022 property prices largely flattened putting their "Middle England" voters in the situation where the vast majority of their capital is yielding zero, and New Labour lost 60-80% of their voters in part because their core voters are also "Middle England" voters and some others of their voters are starting to feel more and more the harsh competition from global labor market workers.
Add to that what he'll do about any rioting we'll have if there's another Belfast/Southport/Southampton level event (maybe that should be 'when' not 'if'). Starmer really started tanking after Southport.
"Rachel Reeves confirmed in last year’s budget that the current bands of income tax will remain in place until April 3031." I think 2031 would be a long time, but another 1000 years beyond that?
Seriously, I think Neil's post brings out some of the problems the government has inherited and often created or promoted. One can only see it ending badly.
The biggest laugh of the week so far was when I was watching Newsnight on Monday night and Nick Watt, reporting live, mentioned that Angela Eagle and Miatta Fahnbulleh were leaving 10 Downing Street having just been appointed to the Cabinet. They could be seen walking away in the background. About 30 seconds later they were walking back in the opposite direction - it turned out they'd been going the wrong way. Symbolic?
Daunting, but so much else to cover. I don't think you had housing, energy policy or the water industry. Nor most of the foreign policy agenda - relations with Europe? - in the capable hands of the new Foreign Secretary 😬
Thanks Neil. An objectively described and extremely daunting list. Just one small comment - I do think it’s misleading to describe the Chagos cost as £35bn. That’s over 100 years! He doesn’t need to find funds for that yet.
«Andy Burnham inherits a lot of problems and unresolved issues from the Starmer government.»
And a lot if not most of those issues were inherited from the previous 14 years of Conservative government.
Which points to the biggest advantage of Reform UK and Greens: thei record of government is empty so voters cannot blame them.
«Here is a quick tour through just some of them.»
Ah but most are just "ordinary administration". The Conservatives and New Labour have not lost 60-80% of their voters because of failing at "ordinary administration".
«And that’s before they face any of these difficult decisions. Good luck everyone!»
The real issue the government and the political class face is this one and none of the political parties is remotely addressing this (but the "deep state" have looked at it):
https://old.reddit.com/r/sysadminjobs/comments/1gltmn3/systems_administrator_salary/
"I work as a sysadmin in a small financial organization in one of the economically deprived countries in Africa. Work is good and not too demanding but the only problem is the pay. I am a fairy experienced professional, I have about 2 years experience in systems administration and bachelor's degree in Computer Science. I get around $172 a month after subtracting employee taxes [probably $200 before taxes]. Life here is not very expensive, living costs like rent, food and transport cost around $114 a month. It leaves me with just over $50 to spare. This is what most people are getting when they start off in any IT career by the way( sysadmin, developers etc...)."
An important "detail" of this quote is the global market wage of $200/month for a skilled STEM graduate with some experience; that means that the wages of 90-95% of UK workers are grossly unsustainable in the global labour market.
But the most important "detail" of the quote above is "living costs like rent, food and transport cost around $114 a month" because if the same were true in the UK then UK worker wages could be competitive with those of the global labour market.
So the big problem that all UK governments have failed to overtly address is that property prices and business profits depend on a large mass of buyers whose purchasing power from wages is grossly unsustainable, and property and business business owners are the core constituencies of all major parties.
The Conservatives lost 60-80% of their voters because in 2022 property prices largely flattened putting their "Middle England" voters in the situation where the vast majority of their capital is yielding zero, and New Labour lost 60-80% of their voters in part because their core voters are also "Middle England" voters and some others of their voters are starting to feel more and more the harsh competition from global labor market workers.
«putting their "Middle England" voters in the situation where the vast majority of their capital is yielding zero»
https://jwmason.org/slackwire/tag/john-bull-can-stand-many-things-but-he-cannot-stand-two-per-cent/page/2/
«the nineteenth-century saying, quoted by Bagehot, that ‘John Bull can stand many things, but he cannot stand 2 per cent.'»
Add to that what he'll do about any rioting we'll have if there's another Belfast/Southport/Southampton level event (maybe that should be 'when' not 'if'). Starmer really started tanking after Southport.
"Rachel Reeves confirmed in last year’s budget that the current bands of income tax will remain in place until April 3031." I think 2031 would be a long time, but another 1000 years beyond that?
Seriously, I think Neil's post brings out some of the problems the government has inherited and often created or promoted. One can only see it ending badly.
The biggest laugh of the week so far was when I was watching Newsnight on Monday night and Nick Watt, reporting live, mentioned that Angela Eagle and Miatta Fahnbulleh were leaving 10 Downing Street having just been appointed to the Cabinet. They could be seen walking away in the background. About 30 seconds later they were walking back in the opposite direction - it turned out they'd been going the wrong way. Symbolic?
Daunting, but so much else to cover. I don't think you had housing, energy policy or the water industry. Nor most of the foreign policy agenda - relations with Europe? - in the capable hands of the new Foreign Secretary 😬
Thanks Neil. An objectively described and extremely daunting list. Just one small comment - I do think it’s misleading to describe the Chagos cost as £35bn. That’s over 100 years! He doesn’t need to find funds for that yet.