I can’t believe I am saying this but the sooner a General Election the better. Despite the agony of mediocrities trying to grab our attention for weeks on end, it is needed.
This blog’s prediction is that unless the polls are appalling for Labour, Burnham will call one in the Spring. A smaller majority is no bad thing for him or the country. Even an alliance with the LibDems would be fine.
Why? Burnham can get nothing done if he straps himself as he has done so far to the 2024 Labour manifesto with no radical changes to how we collect taxes and the rates at which they are applied.
This was clearly demonstrated by yesterday’s nothing budget. So, dull it barely grabbed the headlines this morning. Modest tweaks to energy subsidies, minor tweaks to the minimum wage with a nod at its impact on youth unemployment. A few pounds of giveaways funded by a small increase in tax on banks.
Barely worth listening to…
Burnham floats major initiatives on social care, cutting benefits, devolution, a new approach to the EU, even rejoining it. But no solutions yet. Chancellor Healey would have fired himself as Defence Secretary with the absence of detail on how to fund increased defence expenditure. Nationalisation and re-industrialisation are also on the cards, and we await Burnham’s radical 10 year plan. Yet nothing can be done without his own mandate.
The public will tire as they do with all moderates nowadays if the current government under new leadership cannot affect rapid, meaningful change.
The impotence of Burnham’s administration was clearly on show yesterday. A steady as she goes budget is not sufficient when voters face no increase in their standard of living for the foreseeable future. Martin Wolf put it succinctly in today’s FT, “Healey fiddles whilst the UK stagnates.” A General Election can’t come soon enough.
