Net-Zero Transition News

Starmer's Swift Start: A Week in the Life of the new Labour Government

Written by Matt Houlsby, Managing Director, Net-Zero Transition

It feels like much more than a week since the country headed to the polls, thanks to the rapid pace at which the Starmer administration has begun enacting its campaign promises. While many announcements are simply the execution of pre-election pledges, it's evident that after fourteen years in opposition, Labour is eager to hit the ground running. So, what is the state of play after the first week of this new government?

The people

Starmer has appointed a largely as-expected Cabinet, with Emily Thornberry, former Shadow Attorney General, the only deviation from shadow roles becoming Secretaries of State (barring lower-level appointments resulting from lost seats). At more junior levels, the government has been more creative, including through the interesting and positive appointments of experts, largely through Lords appointments (it turns out we have not, as a public, had enough of experts after all). Patrick Vallance is, of course, a former Chief Scientific Advisor; the new railways minister, Lord Hendy, is chairman of Network Rail and a transport expert; and James Timpson is a creative and popular appointment as prisons minister, known for employing a workforce that includes 10% former prisoners and is now aiming to address the critical issue of prison overcrowding.

Landing the bad news early

Timpson’s appointment signals Labour’s willingness to pile the blame on their Conservative predecessors for likely future (and imminent) problems. Prison overcrowding, as well as the risk of universities and local councils going bust, water bills skyrocketing, and the NHS imploding are all on new-Chief of Staff Sue Gray’s “crisis list.” These crises are real, and Labour will no doubt be held responsible for whichever actually happen because there are no easy answers to any of them. We will be hearing about Labour’s “difficult inheritance” for a long time to come.

Setting out their stall

Labour has embraced a truism in recent years that Tony Blair “wasted his first term.” Whilst debatable, the idea and the certainty that no government’s honeymoon period lasts long, has led to a flurry of early announcements. We should expect that pace to continue for the next few weeks, including in terms of planned legislation.

Rachel Reeves, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, underlined her closeness to Starmer and central role (as with any chancellor) in government planning with the first real announcements, on Monday. Reintroducing housing targets and removing the de facto block on onshore wind were the key elements, speaking to central election campaign pledges. Jonny Reynolds, the Business Secretary, convened a roundtable of business leaders yesterday, doubling down on Labour’s pre-election pro-business messaging. Ed Miliband also outlined his priorities, though these were very much a repeat of existing Labour talking points. Louise Haigh has talked up the (not very imminent) nationalisation of the railways, another pre-election pledge that is popular, particular with core Labour voters.

National Wealth Fund & Mission Boards

In addition to some of the more expected announcements, Labour has in places gone further than immediately anticipated. What is new, and important, is the very rapid movement on the National Wealth Fund, and the appointment of Chris Stark, former Climate Change Committee CEO to lead “mission control to deliver a clean power network by 2030”, delivering more election pledges under Labour’s five missions.

The NWF will be one of the main vehicles for funding Labour’s positive story in government. Sensibly avoiding creating too much new architecture, the fund will be allocated through the UK Infrastructure Bank and will be working closely with the Green Finance Institute on the detail.

Stark's appointment is sensible, given his reputation as a seasoned and respected bureaucrat at the Climate Change Committee. However, the specifics of his role in "leading a new control centre to turbocharge" the 2030 goal remain unclear. We will closely monitor how this initiative develops and whether this model will be adopted for delivering Labour’s other "missions." While sub-bodies or advisory groups may offer opportunities for influence, the details are currently lacking. Real decision-making power will presumably continue to rest with Miliband, Reeves, and Starmer, which is both natural and democratically necessary. The tension between ambitious departmental spending plans, not least in energy, and the Reeves/Starmer commitment to maintaining fiscal discipline is likely to be a recurring theme in this government.

The bigger political picture

The Parliamentary Labour Party are, for now, delighted to be in office. Fourteen years in opposition has that effect. Labour’s huge majority will make the committee system less hard-hitting, and Starmer will surely have few concerns on passing legislation. However, there are now many hundreds of bright, ambitious Labour MPs who will not have a great deal to do, which will inevitably cause issues if not carefully managed.

Tony Blair has been surprisingly present, “advising” Starmer in a Times op-ed to set out a vision. That speaks to ongoing concerns that Starmer takes his lack of ideology to a fault. The five Labour Missions are the vision, it seems, but Labour’s problem is that the answers to all the missions are almost certain to be extremely expensive, and policy solutions complicated. This is particularly true of immigration, where Labour is politically vulnerable, having got rid of Sunak’s Rwanda scheme without setting out an alternative.

But there are only so many announcements the government can make without passing legislation, which will take time. The fiscal realities are unchanged. Whether Labour can deliver enough ideas, fast enough, to keep a relatively shallow electoral coalition together will be its essential test.

×

Search madano.com