Zeichner A complete change in outlook is needed – country before party
AT last! So come July 4, the country gets the chance to cast judgement on almost fourteen years of Conservative chaos.
The charge-list is long – from the coalition years when George Osborne for the Conservatives and David Laws for the Liberal Democrats imposed an austerity regime from which our public services have never recovered.
Through the years of Theresa May failing to be ‘strong and stable’ to the Brexit chaos and lies from Boris Johnson.
Then the disastrous unelected and short-lived premiership of Liz Truss which crashed the economy and for which we are all still paying.
Finally reaching the sad spectacle of Rishi Sunak standing, sodden in the rain outside Downing Street, telling the nation that we have a choice – either him or Keir Starmer.
Last week I castigated him for failing to do right by the country and holding the election in May when it would normally be held.
I still think it should have been then – a July election dis-respects people in Scotland, where schools will already be on holiday and many will be away.
It is timed carefully to ensure that in university cities like Cambridge, many undergraduates will already have finished term and left the city.
But, most of all, it is timed to ensure that things don’t get any worse for the Conservatives over the next few months.
The Prime Minister says that he has confidence in his plan, and while it is welcome that inflation has finally fallen, experts predict that it will likely rise again over the next few months, meaning that punishing interest rates are unlikely to fall.
He clearly has little confidence that his promise to cut NHS waiting lists will happen over the summer, and as for those Rwanda plans, it seems that as the criminal gangs thrive, the boats keep coming.
So July 4 is the chance for people to pass judgement, and decide whether it is time for a change.
That is what Labour, and Keir Starmer, is offering.
Last week I wrote about the first six steps Keir has promised a Labour Government would take.
As he said, there is no quick fix to the mess the Tories have made of this country, but the ambition starts with those first steps.
First steps towards higher growth, an NHS back on its feet, secure borders, cheaper bills, safer streets and opportunities for children and young people.
But there is more – and it is a fundamental change, one putting public service and the national interest above narrow party interest.
At the final Prime Minister’s Questions of this Parliament on Wednesday, there were sobering exchanges over the infected blood scandal, just as in previous weeks there had been over the Post Office Horizon disaster.
As Keir Starmer pointed out, these problems aren’t new – Grenfell and Hillsborough are other recent examples when the views of those directly involved were just ignored for years.
A duty of public candour is needed, said the Labour leader, and a complete change in outlook from those in power. Country before party.
It is powerful stuff, about much more than who will promise to spend more or less money on this or that.
It is about completely changing the way politicians, and civil servants, go about their role.
I have always strongly believed in public services as a power for good, but public service is slightly different – and we absolutely need both.
Public services totally focused on the public good can be a powerful force for change, a change that the country sorely needs, in my view.
If you agree, you know what to do on July 4.
It is probably a now-or-never choice. Imagine waking up on the morning of July 5 and finding that the current crew are in charge for the next five years.
It doesn’t bear thinking about. Time for change.