Keir Starmer Is To Blame For Failing Public Services, Says Think Tank
Starmer must urgently "get a grip" on public services (Alamy)
5 min read
The Prime Minister must “urgently get a grip” if Labour is to deliver real improvements to public services before the next election, according to a report by the Institute for Government (IfG).
The IfG states that while ministers and civil servants recognise the value of taking a cross-government approach, there has been "a lack of impetus for cross-departmental coordination" and "the absence of effective planning in opposition and strong leadership on public service reform from the Prime Minister".
While the think tank says Labour's cross-cutting vision for public service reform is welcome, it insists the principles "could and should have been developed before the election".
Despite concerns, the IfG said that the government has provided public services with "greater funding certainty", which will ultimately improve productivity.
The IfG’s verdict comes as the think tank concludes its latest iteration of the Public Services Performance Tracker, which provides an annual assessment of the state of public services.
The assessment focuses on the extent to which the government’s actions have addressed the underlying causes of poor performance in each public service.
While the report concedes that fixing the problems left by the previous administration was never going to be easy, it warns that any progress made on reforms “has been undermined by poor preparation in opposition and lack of coordination across government”.
“Ultimately, the buck for these failures stops with the Prime Minister. Starmer must urgently get a grip if Labour is to enter the next election having delivered tangible improvements to the services upon which the public depends,” it concludes.
Today’s report is the final judgement delivered by the IfG after a series of instalments in recent weeks, measuring the Labour government’s progress across nine services.
Overall, the IfG performance ratings find little to no progress on six public services.
The most damning grade has been handed down to Starmer’s progress on adult social care, with the IfG claiming that decisions made under the Labour administration have “exacerbated challenges”.
Justifying the judgment, the IfG said that reform of the service had been “largely ignored” and that “ending the care visa route without a workable solution for Fair Pay Agreements [which will set minimum standards for pay and terms and conditions] could cause workforce shortages”.
The Labour government announced that it would end the UK care worker immigration route as part of a wider effort to reduce net migration in May. Analysis by PoliticsHome in the aftermath revealed that councils in London face being the hardest hit by the closure.
More widely, the IfG said that Starmer had been "sensible" to attempt to reduce reliance on international recruitment, but "the speed at which it is trying to make this transition, particularly in adult social care, could exacerbate staffing problems in the short-term".
Elsewhere, health has received the verdict of "little progress" with both GPs and hospitals falling into this category.
On the former, the report states that there has been "progress on salaried GPs, but no steps taken to make partnership more attractive".
Meanwhile, on hospitals, the IfG concludes that the government has "set out high-level ambitions and reduced competing priorities" but there has been no detail of implementation.
In schools, the IfG says that Labour has made "no progress", reaching the same conclusion as the police service and criminal courts.
However, in children's social care, the think tank states that there has been good progress made on the most important issues.
"The government also deserves credit for grasping the nettle on some of the most challenging long-term issues facing government, putting forward serious proposals for reform of local government finance, children’s social care and sentencing.
"Further proposals to address problems in SEND [special educational needs and disabilities] provision, homelessness and child poverty are expected in the coming months."
The IfG also claims that the government has acted and brought a measure of stability to public sector pay negotiations, overcrowding in prisons, failing local authorities and an NHS funding shortfall.
The IfG put forward several recommendations to improve the current outlook, including the establishment of a cross-cutting approach to public services; operationalise and scale up public service reform plans; develop deliverable workforce plans; and fix data problems and gaps.
Nick Davies, IfG programme director and report author, said: “Labour inherited public services stuck in a doom loop and fixing them was never going to be a single-term project. The government deserves credit for stabilising the worst crises and initiating some promising long-term reforms but its overall record to date adds up to less than the sum of its parts.
"The failure to properly prepare in opposition can’t be undone but if it acts quickly, the government can still deliver tangible improvements to public services over the rest of this parliament.”
A government spokesperson said: "We are already delivering real change for people across the UK, including cutting NHS waiting lists, launching free breakfast clubs for school children and starting a £5bn Pride in Place fund for local leaders to improve communities and deliver national renewal.
"This government is significantly increasing investment in public services. Day-to-day spending will be over £50bn higher every year by 2028-29 and we've increased capital investment by over £100bn over the next five years."
"We are also working with local partners and public service providers, who know their communities best, to deliver change across the UK."
