While there are over four years to the next general election, the Coalition sometimes seems to be hurtling through its agenda at breakneck speed. I’ve been looking at the Agreement again and it would seem that almost all the legislation will be through within a year or so. This raises a few questions – including what they will do from 2012 onwards, and perhaps more importantly for now, are they taking on too much?
There are good reasons to just get on with things. People need certainty. If something is wrong, then fix it, don’t just sit and look at it. Change needs time to be enacted and to bed in. If you’re going to pull a plaster off, it’s better to do it fast and in one go rather than prolong the pain.
There are also reasons to spread out your changes. People don’t like change. Some things are more urgent than others. Too much change can be overwhelming. Too much haste can mean things get missed or aren’t done properly.
Fundamentally however, I’d always err on the side of getting on with it. There are many many things that need to change in Britain: our education system is falling behind, our health system is creaking under the pressure, our economy is crying out for sustainable, real investment and the way our welfare and benefits system fails the most needy and disincentivises those who can provide for themselves damages us all. That’s why we have many Cabinet ministers – they each have their area to work in and they each have their plans, which are brought together in Cabinet to make a coherent whole.
People are not stupid. They know that these changes are necessary (though I still argue that the coalition is failing to get its message across. A simple change would be for every policy to have three key ways in which it will make life better – and for every single coalition MP to know those off by heart). They also need to know that the government is doing things because they are right – so while consultation and some adjustment to circumstances is necessary, it’s imperative that the coalition maintain its course.
Politics really works on momentum. That’s why political people love polls (though they all deny it).A determination to see things through – the difficult as well as the easier things – is the flipside of momentum. While there seems to be an age until the next general election, there is a lot to get through to the delivery stage – and I am in no doubt: these changes have to be producing visible improvements in peoples’ lives by then for either party in the coalition to have a successful 2015.
Related posts:
Fiona Melville on @PlatformTen: What will the Coalition do after 2012? http://is.gd/o6wvqc
Fiona, some very good points. However, the policy programme is taking a shotgun approach with no over-arching “narrative” that links various reforms. Additionally, with so much being done without properly explaining each step, there is the risk that the coalition will not focus on implementing these changes effectively and efficiently. Finally, this debate can be see as a quantity vs. quality which many people would prefer if we focus on the quality as opposed to the quantity.
Personally, I think the coalition lacks a narrative that explains why it is doing so much so quickly. They get bogged down in being reactive rather than proactive. As a consequence, people are left confused at what the Coalition wants to achieve and will not feel like a partner in the process.
Morning Sean
Couldn’t agree more about the overarching narrative thing (see here and here for starters) – but as a starting point they SURELY ought to be able to say 3 good things about each policy. Then No 10 Comms team stitches all that together into narrative…
I also agree to an extent on the risk of just getting the legislation through and not focusing on implementation – but, as I say in the piece, that’s why we HAVE Cabinet ministers, ministers of state, PUS and so on.
Having been quite critical of the lack of spoken narrative, I do actually think, though, that the programme itself is quite coherent – as I wrote at New Year, the main policies all push in the direction of greater choice/control/responsibility for individuals. It’s just a shame that no-one is articulating that very well…
I agree that the policies are heading in broadly the same direction but there needs to be someone who is prepared to front the press to push for this. Nick Clegg was doing a very good job in very tough circumstances but we should expect that every Cabinet member would have the gumption to go out and make the case.
I am doubtful that the communications team will wake up (I hope they do) because if the General Election was anything to do by then their history suggests a scattergun approach would be used. Let’s all hope that I am wrong in my views on No. 10 and the communications and policy teams start working together to get the Coalition on the front foot.
Oh, I agree. The govt needs to make its case… I know that the governing bit is the important part, and I think it’s a good thing that they are not just crazily focused on a single day’s headlines, and I don’t want a government that spends all its time spinning and none delivering. But there’s a balance, and given that they are doing some tough stuff, they need to say more about the positive bits as well.
It’s not just down to blogs like us to do it! Even though – of course – we can all share some of the responsibility…
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There is such imbedded hostility to change most of the time, you have to do it – right or wrong – or it simply won’t happen. It gets bogged down in committees and inquiries…
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