Government looking for a fight. Several fights.

Today we’ve seen two things that strongly suggest to me that Starmer & his strategists aren’t just hanging tough on controversial issues, they are positively looking for a fight.  Indeed, several.

Exhibit A: the NHS. Starmer, in today’s ‘NHS’ speech [1] -

… So hear me when I say this. No more money without reform. I am not prepared to see even more of your money spent … That isn’t just solved by more money – it’s solved by reform.

This was reinforced pugnaciously by Wes Streeting on all channels, and of course we are absolutely meant to cop the headline aggression. 

Exhibit B: Net Zero.  Chris Stark (of whom you may never have heard, he’s Ed Miliband’s “mission control” for Net Zero) at an event today - 

“The government is very clear that it will cost too much” [2] to put new Grid cables underground. On meeting the Net Zero goal he was “not pissing about” [3]

More ostentatious headline aggression.  This is all of a piece with blunt pre-election announcements that Starmer & Miliband intend to steamroller planning processes that might delay their fatuous schemes for 100% decarbonisation of electricity by 2030 (and new housing, too).  In this they are taking on a vast constituency of nimbies – ably represented in many cases by their Green and Labour MPs! – who are dead set against the countryside being covered by windfarms, solar farms and swathes of new Grid pylons.  (And new houses, too.)

Now Machiavelli, as we know, strongly advocated the new Prince carrying out his unpleasant measures very early in his new regime.  This isn’t just getting ‘em in, it’s positively relishing them; and it starts to make the Child Benefit Cap and the Winter Fuel Allowance look, not so much as avoidable early miss-steps, as part of the bar-room brawler’s “Oi’ll foight any t’ree of yus“.  Or thirty million, it seems.

BTW, Old Nick also advised that it was better to be feared than loved …  Hey, we can do the second part of that for you, Kier.

ND

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[1] In response to Lord Darzi – an NHS surgeon – publishing a report saying that the NHS needs, errr, a load of money.  Did someone say this is an “independent” report?   

[2] He’s not wrong about the cost, of course.

[3] In that case, sunshine, why not aggressively tell us what we all know to be true, that our electricity bills will be going up?