Government by alphabet agency

Government by alphabet agency spells disaster

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has well and truly hit the ground running less than a month since the general election. The King’s Speech has put in motion Labour’s flagship economic policies which are going to transform Britain, for better or for worse.

It would be hyperbolic to suggest there is going to be a paradigm shift in economic thinking, but the Mariana Mazzucato disciples are in charge, and the free marketeers, if there were any left in 10 and 11 Downing Street, are out.

It means we are going to see government led by five missions: economic growth, making Britain a clean energy superpower, taking back our streets, breaking down barriers to opportunity and building an NHS fit for the future.

All these missions are to be underpinned by a new partnership model, one between the state and business which believes the Government must drive and incentivise the private sector to achieve state-set goals and industrial strategies. Although some of Labour’s missions fall short of of pure Mazzucatoism, it is clear a new economic dogma is driving policy making.

It’s a short piece but well worth reading as a reminder that this government already has failure baked into its ideology. Popcorn and a robust sense of humour seem to be the best response.

Although it is still early days, the Conservative Party in opposition will have to decide whether to tinker around the edges or apply a sledgehammer to Reeves’ alphabet agencies and economic thinking. Will the NWF, GBR, GBE, play a role in the Conservatives’ vision for the future? If they do, a new period of economic groupthink is upon us. If not, we must start to hold Labour and their missions to the fire, and judge them on whether they meet their own, admittedly nebulous, goals.

This will be a consequential government, and the challenge to change the political landscape once Reeves and Starmer have done their work could be much greater than we currently think.