A week or so ago, our current government passed 6 months in office. So how well have they done? I’ve definitely missed things - if you think that I have missed something particularly important maybe send me some mail, I would be interested to hear your point of view. Now lets get into it.
Update 30/03/25: My preferred email is now tom@tombrandis.uk.
The good things
I’m going to start with all the best things that they have achieved.
- There is going to be more funding for the NHS. Hopefully this will reverse the trend of worsening care or at least stop it collapsing. I’ve seen more people opting for private care and this creates a two-tier system for health that is quite worrying so this is definitely a step in the right direction.
- The lifting of the effective ban (where even one objection could stop a project) on onshore wind farms should encourage new energy sources to be more green.
- Not doing anything absolutely stupid that crashes the economy.
- Real wages rising - this is more of an outcome than anything specific that they have done but definitely a good indicator. Things that are announced but haven’t started yet:
- Free breakfast clubs will be rolled out in primary schools starting later this year, representing a return to supporting young people.
- ‘Warm homes’ grants starting in April to help low-income households access, better, lower carbon heating. Some other bills that have passed the House of Commons haven’t made it through Lords yet:
- The Renters Rights Bill which is set to provide better protections to renters, which should make life better for the more than a third of the UK who don’t own their home.
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Removing undemocratic hereditary peers from the House of Lords (hopefully they don’t stop it from being passed).
Not so good things
- Whilst they promised to ban new oil and gas in the North Sea, this might not happen, I guess we’ll see.
- Narrowing of eligibility for winter fuel payments, a scheme to help pensioners with paying for heating during the cold winter months. Ten million fewer people where given it this winter, almost certainly leading to preventable deaths.
- Continued corruption with Starmer accepting huge amounts of gifts and corporate lobbying getting even worse.
- Support of Israel despite war crimes and genocide in Gaza.
Conclusion
In the end despite the problems that I have with the current government they are still going in a direction that I like.