How many ministers does it take to deliver a speech on efficiency savings? | John Crace
Keir Starmer says he loves civil servants so much he is abolishing NHS England to give them more time to do other thingsCall it Project Chainsaw. It usually takes a government a couple of years or so to blame the government for stopping it from achieving what it wants to do. Keir Starmer has got there in eight months. There again, most governments have a clear plan when they get into office, so maybe it takes them longer to notice. With a few honourable exceptions, Labour never had that vision – all their focus had been on winning the election – so maybe without the distraction of having a plan that was being blocked, it took them less time to blame the government for being the problem.Here things took a further turn to the meta. How many people does it take to deliver a speech on cutting the size of the state and making efficiency savings? There appears to be no upper limit. Because it felt as if we had been drip fed most of the speech over the previous four days. So much so that for much of its duration it felt as if you already knew it word for word. Ministers need to be careful what they ask for when they talk of making efficiencies. Continue reading...
admin
Keir Starmer says he loves civil servants so much he is abolishing NHS England to give them more time to do other things
Call it Project Chainsaw. It usually takes a government a couple of years or so to blame the government for stopping it from achieving what it wants to do. Keir Starmer has got there in eight months. There again, most governments have a clear plan when they get into office, so maybe it takes them longer to notice. With a few honourable exceptions, Labour never had that vision – all their focus had been on winning the election – so maybe without the distraction of having a plan that was being blocked, it took them less time to blame the government for being the problem.
Here things took a further turn to the meta. How many people does it take to deliver a speech on cutting the size of the state and making efficiency savings? There appears to be no upper limit. Because it felt as if we had been drip fed most of the speech over the previous four days. So much so that for much of its duration it felt as if you already knew it word for word. Ministers need to be careful what they ask for when they talk of making efficiencies. Continue reading...
