23 May 2024

FT Opinion: An end to Britain’s uncertainty and drift

For too long, the UK has felt like a country adrift. Politics has been stalled by the fact that its government has seemed to be living on borrowed time. Investment decisions are not being made; difficult decisions are being ducked.

It is puzzling for a prime minister to call an election sooner than he has to, when his party is lagging so far behind in the opinion polls. Yet — even if this were not the main motivation behind Rishi Sunak’s move — it is in the country’s best interests that the uncertainty and drag are ended, and voters are given a choice at the ballot box.

The auguries for the outgoing government are dreadful. The Conservatives lag behind the opposition Labour party by almost 21 points in polling. They lost hundreds of council seats, and one of their only two metro mayors — despite his personal popularity — in local elections three weeks ago. Ministers hope a fall in inflation to 2.3 per cent, expectations of interest rate cuts, and incipient signs of growth picking up will support a narrative that a corner has been turned and the sunlit uplands can be glimpsed.

But with prices more than 20 per cent higher than in 2021 — one of the largest rises among rich countries — many voters are still squeezed. They feel little sense of an upturn. The vague promise that things might be a little better tomorrow is, moreover, remarkably thin gruel from a party in power for 14 years. Given the paucity of their record, the Conservatives will have to persuade the electorate they have answers to the key challenges facing the country — despite the scant evidence they have provided through much of the most recent parliament.

The election will be decided on which party voters feel has the more convincing plan to get the country moving, and rekindle the growth that is vital to raising living standards and funding severely stretched public services....

 more at FT

© FT plc