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A Programme for Effective Government

Pledges have to work in practice.

This will be a busy autumn for politics. Next week sees the crucial referendum on Scottish independence. All the parties are gearing up for party conference season and then preparing the campaign promises that they will put before the British people ahead of May’s general election. To win over hearts and minds, those promises need to sound good and be credible. But if parties want to make a difference in government, they must start preparing now so that their pledges work in practice.

New polling carried out for the Institute for Government shows just how little faith voters have in politicians’ policy pronouncements. Just 11% believe parties keep their election promises. Few have confidence that parties know how to pay for or implement their policies. It is against this backdrop that the Institute is today publishing our Programme for Effective Government. Based on our work over the last five years, the Programme aims to give the next government – whoever they are – practical advice on how to prepare for government and get things done when in power. While they have very different analyses and solutions all of the major parties know that if they form a government (or part of a government) next May they will need to reduce the deficit, grow the economy, tackle long term challenges, run better public services and deal with an increasingly complex political landscape. Our Programme for Effective Government suggests how they could do so more effectively:
  • Reduce the deficit. Few doubt that spending throughout the 2015 parliament will be tight. So parties should be wary of making spending commitments that they cannot keep in government. In government there is a real need to rethink the spending review process. Hurried settlements and haggling between departments and the Treasury won’t cut it this time. The next review should build in more planning at the outset, cover a longer time period (even the full five years), incentivise cross-departmental coordination, and encourage those who run services to innovate rather than responding to change mandated by Whitehall.
  • Achieve sustained growth. Parties are pledging to deliver better infrastructure, decentralise powers for economic growth and pursue a ‘sleeves rolled-up active industrial strategy’. To do so they will need more stability and better informed debate about contentious infrastructure projects to avoid the indecision, public anguish and uncertainty that have characterised debates about HS2 and airport capacity in the South East. This can be achieved through lasting forums and institutions like those used in Australia and France. If they are serious about decentralising for growth, parties must make clear manifesto commitments for which tax and spend powers they will devolve – history shows that general commitments aren’t enough.
  • Address long term challenges. Whether it’s energy security, demographic change or social cohesion, politicians know they must tackle complex, long-term policy challenges now to avoid crises further down the line. Long term planning gets squeezed out by day-to-day politics, so the next government should consider special commissions or units. To be effective, these need strong ministerial backing, good use of evidence co-operation between departments and to engage widely, as the Turner Commission into pensions reform did.
  • Improve public services. With ongoing demands for quality services politicians know they must improve efficiency in healthcare, education and other services. Given the huge changes we’ve seen recently in the NHS and in welfare the next government must approach major reforms cautiously. It can also focus on frontline process improvements and fixing the problems in broken and opaque public service markets to make existing services work better.
  • Govern when power is widely spread. Ministers don’t quite have the power they might expect, as the Scotland debate has rather ruthlessly exposed. The next government will have to get things done in an environment where power is spread between devolved nations, local areas, with the EU and – potentially – between different parties if the election results in no overall majority. They will need better protocols and more co-operative, collaborative ways of working.
To achieve these goals parties must take governing seriously. Our polling shows that this matters to the public – voters want politicians who are professional, who think things through and focus on the long term. The 2015 parliament could be the chance for politicians to show that they can live up to voters’ expectations and deliver in government. We will be discussing the Programme for Effective Government at the three main party conferences with leading politicians and hope that you can join us. A Programme for Effective Government from Institute for Government on Vimeo. Please see individual conference schedules for full details and speakers:
  • Labour Party Conference: Monday 22nd September, 17:30 – 19:00, Central 4, Manchester Central (secure zone).
  • Conservative Party Conference: Tuesday 30 September, 10:00 – 11:30, ConservativeHome Marquee, Birmingham (secure zone).
  • Liberal Democrat Party Conference: Monday 6 October, 09:30 – 10:30, Room: Castle 3, Crowne Plaza, Glasgow (secure zone).
Publisher
Institute for Government

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