Theresa May’s speech: big on ambition – but can she really deliver?

Theresa May might be the head of an incumbent government, but during her conference speech she emphasised change not continuity. She repeated her determination to make the break with Europe, but said that the referendum result was not just about EU membership – it reflected a deeper sense that the country did not always work for the majority, but rather for a privileged few. Her solutions are things we have heard about before over the last three months – a new industrial strategy supporting sectors including the creative industries, life sciences and aerospace; creating a more meritocratic society – starting with schools, including new grammars. On infrastructure investment, May reemphasised her commitment to High Speed 2 and hinted that she would be giving the go ahead to a third runway at Heathrow soon. Those are all quite big promises – though the conference was more restrained than usual in adding to the list. But now she has to show that she can deliver them. IfG polling suggests that only 4% of people think making big policy announcements should be a priority for politicians. But over 70% of people thought that being clear how politicians are going to deliver them was a priority. The Prime Minister needs to start giving us more detail on how she intends to deliver her domestic agenda soon. Those promises – on top of the manifesto she inherited from David Cameron – would be quite daunting in normal times. But the referendum has landed an enormous extra agenda item in her government’s in-tray. So the even bigger question is: will there be room for more domestic policy alongside Brexit? Our policy tracker shows how many decisions are already on hold. Social reform, industrial strategy and infrastructure investment are huge, complex and contested policy areas that require sustained investment and attention to get right. Finding the time will be a challenge for May as Brexit dominates her premiership. It might also require some adjustments to her leadership approach – May’s style is to hold decision making close, but making progress on a number of fronts with such a crowded agenda will require delegation and using the machinery of No 10 to full effect. And it is striking what was not mentioned. As any former minister can tell you, as much time in government is spent on managing ongoing challenges – or even crises – as on new ideas. None of the pressures on public services have gone away but none of them were mentioned in May’s speech – not the fact that the performance of key parts of the NHS, such as A&E, is still declining, not that teacher recruitment targets have been missed for the last four years, nor that prison assaults are at their highest in a decade. These pressures cannot be ignored for long and inevitably will take time away from new policy priorities. The Prime Minister has set out a vision that is far more ambitious and wide-ranging than simply delivering Brexit. At the moment, she is basking in conference applause. But she has raised expectations. She needs to move swiftly to put the plans and processes in place to deliver them.