Sir Keir Starmer, the current leader of the Labour party, has recently been vocal about tackling the UK’s long-term problems, even if it means addressing issues that were previously considered unsayable. For example, he has suggested that more people may need to accept developments in their neighbourhoods in order to build more houses, and that some pensioners should not receive extra cash for their fuel bills.
While many politicians and officials have privately acknowledged these issues for years, few have been brave enough to publicly confront them. Some of the other unsayables that insiders have identified include the need to overhaul the social care system, reform the NHS to better care for the most vulnerable and elderly, and reevaluate the council tax system, which is based on property values from 1991.
One topic that is particularly politically sensitive is university fees. Although millions more young people have gone to university in recent years, many institutions are struggling for cash, and the intensifying financial pressures have raised questions about whether too many people are attending university in the first place.
There are also other anomalies in the status quo that many politicians would like to address, but feel they don’t have the bandwidth or desire to tackle. For example, there are 43 different police forces in England and Wales and a confusing array of local government structures, which some insiders describe as “mad” and “baffling”. Other deeply divisive questions include the viability of the NHS model for an ageing population, and whether it’s the right decision to subsidise the steel industry while it continues to struggle.
Some insiders see the government’s commitment to addressing these long-term problems as a positive development; however, there is also a recognition that some of these issues may never be fully resolved, especially given the current climate of economic uncertainty and constrained public finances. In the end, for any prime minister, the list of difficult and unsayable things will always be extensive and incomplete
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