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Following both the Government’s and Shadow Chancellor’s budget and response (and further highlighted in Sir Keir Starmer’s speech at Labour’s Local Election Launch last month), the focus of late has been very much on matters of the economy, and how this will affect the future health of the nation, and our own personal health and wellbeing.

It’s fair to say that it has been a rocky ride these last few years, with very little to celebrate in terms of economic prosperity. The UK is not alone in seeing sluggish economic growth and therefore stilted development or regeneration across the board, and a whole range of matters affecting the workforce.

What we have witnessed is fragmented policies of ambition, finance and distribution, with a huge gap in terms of economic vision or strategy to effectively target our limited resources. This is all underpinned by a structure of local and national government that has struggled to grasp the fundamentals that would underpin any long-term success.

Where is the long-promised transformation and reform of our existing policy framework, civil service, local governance and finance? What plans may the next government introduce to mend these long overdue, but glaring obvious omissions? 

I fear it may be much of the same, soundbites and rhetoric, but little actual movement in terms of releasing the UK’s potential and innovation, underpinned by an oft-repeating narrative of why change is needed and what improvements it will lead to for our country and its inhabitants. 

Even the Shadow Chancellor recently remarked that reform would be slow, despite declaring a “new chapter in Britain’s economic history” should Labour win the next election.

Housing, social care and health, migration, economic prosperity in all its various guises, and the newly-promoted nation’s security are but a few of the issues that need to be tackled head on, in a national endeavour to achieve the potential for all of society, both human and built capital.

We must start with a vision for what the UK is and wants to be, where it sees itself in the world, what it wants for its people, now and in the future, that many can buy into. This does not have to enrage any extreme views or protest, as a better future and hope for those generations to come must surely be in the DNA of our nation and those that want to share in its culture and success.

It is perfectly acceptable to set out a long-term goal, that involves some societal change, to transform the way we do things for the better, without having to constantly change tack because of daily newspaper headlines, social media pressure, or outdated ideology. 

To do this will require civic leadership of the highest order, where the national good becomes the optimal outcome, where extremes can be heard, and consensus and common sense prevails. The notion of gaining political and economic power, thus sustaining this at all costs without sticking to a vision and narrative will only lead us to deliver more of the same stubbornly stagnant national performance, with substandard levels of aspiration and skills for today’s and tomorrow’s workforce.

Our vision must be supported by an achievable strategy that will utilise all our resource, that will flesh out more of the details of how we will begin the journey we have set ourselves, how we will use all the resources we have at our disposal, including the finance and structures that will enable us to work to these goals. 

This will require fundamental reform of our existing structures that have continued to embed inequalities, that have set financial targets as the primary consideration, rather than community needs. No-one expects all this to be achieved overnight, and many will not immediately welcome the change, hence the need for robust and resilient leadership, not just in national government, but also in our civil service, who in turn can lead the way for our local government and industry leaders to see a clear pathway to a brighter future.