‘A Department for the Prime Minister could renew delivery – and trust – in politics’

Last year Labour assumed power in a country where fewer than one in three people trust their national government. As he took office, the Prime Minister argued that ‘the fight for trust is the battle that defines our age’.

The stakes are high and the challenge might be existential – for the practice of social democracy in the UK, and for the very concept of liberal democracy full stop. Progressive politics hinges on a central belief that, as Keir Starmer has said, ‘politics can be a force for good’. Without that, the field is left to those who argue that we should burn everything down and start again.

READ MORE: ‘Voters don’t believe the PM means what he says – that’s the problem’

That prospect is very real. Across the UK people feel let down by administrations led by a range of different political parties, and sense genuinely and powerfully that what the country needs above all is change. Reform UK is tapping into those concerns, and is waiting in the wings should the Labour government fail to deliver.

The status quo is not working

At The Future Governance Forum, we believe that the fight for trust can – and must – be fought and won. But we also know that won’t happen unless we first change the state itself.

This week we published a new report looking at how to reshape the centre of government so it works for this Prime Minister at this moment in time. In Power 01: Transforming Downing Street is the culmination of months of research, including interviews and discussions with over 100 expert contributors. 

The clear consensus among these experts is that the centre of government is not configured to enable the Prime Minister to deliver. The current structures and operating model are a hindrance, not a help, to getting things done.

We found three dynamics that have afflicted the centre of government for years: a lack of clarity about who is responsible for what; a tendency to operate in short-term or crisis mode; and a culture that tends too often towards being closed rather than open.

The net effect is that problems are spotted too late. The connection is not made early enough between policymaking, its political implications in the wider world or its practical deliverability, and the centre of government ends up being buffeted by events. 

A new model for Downing Street

To overcome these problems, we recommend giving the Prime Minister their own department. This would be a properly resourced office built around their agenda. This would allow for a stronger operation, directly under the Prime Minister’s control, to inject drive and discipline, and reconnect the government with the people it serves.

This new and improved Downing Street should have four clear functions:

1. Politics and Strategy Group: A new group focused on the government’s political and longer-term plans
2. Policy and Delivery Group: An assertive group to run the Prime Minister’s writ throughout Whitehall
3. Diplomacy and Security Group: Bringing parts of the National Security Secretariat into Downing Street and connecting it to the broader government agenda
4. No.10 Private Office: A tightly refocused Prime Minister’s Office at the centre of the Downing Street operation, led by the Private Office. 

The four groups would also be supported by two crosscutting functions – the Communications Team and the Political Office.

These structural changes should be accompanied by a cultural reset, built around clarity of purpose, clarity of roles and responsibilities, and making Downing Street a place that brings out the best in those who work there and attracts the brightest talent from across the country. 

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The new Downing Street should be able to hire people on a single employment contract, allowing the department to appoint the best person to any given job, irrespective of background. As the Institute for Government has noted, this is more easily done within the current rules than is often assumed.

What needs to come next

The good news is that this work has already begun. On 1 September, the Prime Minister announced a wave of new appointments and a reshuffle of talent within the No.10 operation, marking what he has described as a ‘relentless focus on delivery’. 

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But a staffing shakeup alone will not be enough. To make a success of this reset at the top of Government, No.10 must now get the details right. And it must do so quickly and effectively. This government does not have the luxury of waiting for things to improve slowly over time.

Plummeting levels of public trust and a government operating model that is not fit for purpose are not unique problems of a Labour government. But it is a Labour government that needs to fix them.

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