After years of austerity budgets under successive Conservative regimes, there is a massive backlog of work to fix UK roads, rail, hospitals and schools. Meanwhile, the welfare bill continues to balloon as the population ages and options in the increasingly low-paid services economy become progressively unattractive. Paradoxically, this is leading to labour market shortages on the one hand and rising worklessness and absenteeism on the other. Britain, in short, is in a mess, and its citizens know it. They are angry, despondent, and ready for change. But what does change look like?

The most obvious effect of public anger was the unceremonious dumping of the Conservative Party in last year’s election. The Conservatives showed themselves to be unable to govern in the public interest during the post-COVID era. Boris Johnson was ousted in a party putsch. Having spent his COVID-19 years either in intensive care or frolicking with his staff at a series of illegal parties in Downing Street, Johnson saw his stocks fall to subterranean levels, with a public fed up with double standards.