Analysing the Labour Party's 2024 Manifesto Through a Policy Design Lens
Leveraging concepts from the Lighthouse Policy Design framework such as the Policy Matrix and Levers, let's explore some key elements of the Labour manifesto through the lens of strategic policy development.
What is The Policy Matrix?
The Policy Matrix is a powerful tool for policymakers, enabling them to categorise and select Policy Levers based on the urgency of impact and the method of implementation.
A ‘Policy Lever’ is a tool that policymakers can use to influence outcomes in specific areas. Levers can take various forms, such as regulations, incentives, public awareness campaigns, partnerships, or direct interventions.
The Economy
Labour's economic policies focus on strategic investment, business partnerships, and infrastructure development. They plan to use the subsidise lever to establish a National Wealth Fund to invest in upgrading ports, building gigafactories, rebuilding the steel industry, accelerating carbon capture deployment, and supporting green hydrogen manufacturing.
Labour will use the tax lever to cap corporation tax at the current level, retain a permanent full expensing system for capital investment, and replace the current business rates system.
They will use the regulate lever to update national planning policies to make it easier to build necessary infrastructure and introduce new regulatory frameworks to support innovation, including a Regulatory Innovation Office to help regulators update regulations and speed up approval timelines.
The innovate lever will aim to drive economic growth through the development of a ten-year infrastructure strategy aligned with their industrial strategy and regional development priorities, creating a National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority to oversee project delivery.
The collaborate lever will be used to establish strategic partnerships with businesses to boost investment and growth across the country.
Finally, the decentralise lever will empower regional and local authorities to have greater control over their economic development, ensuring that growth is evenly distributed and tailored to local needs.
Risks:
Implementation complexity: Strategic investments and infrastructure projects may face delays and cost overruns.
Economic uncertainty: Changes in tax policies could affect business confidence and investment.
Regulatory challenges: Updating regulations and ensuring compliance might be complex and time-consuming.
Regional inequalities: Decentralising economic development might lead to regional disparities, as some areas may not have the same level of skills or effectiveness as others.
Health
Labour's health policies focus on modernising the NHS, aiming to improve patient care, and address healthcare inequalities. They plan to use the subsidise lever to recruit additional mental health staff, increase the number of cancer scanners, reduce NHS waiting times with more appointments, and introduce a new Dentistry Rescue Plan to provide more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists.
Labour will also leverage the innovate, regulate, and collaborate levers to enhance the healthcare system. They will modernise the NHS by harnessing new technologies, such as AI, to transform diagnostic services and improve treatment outcomes.
Labour plans to use the regulate lever to implement new standards and accountability measures, ensuring patient safety and quality of care.
The collaborate and decentralise levers will be used to create partnerships between the NHS, local authorities, and community services to deliver more healthcare closer to home and integrate health and social care services.
Risks:
Sustainability: Continuous funding increases may strain the budget.
Implementation: Integrating new technologies and processes in the NHS might face resistance and logistical issues.
Regulatory challenges: Ensuring compliance with new standards and accountability measures might be complex and time-consuming.
Education
Labour's education policies focus on raising school standards, expanding apprenticeships, and improving vocational training. They plan to use the subsidise lever to recruit new teachers, open new primary school-based nurseries, implement free breakfast clubs in every primary school, ensure access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, and fund early language interventions.
Labour will also leverage the educate, innovate, regulate, collaborate, and decentralise levers to enhance educational outcomes. They will look to modernise the curriculum, preparing young people for work and life with a focus on essential skills like numeracy, literacy, and digital competence.
Labour plans to use the innovate lever to expand high-quality apprenticeships and create specialist Technical Excellence Colleges, transforming Further Education colleges to provide practical training and job readiness.
The regulate lever will be used to strengthen the integration of further and higher education, set out roles for different providers, and improve access to universities while raising teaching standards.
The collaborate and decentralise levers will be employed to establish partnerships with businesses, trade unions, and local government, ensuring young people have better job opportunities and creating a highly trained workforce tailored to local economies.
Risks:
Funding allocation: Ensuring equitable distribution of funds across different regions and schools.
Adaptation: Implementing reforms may require significant time and teacher training.
Regional inequalities: Decentralising education initiatives might lead to disparities, as some areas may not be as skilled or effective as others in implementing changes.
Environment
Labour's environmental policies focus on making Britain a clean energy superpower, protecting nature, and ensuring sustainability. They plan to use the subsidise lever to establish Great British Energy, a publicly-owned company, to invest in renewable energy projects.
They will use the legislate and regulate levers to implement an Energy Independence Act to establish the framework for energy and climate policies, and to reform the energy system and update national planning policies to support clean energy infrastructure.
Labour plans to use the innovate lever to develop new technologies for energy production and storage, transforming the energy grid to support these advancements.
The collaborate lever will be used to partner with industry, trade unions, and local authorities to co-invest in clean energy projects and develop local power generation capacity.
The decentralise lever will empower regional and local authorities to have greater control over environmental initiatives, ensuring that efforts are tailored to local needs and communities benefit directly from clean energy production.
The sanction lever will be employed to enforce stricter regulations on water companies to clean up rivers and lakes, imposing severe penalties for non-compliance.
Risks:
Implementation complexity: Large-scale infrastructure projects and regulatory changes may face delays and cost overruns.
Regulatory challenges: Ensuring compliance with new standards and accountability measures might be complex and time-consuming.
Public acceptance: Gaining widespread support for new environmental policies and changes might be challenging.
Crime and Justice
Labour's crime and justice policies focus on restoring neighbourhood policing, cracking down on antisocial behaviour, tackling serious violence, and reforming the justice system. They plan to use the subsidise lever to recruit thousands of new police officers, police and community support officers, and special constables, ensuring visible neighbourhood policing and providing communities with a named officer for local issues.
They will use the legislate lever to introduce new laws, such as a Knife Crime Action Plan to halve knife crime within a decade. The sanction lever will be employed to enforce tougher penalties for offenders, including new Respect Orders to ban persistent adult offenders from town centres and stricter penalties for fly-tipping and vandalism.
Labour plans to use the innovate lever to create Young Futures hubs with youth workers, mental health support, and careers advisers to intervene early and prevent young people from being drawn into crime.
The collaborate lever will be used to establish partnerships between the police, local authorities, and community services to deliver more effective and integrated crime prevention and rehabilitation programs.
Finally, the mobilise lever will focus on visible policing and community engagement, ensuring the police are trusted and effective in preventing crime and maintaining public safety.
Risks:
Implementation complexity: Recruiting and training a large number of new officers and implementing comprehensive reforms may face delays and logistical challenges.
Public perception: Balancing tough-on-crime policies with rehabilitation efforts to avoid criticism and ensure community support.
Resource allocation: Ensuring sufficient resources and coordination among different agencies and services to support comprehensive crime prevention and justice reforms.
Summary
The snapshot of the Labour Party's manifesto we’ve looked at outlines a strategy for economic growth, improved healthcare, enhanced education, and environmental sustainability through a mix of policy levers.
It shows a balanced use of the subsidise, innovate, and collaborate levers across multiple policy areas, indicating a strong focus on investment, innovation, and partnerships.
Additionally, the use of the decentralise and sanction levers suggests an approach that also values local empowerment and accountability. However, there are recurring risks and potential over-reliance on certain levers that warrant consideration.
Firstly, the extensive use of the subsidise lever to support various sectors, including education, healthcare, and renewable energy, requires substantial financial investment. According to Labour's fiscal plan, the costs are offset by closing tax loopholes, reducing tax avoidance, and implementing a windfall tax on oil and gas giants. However, this could lead to budgetary pressures and necessitate careful management to avoid fiscal imbalances.
Secondly, the reliance on the regulate and legislate levers, particularly in reforming the energy system and introducing new standards in healthcare, could face implementation challenges. Ensuring compliance with new regulations and standards might be complex and time-consuming, potentially delaying the anticipated benefits.
Lastly, while the innovate lever offers promising advancements in technology and service delivery across sectors, the success of these innovations heavily depends on effective execution and public acceptance. Without robust implementation frameworks and widespread buy-in, these innovative measures might not achieve their intended impact.