With doom and gloom emerging from Downing St, it is clear that the Labour government’s honeymoon with the British public is on its final legs.

This is a shame as we do need hope and a vision of where we are going. The government’s position against the review of the two-child benefit policy, and the removal of automatic winter fuel payments for pensioners is not good news for those of us who are struggling.

There was also no impact assessment on the winter fuel payments as removing them may trigger additional benefits payments which will wipe out the hoped-for savings.

Whilst much of the disasters in the public purse and services are the clear responsibility of the previous Conservative government, I do hope that Labour do not act as a Tory-lite administration.

The role of government is to make things better for all our citizens. Moving from an ideological position of the market knows best to one of top-down state control is doomed to failure. What we need is to focus on the individual and their communities.

Power and resources should be focused at the most effective and local level.

I would suggest that any government, local or national, are judged on three criteria. These are: are they protecting our services, are they improving our environment, and are they investing in our communities?

On a practical basis, we can track the three issues of cost of living, the sewage scandal, and the NHS and social care.

I would observe that if we cannot fix social care, we will always be stuck with a problem-filled NHS. We should expect competent government, and demand better.

Luigi Gregori

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