Sir Tony Blair has set out a “10-point plan” for the future of government in a new essay critical of Sir Keir Starmer’s beleaguered administration.
The former prime minister emphasised the impact of AI on society and urged action to be taken on it, as well as calling for ministers to slash welfare, clamp down on migration and reform the NHS.
In a major intervention, Labour’s most successful former leader and prime minister warned that Labour is “playing with fire” and risks doing long-term damage to both the party and the country unless the government undergoes a fundamental reset.
Sir Tony urged the party to return to its “radical centre” and warned that the country was in a “mess” because the party had failed to put policy first and politics last.
He said reversing this was key to winning a second term in government, saying it needs a clear plan to put things right if it is to save the country from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
The more than 5,000 word essay ended with a 10-point plan to return to this “radical centre”, arguing this agenda “starts from the proposition that governing in the age of AI will be the principal challenge and opportunity”, as well as being the “route to economic prosperity and social justice”.
Here is Sir Tony’s 10 point-plan, summarised:
- The government must slash obstacles to business growth to allow the private sector to quickly adapt to AI, Sir Tony said
- He called for radical reform and deregulation of the planning system
- He argued that prioritising cheaper energy over net zero, including the use of our North Sea oil and gas resources, is “essential for our competitiveness and for taking advantage of AI”
- The government should create a “major new partnership with the private and voluntary sectors for apprenticeships and training”, he said – both for young people and for the existing workforce whose jobs will be affected by AI
- Sir Tony called for the “reindustrialising” of the north of the country. This, he said, could be achieved through incentives, first-class infrastructure, education, freedom from bureaucracy, and government working in partnership with the private sector and with the forward-facing part of the trade-union movement
- He urged fundamental reform of welfare, and said Labour should work with the Tories to cut the benefits bill if the party extends an offer of help
- Whole-system health-care reform needs to take place in order to ensure the NHS moves from cure to prevention, Sir Tony said
- He also called for the government to do “whatever it takes” to solve the issue of illegal immigration, as well as calling for the government to be “unashamed to advocate” targeted immigration in certain sectors for economic growth
- The whole of government should be reorganised around “the harnessing of the 21-st centurty technological revolution”, Sir Tony said, suggesting it must be ready to govern in the age of AI
- The overall aim, he argued, should be a “reimagined State in which taxes and spending can be lower, productivity higher and government seen as enabling not directing, with political consensus behind such a radical restructuring of the state”.
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