The paralysis of leadership failure.
It is quite hard not despair at the mismanagement of the UK, the foregone economic opportunities as a result of a UK Government under Sir Kier Starmer’s leadership that it is totally and utterly illiterate when it comes to the economy, and its most important components, entrepreneurs and firms, which make up markets.
It is really shocking how a British Government that we all knew when it was elected would be centre-left ideologically and would spend more and tax more, can just be so incompetent, ignorant, and stupid too. For some time there was a thought that cabal of cabinet ministers, none of which have business experience, may at least listen, seek to learn the job on the job and adapt in a mature manner in the national interest.
However, in a much more duplicitous manner, especially given how Labour in the summer of 2024 had said it had a plan, was prepared, indeed, they were going to be the grown-ups in the room, the shocking incapability of the British Government as 2026 approaches is a real headache, not least because there will at least another three and a half years of this rubbish.
And this is not to be party political. The Conservative Government’s under May, Johnson, Truss and Sunak, were truly atrocious, deserving of a proper electoral kicking, which the British did by voting elsewhere and staying at home. Indeed, it was hoped by many in business, including the largest industrial system in the land, which is food, that Starmer the rather dull lawyer, may just be the straightforward technocrat who could bring some more competence to a dysfunctional Whitehall and so allow for a calm and quiet progression to let the economy do what it does best under the right conditions.
Alas, that was too much to expect, outside the aura of the international statesman, where he clearly most content and to be fair quite effective, he has been more than poor, much of his problems from an economic sense starting by paying no attention to his error prone and somewhat light on the truth Chancellor of the Exchequer, as she truly learnt the job on the job, making up a £22bn black hole, talking down the economy, and then totally rogering the food system with structurally elevated labour costs, which has perpetuated food inflation.
Once bitten should be twice shy, but Starmer, who created his own economic unit in Downing Street to learn the ropes, has permitted Reeves to oversee the most disastrous pre-Budget process in history, totally embarrassing, totally shocking, totally incompetent. Which bright spark in The Treasury thought a 26 November Budget would be a good idea for the UK consumer economy needs their heads examined, reinforcing the view of a economically illiterate body.
And that Budget was devoid of the concept or term ‘growth’, Labour’s pre-election buzz word, offering nothing to encourage entrepreneurs and firms to invest in the British food system and elsewhere, as opposed to keeping occupancy ever higher on the flights for those wishing to move to the UAE and elsewhere; frighteningly, many young talented folks at that. The female leaders of the Institute of Fiscal Studies (Helen Millar) and The Resolution Foundation (Ruth Curtice) have eviscerated Reeves’ Budget, a well-respected bloke in Andy Haldane too, each harbouring the concern that further tax rises cannot be ruled out.
Unsurprisingly, the British electorate is not blind to such machinations, resulting in cringing 2025 polls for Labour, the adoption of gerrymandering around Home Counties mayoral elections in 2026, and the growing probability that the party will be totally massacred in the May 2026 elections in Scotland and Wales, in particular; London may be a bit better for the party given the number new arrivals. How the party responds to those elections may see the end of Starmer’s reign, with a further shift left-wood likely through one of Burnham, Streeting, or most likely, Raynor.
In the meantime, the British economy stumbles on, with a lame duck Prime Minister, an incompetent Chancellor, a cabinet scared of party back benchers beholden to the entitled over the responsible. It is a disgrace. It is very frustrating. It should not be this way, but Britain, in the absence of more capable, competent, and talented political leaders, is set to remain a place where, once again, an incumbent Government stumbles along awaiting the wrath of an electorate, where it should be said, the alternatives are far from encouraging; Badenoch, Davey, Farage, and Polanski. Ugh!
One must always hope for the best, and in that spirit, I wish all those in the Coriolis ecosystem a very Merry Christmas, I hope your fayre is delicious and despite the challenged UK Governmental context we are living under, all the best for 2026.
Dr Clive Black
Senior Advisor
Coriolis Consulting
December 2025
