A New Year’s resolution for government: Stop setting targets
From HS2 to Net Zero, governments have a habit of setting ambitious long-term goals and failing to deliver. Instead of targets, we need long-term plans to fix the nation’s problems, says John Oxley
The New Year almost always brings with it talk of resolutions, intentions and targets. This is true of governments too . In policy documents and manifestos, target numbers abound. Reductions in bad things, acceleration of the good. Yet, like with our own resolutions, the follow-through often tends to be a little harder. This is especially true of those lengthier projects, where governments often lose sight of the end goal.
Indeed, the mid-2020s are already littered with discarded government ambitions. According to the 2018 Heathrow Masterplan, we should be just a year or so away from the completion of the third runway. The original schedule for HS2 thought its first leg would be operational for 2026. After years of inquiries, consultations and vacillations, neither is even close to being ready. They show how bad the government is at keeping things on track.
Across Whitehall, the same problems seem repeated. The government announces some big, long-term ambition but lacks the concentration and the will to make it actually happen. Politics means plans are kept flexible and so amended and changed when the mood alters. This starts to breed delays and then costs, which become excuses for further interference with the plan. From infrastructure projects to defence procurement, there’s a regular pattern of missed targets.
Governments getting off lightly
Incumbent governments tend to get off lightly. Planning for government initiatives tends to frontload the easy wins and put off the hard stuff; meaning delays are often only properly acknowledged when it’s already too late. Even when interim reports are reliable, they rarely garner attention beyond the most committed policy wonks – while ministers are happy to gloss over them, knowing that by the time the spotlight is turned, some other poor sap will be carrying the can.
There is little we can do with projects that have already suffered this fate beyond perhaps actually committing to getting them done on a new timeline. The government, however, still has lots of long-term ambitions, which it must try to ensure don’t falter. Perhaps the biggest is the commitment to Net Zero; 2050 may feel a long way from now, but the push to decarbonise the UK relies on lots of actions in these early years – and already these are faltering.
Rather than sprinting at the start and panicking at the end, there needs to be more constant pressure to deliver
Through 2024, sales of electric vehicles fell short of government targets for the green transition. Industry experts forecast that the same will happen this year, too. Moves towards a “green grid” for electricity are endangered by the planning system and scope for objection to infrastructure projects. Unless most are underway by the end of this year, the 2030 targets will be missed. These failures will likely compound, increasing the chances of a big miss by the time it is too late to correct the course.
It is not the only project in danger. House building slowed in the last quarter of 2024, meaning it will be harder to keep up with the government’s plans to tackle the housing crisis. The government is also behind on measures to tackle water pollution by 2030. Both of these could become political problems in future, driven by missed opportunities today.
It feels like the government needs a culture shift in terms of how it tackles long-term plans. Rather than sprinting at the start and panicking at the end, there needs to be more constant pressure to deliver. Equally, there should be more action to tackle the systemic problems, like planning, which cause delays again and again. Ministers need to be more realistic about what can be achieved and more keen to push when early warning signs emerge. Otherwise, like so many New Year resolutions, they will begin with good intentions and end with regrets when a deadline flies by.
John Oxley is a political commentator and associate fellow at Bright Blue