Gordon Brown - 12 months of drift, dither and failure

7.27.05pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 26th Jun 2008

Gordon Brown has presided over a year of failure.

June 27th 2008 is the first anniversary of Gordon Brown taking over as Prime Minister. Mr Brown has had 12 months in charge, but on the key issues for Britain he has failed to deliver. It has all gone horribly wrong for Gordon Brown.

1. Gordon Brown has failed to bring an end to Labour's assault on civil liberties.

In his early weeks Brown offered a change of tone on civil liberties, talking of the need to build consensus. But he soon abandoned this, in favour of similar 'get tough' measures to those of his predecessor, chosen to make his opponents look 'soft on terror' rather than for their effectiveness. He has:

• Committed himself to pursuing the expensive and intrusive Identity Cards project, despite growing evidence the Government are incapable of keeping data secure.

• Pushed through an extension of pre-charge detention, resorting to begging and political bribery to win MPs' votes.

• Proposed further threats to the freedom to protest, such as increases to police powers to control, or even to ban, public assemblies.

2. Gordon Brown has failed to grasp the nettle on climate change.

As Chancellor, Brown allowed the share of green taxes to drop thanks to a lukewarm commitment to tackling the threat of climate change. His first 12 months shows he isn't going to change. He has:

• Failed to make the vital green tax switch to tax pollution instead of people.

• Committed himself to a new generation of coal-fired power stations and massive investment in a new generation of nuclear power stations instead of renewable energy.

• Downgraded the key cabinet committee on the environment, and scrapped altogether a sub-committee on sustainable development.

3. Gordon Brown has failed to break open the poverty trap.

The tax system introduced by Brown means the poorest pay more of their income in tax than the richest. Hopes that, as Prime Minister, he might now implement policies to reverse the trend of rising inequality have been dashed:

• 10p income tax rate scrapped, increasing tax for many low earners, even after the panic compensation package.

• No policy to tackle cycles of deprivation in the education system (as the Lib Dem 'pupil premium' would do).

• The number of children living in poverty has increased by 100,000, pushing the Government further away from their target of halving it.

4. Gordon Brown has failed to give power back to the people.

More warm words and promises of consultation have masked a failure to do anything substantial to reinvigorate Britain's democracy, devolve power, or strengthen Parliament. Instead Brown has:

• Regularly broken his promise that he and his Government would make announcements to Parliament first.

• Postponed any progress on Lords reform until after the next general election, and delayed any consideration of fair votes for the Commons until after reform of the Lords.

• Weakened the ministerial code, allowing ministers to hold company directorships.

5. Gordon Brown has failed to restore Britain's international reputation.

Despite occasional changes of tone from new ministers, Brown has failed to make the vital steps needed to rebalance the Anglo-American alliance and recommit Britain to the international rule of law. He has:

• Signed up to the US missile defence system, even though it risks undermining international arms treaties, overriding assurances from Tony Blair that any collaboration would be openly and publicly debated in Parliament.

• Failed to establish an independent inquiry into the reasons Britain went to war in Iraq.

• Failed to reopen the investigation into alleged corruption at BAE, despite the High Court ruling that the SFO acted unlawfully in dropping it.

6. Gordon Brown has failed to deliver economic stability.

During his decade as Chancellor, it was Brown's proudest boast that he had ended 'boom and bust' and delivered stability (largely thanks to his adoption of the Lib Dem policy of independence for the Bank of England). But all the time he was complacently presiding over growing personal debt and other factors which have left the UK particularly badly placed to cope with an economic downturn. After 12 months as Prime Minister his reputation for economic competence has been well and truly sunk:

• A panic tax £2.7 billion tax cut funded by borrowing, means he is likely to miss his own fiscal rule as the budget deficit soars.

• A toxic combination of falling economic growth and house prices, and rising household bills, led by soaring food and energy prices.

• The first run on a British bank since 1866, with the Government failing to heed warning signs and mismanaging the aftermath.

• Gordon Brown is less trusted to steer his country through the global financial crisis than any other major western European leader, according to polls.

7. Gordon Brown has failed to deliver competent government.

Basic administrative competence is the least people are entitled to expect from a Government. But Gordon Brown has failed to deliver even this. Among the long list of administrative cock-ups presided over by his Government:

• Confidential details of all 15 million child benefit recipients on computer discs lost in the post by HM Revenue and Customs.

• 5,000 illegal immigrants mistakenly cleared to work as security staff, including some for the Metropolitan Police and even the Home Office.

• Failure to check DNA data from 4,000 serious crimes abroad for more than a year.

• Labour's general secretary resigned for taking secret donations to the party, in breach of the rules Labour themselves introduced.

Gordon Brown promised much when he came into office as Prime Minister. He has failed to deliver. He has not ended spin. He has not restored trust. Britain is not getting fairer. And Britain is definitely not being better governed.