Tracey Emin
A lot of governments don’t value the arts. Not as much as they should. And especially in terms of education. I would really like to see schools prioritise arts and creativity for young people who obviously have a strength towards these subjects. Arts, culture and music – Britain has always been a leader, from the grassroots up. Why doesn’t this government recognise or show any appreciation for the value of the arts in Great Britain, particularly the visual arts? PS: when did the Prime Minister last go to an art exhibition?
Tracey Emin is an artist
Martin Wolf
“Keir Starmer should dare to make bold changes in policy. What the country most needs is a source of revenue that will promote efficient use of resources while not discouraging effort and enterprise. Land taxes are the obvious answer. More precisely, he should impose a national tax on site values with revenue shared between central and local governments. This would tax something that cannot flee, while the revenue can be used to lower other taxes and pay for essential services. Implementation of land taxes would also encourage further development.”
Martin Wolf is the chief economics commentator for the Financial Times.
Anne Applebaum
Anonymous money and clandestine financial transactions are undermining our political system and distorting our property market. Abolish shell companies, limit the use of tax havens and require all owners of residential property in the UK to pay tax on their worldwide income.
Anne Applebaum is a journalist and historian
Jeremy Corbyn
What we are witnessing in Gaza is nothing short of abominable, yet our government is still permitting the supply of arms to Israel. The Prime Minister says he opposes Israel’s renewed offensive, but actions speak louder than words. It’s quite simple: you cannot say you oppose Israel’s operation if you keep providing them with the weapons they need to carry it out. Britain’s continued military cooperation with Israel is indefensible. The Prime Minister should end all arms sales to Israel and impose sanctions, now.
Jeremy Corbyn is the independent MP for Islington North
Lea Ypi
Decouple citizenship from selection criteria connected to wealth, residency requirements, linguistic and cultural integration tests. Democracy is based on the simple idea that those who are subjected to the laws ought to have a say in making them. Current practices that restrict migrants’ access to citizenship when they are poor and offer accelerated paths to investors and the super-rich resemble the days in which citizenship was restricted by property. Reforming the UK’s exclusionary immigration and naturalisation system would fight the current oligarchisation of politics, and confront the right-wing arguments on migration by suggesting it is not a problem of culture but class.
Lea Ypi is an author and academic
Kneecap
Here’s an idea: look at your conscience. You studied international law. You know what Israel is doing is not only illegal but against humanity itself. Here’s an idea: think of your grandchildren and how they will view your legacy. Their grandfather, the Prime Minister. If you keep not doing something, they’ll be ashamed of their grandfather. And they will be right. When you were not only wrong, but knowingly assisted a genocide.
Kneecap are a hip-hop trio from Belfast, Northern Ireland
Piers Morgan
Prime Minister, amid all the calls on your time to bring about world peace, economic stability and fix the NHS, might I suggest an even more urgent priority? Please apply maximum pressure from the most powerful office in the country to compel our football club, Arsenal, to sign a world-class striker in this summer’s transfer window so we can win the bloody Premier League after three seasons coming second. As you know better than most from your political career, being the bride is infinitely more satisfying than being the perennial bridesmaid.
Piers Morgan is a journalist
Dale Vince
Labour made a promise at the last election: to lower the nation’s energy bills. It’s a promise they must keep, but won’t be able to, no matter how much green energy we make, unless they break the link between the price of gas and the price of the wind and sun. It’s price fixing. Reforms are needed, and this is the most urgent: in 2023 alone, this price fixing added £43bn to our energy bills. British businesses were made £30bn less competitive, while households paid £400 more than they needed to. Keir Starmer should break the link: end this price fixing.
Dale Vince is the owner of Ecotricity.
Reza Pahlavi
For 46 years the Islamic Republic in Iran has spread terror in the country, the region and internationally. The UK government’s response has been endless appeasement. This approach has failed. Keir Starmer has the opportunity to change that and forge a new, peaceful Middle East. Back the brave Iranian people in their fight to overthrow this regime – a regime that is weaker and more divided than ever. We have a plan and a path for the peaceful transition to democracy. I urge the Prime Minister to stand with us. Your leadership could help secure lasting stability and peace in the region – and a free Iran, at last.
Reza Pahlavi is the Crown Prince of Iran
Michelle O’Neill
As British Prime Minister, two matters demand your urgent leadership: Labour played a historic role in securing peace in Ireland. You have the opportunity to help complete that work. A timeframe is now needed for a referendum on Irish unity, in line with the Good Friday Agreement. It’s time the Irish people shaped their future. Secondly, Britain cannot remain complicit and silent on the genocide in Gaza.
Michelle O’Neill is the First Minister of Northern Ireland
Hilary McGrady
After the Second World War, it was a Labour government that established our National Parks across England and Wales. Today, almost 80 years on, nearly 40 per cent of people have no access to nature within 15 minutes of where they live. Given nature’s obvious benefits for a healthy mind, body and future, I’m asking this government to reclaim that ambition and deliver a new generation of nature parks close to towns and cities – funded by developers – alongside the 1.5 million new homes it’s pledged to build. That would be a legacy lasting generations.
Hilary McGrady is the director general of the National Trust
David Edgerton
Begin to appreciate that many of the problems the country faces are the product of implemented New Labour and Tory policies, not the lack of competence of the Tories. They got what they wanted done. Yet you have doubled down on their policies and practices – deregulation, welfare cuts, Brexit, encouraging corporate lobbyists, investing in carbon capture, sucking up to hard right-wing US governments, indulging genocide and aping their systematic mendacity. The result will be much the same, however much you talk about growth and fiscal rectitude. They did that too. It really is time for a change.
David Edgerton is a historian and the author of “The Rise and Fall of the British Nation”
Sharon White
With so much volatility in the world right now, the UK should stand out as a beacon of stability – parliamentary democracy, rule of law, free and open media. The government can be much bolder in projecting a confident vision of Britain, marking it out as the first destination for investment, and for top-ranked students and researchers seeking a safe haven. All are crucial to higher productivity and living standards. And make the second year of your tenure about tackling long- neglected structural weaknesses – starting with a long-term funding plan for universities.
Sharon White is the chair of Frontier Economics
Oli Dugmore
Build five million homes, one million of which should be council smallholdings. Average house prices are 8 times average wages – the last time that was the case, cars hadn’t been invented. Fifty years ago the most common living arrangement for young men was with their spouse; now it’s with their parents. The social contract is broken. Destroy the green belt and unleash the metropolis. Improvements to health, crime, and education outcomes will follow. It’s called the housing theory of everything – and we need to take it as seriously as a war.
Oli Dugmore is the editor of Joe
Leah Hazard
Investing in safe, equitable maternity care is the single most impactful thing you could do for the public health of this country. Maternity is not “just” a women’s issue: quite literally everyone is born, and approximately half of all babies are just very, very small men. What happens – or doesn’t – during the perinatal year has immediate and lifelong effects. Chronic underfunding is a choice. Be the man who makes a different one.
Leah Hazard is a practising NHS midwife
Guy Shrubsole
When a wealthy landowner tried to ban wild camping on Dartmoor, it sparked a huge outcry from a public that loves the outdoors but can roam over just 8 per cent of England. Keir Starmer should take note of the Supreme Court’s recent verdict upholding the right to wild camp in the national park, and pass legislation extending our rights to access nature. Not only would this improve public health, save the NHS money and boost productivity, it would also be a vote-winner. Polling shows 69 per cent support England following Scotland in creating a right of responsible access to our beautiful countryside.
Guy Shrubsole is the author of “The Lie of the Land” and a Right to Roam campaigner
Philip Banfield
The Prime Minister should put patient safety first. Looking after sick patients is complex and things can go wrong at any stage. At the moment, when patients or staff flag concerns, they’re frequently ignored or chastised rather than thanked. The PM could mandate that all those in authority in the NHS are accountable for putting patient safety above their personal or organisational reputation. Introducing safe staffing legislation, strengthening whistleblowing protections and regulating NHS managers would be a start. Healthcare staff should not be ordered to soldier on in unsafe conditions – there needs to be an option to say “stop”.
Philip Banfield is the chair of council of the British Medical Association
Abby Innes
UK firms are the engine of the economy, but our corporate and financial regimes compel financial extraction over investment, and we are running on fumes. Pass the Better Business Act and you will empower small and medium-sized enterprises and large corporations, liberate the many large firms that want to do more and pull the most delinquent corporate and financial actors into useful activity. Our firms that already align people, planet and profit outperform on innovation, productivity, turnover and high-quality employment. Enable the problem-solving firm and turn the UK from business laggard to leader, with a production regime fit for this century.
Abby Innes is a political economist at the LSE
Trevor Gulliver
No more money wasted on policy wannabes, Defra committees and corresponding salaries and gongs; a clear road to better nutrition, local shopping and services (including abattoirs), support for local producers, a clear goal to 80 per cent food self-sufficiency – and yes, yoga in schools. Make the list, everything to come from these objectives for you and the governments that follow.
Trevor Gulliver is the co-founder of the St John restaurant group
Roxy Murray
If you’re as serious about fairness, prove it. Start by ending the cruelty of the proposed benefit cuts. The current Personal Independence Payment system already punishes disabled people for existing, forcing them to fight through a maze of disbelieving bureaucracy for basic access and support. Scrap the hostile dehumanising assessments. Replace them with a model built on trust. One that’s co-designed with disabled people and medical professionals, and rooted in our dignity. Social security should support people. It shouldn’t shame disabled people and cut support, driving people further into poverty.
Roxy Murray is a stylist and a disability rights advocate
Rosie Latchford
In the fight against climate collapse, winning slowly is losing. We face an immediate threat to life from Delhi to Derbyshire, where last year a pensioner drowned in her home amid a record-breaking storm season. Permission to develop the Rosebank oil field was ruled unlawful in court. Starmer: don’t reapprove it. Approving new oil fields (and expanding airports) is climate denial. Don’t let Big Oil keep setting your agenda. Instead, commit to a rapid, just transition – transforming our country for the better. Your action or inaction on climate change will define your legacy. We’re watching.
Rosie Latchford is a campaigner for Fossil Free London
Tony Adams
Addiction is a massive and growing problem in our society. It leads to family break-up, mental health crises, preventable deaths and criminal behaviour that plagues our communities. As chairman of the Forward Trust, an ex-prisoner and having been free from my addiction for 29 years using the 12-step programme, I would suggest the PM needs to focus funding into these recovery programmes in prisons and into the wider community. There’s so much more we can do together, so let’s keep talking. Up the Gunners.
Tony Adams is an ex-Arsenal and England football captain and chairman of the Forward Trust
Vic Sedlak
The greatest opportunity to promote mentally healthy adults and reduce mental suffering and illness in children is in the first months and years of life. Adolescence offers a second chance to re-think, re-work and repair problems from childhood. Put our children first, re-invest in early support for vulnerable parents and families through health visitors, playgroups and family centres. Strengthen adolescent mental health services and restore respect for highly trained professionals by investing in training. If we believe there is such a thing as society, these are the ways to demonstrate it.
Vic Sedlak is the president of the British Psychoanalytical Society
Clare Short
Stop governing by focus group. The lack of strategy and principle shows. Stick to Labour values. We know it can’t all be done at once, but make a start. Build social housing. Stop chasing Reform by imitation. You are losing votes to the Greens and Lib Dems. Welcome US withdrawal from Europe and the chance of an independent foreign policy. Look for peace in Ukraine and agreement on a defence architecture in Europe instead of risking nuclear war. Stand with Gaza. Climate change is the biggest threat.
Clare Short was secretary of state for International Development under Tony Blair
Rain Newton-Smith
Keeping people in work, providing a sense of purpose and a way to contribute to our society helps people to thrive as well as our economy to succeed. But as we live and work longer, over a third of us with long-term health conditions, our health system is still too focused on treating people when we get ill rather than wellness and prevention. Building on the Mayfield Review, the government should create a holistic Centre for Work and Health to catalyse ideas on keeping people healthy and productive, creating partnerships with employers to deliver a healthier society.
Rain Newton-Smith is the chief executive of Confederation of British Industry
Daria Serenko
What can an exiled Russian anti-war feminist writer offer Keir Starmer? Support the campaign of Ukrainian, Russian and international human rights activists, People 1st. Civilian hostages, prisoners of war, political prisoners, Ukrainian children kidnapped by Russia – their fate depends on the rounds of the negotiation process. I believe that the UK can direct its diplomatic efforts to save their lives. Protect trans people from the new discriminatory law in Russia. I am writing this during Pride Month: in the meantime, transgender transition is banned in Russia, and queer people are considered extremists. I grew up under a dictatorship – and I have seen how the rollback of the rights of some groups of people affects a whole society. By protecting the vulnerable, you protect freedom and democracy.
Daria Serenko is a poet and coordinator of the Feminist Anti-War Resistance
Lesley Lokko
More than ever, the world is divided into those who supply raw materials and those who consume them. This is as true in the Global North as it is the Global South. How about initiating a resource index, a figure that accompanies every mention of the minerals that are touted as “green” – lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper – that places them accurately in the global supply chain. What would constitute the matrix of costs? Labour? Land grab? Cultural and social degradation? Inequity? Corruption? It’s time for a fuller and more accurate picture of the term “sustainable”.
Lesley Lokko is an author and architect
Paul Johnson
There are easy wins in reforming public service pensions which are in government’s gift. First, allow older teachers and civil servants with old-style age-60 pensions to delay their pension and get an actuarial enhancement. This would save money, cost no more in the long-run and increase numbers of experienced personnel in work. Second, allow younger public sector workers to take higher take-home pay and lower pension contributions. The current system is ludicrously imbalanced towards pensions and away from pay. For the same long-term cost, you can make it easier to recruit and retain public sector workers. Again, why wouldn’t you?
Paul Johnson is the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies
Maurice Glasman
The government seems to lack any strategic direction as concerns the economy. Shuffling the welfare pack just adds to the sense that the story of national renewal is still stuck in 1997. It is not equal to the demands of the new era, which is characterised by borders, sovereignty, armies, industry and working-class power. The first step towards meeting the challenge would be the abolition of the Treasury and the creation of an economics ministry with industry and defence at its heart. No successful business is run from accounts and the same applies to government. The Prime Minister should run it from No 10 and there wouldn’t be a No 11. And no department of business either. The Treasury is stuffed with neo-classical economists who are a block to growth, to socialism and to prosperity. Its abolition would signal a seriousness of intent and define the identity of this Labour government.
Maurice Glasman is a Labour life peer in the House of Lords
John Swinney
My idea for the Prime Minister is very simple – that he should use government as a means to lift people out of poverty, rather than push them into it. His government has backed the two-child cap and announced cuts that will push 250,000 people into poverty, including 50,000 children. In Scotland, we’re scrapping the two-child cap and are the only part of the UK where child poverty is predicted to fall. The UK government should follow our lead on social security. The Prime Minister does not need to reinvent the wheel to tackle poverty – he should simply look to Scotland, at a government that is getting on with it.
John Swinney is First Minister of Scotland
Julian Barnes
“Value for money” is the ritual cry of all political parties. One outstanding example of this in practice is the BBC World Service, duly cut by Osborne and now threatened with more cuts. Just reverse them all and expand to open new services. This will help counteract the noxious slew of official and unofficial misinformation out there.
Julian Barnes is a novelist
[See also: Laughing at the populist right is not a political strategy]
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This article appears in the 12 Jun 2025 issue of the New Statesman, What He Can’t Say