Yesterday the country watched a governing class and its rivals reach, one after another, for levers that turned out to be connected to nothing.
Crossbencher · 07 August 2026
Yesterday the country watched a governing class and its rivals reach, one after another, for levers that turned out to be connected to nothing.
Start with the loudest. Reform held a press conference to unveil what it called a "Deliveroo law": fines for firms that hire people with no right to work and, it said, prison for the bosses who won't pay. It promised a "Turkish barber tip line" and a "zero tolerance country for illegal working". The goal is one most people share and no government has delivered - a country that can see who is working in it, and act on it. But the tip line is the tell. A state that has to ask the public to phone in the barber shops has already admitted it lost sight of its own high street years ago. The reach is right. The grip is gone.
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