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Seven PMs in 10 years, what's gone wrong with the UK?

192 replies

supercrone · 16/07/2026 10:45

As an outsider, it's kind of fascinating to watch. The PMs span both parties, so you can't really blame one party or another. What's the problem guys?

OP posts:
Tobacco · 16/07/2026 10:47

Brexit. Our country can't thrive outside the single market unfortunately. So we blame PMs

MyAgileUser · 16/07/2026 10:47

The constant news cycle. The media fans a lot of the flames.

MyAgileUser · 16/07/2026 10:50

Tobacco · 16/07/2026 10:47

Brexit. Our country can't thrive outside the single market unfortunately. So we blame PMs

We would never been able to run with AI the way we do if we had still been under eu regs.

Agree though that it has been a disaster and the brexiteers totally squandered any and all opportunity we might have had.

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Kamilaa · 16/07/2026 10:54

This country expects new PM to sort everything out within 3 weeks or they get fed up. Paired with terrible gutter press reporting.

supercrone · 16/07/2026 11:12

Kamilaa · 16/07/2026 10:54

This country expects new PM to sort everything out within 3 weeks or they get fed up. Paired with terrible gutter press reporting.

This seems accurate to me. Complex long term problems require complex long-term solutions but "the people" expect instant results. By the people I mean the media especially social media

OP posts:
IdentifyingAsAWoollyMammoth · 16/07/2026 11:19
  1. Brexit
  2. Social media

Added to that are increasingly ridiculous expectations that things can be improved overnight. A country is like an huge oil tanker - it takes a while after turning the rudder for the ship to have visibly changed course and even after you've turned the rudder, there's stuff you can't control that can bugger it up.

pointythings · 16/07/2026 11:36

An electorate of petulant 'I want it now!' toddlers, abetted and indulged by a media in the pockets of bad actors.

TaleOfTwoHalves · 16/07/2026 11:37

That’s society for you. High turnover in just about every job now. Take head teachers. They’re disposable. Cancel culture. Career politicians. Tick, tick, tick. It’s boring.

GCAcademic · 16/07/2026 11:42

The problem is us. We won't vote for or tolerate any government who will try to address the economic mess we're in - see what happened to Theresa May in 2017. The country is divided between the significant and rising % reliant on benefits (including pensions) and those paying more taxes with a worsening quality of life, and their interests cannot be reconciled.

Overthecherry · 16/07/2026 11:45

Brits are very polite, very reasonable. And the internet has given a voice to the poorly informed, most vitriolic and opinionated.. and the empty vessels make the most noise. So currently the bears of very little brains are making their voices the loudest, and Brits are too polite to shut them up.at the moment.

Jk987 · 16/07/2026 11:46

I love how people say ‘Brexit’ with no explanation as to what they think is the link between that and the high turnover of PMs.

Bigteamug · 16/07/2026 11:53

No quality control for MPs, some of them are nowhere near up to the job and / or criminals.

Parties not being held accountable when they don't deliver their manifesto.

Too little say for the electorate on individual policies.

I'm sure it's not unique to our country but we are fed up and nothing seems to improve.

Octavia64 · 16/07/2026 11:55

This usually happens when the electorate expect things that can’t be done.

Brexit promised economic growth outside the EU and free bread and circuses for everyone and it hasn’t happened.

People want things to be getting better but Covid has hammered a lot of economies (plus Ukraine war and Iran affecting petrol prices) and things are not getting better nor are they likely to for a while.

it’s assumed the problem is the PM but actually at this point in time it’s the general situation and there’s not that much that can be done to fix things short term.

eventually after lots and lots of changes people start realising it isn’t the PM it’s the situation.

ImNotShpanishImEgyptshun · 16/07/2026 11:58

It will went to shit when Jeremy Heywood died.

HotinJapantonight · 16/07/2026 12:20

Overthecherry · 16/07/2026 11:45

Brits are very polite, very reasonable. And the internet has given a voice to the poorly informed, most vitriolic and opinionated.. and the empty vessels make the most noise. So currently the bears of very little brains are making their voices the loudest, and Brits are too polite to shut them up.at the moment.

Which Brits are those then. Not the ones on social media then and not the ones who are happy to blame everyone bar themselves.

Dragonscaledaisy · 16/07/2026 12:22

The calibre of politicians is too low. We need better quality people to stand as MPs.

Backedoffhackedoff · 16/07/2026 12:25

At a macro even It’s global disruption / the decline of the west and at a more local level it’s the rise of facism which is the worlds answer to disruption.

its not specific to the uk though, the impacts are happening all over the world. The UK is a compliant country- rather than riot on the streets we try and get some light inconsequential action to make us feel better

gerispringer · 16/07/2026 12:27

Brexit is definitely to blame - its not a coincidence that this revolving door happened in the last 10 years. We were promised lower prices, less immigration, £350m a week for the NHS, fantastic deals for farmers, fishing etc NONE of which have happened or is ever likely to. It has caused division in the country, more hatred and violence and we think changing the person at the top will make it all magically better.

OneElatedOpalDuck · 16/07/2026 12:30

Societal shifts driven by social media where the primary proposed solution for someone doing something not liked or not efficient enough, making a mistake or whatever other people object to is 'sack them'.

It's a watered down version of cancel culture.

You see it all the time on MN 'AIBU to think this MP/teacher/judge/police officer/estate agent/ care worker/Tesco delivery driver should be sacked! and you'll get lots of people saying yes.

6ate9 · 16/07/2026 12:30

Dragonscaledaisy · 16/07/2026 12:22

The calibre of politicians is too low. We need better quality people to stand as MPs.

But where are we going to find “better quality” of people? I think human intelligence has peaked!!

frozendaisy · 16/07/2026 12:32

It’s fascinating to watch from the inside!

Dragonscaledaisy · 16/07/2026 12:38

6ate9 · 16/07/2026 12:30

But where are we going to find “better quality” of people? I think human intelligence has peaked!!

There are plenty of people in the UK who would make excellent politicians but would never consider the job for all kinds of reasons. The likes of Starmer and Reeves are hardly 'intelligent' so there's plenty of room for improvement!

dirtytiles · 16/07/2026 12:47

We have an ageing population which doesn’t work with our pensions & healthcare model.
Our housing market is distorted and disproportionately impacts younger people.

People want the moon on a stick yesterday not tomorrow and want someone else to fund it. It’s not possible!

IWantADateToGetJobDone · 16/07/2026 12:49

It's a mixture of things.

PM's who want to be popular and keep their jobs and so don't make the hard decisions that the country needs (or tries to but then reverses them at the outcry)

A lack of hope for youngsters because house prices are so high compared to average wages. Combined with ease of claiming benefits and lack of jobs (no growth). Leading to a huge amount of youngsters not working, not learning social skills and locked in their bedrooms on the internet.

Economic doom loop. We have little growth due to policies of high tax to try to cover high spending. This in turn is demanding more borrowing each month and thus spending increases the next month as more interest to pay. We need lower taxes to encourage work and investment in the UK. We need a huge reform of welfare to decrease the cost and encourage people to work.

People in general are angry at certain topics. Immigration is out of control whether it's legal or illegal. The country is bursting at the seams. Roads are too busy. Houses are built close together so everyone has more noise to endure. Wages are static and costs going up. People see lots of people getting benefits while they work for a living and feel angry and resentful. They see immigrants getting houses while they are stuck renting. They is a huge feeling of injustice leading to demonstrations and unrest.

Lack of law and order. No enough frontline police (hard to say whether it's because they are all in back office jobs or the police force just needs more hard cash). Lots of crimes not being dealt with now - shoplifting and antisocial behaviour. Even when caught the penalties are so low that they don't care. Front line police quitting in droves due to difficult jobs, violence from public and they are hamstrung over politically correct policies they have to adhere to. Combined with low pay for the stress and danger they face police have had to lower their standards for recruiting. Jails are full it seems and due to funds we can't afford to build more. We need much stricter law and order and higher penalties/sentencing. If we can't afford more prisons then we should just go back to putting more prisoners into each cell. Too many rights for criminals.

Our healthcare system is not coping with the high population, high demands and ever continuing new medication/treatments available thus increasing costs. No politician wants to tackle the sacred cow of the NHS even though it needs reformed. This would be a huge job and would lead to lots of public outcry. By the same token lots of people do recognise the nhs is needing reformed and are sick of being on waiting lists, struggling to get a GP appointment. We seem to bring in doctors from abroad while our own trained doctors have no work. People abuse the NHS leading to missed appointments. Lots of inefficiency in such a big system.

School and Education - we made all the youngsters go to uni so we now have a glut of useless degrees. Meanwhile we have hardly any tradesman. Every 2nd kid seems to be disabled/extra needs now. Not sure why - ultra processed food, social media, woman having babies older? Teachers can't cope with all the extra needs. Huge costs to send these children to special schools with little return to the economy for the cost. These children often on benefits for life. Difficult decisions needed re how much we should spend on this area given the lack of return financially and the country's financial mess. No-one prepared to have a sensible discussion on the topics (see mumsnets continuing cries of the disabled being left in the gutter or sent to the workhouse). Care in the community costs a fortune and does not work.

Older population means more costs to NHS, higher pensions as they are claimed longer. Huge social care costs as people are kept alive for long times with little quality of life. Going around in circles over assisted dying rules as nobody wants to be responsible for killing 'the grannies'

We sold off all our industries for short term cash which has now run out so no cash and no industries. Thus we lack employment plus overpay for services such as energy. We sold off parts of the NHS to PFI giving cash in short term but now costing more longer term. We sold off our council houses cheaply to give everyone a roof over their head but having done that are still responsible for housing everyone with kids and so pay high rents to private landlords. Crazy policies that benefited us in the short term, gave us a cash boost. Now however all the chickens are coming home to roost.

In short we need some very tough decisions to be made that are stuck to and not reversed. We need lots of tough police to deal with any outcry. We need lower taxes to encourage growth and work and investment. We need bare bones welfare so everyone works. We need to reform the NHS and make it co-pay. We need to accept disabled children cost alot and return nothing and deal with accordingly. We need to scrap the triple lock and increase the pension age. We need to stop treating people with certain diseases over a certain age and put them to sleep with kindness and compassion. We need to decrease out debt to lower the interest bill. We need to show the bond markets we know how to make tough decisions so they charge us less interest as we return the UK to financial viability. We need to visibly deport people and adhere to strict policies about who gets in.

In short we need tough, brutal decisions where everybody has to be more accountable for themselves. We need to accept there is going to be a period of hardship and change. We need to have PM's who are smart and tough and don't give a shit about being popular. We need to stop giving 'rights' and 'entitlements' to so many people at the cost of the taxpayer. We need to return respect and manners and make hard work pay. We need to see crimes dealth with promptly and properly.

I predict the next PM will tinker about the edges more and everything will continue in the same pattern. He will get voted out. It will continue until something drastic happens - the bond markets force the issue or the IMF have to take over. We also have changing world order and the threat of an overinflated stock market with the AI bubble. Both these factors may speed up the 'big bang' in the UK.

dirtytiles · 16/07/2026 12:49

Also we never really recovered from the 08 crash in growth terms. This was masked by years of low interest rates and QE. The can was kicked down the road but we have run of the window.