Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

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:
supercrone · 16/07/2026 23:03

I feel that the tone of the debate on this thread might have partially answered my question. For whatever reason, there is a really toxic character to political debate in the UK right now. The way that people have attacked each other here, on a chat forum, with nothing at stake, that should just be somewhere you exchange views, is really worrying.

OP posts:
landmarkyear · 16/07/2026 23:09

I think the media should be answerable to this. It annoys me that when I watch BBC news, Laura Kuenssberg etc there is so much focus on divisions in the party. It’s amplified over and over again. I wish there was more reporting on the delivery of policy (but that would require a lot more effort). It’s so easy to rock up to Westminster, interview a few politicians who love gossip and moaning, and stick it on the 6 o clock news. I really want to know what politicians are doing to make our country a better place, rather than all the political infighting- which to my mind has led to all the changes in PM. I’m fed up of the media.

DenizenOfAisleOfShame · 16/07/2026 23:11

supercrone · 16/07/2026 23:03

I feel that the tone of the debate on this thread might have partially answered my question. For whatever reason, there is a really toxic character to political debate in the UK right now. The way that people have attacked each other here, on a chat forum, with nothing at stake, that should just be somewhere you exchange views, is really worrying.

I think it’s been rather temperate and civilised.

Nothing like a MIL thread, or a ‘debate’ about breast v bottle, or cyclists’ road behaviour, for example.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

landmarkyear · 16/07/2026 23:12

And WHY is Laura Kuensberg paid over £400k, of the BBC licence fee, more than double the salary of the PM, for her reporting. It makes me very cross.

DenizenOfAisleOfShame · 16/07/2026 23:15

landmarkyear · 16/07/2026 23:12

And WHY is Laura Kuensberg paid over £400k, of the BBC licence fee, more than double the salary of the PM, for her reporting. It makes me very cross.

Because she’s a very good journalist, is great on screen and is scrupulously fair.

supercrone · 16/07/2026 23:17

DenizenOfAisleOfShame · 16/07/2026 23:11

I think it’s been rather temperate and civilised.

Nothing like a MIL thread, or a ‘debate’ about breast v bottle, or cyclists’ road behaviour, for example.

I don't think it has been temperate

OP posts:
DenizenOfAisleOfShame · 16/07/2026 23:27

supercrone · 16/07/2026 23:17

I don't think it has been temperate

OK. But I doubt that political chat on Ye Olde Mumsnet in, say, 1886 - argument by letters delivered by footmen or carrier pigeon - would have been any less rancorous. Better educated and with great spelling and grammar, certainly, but just as fractious politically.

We’re not living in an age any fundamentally different about political debate than before.

landmarkyear · 16/07/2026 23:30

@DenizenOfAisleOfShamei think we’ll have to agree to disagree on that one

DenizenOfAisleOfShame · 16/07/2026 23:46

landmarkyear · 16/07/2026 23:30

@DenizenOfAisleOfShamei think we’ll have to agree to disagree on that one

About what? I’m pretty sure Victorian MNers would have been feisty, well educated and have much better command of English than their daughters’ daughters’ daughters’ daughters’ manage now.

Corianda · 17/07/2026 01:20

When Starmer came into office he and Reeves whinged non stop about the state the country’s finances were in. Then made weird decisions WFA and farmer’s IHT then back tracked on them - and seemed entirely without a plan. Couldn’t do anything about benefits due to backbenchers. Hopeless imv.

APageInYourDiary · 17/07/2026 04:24

DenizenOfAisleOfShame · 16/07/2026 20:27

What we want, and used to have, were conviction politicians who had the whole country’s interests at heart and stuck up for the UK.

Whatever anyone thinks of Thatcher, Major, Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss and Sunak that was their core. Whether good, rubbish, incompetent or embarrassing, they did work to the end of making the country as a whole better off, economically and generally.

Starmer’s problem, or at least one of them, was that there was no sense that he ever cared about the country as a whole, just his favoured little metropolitan slice of it.

Let’s hope Burnham’s better.

Edited

😂 Johnson & Truss worked for the good of the country??? Like fuck they did. Johnson worked for the good of himself - he couldn’t give a fuck about the country. What utter nonsense. His “get Brexit done” 3 word twattery is also another reason we’re in such a mess. Complex politics can’t be boiled down to 3 meaningless words. He was a disaster. And his appalling behaviour has helped to totally destroy any trust in politicians. He was a self serving prick.

SquirrelGG · 17/07/2026 04:47

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!

That sounds exactly the same situation in as in many other parts of the world, it doesn't explain the revolving door of PMs!

AImportantMermaid · 17/07/2026 05:29

Brexit. We want the benefits without the costs and we can’t square that circle. We have been in a period of slow decline for a decade now. The UK is much less attractive to investors, our influence as a nation is on the wane, and we’re no longer a destination of choice for top, global talent.

Meanwhile, need is greater. People are living longer and in poorer health. The cost of things like adult social care are rising exponentially, and recruitment is very challenging. There just isn’t the money anymore.

People are unhappy they can’t have their cake and eat it. Say Farage did become PM and Reform somehow stop the boats. What happens then? Will that really make a difference to people’s lives? Will they become happier? More productive? Get better jobs? Have more money to plough back into the country? The answer of course is no.

concertinacornflake · 17/07/2026 05:35

Dragonscaledaisy · 16/07/2026 12:22

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

There are quite a large number of high calibre MPs. They get dismissed by people like you as low calibre, and get loads of death threats, for a salary that isn't very high.

SleepQuest33 · 17/07/2026 05:38

The issue started with BREXIT, worst decision ever!!!

concertinacornflake · 17/07/2026 05:39

DenizenOfAisleOfShame · 16/07/2026 20:09

It wasn’t a win. But it doesn’t warrant the catasprophising either.

It isn't catastrophising to acknowledge it has really mucked things up.

WarthogWoman · 17/07/2026 05:45

Everyone wants a thriving country but where they pay no tax and have no idea of the reality that perfection is impossible while expecting perfection. So even good PMs get thrown out because they haven’t fixed everything immediately for zero cash. Britain isn’t a rich country any more and no one can quite get their head around that fact so it must be the PM or immigrants faults. We also live in a world and not a vacuum and not everything can be fixed by just a group of politicians in the UK with no outside issues influencing us

WarthogWoman · 17/07/2026 05:46

Oh and people think someone fun or controversial who “tells it like it is” is the right person to run a very complex system and then are shocked when giving a good speech does not mean you are competent

Corianda · 17/07/2026 06:09

SleepQuest33 · 17/07/2026 05:38

The issue started with BREXIT, worst decision ever!!!

I think the issues started with Blair opening the borders to Eastern European immigration -no other EU country did - and then the financial crash of 2008. We bailed out those ‘poor’ bankers with our tax money -(we’ve always had a big financial services sector) so then got austerity to try to get it back at the same time wages falling as foreign labour was cheaper and so no need for local tradesmen etc as foreign labour did it for less ( because their home currency was lower value and they could send it home and save).

Corianda · 17/07/2026 06:14

I think a lot of the population want benefits reduced - not because they are evil people but because we are not affording them and building debt for future generations but PMs won’t do what is needed as they worry they will lose the votes of the millions who are on them. More go on them every day which means we move further and further from fixing this - weak Government.

DenizenOfAisleOfShame · 17/07/2026 06:47

APageInYourDiary · 17/07/2026 04:24

😂 Johnson & Truss worked for the good of the country??? Like fuck they did. Johnson worked for the good of himself - he couldn’t give a fuck about the country. What utter nonsense. His “get Brexit done” 3 word twattery is also another reason we’re in such a mess. Complex politics can’t be boiled down to 3 meaningless words. He was a disaster. And his appalling behaviour has helped to totally destroy any trust in politicians. He was a self serving prick.

That’s a shame: he speaks very highly of you.

Damnloginpopup · 17/07/2026 07:25

Democracy. Its largely in the hands of idiots.

EmailEve · 17/07/2026 07:38

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.

I agree with a lot of this esp the NHS co-pay suggestion

Re increasing the retirement age I disagree. It is already far too high at 67/68 and life expectancy is decreasing. We will be back to people dying on the job and getting no retirement at all. Additionally, and speaking entirely for myself (mid 50s) I am disinterested in now. I do it purely because it is a necessary evil and recalling back to when I joined the workforce in 1985, people at my age
now were engaged in training younger people joining the work force as they stepped back. Some wanted to stay - they weren't ready to retire, but many were glad that phase in their life was over. The oppulent 20/30 retirements we have seen from the baby boomers was something just for their generation exclusively

Forcing people to remain working for longer and longer is simply uncivilised & cruel esp for those in physically demanding roles

Darlingx · 17/07/2026 07:40

Don’t Global Corporations set regulations that Governments adhere to because they are in their pockets?
We are printing money but our economy is run by digital digits nothing tangible hence the industrial nuts and bolts are being sold off. Our class system didn’t help not just for the transfer of wealth but the degrees should have been apprenticeships for trades on a practical level but for the snobbery.
We have commercial space becoming redundant due to work from home yet they become Global chains the luxury apartments we housebuild are sold off plan overseas even the affordable has fixers for overseas clients needing help with forms.
We could say Brexit but is Europe not facing the same issues. Aging population low birthrate so importing to boost GDP for short term politics.
Global Corporation's for the sake of profit margins set the agenda how is it we have wages surpressed but UC tops this up thats the taxpayer supplementing a Corporations low wage?
Its like the Supermarket food bank basket encouraging paid donations meanwhile out the back door bin loads of food waste of sometimes in date food? The huge tanker of Corporations can’t think on a macro local level it looks at the big picture but the small details impact our daily lives. With all the industrialisation of the food system from farming to processed food where overproduction is the byproduct how have we with all this technology does food waste sit alongside foodbanks being the norm? If there is no profit it won’t be looked into but shouldn’t government be faster to catch on to loopholes and gaps at a local level but they are in the pockets of Global Corporations wants.
I think because of this what was sold as the “ Big Society” which was actually rinsing the tax payer twice by making them supplement Corporate profit margins we should be working together as communities on for example needless waste of resources. Don’t get me started on lady moan and PPE or Mandelson insider trading our Gov policies.

There is so much misery in the news but the barrister who was clearing canals with community volunteers cheered me up and its an example of what can be achieved if we work together we can turn things around I think this is our strength if we stopped moaning and actually took ownership of what effects us

JanesClinic · 17/07/2026 08:02

supercrone · 16/07/2026 23:03

I feel that the tone of the debate on this thread might have partially answered my question. For whatever reason, there is a really toxic character to political debate in the UK right now. The way that people have attacked each other here, on a chat forum, with nothing at stake, that should just be somewhere you exchange views, is really worrying.

I remember my dad (left wing) and his inlaws (right wing) having some shouty humdingers around the kitchen table. Also remember trying to get his attention while he argued in the pub with 'idiots' - his words. I was sent back to the pub garden with my panda pop while they heatedly discussed politics. Fierce debate has always existed.

My dad would've loved the net. He'd have been a Reddit man yawping off with his likeminded chums and then coming onto forums to put you all right. Funny thing is, despite all his lecturing, only one of his children leans left (not me!)

Swipe left for the next trending thread