Theresa May has been prime minister for 100 days and yet has failed to take a single decision in that time on any subject at all.
Most recently a decision on a third runway at Heathrow has been postponed yet again, with London Mayor Sadiq Khan accusing her of “dither and delay”, but this is just the latest example of a failure in leadership.
One of May’s first moves as prime minister was to delay approval of the Hinkley Point nuclear power station over concerns about Chinese involvement in the project. However, after dithering for more than two months she finally managed to agree with the conclusion the previous government had already made.
May became prime minister at one of the most turbulent times in recent history. But she has so far refused to make any decision that would give the country direction. She has watched on as the pound tumbled to a 30 year low, but refuses to give any hint as to whether she will negotiate to keep the UK within the single market.
Playing her cards close to her chest may be a useful negotiating tactic with the EU, but it leaves the country uncertain about its future, and that affects real people. This “uncertain outlook” is to blame for analysts warning that the pound may soon fall to parity with the US dollar, and has already been named as a factor in possible job losses.
The country needs decisions and real plans, not rhetoric. May used the Conservative Party conference to outline the new enemies of an independent Britain in the shape of a “liberal metropolitan elite” and anyone without a British birth certificate, which may have energised the Tory base but is offers no direction for the country. The anti-immigrant rhetoric is directly reflected by the depressing 41% rise in race and religious hate-crimes since David Cameron resigned, and May has offered no guidance on how to improve this situation.
The NHS is in crisis and in dire need of leadership – something the disgraced health scretary Jeremy Hunt is in no position to offer. A&E departments are overstretched and the missed targets over the slower summer months are a dire warning of what is to come as winter bites, but May has continued to previous government’s policy of pushing for £22bn in further “efficiency savings” from the health service over the next four years. And yet here as well, Number 10 offers nothing but silence and lets the crisis continue.
Theresa May finds herself as prime minister with a country more divided than at anytime in recent history and faced with years of upheaval. After more than three months in charge, her continued silence has started to look like an inability to lead.
