01. Where we are
The squeeze
A reading of the present moment: cost of living, the state of public services, and the structural causes of the pressure on households.
A costed, fully funded five-year programme that mixes welfare and tax reforms so reductions in the cost of living offset increases in taxation. Zero new borrowing across the parliament.
The signature move of Prosperity 2030 is the sequencing: new Universal Services drive down what households spend on energy, transport, food, water, and the digital essentials at the same time as National Contributions simplify and modernise income tax. Universal Services deliver £1.21 of cost-of-living relief for every £1 spent, a 21% premium over equivalent cash benefits, so the combined effect is that most households end up better off even as taxation rises.
A reading of the present moment: cost of living, the state of public services, and the structural causes of the pressure on households.
Free at the point of access, sequenced so the most visible relief comes first: digital, information, energy, transport, and food.
A five-year programme funded from reformed taxes, with zero new borrowing across the window.
Conditional welfare denies the safety it was meant to provide. The structural answer is unconditional access to basic services.
Infrastructure has decayed, resilience traded for short-term efficiency. The structural answer is investment in physical and social resilience.
Consumer choice has eclipsed democratic voice. The structural answer is modernised democratic practice at the local level.
Conditional support discriminates between forms of contribution. The structural answer is universal entitlements paired with simple, non-discriminatory taxes.
Stewardship is what becomes possible when the four are answered. Not a fifth structural answer, but the outcome the other four make possible.
The report carries the full breakdown behind these figures: the assumptions, the workings, and the sensitivity analysis.
The full Prosperity 2030 programme, with every section, policy, appendix, and reference, will be published at report.prosperity2030.uk.