Brexit is the only big legacy of the 2019-24 parliament
An abrupt election crimps the Tories’ already-slim legislative record
Rishi Sunak’s plan to introduce a phased ban on smoking always had the look of a last-ditch effort to secure a legacy. It was apposite, then, that in hurrying towards a snap election the prime minister accidentally stubbed out his own ground-breaking law (which could not be passed in the “wash-up” period after Mr Sunak announced the election on May 22nd and before Parliament dissolved). No matter. The lesson voters should take, Mr Sunak insisted brightly at a campaign event on May 27th, is that “I was the prime minister that put that bold policy on the table”.
What some might notice instead is that the Conservatives have achieved remarkably little since winning a landslide in the general election four-and-a-half years ago. Most governments that win big majorities of the sort that the Tories got in 2019 can point to a coherent set of laws that shape the country in their image, notes Dan Gover of Queen Mary University of London.
Explore more
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Limitations of statute”
Generation K: Keir Starmer’s cohort of Labour candidates
Who are the people who might reshape British politics for years to come?
Half of Northern Irish patients wait over a year for treatment
The crisis in health care is a warning to the rest of Britain
Labour is worried about safe seats with big South Asian populations
Our analysis shows that activists are not just being dispatched to Tory targets