Have You a Pledge or Mission?

UK political leaders of the two main parties have been busy stating their vision for a country under their rule in a voter-friendly format recently.

First up, incumbent Prime Minister Rishi Sunak with his '5 Pledges'.

Then a month on, the response of Opposition leader Kier Starmer who wants his job come next year's election with his '5 National Missions'.

The former approach has echoes of a previous regime's Pledge Card. Where a quarter-century ago Tony Blair's government made five promises for their first term. On which I blogged back in '07. [Summaries of today's quintets are at the footer below.]

Summaries of today's quintets are in the footer below. Where it might be prudent to note that of the ten policy aim commitments, only one has an observable number stated; all five of the Right's can be measured numerically, whilst it's harder to ascribe any data benchmark to all but two of the Left's counter. Including one evoking a potentially ludicrous competition with other comparable nations verging on the absurd.

Think of a bid you're on.

Can your list of promises 'deliver peace of mind' or introduce such 'mission-driven partnership'?

How truly measurable are they?

Do they all need to be purely quantitative?

Can you craft five?

What chance you can run them by a prospect-side fan?

Will they add weight to and firm up support for the overall stated headline aim of the project you propose?

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Ruling Right of centre Conservatives current 5:  We will halve inflation We will grow the economy We will make sure national debt is falling NHS [the taxpayer-funded health system] waiting lists will fall We will pass new laws to stop small boats

Left of centre Labour’s response:  Securing the highest sustained growth in the G7 Building an NHS "fit for the future" Making Britain's streets safe by reforming the police and criminal justice system Breaking down the "barriers to opportunity at every stage" Making Britain a "clean energy superpower" with zero-carbon energy by 2030

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& here's a screenshot from a 7th March presser, showing the PM's latest attempt to resolve one of his '5', succinctly bulleted;