The businessman brought in to fix Britain’s cost of living crisis has quit, declaring it “damn hard to get anything done” in Whitehall, the day before Andy Burnham sets out measures to give families more “breathing space” on rising bills.
Lord Walker of Broxton, the executive chairman of Iceland Foods, was appointed by Sir Keir Starmer in February to “work across government” as cost of living champion. Announcing on LinkedIn that his role had “expired” with Starmer’s departure, he warned the new prime minister that he “doesn’t have time for rests and delays”.
His parting verdict on government will ring true for any business owner who has waited months for a policy decision. “Plans are all very good but daily political machinations consume everything,” he wrote, adding that restricted communication flows mean “anyone from the outside with fresh ideas” can be frozen out.
Walker saved his sharpest criticism for the building itself, saying No 10 “as a building is not fit for purpose”. “The 17th Century rabbit-warren design makes collaborative co-working impossible,” he wrote.
His advice to Burnham was to make plans for a No 10 North “more than just a PR exercise”. “I would move the cost of living remit into there and away from the Westminster bubble to make policy work better for every part of the country.”
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