As Keir Starmer stands down as prime minister and attention turns toward Andy Burnham, the current moment should not be reduced to a story of personalities. The question that matters is strategy, and the Labour party has three years left to get this right.

When Labour won its landslide in July 2024, it did so on the promise of a new kind of governance: five national missions to tackle the UK’s deepest structural challenges, from clean energy to child poverty, inspired by my book, Mission Economy. That was the right answer to a real question: what is the economy for, and why should it matter to people’s daily lives? Mission-oriented government is not just a political slogan, but a proven approach to solving society’s biggest challenges, generating good jobs and resilient growth in the process.

Around the world, missions have helped governments clarify and deliver on goals – from strengthening domestic production of health technologies in Brazil to promoting social cohesion and national identity in Barbados. The UK can also learn from innovative projects at home, from creating healthy and sustainable estates for London’s Camden council, to placing clean growth at the centre of Manchester’s economic strategy, which I advised Andy Burnham and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority on from 2018.

But as Starmer’s government took shape, it lost its way. The mission agenda has been treated as a communications exercise rather than a governing architecture. The Mission Delivery Unit, briefly established in the Cabinet Office to coordinate across departments, was dissolved in autumn 2025 and replaced with a team inside No 10 focused on three short-term priorities: reducing NHS waiting lists, securing the border and tackling the cost of living.

At the same time, the Treasury has failed to fully align its fiscal framework and spending review process with mission goals, while the industrial strategy has reverted to identifying eight “high growth” sectors – a fragmented, pick-winners approach........

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