Some promises age considerably worse than others once the actual delivery numbers arrive
Dear diary, I spent today comparing three specific green policy promises made over recent years against what has actually been delivered so far, and the gap between promise and delivery is, I think, considerably more substantial than most coverage of these policies tends to acknowledge.
Each promise, taken individually, sounded genuinely ambitious and well intentioned at launch, but tracking the actual delivery timelines and budget figures against the original commitments reveals a pattern of slippage that deserves considerably more scrutiny than it currently receives from a press that seems to move on quickly once the initial announcement has generated its headline.
What The Actual Numbers Show
Across all three policies, delivery timelines have slipped by a meaningful margin, and in two cases the actual budget allocated has fallen short of what the original announcement implied would be available, a pattern I think reflects genuine planning weakness rather than simply unavoidable circumstance.
Why I Think This Deserves More Scrutiny
I believe policy announcements deserve to be judged against their actual delivery record, not simply their initial press coverage, and I think green policy specifically has enjoyed rather more benefit of the doubt on this front than its actual track record particularly warrants.
A Small Reading Break
I caught up on a genuinely sharp piece of contemporary satire about policy announcements that never quite arrive, a fitting companion to today’s research.
What I Am Doing With This Research
I am publishing the full comparison properly, with sources for every figure, since I think readers deserve the actual delivery record rather than just the original announcement’s more flattering framing.
More policy tracking and Green politics always documented at my page.
SOURCE: https://prat.uk/author/margaretcolley/