Labour manifesto mapping – promises vs actions
Well Adapt completed some political mapping work with Telescope. We went through Labour’s manifesto to map out their promises around health and social care vs what they actually did once they got into power.
What Was The Purpose Of The Research?
We completed this political desk research because when the new Labour government came into power, Telescope didn’t know what the priorities of that government were going to be. They wanted to prepare for Labour’s policies to continue their work on engaging with key workers.
What Did Well Adapt Do?
Well Adapt went through the entirety of Labour’s 2024 manifesto to identify the key things that Telescope were interested in and then we mapped out what Labour had said in their manifesto about that area, what they’d actually done so far, and whether it looked like they were actually going to keep that promise. We also mapped out who we thought was in charge of each area at multiple levels (e.g. MPs and heads of department, policy officers in the civil service), who we thought would be good contacts and noted any contact information for them.
This consultancy project was based around health and social care, which aligns with Well Adapt’s work in this area. Labour’s main manifesto promise in the health sector was to improve the NHS. Policies also included a promise to cut NHS waiting times with 40,000 more appointments every week, transform the NHS App by 2028 and create a National Care Service to reform the social care system.
Where are we now?
Since this work was completed, Labour have made various announcements including their 2025 annual budget. After a year and a half in power, which policies have they made progress on?
Fullfact have a Government tracker where you can check the progress of manifesto promises and policies.
There have been no new announcements about plans or a budget for the National Care Service. An independent commission into adult social care was announced in January 2025. This is considered the first step towards the National Care Service, so it is unlikely the service itself will be established until the commission is finished.
Labour promised to “deliver an extra two million NHS operations, scans, and appointments every year; that is 40,000 more appointments every week”. There were 5.2 million more appointments between July 2024 and June 2025 compared to the previous year so this seems to have been achieved. However, the rise was still over a million less than the previous year.
A roadmap has been published on updates that will be made to the NHS app by 2028.
Who Is Telescope?
Telescope is an organisation that connects people with different perspectives (such as key workers, policymakers, charity workers, and service users) to government decision makers.