Whatever happened to good news?

After an explosively loud week or two of riots, UK political news has been appropriately quiet for the rest of August, an uncharacteristic seasonal lull that has been notable mostly by its absence in recent years.

What is notable once you’re keyed into it, though, is how much of the political news that is breaking through is bad news – not for any particular politician or party, but just for us, the public, as a whole.

The energy price cap is going up again, a piece of news made doubly unfortunate by the withdrawal of the Winter Fuel Allowance for most pensioners. It has been reported that hopes of the two-child benefit cap being withdrawn in this Autumn’s budget – the single best intervention for cutting child poverty in the UK – is off the cards because of the budget deficit.

That deficit is worse than expected, and will likely be worse than Rachel Reeves warned before summer. The government is considering austerity-style departmental spending cuts once again. Dramatic boosts to investment spending seem unlikely, and properly building HS2 has been ruled out.

The prison system’s slow collapse has burst out into public view. Housing targets in London, where pressure on housing costs are the most extreme, have been cut rather than increased.

Tax rises are inevitable, and with the government having ruled out most of the direct and sensible options – like reversing Rishi Sunak’s ill-judged National Insurance cuts – there will need to be a lot of them to make any serious revenue.

In other words, if the public was hoping for any kind of meaningful change or improvement with a change of government, they are being told to abandon them. Few in the government are even bothering to promise good things down the line – the message so far is not so much “give us time to sort the mess and then we’ll spend”, as… life is hard, deal with it.

On Tuesday, Keir Starmer will tell the country that “things will get worse before we get better.” In his first major speech since the election, he is expected to say: “When there is rot deep in the heart of a structure, you can’t just cover it up… You have to overhaul the entire thing. Tackle it at the root. Even if it’s harder work and takes more time.

“We have inherited not just an economic black hole but a societal black hole. And that is why we have to take action and do things differently. Part of that is being honest with people — about the choices we face and how tough this will be.”

Starmer’s message is that nine of this is Labour’s fault. The Conservatives mismanaged the NHS, public finances, major projects, and more. The country is on its knees after 14 years of Conservative government. Labour is just faced with cleaning it up.

There is something the new government needs to learn, and quickly: the public agree with them when it comes to blame. Almost no-one thinks the current woes are Labour’s fault. The near-cataclysmic collapse of the Conservative vote speaks for itself – the public agrees that the last government failed.

But none of that will matter for very long. The public knew the country was in a mess when it went to the polls this year. They elected a new government to clean things up and to make it better. That is the job people chose a Labour government to do, and it’s the job they expect.

Telling people that the mess is the Conservatives’ fault is likely to be met with “yes, and..?”. Labour nominated itself for the job of making things better, and people want to see improvement. There is only so long Labour will be able to dole out unremittingly bad news, disappointing not just its base but its new voters, before the mood turns.

Yes, a new government needs to get the bad news out early, and needs to make the unpopular but necessary decisions during that time too, while its authority is at its highest and when the next election is as far away as possible.

But so far there is a lot of bad news and very few difficult but big decisions to point at. Most of the tough choices the government is making so far appear an awful lot like the austerity logic of George Osborne from 2010 to 2015, which was never accepted by the left and which was subsequently viewed as a damaging mistake by many on the centre and right afterwards.

Beyond “balancing the books” decisions, Labour has yet to show its mettle on transformative policies that might deliver a few years down the line. The “promise little, say little” approach that got them into government is continuing now they’re in power – with the ability, finally, to actually change things.

On Tuesday, Labour will again talk about three of their election promises – a National Wealth Fund to boost business growth, the Great British Energy project and a relaxation of planning legislation to kickstart hugely ambitious housebuilding targets. But will this be enough?

Labour has a landslide that is broad but shallow – they have many, many seats but small majorities and little heartfelt love. People want delivery, and the mood could turn quickly.

No-one wants Labour to go full Liz Truss with the public finances. No-one should ever go full Truss. But if a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down, Labour is currently shovelling the stuff down with a side order of razor blades.

Early impressions can come to frame a government, and at the moment this government looks depressed and lethargic. Its supporters hope it is merely regathering its strength after a hard-fought election campaign, and will come out with a positive agenda soon.

No-one wants government by Killjoy Keir – give us bread, but give us roses too.