How Not to Deliver Policies: Lessons in Undeliverability from the Conservative Governments of 2019–2024

Abstract This article focusses on why, when and where government policies may become undeliverable. It therefore adds a distinctive dimension to the traditional analysis of policy failure, while also contributing to more solution‐orientated analyses of effective policy making. Its central argument is that ‘some policies are born undeliverable, some attain undeliverability and some have undeliverability thrust upon them’ and this is demonstrated through examination of five policy areas (‘levelling‐up’, ‘a transport revolution’, ‘build and fund 40 new hospitals’, ‘take back control of borders’ and ‘fix our immigration system’). Using recent National Audit Office reports and parliamentary inquiries, this article offers an evidence‐based focus on the twin dimensions of promises and processes as the key explanatory variables in understanding policy undeliverability. For British politics, this argument regarding undeliverability has major implications as Keir Starmer seeks to pilot a new approach to mission‐orientated policy making.