A crisis of trust and purposeOur new prime minister, Andy Burnham, faces a burning platform: people are turning away from mainstream politics in record numbers. Trust in politicians is at a historic low, support for populist parties is growing and people no longer believe that that democratic politics can improve their lives. Public frustration is the result of a cost-of-living squeeze, driven by rising prices and stagnant wages, interactions with public services that can longer be relied on, neglected public and community spaces, and overstretched infrastructure such as transport. The political and fiscal conditions that sustained earlier models of progressive government no longer exist. Low growth, weak productivity, high public debt and an ageing population have combined with the legacy of austerity and the pandemic to leave the state operating under serious constraints.