Closing the confidence gap

In this article, Emmet Regan, COO at Mutual Ventures, explores whether government has lost the confidence to “do big things", and why short-termism and risk aversion are widening the gulf between citizen and state.

Over recent years, the relationship between citizens and the state has been defined less by shared purpose and more by a form of mutual distrust. Across central and local government, decisions that were once shaped by long‑term ambition have increasingly been constrained by caution, fragmentation, and the fear of failure. The result is an erosion of confidence, both within government itself and in the communities it serves. Where once we looked to the state to lead and solve, a dangerous gulf has grown between citizen and state. Without confidence, the risk is worse than failure, it is decision making paralysis.

This theme has echoed across local government, from conversations about reorganisation to the pressures on councils navigating record demand. In some recent conversations, a leader in local government reflected to me that government has lost the confidence to “do big things” whether in prevention, system redesign, or place‑based reform.

The Confidence Gap: What Went Wrong

Confidence in government does not evaporate overnight. It erodes slowly with every short‑term funding settlement, every initiative launched without the capacity to deliver it, every moment where national policy direction drifts away from local reality.

Across the country, public services face growing demand, rising complexity, and the cumulative weight of political instability. Councils have been pushed to their operational edge, and their strategic bandwidth has narrowed as crisis response becomes the norm. Political churn has further constrained bold thinking; when ministers, priorities, and frameworks shift every 18 months, long‑term decisions struggle to survive. The much-heralded mission-based government has been crushed under the yoke of political weakness and an obsession with tomorrow’s headlines.

This environment breeds what might be called institutional self‑doubt: a belief within government that it should avoid risk, avoid ambition, avoid long‑term commitments. To put it another way, the state has “lost its mojo.” Yet, we all remember during COVID when the state moved at breakneck speed to reconfigure the entire tax system to pay people and the work of the vaccine task force.

The irony is that this loss of confidence occurs precisely when doing big things is most necessary. Whether tackling climate change, rebuilding public services, increasing productivity, or revitalising local democracy, the siren’s call of short-termism has deafened the cries for bold and consistent action.

Mariana Mazzucato’s recent work challenges a pervasive myth that government is inherently bureaucratic, slow, and reactive, while innovation belongs to the private sector. In The Entrepreneurial State, she shows how the most transformative technologies and industries were sparked by bold public‑sector missions. Mazzucato’s work offers a blueprint for a more mission‑oriented government. One that is empowered, rather than constrained, by its public purpose.

Why Local Government Matters in Rebuilding Confidence

Local government is where confidence is most visibly tested. Councils are the front line of public services, the convenors of place, and the institutions closest to citizens lived experience. Local government also contains some of the most powerful examples of innovation, prevention-focused practice, and system leadership. When supported properly, through stable funding, clear missions, and collaborative national frameworks, local authorities can demonstrate precisely the kind of entrepreneurial public leadership Mazzucato advocates.

Rebuilding confidence in government is not solely the work of ministers or chief executives. It is a collective endeavour that spans public servants, partners, communities, and the system.

Confidence comes from doing and from trying, testing, learning, and improving. Everyone working with or within government can contribute to a culture where experimentation is safe and expected. This can show progress to those who rely on our services most.

Government confidence falters when the centre is disconnected from delivery and when local areas are left to manage national ambitions without the requisite support and resources. A confident state is one where local and national government work in lockstep, each amplifying the other’s strengths and ensuring that communities commit to long‑term missions, embrace learning, and build trusting partnerships.

The challenges we face demand nothing less than a government that believes in its own ability to act boldly. And that confidence begins with all of us. That is the mission ahead of us, restoring confidence and building partnerships build on trust.

Contact Emmet.Regan@mutualventures.co.uk if you'd like to discuss any of the themes in this article.

This article was originally published in www.themj.co.uk