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'We need a British Elon Musk': Jeremy Hunt backs US-style 'efficiency tsar' to boost UK economy
3 January 2025, 13:08 | Updated: 3 January 2025, 13:10
Caller gets heated with Jeremy Hunt over whether business leaders can help run public services more efficiently
Britain needs an Elon Musk-style efficiency tsar to make budget cuts and grow the economy, former chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said.
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Speaking as LBC's guest presenter, Mr Hunt backed the idea on Friday, suggesting the likes of businessman James Dyson, Carphone Warehouse founder Sir Charles Dunstone, or tech entrepreneur and Nobel Prize winner Demis Hassibis as candidates.
In the US, president-elect Donald Trump has announced that Mr Musk will run the new Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) to "dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies".
Mr Hunt believes the UK needs a similar operation to stimulate growth and slash inefficiencies in the public sector.
He said: “They're going to deregulate and they are planning to cut up to $2trillion from the federal budget through efficiency savings”
“We should be adopting that approach here,” Mr Hunt added.
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He argued that the ideal place to start on inefficiencies is in the NHS in the budget.
“My argument is that we should look at what we can do to transform the way the state works, the big inefficiencies,” Mr Hunt said.
He pointed out that he gave the NHS £3.4 billion to “completely overhaul their IT systems”.
Mr Hunt added: “And with that, they committed to a 2% increase in productivity every year. That's a kind of technical thing that economists look at.
“If we can get the public sector to boost productivity by 2% a year, you can bring efficiencies that could fund social care, defence spending."
This comes as the government announced on Friday morning that proposals for the long-term funding and major reform of social care in England may not be delivered until 2028.
Mr Hunt said: "If we don't grasp the bullet, I predict we're going to have more of what we've seen this morning.”
"I cut taxes and Rachel Reeves put them up. My argument was to run public services more efficiently without putting up taxes and we can find extra money for the NHS and social care.
“But now Reeves has decided she doesn't have the money for social care… there's been a lot of comment about social care being kicked down the road again for several years more, even though the sector is in great difficulties.” The Labour Party had pledged a "programme of reform to create a National Care Service" in its manifesto.
The work forms part of a wider package of support for the sector, which includes more funding for elderly and disabled people to make home improvements and stay out of hospital.
But the head of Care England warns the report, which is set for 2028, a year before the next election, runs the risk of "becoming yet another report that gathers dust while the sector crumbles".
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has now announced an independent commission, led by Baroness Louise Casey, will begin in April.
The first phase of the commission, reporting to the Prime Minister in mid-2026, will look at the issues facing social care and recommend medium-term reforms. The second phase is expected by 2028 and will make recommendations for the longer term.
