[jemmyw]

It's not dangerous. Other countries have managed with their parliamentary system out of action for extended amounts of time. That's the point of having strong institutions and a civil service. The Tories haven't totally destroyed that yet, despite their efforts.

[smcl]

If you want things like the UK's National Health Service to exist, it is pretty dangerous to have someone like Jeremy Hunt wielding this kind of power. The situation might not wreck or bankrupt the country outright, but it opens the door for all manner of public services to be gutted

[denton-scratch]

But it's not just the parliamentary system that's out of action; it's the government. The nominal head of the government is obviously a dead duck. The tune the chancellor is playing is being called by the Bank of England (and others unnamed), none of whom was elected, and none of whose policy preferences have been presented to the public, let alone approved.

This would be a fantastic moment to stage a coup. And there are generals in-post who evidently favour something like that. But who knows - maybe it's already happened.

I think it's dangerous.

[jemmyw]

I still don't understand why you think it's dangerous. Government sets policy. Even when they make changes it takes time for policy decisions to actually take effect. The civil service and bureaucracy will continue with the previous policies until the government gets its act together. There's no problem until budget time. Quite frankly it's probably less dangerous if the Tories stop doing any governing for a little while.

> The tune the chancellor is playing is being called by the Bank of England (and others unnamed), none of whom was elected, and none of whose policy preferences have been presented to the public, let alone approved.

As is always the case. That's a deeper issue and not anything to do with the current crisis, you've just seen the covers pulled back for 5 minutes.

[depr]

Indeed Belgium was without (elected) government for 652 days in 2018 - 2020.

[denton-scratch]

The Belgian government system is quite different from the UK system.