United Kingdom, Agreements, Quiet Withdrawal

The Long Grass

British English has many phrases for a plan that is set aside without ever being ended.

To kick something into the long grass: To delay a matter in the hope that it will be forgotten.

To put something on the back burner: To set it aside for now, and often for good.

To quietly shelve: To abandon a plan without announcing it.

It’s gone quiet: The other side has stopped replying. The deal is probably dead.

It fell by the wayside: Nobody ended it. It simply stopped.

To take French leave: To leave without saying goodbye or asking permission.

Something’s Come Up

When a British speaker cannot keep a commitment, the message is usually soft and apologetic.

Something’s come up: I cannot keep the appointment. No reason will follow.

I’ve been snowed under: I have not done what I promised.

Would it be awful if we pushed this back a bit?: The deadline will move.

I’m so sorry, but: A change to the agreement follows.

I’m afraid we’re going to have to: The decision has already been made.

Let’s touch base nearer the time: Let us not confirm anything now.

The Care Cap

In July 2011, the Dilnot Commission recommended a cap of £35,000 on the social care costs a person must pay. The Care Act 2014 gave the cap a legal basis.

In July 2015, the start date was moved to April 2020. In September 2021, the cap was set at £86,000. In November 2022, the reforms were postponed by two years. On 29 July 2024, the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, cancelled them. The Treasury said they were “now impossible to deliver in full to previously announced timeframes.”

English Votes for English Laws

On 13 July 2021, the House of Commons abolished English Votes for English Laws, a procedure it had used for bills affecting England. The Leader of the House, Jacob Rees-Mogg, said the procedure had “added complexity and delay.”

There was no formal division. The Conservative MP Desmond Swayne wrote that many members were voting by proxy, so opponents could not find a second teller. The procedure “was ditched without a single recorded dissenting vote.”

The Third Runway

In 2015, the Airports Commission recommended a third runway at Heathrow. Prime Minister David Cameron had guaranteed a decision by the end of the year. On 10 December 2015, the government postponed the decision to the summer of 2016, citing air quality.

The Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, said: “The case for aviation expansion is clear.” Business groups called the delay “gutless.”

Nothing Has Changed

On 18 May 2017, the Conservative manifesto set out a new way to pay for social care. Opponents called it a “dementia tax.” On 22 May, four days later, Theresa May said that a planned Green Paper would include proposals for an “absolute limit” on what people would pay.

Pressed by reporters, she answered: “Nothing has changed, nothing has changed.” She later said it had been a mistake to insist that nothing had changed.