THIS year was literally one of two halves in the British government.
Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer each had six months in Downing Street, give or take a handful of days in July. Yet this was the year of governing anxiously.
January to May were months when not much governing got done under Sunak. Parliament spent three months declaring Rwanda safe for asylum, over court objections, but nobody was sent to Africa.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt spent another £10 billion in March on taking another 2p off national insurance, but nobody seemed to notice. Having a former prime minister, David Cameron, as foreign secretary, did give the UK an energetic diplomatic presence, though a breakthrough in the Middle East remained elusive.
At home, the government left every difficult decision it could – from settling public sector strikes to prisons bursting at the seams – to its postelection successor.
Sunak’s last big decision as prime minister was, in essence, whether his short premiership would end in May or July, October or December. In office, but with power draining away, he chose to get out a few months before he had to.
Hopes of gradual economic improvement were outpaced by an unhappy Conservative party’s descent into ungovernability. There was little purpose – and no joy – in clinging on. May’s local elections confirmed the Tories were heading for defeat, but suicide-by-electorate still seemed the more attractive option.
Sunak’s election announcement somehow caught his own party off guard. The Conservatives stabilised their campaign by tacitly admitting they were unlikely to win, and warning of a Labour supermajority. Twentyfour per cent of the vote and 121 seats somehow felt like a reprieve.
Labour’s one-word slogan, ‘change’, secured a historic landslide with little fanfare, but the lowest winning share of the vote in modern times. A campaign perfectly pitched to gain marginal seats shed half a million of the Labour voters the party was largely taking for granted. Much of the election drama came from the smaller parties – with the Liberal Democrats, Reform, Greens and independents all jubilant at breaking new ground.
The geographic breadth of Labour’s victory gives it an interest in bridging Britain’s social divides if it can find the story and voice to do so.
Six days of rioting after the Southport tragedy had seen the government rapidly restore order and condemn the racist violence. How far it has a strategy to deal with the underlying causes of disorder, by building social cohesion, will be one key test in 2025.
Starmer’s character appears better suited to governing than campaigning, but Labour found the transition to power hard.
July to September were, mostly, three more months when little governing got done. The false start, in a distracted, dysfunctional and divided Downing Street, saw a major overhaul in October. Starmer charged his new political chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, with getting the show on the road. Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered a Labour budget, increasing taxes by more than she had to, so there was money to spend on the NHS too.
The Conservative members got the leader they wanted in Kemi Badenoch, after the party’s MPs almost turned the contest into a farce with tactical games. But whether Badenoch is given the chance to fight the next general election is an open question, depending on how the next two years go.
November’s record net migration numbers saw Starmer decide to keep punching the Tory bruise over their record. In 2025, once numbers fall significantly, the prime minister will need a new argument to describe the balance of his own government’s policy on immigration.
The government’s first six months have seemed randomly defined – by cuts to winter fuel payments, arguments with farmers and the agonised debate over assisted dying.
Labour ministers believe the government’s fate will depend primarily on whether it can produce noticeable improvements in living standards, the NHS and the condition of the country. The election of Donald Trump as US president will make governing harder – certainly in multilateral forums, and perhaps, economically, too.
What happens next? Nobody can know for sure. This month was the fifth anniversary of the December 2019 general election – hailed as a major “realignment” and an era of Tory dominance. This has been the sugar-rush decade in British politics.
Starmer’s challenge is to use his large majority to show that a more stable governing politics is possible. But one unknown may be how far our political culture could adapt if it was. There was more media attention on Badenoch’s distaste for sandwiches last week than the overhaul of English local government.
The credulity given to media fantasies of Nigel Farage becoming prime minister – as if Britain hankers for the politics of Trump and Elon Musk – partly reflects an interest in talking about anything, except policy.
But, after the year of governing anxiously, 2025 may see a shift in gear to the grind of trying to govern better.
(The author is the director of British Future)
His Highness Prince Rahim Aga Khan V
Anurag Bajpayee's Gradiant: The water company tackling a global crisis
In a world increasingly defined by scarcity, one resource is emerging as the most quietly decisive factor in the future of industry, sustainability, and even geopolitics: water. Yet, while the headlines are dominated by energy transition and climate pledges, few companies working behind the scenes on water issues have attracted much public attention. One of them is Gradiant, a Boston-based firm that has, over the past decade, grown into a key player in the underappreciated but critical sector of industrial water treatment.
A Company Born from MIT, and from Urgency
Founded in 2013 by Anurag Bajpayee and Prakash Govindan, two researchers with strong ties to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Gradiant began as a scrappy start-up with a deceptively simple premise: make water work harder. At a time when discussions about climate change were centred almost exclusively on carbon emissions and renewable energy, the trio saw water scarcity looming in the background.
Their insight was that some of the world’s largest industries—semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, food and beverage—were facing acute water-related challenges long before the general public grasped the issue. “Without water, these industries don’t just slow down; they stop,” Bajpayee has often remarked. What Gradiant offered was not just a way to save water, but a way to rethink how it is used, recycled, and valued.
The Engineers Behind the Mission
Anurag Bajpayee, the company’s CEO, whose academic path took him to MIT, where he completed a PhD in Mechanical Engineering focused on water treatment technologies. It was there that he met Govindan, a fellow engineer and now Gradiant's co-founder and COO, whose expertise complemented his in fluid mechanics and process engineering.
Unlike many founders who drift towards the language of venture capital and corporate strategy, Anurag Bajpayee and his team remained grounded in the technical problem: how to make industrial water treatment more efficient, more affordable, and more sustainable. The company still bears the imprint of its founders’ engineering roots. Gradiant is less Silicon Valley startup and more MIT lab, albeit one that has quietly expanded across Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America.
What Gradiant Actually Does
The company specializes in designing and building bespoke water treatment and reuse systems for industrial clients. Its technologies are aimed at enabling factories and plants to reclaim water that would otherwise be discarded as waste, reducing both the amount of water withdrawn from natural sources and the volume of contaminated water discharged.
At the heart of Gradiant’s portfolio are proprietary technologies such as Counter Flow Reverse Osmosis (CFRO), Carrier Gas Extraction (CGE) and Selective Ion Recovery (SIR), developed from the Gradiant founders’ early research at MIT. Unlike traditional methods like reverse osmosis, these systems are designed to handle highly contaminated or complex wastewater streams, enabling clients to extract clean water even from previously unusable sources.
But Gradiant does not sell “one-size-fits-all” machines. Each project is tailored to the customer’s unique needs. For a semiconductor plant in Singapore, this might mean achieving ultrapure water reuse levels of 98%; for a food and beverage factory in Texas, it might be about safely treating wastewater for discharge while minimising energy consumption. The company's approach—sometimes called "solutioneering" internally—is both its competitive advantage and its raison d'être.
Expansion Without the Usual Hype
Gradiant’s growth has been quietly impressive. From its first commercial project in the oil and gas sector, it has gone on to complete over 500 installations worldwide. The company has raised more than $400 million in funding from a mix of institutional investors and private equity firms, achieving so-called “unicorn” status, with a valuation reportedly over $1 billion.
Unlike many green tech firms, Gradiant’s expansion has not been accompanied by flashy marketing campaigns or grandiose statements. Instead, the company has preferred to build credibility client by client, particularly in Asia, where water-intensive industries and growing environmental pressures make its services indispensable. Anurag Bajpayee, never one to speak in superlatives, frames the company’s expansion as a “response to urgent need” rather than a triumph of business.
Inside Gradiant’s Operations
At its core, Gradiant is still an engineering-first company. Anurag Bajpayee and Govindan, both technically trained and heavily involved in the company’s operations, have instilled a culture where R&D is not just a department but the lifeblood of the business. The firm currently holds more than 250 patents globally, a testament to its ongoing commitment to innovation.
But Gradiant’s success is not just about technology. The company has differentiated itself by offering not just equipment but full-service solutions, including project design, construction, operations, and maintenance. This full-stack approach has been particularly attractive to clients in highly regulated industries, who need water management solutions that work seamlessly and reliably without requiring deep in-house expertise.
Gradiant’s clients include some of the world’s largest manufacturers, including Fortune 500 companies in sectors like microelectronics, pharmaceuticals, and energy. Some, like semiconductor producers, rely on Gradiant to help them meet stringent water reuse targets while maintaining ultra-clean production environments.
Navigating a Changing World
Gradiant operates at the intersection of several converging trends: climate change, regulatory pressure, and industrial decarbonisation. In many regions, water scarcity has become the limiting factor for industrial growth, sometimes more than energy availability or supply chain constraints.
While public attention often focuses on domestic water use, it is industries that consume the lion’s share of freshwater. Gradiant's pitch is straightforward: industries will have to do more with less, and Gradiant offers the tools to make that possible.
Anurag Bajpayee is keenly aware of the paradox that water, despite being vital, is often underpriced and undervalued, especially when compared to energy. “We don’t pay what it’s worth, only what it costs,” he told an audience at a recent conference. Yet, the landscape is shifting. Regulators, investors, and companies themselves are increasingly acknowledging water as both a business risk and a social responsibility.
What's Next for Gradiant?
Looking ahead, Gradiant appears poised to play a central role as industries adapt to water scarcity. Yet, Anurag Bajpayee remains cautious about the hype cycle. "The problem we’re working on isn’t going anywhere," he says. "It’s not a question of innovation alone, but of execution—of making sure these solutions actually reach the places that need them most."
In an era where water risk is increasingly material to business, Gradiant’s quiet, technically grounded approach may prove to be exactly what is needed.
(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Eastern Eye. The publication does not endorse or take responsibility for the accuracy of any statements made by the author.)