Forget the City bankers - Britain's real economy runs on white vans and it's time to scrap the stereotypes

The plumbers, electricians, builders, and delivery drivers who start their days before dawn, keep the country ticking over, and do it all from behind the wheel of a white van.

These are the men and women who fix our boilers, keep our homes standing, and ensure everything from parcels to pints arrives on time. They don’t get IPOs, share options or press coverage.

What they get is traffic fines, fuel bills, and a thousand forms of silent disdain – none more insidious than the lazy ‘white van man’ stereotype.

This caricature has long outlived its sell-by date. The media shorthand still too often equates “white van” with small-mindedness or aggression. It’s not just inaccurate; it’s damaging.

Because here’s the truth: the white van is not a joke. It’s a symbol. A symbol of self-reliance, of the dignity of skilled work, of Britain’s backbone economy.

It’s not the FTSE 100 that determines whether the country is functioning – it’s whether we can get a plumber on a Tuesday, whether builders have work, and whether deliveries arrive when promised.

You can’t build a low-carbon future, retrofit old housing stock, or install heat pumps without these workers. And yet their needs, their voices, are left out of the national conversation.

Take the green transition. We ask tradespeople to drive electric, retrofit homes to net-zero standards, and upskill overnight – but who is helping them make the switch?

An electric van can cost twice as much as a diesel one.

Charging infrastructure is patchy, especially outside major cities. And grants, when they exist, are riddled with red tape.

The green economy is being built on the backs of people priced out of participating in it.

Meanwhile, policy and politics remain stubbornly London-centric and university-obsessed. Apprenticeships have been sidelined. Vocational education is underfunded.

And the people who keep the country going are treated like a problem to be managed, not a sector to be championed.

This has to change. If politicians are serious about economic growth, regional opportunity and levelling up, they should start with the nation's white van workforce. Invest in their training. Incentivise clean vehicle adoption.

Give them a seat at the table when shaping the future of work. Because they don’t just represent economic output – they represent aspiration, resilience, and the kind of small-business entrepreneurship that once defined this country.

The next time you see a white van, don’t sneer. Recognise it for what it is: a mobile office, a toolbox on wheels, and the best indicator we have of how Britain is really doing.

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Richard Merrin is CEO of independent PR agency Spreckley Partners

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