At the risk of spouting an old cliché, it is safe to say politics has changed. The Conservative Party won the last election by finding its way in to occupying the common ground of British politics. On a promise to make a transformational difference and to help those who felt forgotten, swathes of red seats turned blue.
An 80 seat majority now affords this Government the opportunity for real and meaningful change, but it is irrelevant unless there is a clear plan of action to accompany it. As the PM knows, winning an election is not enough; the Government needs to deliver on what it preaches. All successful and sustainable political movements offer clarity of leadership and seriousness of purpose, as well as, crucially, accepting the need to adapt to the world as it is, rather than one that they would ideally like it to be. There comes a time when the campaigning has to stop and the governing has to begin.
Nowhere is this better illustrated than in the life of Ernest Bevin. Before the Second World War, Bevin had been a leading figure in the trade union movement and firmly on the left of politics. However, his ready acceptance of the world as he found it is what made him a successful wartime Minister and then an outstanding Foreign Secretary. He quickly grasped the need for his Party to identify with the deep patriotism of the British people, demonstrated most starkly by his post-war determination to have an atomic bomb “with the bloody Union Jack on top of it”. He did this with a similar pragmatic outlook and a readiness to adapt that this Government has adopted and that the modern day Labour Party, absorbed by a rigid ideological dogma, seems incapable of.
Brexit and Covid had a similar effect on British politics that the War did; they have changed everything. The challenges that face the politicians of today are new in many ways, but the choice is an old one. Those that choose ideology over reality will fail and the old ways of working won’t wash anymore in a world where Brexit blew apart the old coalitions of politics and created new ones.
Brexit was preceded by many warning signs. The Coalition Government took power in the midst of a complete loss of faith in politics and the system, caused by the Iraq War and the financial crisis. A quiet revolution had taken place, one that the stand up comedian, Bill Hicks, had prophesied about before his untimely death, when he said, “the next revolution will be a revolution of ideas.” The end of the view that had prevailed since 1979 was a long time coming. It has now happened.
In order to seize the moment, we need to reconnect with some fundamental truths. The essence of being a Conservative is to stand up to the forces of division with the preservation of meaningful traditions as part of an evolving society; it involves a specific rejection of revolutionary change and unbridled, unaccountable power, which sometimes the free market itself can unleash. It is also about a belief in a community; a collective endeavour that is voluntary. Ministers like Neil O’Brien, along with other champions of the leveling up agenda understand this; a real strategy will deliver a country where the domestic economy serves the people.
Covid demonstrated the enduring importance of Governmental power, as we saw the biggest exercise in command and control by government in peacetime. The Vaccine production initiative, inspired and led by Government, but with massive private investment spurred on by the certainty of Government support is bringing more jobs to places like our town, Swindon, as a UK capacity for vaccine production is created. In many ways, projects like this lay the groundwork for a new approach to the economy, and one that doesn’t treat the ambition to reduce the reliance on London as a gimmick.
To allows this to continue, Government must give business the right incentives to flourish, and, as the world moves towards becoming more reliant on automation, with the workforce providing the innovation, invest heavily in research, development, and science. Businesses will also have to play their part, working with and informing the Government on how they can help to deliver its agenda, whilst also investing in their workers to develop their skills.
This Budget was a step in the right direction, but it was hardly revolutionary. There were some echoes of 1980s Budgets with a mixture of tax increases and a few targeted tax cuts but it then stopped short of any real reform to the public sector, which is essential if we are to achieve anything like a degree of control on public spending.
A clear pathway to reform is best illustrated in two areas. Firstly, the environment. If we are to achieve ambitions like carbon neutrality, becoming self-sustainable and producing our own energy, we need to be clear that this will cost time and money, or risk losing public confidence. We also need to outline a proper energy security programme with micro nuclear generation and renewables in the mix. This sort of clarity gives confidence to investors, which has been sadly lacking in the past.
Secondly, to truly reform and level up, we need safe and healthy communities. Being tough on crime is absolutely necessary, but a smart approach where we tackle the root causes of some of it has to happen too. More research into hidden disabilities, with a better focus on data and the causation of crime, helps to solve homelessness, poor health and poor education outcomes and cuts crime in the process. These improvements will be amongst the more visible effects of levelling up.
Bevin’s old anecdote that “the forces we are fighting are governed neither by the old strategy nor follow the old tactics”, resonates today. There are many factors we must now consider in our race for real and meaningful change, but the key is a long-term implementation plan. This is what the Conservatives can and must deliver.
