A striking thing about this Conservative leadership election is just how unconservative it is. In days gone by one might have expected the candidates to extol the importance of fiscal rectitude, keeping taxes low, deregulation and public spending restraint. But there has been very little of this.
The fact becomes more surprising still when one thinks that the UK is now in its ninth year of economic growth. Inflation and interest rates are low, employment is at an all-time high. The UK’s public finances are at last under control. This is, many would say, the moment to be storing away the grain against the proverbial and inevitable “rainy day”.
It is a historic function of the Conservative Party to restore order to the public finances after the traditional Labour spending binge. The Blair and Brown governments were rhetorically different, but the emphasis on public spending was the same. The former managed to pull off the astonishing feat of running a large budget deficit at a time of rapid economic growth.
Between 1997 and 2007 the UK had the second largest increase in spending as a share of national income out of 28 industrial countries surveyed. Thus, when the crisis hit, its effect was to create ballooning public deficits and debt.
Today the finances are under control. But the key questions are different. First, of course, there is the mastodon in the room: how to handle Brexit. Yet there is also the longer term. The judgment of all the leadership candidates is evidently that the careful housekeeping of the past nine years should allow a new government to ease the purse strings a little.
So an overall fiscal loosening seems in prospect. If it is well timed and we exit with an agreed deal, that might help weather any headwinds arising from Brexit. If we leave with no deal, many would argue that more firepower may be needed. So macroeconomics points in the same looser direction.
What about the micro? Of course there will be strong claims on behalf of core public services. But is there a distinctively Conservative set of policies that could sit alongside that? Can we start to heal the social, economic and geographical divisions in our society while supporting the economy and boosting productivity? The answer is plainly yes. As a new book on 2020 Conservatism — Britain Beyond Brexit — illustrates, ideas are bubbling up on how to address these challenges.
I decided last week, after consulting friends, colleagues and constituents, not to throw my stetson into the ring of the leadership contest. But here is part of my manifesto. The idea of One Nation conservatism really derives from Edmund Burke. For him, human potential and human freedom are realised through such social institutions as the family, church, parliament and rule of law. He saw society as a priceless inheritance; it was the duty of every generation to enhance and preserve it for the benefit of all.
If One Nation conservatism means anything, then, it must do two things. Spatially, it must reach out to and energise every part of the UK. Temporally, it must preserve and enhance our society for our children. From these principles spring innumerable policy ideas. Here are five:
First is a national infrastructure fund. One weakness of our system of public accounts is that they disclose the value of debt incurred but not the value of any assets created. This brings a lack of clarity and increased uncertainty among investors, who cannot be sure how far debt is financing consumption or investment.
A national infrastructure fund creates a mini balance sheet of its own. This could, in turn, finance a significant expansion of high-quality, low-emission local housing. Since good design often doesn’t cost a lot more, why not make it beautiful as well?
It could finance full-fibre broadband rollout. And it could finance significant new investment in sustainable transport, cycling and walking, a new low-cost domestic light rail industry and expanding charging networks for electric vehicles. Add in a five-year, local roads-funding settlement and you have a package that would raise air quality, support high streets, improve health and combat obesity.
Third, we need a far more proactive approach to regions that have been left behind. Investment works well when it builds value alongside infrastructure and skills that already exist. This means vigorous but tailored regional investment, with better apprenticeships and technical education.
My own county of Herefordshire makes the point perfectly. Our New Model in Technology & Engineering university project is designed to provide radical innovation, giving young people access to the best global models. But it operates within a defence and security arc that includes Qinetiq in Malvern and GCHQ in Cheltenham, with a wide and deep ecology of small, specialist companies.
Fourth is a renewed emphasis on culture and the arts. This points in two directions: towards a local sense of what makes each place special and the power of the arts and music in particular to kindle passions; and towards the creative industries of tomorrow.
Last, place-making must embrace the entire UK. That means bringing the parties together and re-establishing the executive in Northern Ireland, UK investment in Scotland and Wales and politicians willing to make the case for the Union, “from which infinite good has been derived to this country” in the words of the great political economist Adam Smith.
The scope for real conservatism to make a difference in healing divisions and bringing our country back to being one nation has never been greater.
[This article originally appeared in the Sunday Times for 9 June 2019]