Let’s stop being so shy about it: there is a Conservative case for redistribution
When the chief executive of Citzens Advice, Gillian Guy, said the rollout of universal credit was “a disaster waiting to happen”, she was both right and wrong. As stories emerge of people being pushed into destitution, it is becoming clear that the mistakes being made in the implementation of universal credit are unacceptable. While it would be incompetent to overpay benefits to someone, it is negligent to underpay those on the breadline. Where Guy is wrong is the idea that these human disasters are passively waiting to happen.
They’re not: they are the active outcomes of government policy. The decision that universal credit should mirror monthly salaries – something many people in low-paid, precarious work do not experience – is a choice. The six-week-plus wait that some suffer before getting what is fairly theirs will save the Department for Work and Pensions £140m. What has not been calculated is the cost that this will incur to society.
This systematic injustice is not the result of “evil Tories” wanting to punish the poor. Most Conservatives are good people wanting to do good things. The reason this government has ended up steamrollering out a system that is inhumane to some is because the party is entangled in a twisted ideological knot.
Whether at the top or the bottom of the party, most know this. At the Conservative party conference, the repeated cry was that we must rejuvenate faith in free markets. At the same time, many Conservatives are hesitant to grasp what this means. Since the credit crunch, support for the neoliberal order has been haemorrhaging past the point of no return. Trying to patch up leaking support for economic Thatcherism by dropping dollops of 70sstyle paternalism looks weak next to Jeremy Corbyn’s “special brew” socialism. Conservatives need to figure out fast what the party offers people today – and we can only do that if we are honest about what is happening.
Conservatives speak with passion about freedom and opportunity because they believe in these values. At the same time as many Conservatives are failing to question whether what they believe to be good actually applies to the majority of real lives, Theresa May has yet to show courage in taking on vested interests in order to fight unfairness. May’s first speech as prime minister was a rallying cry to reverse injustices. All decent people agreed that it was a disgrace that, as she put it: “If you’re black, you’re treated more harshly by the criminal justice system than if you’re white. If you’re a white, working-class boy, you’re less likely than anybody else in Britain to go to university.” Over a year after she spoke those words, it is hard to name the bold actions that will tackle these big issues. Creating a website is not a sufficient response.
The mother who has been forced into debt because her benefits have been withheld does not feel free. The 30-year-old who has seen house price rises outstrip her ability to save a deposit does not believe she has the opportunity to own a home. The public-sector worker whose 1% rises have left him able to afford less, as inflation makes living more expensive, does not believe that hard work
gets rewarded.
All of the above should make Conservatives angry. We should carry on aiming to create a world where everyone can succeed. But we must also be honest with ourselves. Those in poverty are not free, and neither are those who are denied the space and tools to achieve their dreams. If Conservatives want to achieve our stated values, then we must wish for the state to intervene and be positive about redistribution.
Robert Halfon, in a speech to the Centre for Policy Studies, made the case that Conservatives must be the party of social justice and redistribution. We will struggle to win over people unless we are known as the party that redistributes opportunity from the rich to the poor, the party that gives everyone a fair chance to achieve their dreams. One way to do this would be to create a redistribution fund, where the tax cuts for big business and the wealthy that actually raise income are placed; these would then clearly be shared with the rest of us.
Halfon also said : “I remember as a minister I was not allowed to use the words social justice as the ‘in word’ was ‘social mobility’, which to me always sounded like a Vodafone advert.”
Quite simply, if the Conservative party hides from social justice, it cannot be on the side of those fighting for fairness. And, at the moment, that is a lot of people.
•Nick Denys has been a Conservative activist for over a decade and was one of the founders of Tory Workers