New deal for America

President Donald Trump has long been ridiculed by his political enemies. Yet now his party has delivered a landmark piece of legislation that is worthy of widespread admiration – and emulation. His tax bill embraces a fundamental principle of Conservatism – low taxes help individuals and businesses prosper, and drive a thriving economy. Not for 30 years has America seen so dramatic a reminder of this truism. As a result, working Americans will get richer. Perhaps even more significantly, substantial cuts to corporation tax will make America more competitive than ever. If that is accompanied, as hoped, by corporations repatriating trillions of dollars, then Mr Trump will have delivered a great deal for the American economy and his voters.

For the moment, sadly, British voters can only look on with envy. For while Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour espouses a punitive, ideologically driven attack on wealth to match an endless wishlist for renewed state spending on a staggering scale, Theresa May’s Conservatives are more bashful about banging the drum for a liberating low-tax, low-spend, small state. Yet this, as America has shown us once again, is the goal to aim for. And there is no better time than now.

Britain is in the process of forging a new identity. Brexit presents us with an opportunity to develop new markets, new jobs, and new businesses, by becoming globally competitive even as Europe wraps itself in red tape. Lower taxes and less regulation must be the keys to that new identity and they must be embraced not reluctantly, but enthusiastically. Despite the torrents of abuse that he has faced, Mr Trump has not wavered in his belief in the political facts of life: people want to get on, to do better, and be richer. Helping them achieve those goals is nothing to be shy about. He is not. Nor should we be.