The next PM needs to build our technical skills

The leadership race has turned into a clash of personalities when it should be about the big ideas

In the race to be the next Conservative leader, there is a danger that we end up in a personality psychodrama and forget the real issues facing Britain. That would let down our country and damage the party. True leadership isn’t about show, but hard work, ideas and substance. Without it you can’t change outcomes. That’s why, with sadness, I called for Theresa May to resign last week. Now we must look beyond Brexit and decide what kind of nation we want to become. That means confronting pressing national issues like weak productivity.

Even the most extreme estimates of the impact of a hard Brexit predict the economy could shrink by 11 per cent

over 15 years – far less than the 15-20 per cent decline stemming from weaker productivity since the 2008 financial crisis. And it’s getting worse. We have failed to address the skills shortage in the workforce. Real knowledge has never mattered more, yet over generations we have lost sight of the importance of practical knowledge. We’ve forgotten that bluff and confidence are no match for technical skills. We have devalued the life-learning of apprenticeships.

As we enter a new era of technical changes as momentous as the shift from manuscript to movable type or the aviation revolution in the 20th century, we need practitioners with the knowledge to exploit the opportunities of a changing global economy. Today’s engineers need to be as respected as they were in the golden age of UK manufacturing.

Nearly five years ago, my fellow MP Robert Halfon and Labour’s Lord Glasman wrote a report for Demos on apprenticeships. Every Conservative leadership contender should read it. Sadly, barely any of the report’s recommendations were adopted. Even worse, the social stigma that stops people going down that route has barely changed. Politicians often claim to love the idea of apprenticeships in the abstract, but how many would encourage their own children to do one? Too many parents still believe that university provides the only real path to success. The next leader must be ready to challenge lazy prejudices like this. They are bad for society, and the individuals concerned. We gain nothing from pushing youngsters down paths that won’t reward their talents, won’t provide the opportunities they deserve and won’t prepare our nation for a technical, knowledge-based future.

Conservatives should not ignore market signals. The technical sector is booming; pay differentials show that today’s skilled workers are more valued, and real skills better rewarded. We are experiencing an unforgiving, fact-based revolution that demands we get up to speed on technical knowledge at all levels of society. Winging it won’t cut it today.

As technology controls our lives more, and globalisation bypasses borders, allowing corporate giants to challenge our communities and high streets, we must rethink how we work as a nation and empower our citizens. As Conservatives we value community, with all its connecting parts. But too often we have focused on the top of the tree, not the roots, missing the shifting dynamics in areas like the one I represent.

Tonbridge is a prosperous town, full of hard-working and highlyskilled residents. But even here there are challenges. Connections that Londoners take for granted – getting to work early and home late, buses that run regularly and cost little – are a long-distant memory. That’s not just keeping people at home or costing families more, as parents and carers become the family taxi, it’s hurting the backbone of our economy. Small businesses can’t compete with the economies of scale open to global giants. Instead, they’re swallowed up or overshadowed by an integrated system that doesn’t value the innovation or local commitment they bring. This must change.

So the question is: who has that combination? Who is honest about the challenges we face, has worked to understand the world as it is, not as they wish it to be? Who is ready with the ideas and the ability to shape policy? Fundamentally, who is ready to lead? For me, that’s Michael Gove.