Conservatives must back wealth creation

Time is running short for the Conservatives to remind voters that theirs is the party of wealth creation, growth and aspiration. Next week’s Budget marks the last fiscal event that could have a discernible impact on the economy and household finances before the next general election.

The context is not favourable for the Government. The tax burden is on track to reach its highest level since the 1940s, and many core voters are perplexed as to why such emphasis is being placed by ministers on the sorts of interventionist policies that would usually be associated with the Left.

Two new Bills give little cause for comfort. While the leasehold system is not without its flaws, campaigners fear that the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill goes much too far and that thousands of freeholders will end up losing out unfairly.

Meanwhile, the Renters Reform Bill – one of whose main components has been the ban on tendentiously named “no fault evictions” – will deepen concerns that the Tories are helping to malign landlords, a group on which the functioning of the housing market depends.

Labour has mustered little opposition to either piece of legislation, which ought to make the Tories think again; indeed, they have already watered down certain measures within the Bills.

But it is not sufficient for the party to backtrack on its own misguided policies; it must also, unapologetically, make the case for economic freedom and lower taxes, then match this with bold action.

It would be self-defeating for the Government to adopt more Labour policies in order to set a trap for its opponents.

Already, Britain risks becoming a hostile environment for wealth creators, with fiscal drag pulling an extra three million people into the higher rate of income tax by the end of the decade, while an additional 400,000 will be forced to pay the top rate. Everyone will pay the price should wealthier taxpayers decide to leave the UK.

It is also not good enough for the Conservatives merely to point to the evident problems with Labour’s economic agenda. Many voters now see too little difference between the policies of the Tories and the Opposition for that to work.

The Conservatives must show instead that, under their stewardship, Britain can prosper. March 6 could be their last opportunity.