Public sector must stop treating voters like a nuisance

It is a common, and growing, complaint across Middle England: why are taxpayers treated as supplicants, rather than as empowered consumers? In an interview with this newspaper, Rob Behrens, the parliamentary and health-service ombudsman, offers HS2 as an example of publicly-owned bodies that routinely treat taxpayers as if they were a nuisance. The HS2 complaints system has been “suboptimal”, he says, showing scant compassion or respect to those affected by the new high-speed rail line: it was “dishonest, misleading and inconsistent” in its dealings with a family whose home it was trying to purchase.

This problem extends across government: there is a “lack of listening,” warns Mr Behrens, and “a lack of willingness to learn”. One might add that this culture of treating users as a problem rather than a customer has expanded into parts of the private sector, often covered up with a thin veneer of wokery or Covid-compliance.

Big government, many charities, the arts, and some parts of big business increasingly think alike, committed to political goals, including hitting net zero, which are perceived to be more important than the essential responsibility of delivering a decent service at a reasonable price.

But it is the state itself that is the worst offender, as confirmed most recently by the scandal at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.

According to the Ockenden review, published last week, more than 200 babies and nine mothers might have survived had it not been for serious failings. National clinical guidelines were not followed; families were let down; mistakes were not learnt from following investigations; serious incidents were even downgraded inappropriately to avoid external scrutiny. There was a “republic of maternity” culture.

The Government might promise action, but it has repeatedly failed to confront bureaucratic know-it-alls head on during its lengthy period in office. It tried to in the early years of the Coalition, but the Blob reasserted its influence and ministers have retreated into the old, New Labour metric of performance: not how well a service is delivered, but how much money is being spent on it.

This not only betrays the consumer but will also ultimately risk undermining the Conservatives at election time. In a contest to douse the public sector in cash, Labour will always promise more, regardless of what the country can actually afford – and without any commitment to improve productivity or consumer rights.

Keep calm and carry on

There has been a predictably panicky response from certain quarters to the fact that Covid infections have jumped – at 4.9 million, the largest number since surveys began in April 2020 – but what actually matters is that the number of people being treated for very severe infections, and requiring intensive care, remains low. The coronavirus has gone from an emergency to a manageable problem. It needs to be handled carefully and flexibly, with an emphasis on living with the disease, rather than trying to eliminate it.

Moving on from the pandemic has been made possible by the vaccination programme, a marvel of science and a fruitful collaboration between state and private enterprise: the Government invested wisely, took substantial risks and acted fast. If it proves necessary to roll out another booster programme across all age groups, so be it. What we absolutely cannot do is return to restrictions. Those societies that have taken longer to lift them will pay a greater price.

Nor can we afford to retain universal free testing, which the Government has ended (except for certain vulnerable groups). Britain has already spent more than £15.7 billion on testing, tracing and isolation in 2021-2022 – a figure that needs to be added to failed PPE schemes, the taxes now shooting up to repair the NHS, and the millions of damaged incomes, shuttered businesses and lost jobs, to get a true sense of the cost of lockdown.

The Government’s Covid strategy, entailing a decisive return to normal, supported by the vaccine, is correct. Ministers must avoid all temptation to panic, let alone to go into reverse.

Standing up to bullies

This weekend marks the 40th anniversary of the illegal invasion of the Falkland Islands by Argentina. It was widely thought that Britain might give up: the islands were thousands of miles away and our military wasn’t what it was. But there was a moral principle at stake, the right of selfdetermination; the right of the islanders to choose to which nation they cast allegiance.

The British fight to retake the Falklands was an enormous gamble that put its faith in providence, and won. Parallels with the current conflict in Ukraine are inescapable; one hopes it turns out the same way, and perhaps this helps explain why the UK has been a leading voice in the resistance against Moscow. Our nation has a proud record of standing up to dictators and bullies.