Britain is being overwhelmed by a rising tide of statism, entitlement and dependency

IIt is the duty of Tories to be honest with the public: the government cannot solve every one of their problems

‘It is time to talk about Conservative principles – not only of low taxation and enterprise, but of freedom to act, to create and retain wealth, to debate and to speak freely’

t is hard to believe, as we look around us, that this country was in the grip of an unprecedented pandemic for two years. Social distancing, vaccine certificates, the rule of six, Christmas presents being handed over in the car park: it is as if someone flicked a switch and we have all agreed to forget that any of it ever happened.

The new normal seems remarkably like the old normal, at least in Britain. Only a few tell-tale signs of the disaster remain. The few remaining people clinging on to masks. The faded stickers on the pavement telling us to stay two metres apart, like the relics of some lost civilisation. The ever-growing backlogs at the DVLA and the Passport Office.

On the surface, society seems almost back to what it was. But we should be worried by what Covid has done to us nevertheless.

We saw two big trends during the pandemic.

On the one hand, we got incredible flexibility and change from the private sector, which kept us all fed, warm, and entertained during lockdown. On the other, we saw the Prime Minister saying that the Government would “wrap its arms around people” and the Chancellor handing out the best part of half a trillion pounds to stop the economy crashing.

Both responses were correct at the time. Only one is now. We must not take with us out of the pandemic the belief that the Government’s job is to protect us from every vicissitude of life.

This is not just about tax and spend, important though that is. It is an attitude of mind. Too many government plans are collectivist in conception and accept far too many of our opponents’ assumptions.

We are told that the Government must protect everyone from the cost-of-living crisis or face electoral retribution. As a result, it is already borrowing from the future and raising taxes for redistribution, economically damaging though this is.

Having initially rejected it, the Government now seems to be flirting with an energy windfall tax if companies will not invest as ministers wish.

The Online Safety Bill seems to be aimed at preventing anyone from seeing anything that might offend them online.

The conversion therapy measures will restrict religious free speech.

Tenants will be allowed to remain in their houses in perpetuity unless the state judges that owners have a good reason to want them back.

We are even supposed to believe that football, a hugely successful industry, now needs a regulator so that no club ever goes bust – and I write as a Derby County supporter who might be thought to have an interest.

Free societies can’t function like this.

I fear we now have a strongly established culture of dependency, where people look to the state to solve their problems rather than making efforts themselves, and where business faces ever-growing practical obstacles to normal commercial activity.

How have we become so collectivist? Why is it so strongly believed that every private problem has a government solution?

I think three events have changed things.

First came the 2008 financial crash, the rescue of the banks, and the cuts in interest rates to levels so low that most of us could not accumulate capital. Unviable companies survived as zombies. House prices exploded.

That kicked off a general anticapitalist mood and a psychology of “if the government can bail them out, it can bail me out too”. Programmes like Universal Credit, now a wage subsidy available a long way up the salary chain, are beginning to prepare the ground for universal basic income schemes that explicitly aim to protect everyone from losing income in any circumstances.

Second was the growth of climate collectivism. For a decade or more we have all been told we have to make sacrifices to save the planet. Stop travelling, live local, eat less, stop eating meat, turn your lights out, stop being a burden.

As most of us are generally reluctant to do this as individuals, the state has had to step in, with smart meters, heat pumps, low-trafficzones, unsatisfactory electric cars, tailored taxation measures, and “nudges”. We have all gradually got used to this, so that it seems normal to be hectored about the moral aspects of virtually every choice in our everyday life.

Third came the pandemic and the lockdowns and restrictions on normal social contact. These measures were unprecedented. Twenty years ago they would have been impossible. But in an environment in which we had all grown used to “living local”, taking money from the government, and being told what to do, they seemed somehow expected, perhaps even inevitable.

We have all got used to the idea, even after lockdown, that it is normal to restrict individual behaviour to protect a government service, the NHS, and for ministers to lecture us about healthy eating and exercise, just like Winston Smith through his telescreen every morning.

Socialist economics and green politics produce lockdowns and collectivism.

It is time to put an end to these habits. They don’t lead to anything good. Wherever they are embedded, they produce a low-productivity society with one interest group fighting another for a share of the spoils from government.

It is always difficult to call a halt, but call it we must. This is a Conservative Government and it is time to talk about Conservative principles – not only of low taxation and enterprise, but of freedom to act, to create and retain wealth, to debate and to speak freely even if others don’t like your opinions, to make your own economic choices for you or your family rather than have them made for you.

These principles entail being honest with people. Not everyone can get everything they want from the state. It is no good saying that people expect the government to support them and don’t want to hear tough choices. In the real world, sometimes – and now is one of those times – tough choices are the only ones available. To avoid them is not only to choose decline as a country but to fail to grow as individuals and responsible citizens.

So in the tough times to come, people need to hear honesty. “Yes, there are difficult things happening. You may need to work harder, longer – and most importantly smarter. You may need to cut things back today to get a better tomorrow. But we believe that letting you decide how to do so is the best way forward. And meanwhile the Government will abide by those principles itself, will stop fussing about trivia, and will do its core tasks properly and efficiently.”

I actually think that most current Conservative ministers and politicians came into politics because they believed something like this. It is time for us all to say so. We can’t expect resistance to collectivism if we won’t make the case ourselves.

As Margaret Thatcher said in her first speech after being elected leader in 1975: “We have lost sight of the banners. The trumpets have given an uncertain sound. It is our duty, our purpose, to raise those banners high so that all can see them, to sound the trumpets clearly and boldly so that all can hear them.”

Of course our opponents will sneer and distort if we do. They will accuse us of being bad people. We will have to put up with that.

It is our job to turn the tide, to change direction, to rally the majority who will agree with us. There is no other way for this country to succeed.