The green shoots that could herald a lifeline for Rishi

IT IS pleasant to imagine Rishi Sunak, exhausted, his arms full of parcels, finally getting home this Christmas Eve, closing the front door and slumping against it for a rare moment of relief and peace.

There may not be much peace or goodwill available in Britain or the world at the moment – Ukraine is still torn by war and wounded by loss and destruction, Israel is still filled with horror and revulsion after the massacre of October 7,

Gaza is still in flames and overshadowed by fear and death – but Christmas ought to be a time of truce, when for a few short days we live as we ought to live, in harmony. We should all try our best to do so.

Even in the midst of war, as Winston Churchill so memorably expressed it in the very furnace of world conflict, during a visit to Washington DC on December 24, 1941: ‘Here, amid all the tumult, we have tonight the peace of the spirit in each cottage home and in every generous heart. Therefore we may cast aside for this night at least the cares and dangers which beset us, and make for the children an evening of happiness in a world of storm.’

We might also consider the hopeful possibilities, which are now becoming evident, in a world which has over the past few years seen so much peril, strife, disease and dislocation. For there is good news in a very important matter – the state of the economy.

On this workaday foundation rest almost all the other features of our society. Prosperity makes benevolence possible, builds homes for the homeless, creates jobs for the unemployed, helps us live more happily together, fuels advances in medicine and technology which make lives longer and more fulfilling. And after many months of bad tidings, experts are beginning to make out signs of good economic news.

Industrial production is up in key sectors, share prices are up, retail sales are doing well, inflation is finally fading and interest rates may well have peaked, a great comfort for homebuyers.

In any case, it is surely time for Mr Sunak, and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, to concentrate as much of their force as possible on encouraging and nurturing every sign of economic good news. We have urged the Premier before to be more Conservative, and it is undoubtedly the best possible advice. His government would not need Esther McVey as ‘Minister of Common Sense’ if the Tories had not spent so much of the past 20 years failing to first oppose and then dismantle the wokeism imposed on the country by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown during their 13 politically correct years of power.

It is good to see that Tory minds are beginning to take a closer look at Sir Keir Starmer’s own long, radical record, but they also need to bear in mind Labour’s irrepressible urge to strangle the economy with spending splurges paid for by high taxes, ending in recessions accompanied by reductions in key services.

There is no reason to believe that Sir Keir will be any different. It has been the task of the Tories for the last century to release the economy from Labour’s shackles, and to sustain the prosperity which is really the only guarantee of an effective welfare state.

Let them concentrate on that, and many other good things will follow.

Labour has not yet won the next Election, and there is still plenty of time to ensure that it does not. And with that thought in mind, The Mail on Sunday wishes all its readers a very happy and joyous Christmas.