Tory solution

The Conservatives will not be able to secure a majority at the next general election unless they win back the votes of young people, ethnic minorities and Londoners. They shed support among all of these groups in June, and have struggled to come up with convincing policies to appeal to them ever since.

There’s a very simple way they could make up some of the ground: come out unambiguously against Transport for London’s absurd decision, backed by the city’s Left-wing mayor Sadiq Khan, to ban the taxi app firm Uber from the capital.

Such a strategy would have two main advantages. First, Uber passengers – 500,000 of whom have signed a petition calling for Mr Khan to reverse the decision – are predominantly young, metropolitan Remain voters, who have fallen out of love with the Tories. Many of the taxi drivers – all of whom face losing their livelihoods – are from ethnic minority backgrounds. Backing Uber’s right to operate in London would be an immensely powerful statement that the Conservatives are on these voters’ sides.

Secondly, it would be an opportunity to articulate clearly, and with a striking practical example, the astonishing benefits that free market economics can deliver in practice – Uber thrives because it provides consumers with a cheaper, more convenient service than the alternative – and the consequences of letting the Left undermine it.

This is not an argument in favour of a particular company. Uber has many problems, and should work much harder to engage with the authorities to stamp them out. But Mr Khan’s ban is a politically motivated over-reaction. The Conservatives should pledge to reverse it.