Andrew Griffith MP is Director of Policy at the Prime Minister’s Policy Unit, and is MP for Arundel.
As Head of the Policy Unit, there are three tests that I and my colleagues in Number Ten apply to the myriad of ideas which flow up from Whitehall every day. Will they help the economy grow faster or ensure that our public services deliver better outcomes? Will they reduce costs for hard pressed families? And, as a proper Conservative government, are they consistent with our philosophy that people and businesses spend their own money more wisely than those who seek to do so on their behalf?
As the Prime Minister wrote in his letter to Conservative MPs last week: “From Transport to Childcare to Energy to Housing – we will drive reform and find ways of reducing each major item of household expenditure. And we will of course devote all our energy to reducing the biggest single household outgoing of all – the tax bill”. Last week, the Chancellor was also clear that tax cuts for business and reforms are on his agenda this autumn. It is very clear tax cuts are now a ‘When’ not an ‘If’.
In fact, no one has long to wait. In just four weeks’ time, we will see the biggest tax cut for a decade (acknowledging that it followed a previous increase). Raising the threshold will mean that anyone can earn £12,570 entirely free of tax and National Insurance. It improves the incentive to work and will cut the tax bill for 70 per cent of households by £330 a year. If we undersell this tax cut to our constituents, we only have ourselves to blame.
I should add that there is in truth a fourth test for all new policies: is it clear and simple enough that MP colleagues can successfully retail it on the doorsteps of busy families across the UK. It echoes a mantra that many large organisations usefully adopt: do fewer things but do them bigger and do them better.
I saw the power of this approach from my former career in business and, with the fuse burning down rapidly to the next general election, focus on doing a few big things well has never been more important.
This fourth test of how it will land on doorsteps is greatly helped by the new engagement between the Policy Unit and backbench MP’s. In my first 18 weeks, I have met in small groups with more than 100 MP colleagues. Some of Sir Graham Brady’s 1922 Backbench Policy Committees have quickly come up with policy proposals, too.
These meetings aren’t exercises in knocking off barnacles – valuable though that can also be in ensuring the hull cuts through the water cleanly. They are about utilising the knowledge of Parliamentary colleagues who may have deep expert knowledge in a particular domain.
For example, Richard Bacon has forgotten more than most could ever hope to know on custom and self-build and shaped aspects of last week’s announcement on boosting home ownership. The work by Baroness Rock on tenant farmers helped inform the response to today’s Food Strategy, with its focus on domestic farmers and food producers at its core.
If the accusation is that our policies are more Conservative from having been road-tested with Members of Parliament representing millions of Conservative voters, we should all be happy to live with that. And having self-confidence in our own policies is itself attractive to the electorate. From challenging the over-reach of courts that frustrate the democratic will to sharing our frustration with publicly run services that put their own producer interests first, the public are firmly on our side and want to hear more.
Last week’s extension of Right to Buy to Housing Associations may not have been popular with a sector whose average chief executive salary is not far off approaching £200,000 a year (many are on much more). But Right to Buy was one of the Thatcher governments’ most enduring policies, which turned millions of people into independent homeowners and in doing so diminished the hold that the state once had over their lives.
A common theme of socialists the world over is to hate it when people acquire property. Labour in Wales actually passed a law to cancel the Right to Buy. So if you’re a council tenant in Caerphilly, then tough luck – because Labour thinks home ownership is not for the likes of you. The Liberal Democrats want local councils to be the arbiter of whether you’re allowed to buy your home off them. No prizes for guessing what that means.
One final thought. We have to hold our collective nerve. Governing is tough at the best of times. Those decisions which are simple and uncontroversial make themselves. It is the rest – inevitably the really hard ones – that we look to the governing party and the occupant of 10 Downing Street to solve.
Dealing with the perfect storm of an unprecedented global pandemic followed immediately by the largest war on European soil for 80 years would pop rivets on even the best engineered vessel. Last week was a moment of catharsis – a chance to purge emotions which allows everyone to move on.
The matter of leadership has been tested, we are all Conservatives, and we all share a common set of values. As we face down diverse foes from Putin to the RMT Union, let’s pull together, get back to promoting the positive and show just what a Government united in its purpose can achieve.
Andrew Griffith MP is Director of Policy at the Prime Minister’s Policy Unit, and is MP for Arundel.
As Head of the Policy Unit, there are three tests that I and my colleagues in Number Ten apply to the myriad of ideas which flow up from Whitehall every day. Will they help the economy grow faster or ensure that our public services deliver better outcomes? Will they reduce costs for hard pressed families? And, as a proper Conservative government, are they consistent with our philosophy that people and businesses spend their own money more wisely than those who seek to do so on their behalf?
As the Prime Minister wrote in his letter to Conservative MPs last week: “From Transport to Childcare to Energy to Housing – we will drive reform and find ways of reducing each major item of household expenditure. And we will of course devote all our energy to reducing the biggest single household outgoing of all – the tax bill”. Last week, the Chancellor was also clear that tax cuts for business and reforms are on his agenda this autumn. It is very clear tax cuts are now a ‘When’ not an ‘If’.
In fact, no one has long to wait. In just four weeks’ time, we will see the biggest tax cut for a decade (acknowledging that it followed a previous increase). Raising the threshold will mean that anyone can earn £12,570 entirely free of tax and National Insurance. It improves the incentive to work and will cut the tax bill for 70 per cent of households by £330 a year. If we undersell this tax cut to our constituents, we only have ourselves to blame.
I should add that there is in truth a fourth test for all new policies: is it clear and simple enough that MP colleagues can successfully retail it on the doorsteps of busy families across the UK. It echoes a mantra that many large organisations usefully adopt: do fewer things but do them bigger and do them better.
I saw the power of this approach from my former career in business and, with the fuse burning down rapidly to the next general election, focus on doing a few big things well has never been more important.
This fourth test of how it will land on doorsteps is greatly helped by the new engagement between the Policy Unit and backbench MP’s. In my first 18 weeks, I have met in small groups with more than 100 MP colleagues. Some of Sir Graham Brady’s 1922 Backbench Policy Committees have quickly come up with policy proposals, too.
These meetings aren’t exercises in knocking off barnacles – valuable though that can also be in ensuring the hull cuts through the water cleanly. They are about utilising the knowledge of Parliamentary colleagues who may have deep expert knowledge in a particular domain.
For example, Richard Bacon has forgotten more than most could ever hope to know on custom and self-build and shaped aspects of last week’s announcement on boosting home ownership. The work by Baroness Rock on tenant farmers helped inform the response to today’s Food Strategy, with its focus on domestic farmers and food producers at its core.
If the accusation is that our policies are more Conservative from having been road-tested with Members of Parliament representing millions of Conservative voters, we should all be happy to live with that. And having self-confidence in our own policies is itself attractive to the electorate. From challenging the over-reach of courts that frustrate the democratic will to sharing our frustration with publicly run services that put their own producer interests first, the public are firmly on our side and want to hear more.
Last week’s extension of Right to Buy to Housing Associations may not have been popular with a sector whose average chief executive salary is not far off approaching £200,000 a year (many are on much more). But Right to Buy was one of the Thatcher governments’ most enduring policies, which turned millions of people into independent homeowners and in doing so diminished the hold that the state once had over their lives.
A common theme of socialists the world over is to hate it when people acquire property. Labour in Wales actually passed a law to cancel the Right to Buy. So if you’re a council tenant in Caerphilly, then tough luck – because Labour thinks home ownership is not for the likes of you. The Liberal Democrats want local councils to be the arbiter of whether you’re allowed to buy your home off them. No prizes for guessing what that means.
One final thought. We have to hold our collective nerve. Governing is tough at the best of times. Those decisions which are simple and uncontroversial make themselves. It is the rest – inevitably the really hard ones – that we look to the governing party and the occupant of 10 Downing Street to solve.
Dealing with the perfect storm of an unprecedented global pandemic followed immediately by the largest war on European soil for 80 years would pop rivets on even the best engineered vessel. Last week was a moment of catharsis – a chance to purge emotions which allows everyone to move on.
The matter of leadership has been tested, we are all Conservatives, and we all share a common set of values. As we face down diverse foes from Putin to the RMT Union, let’s pull together, get back to promoting the positive and show just what a Government united in its purpose can achieve.