Sir Mel Stride MP is Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.
With the Labour government collapsing, it is vital for us Conservatives to avoid any sense of complacency.
No matter how bad the Labour government might get, the Conservative Party will have to continue to work very hard to gain the trust of the voters we need to win back. In what is now a multiparty system, we are competing with a range of alternatives to Labour.
That means that we cannot simply relax into our comfort zone of bashing the Labour Party. However conclusively we demonstrate their incompetence, it does not answer the question: “Why should I turn to the Conservatives instead of one of the others?”.
Setting out a positive, credible and uncompromisingly Conservative agenda for a Conservative government is the only way back to power for our party.
And the economy must be the cornerstone of that agenda. It is what consistently tops opinion polls for what matters most to the public. It is what underpins everything we want to achieve – not least rising living standards, lower taxes, better public services, stronger defence. And crucially, it is where polls suggest we already command a lead over all other parties – thanks to the work we have done since the election to regain trust on the economy. We are now the most trusted party when it comes to economic stewardship.
All of this is why Kemi and I have been so focused on our economic message, and why we have now set out our five-point plan – the principles which will underpin our efforts to deliver nothing short of an economic revolution.
Change under a future Conservative government will be far from the managerial incrementalism that has characterised too much of the past – we need fast and radical economic change to turn our country around. We will provide economic and fiscal stability whilst driving forward substantial change at pace – what I have called Responsible Radicalism.
Our five point plan is key to this approach.
First, cheaper energy.
We are an international outlier when it comes to energy costs with the highest industrial energy prices in the world. A dogmatic net zero agenda has pushed up bills deliberately in the name of unilateral decarbonisation – effectively a form of economic self-harm. We push up costs for our industry only to end up importing more from countries with far higher emissions than ourselves. We ban new oil and gas extraction, only to then buy from Norway instead – extracted from the exact same fields we ourselves have chosen not to exploit.
Our plan is clear. Ditch carbon taxes, scrap renewables subsidies and open up the North Sea, as well as supporting other efficient sources of energy like new nuclear. Energy abundance will help reindustrialise the UK and allow us to embrace the technology of the future, like the energy-hungry data centres needed for AI capacity.
Next, jobs.
Labour have made it far too difficult and risky to take on new hires with their Employment Rights Act. The mountain of new regulations has been a huge driver of the fact unemployment has risen and is expected to continue rising. A Conservative government would roll back the job-destroying elements of Labour’s legislation and make hiring easier again.
Third, cut taxes.
Labour have sent the tax burden soaring to a record high. As a result, firms have put investment and hiring on hold, and the economy has faltered. We need to get taxes down in a way that is responsible, fully costed and targeted.
That is why we have made such a significant commitment on Stamp Duty. Every economist agrees that Stamp Duty is a terrible tax. It clogs up the housing market, distorts decisions and means people cannot move to where the best jobs are. Getting rid of it is not just a populist gimmick of the sort Reform come out with. It is a pro-growth tax reform and will ultimately pay huge economic dividends.
We have also set out plans to abolish business rates for thousands of shops and hospitality businesses, and introduce a First Job Bonus, a £5,000 tax cut for young people when they first enter work.
Crucially, all of our plans on tax are underpinned by our Golden Economic Rule.
When we identify savings, at least half will go towards reducing the deficit. Only then can we look to use the rest for tax cuts. That demonstration of fiscal responsibility is a far cry from what we have seen from Reform.
Next, cut red tape.
Take all of the reporting requirements around things like environmental or diversity issues, for example. That is trying to get the private sector to implement social policy We would scrap it all.
Or take the excessive risk aversion we have seen in financial regulation. It is clear we have got the balance wrong, with much stricter requirements than our competitor nations. That is why Kemi and I have set out an initial set of reforms to free up huge amounts of capital for our economy and make the City of London more competitive.
Finally, in many ways the fifth point is the culmination of the first four: we have to back business.
A big reason we lost our way in government was too often we failed to remember that the private sector is where growth will come from. Some in business thought Labour would be on their side. Most can now see that this Labour Party has no understanding of how business works. We do. I myself spent years building my own businesses before coming into politics, as did many other Conservative MPs. It is a clear advantage we have over Labour. We need to continue to champion entrepreneurs, investors, wealth creators.
Those are our principles.
We have a plan – a positive, Conservative vision for a stronger economy. It is our job – every one of us – to talk about it, explain it, sell it on the doorstep. It is not enough to explain why people should not be voting for Labour – we need to explain why they should vote Conservative.
Sir Mel Stride MP is Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.
With the Labour government collapsing, it is vital for us Conservatives to avoid any sense of complacency.
No matter how bad the Labour government might get, the Conservative Party will have to continue to work very hard to gain the trust of the voters we need to win back. In what is now a multiparty system, we are competing with a range of alternatives to Labour.
That means that we cannot simply relax into our comfort zone of bashing the Labour Party. However conclusively we demonstrate their incompetence, it does not answer the question: “Why should I turn to the Conservatives instead of one of the others?”.
Setting out a positive, credible and uncompromisingly Conservative agenda for a Conservative government is the only way back to power for our party.
And the economy must be the cornerstone of that agenda. It is what consistently tops opinion polls for what matters most to the public. It is what underpins everything we want to achieve – not least rising living standards, lower taxes, better public services, stronger defence. And crucially, it is where polls suggest we already command a lead over all other parties – thanks to the work we have done since the election to regain trust on the economy. We are now the most trusted party when it comes to economic stewardship.
All of this is why Kemi and I have been so focused on our economic message, and why we have now set out our five-point plan – the principles which will underpin our efforts to deliver nothing short of an economic revolution.
Change under a future Conservative government will be far from the managerial incrementalism that has characterised too much of the past – we need fast and radical economic change to turn our country around. We will provide economic and fiscal stability whilst driving forward substantial change at pace – what I have called Responsible Radicalism.
Our five point plan is key to this approach.
First, cheaper energy.
We are an international outlier when it comes to energy costs with the highest industrial energy prices in the world. A dogmatic net zero agenda has pushed up bills deliberately in the name of unilateral decarbonisation – effectively a form of economic self-harm. We push up costs for our industry only to end up importing more from countries with far higher emissions than ourselves. We ban new oil and gas extraction, only to then buy from Norway instead – extracted from the exact same fields we ourselves have chosen not to exploit.
Our plan is clear. Ditch carbon taxes, scrap renewables subsidies and open up the North Sea, as well as supporting other efficient sources of energy like new nuclear. Energy abundance will help reindustrialise the UK and allow us to embrace the technology of the future, like the energy-hungry data centres needed for AI capacity.
Next, jobs.
Labour have made it far too difficult and risky to take on new hires with their Employment Rights Act. The mountain of new regulations has been a huge driver of the fact unemployment has risen and is expected to continue rising. A Conservative government would roll back the job-destroying elements of Labour’s legislation and make hiring easier again.
Third, cut taxes.
Labour have sent the tax burden soaring to a record high. As a result, firms have put investment and hiring on hold, and the economy has faltered. We need to get taxes down in a way that is responsible, fully costed and targeted.
That is why we have made such a significant commitment on Stamp Duty. Every economist agrees that Stamp Duty is a terrible tax. It clogs up the housing market, distorts decisions and means people cannot move to where the best jobs are. Getting rid of it is not just a populist gimmick of the sort Reform come out with. It is a pro-growth tax reform and will ultimately pay huge economic dividends.
We have also set out plans to abolish business rates for thousands of shops and hospitality businesses, and introduce a First Job Bonus, a £5,000 tax cut for young people when they first enter work.
Crucially, all of our plans on tax are underpinned by our Golden Economic Rule.
When we identify savings, at least half will go towards reducing the deficit. Only then can we look to use the rest for tax cuts. That demonstration of fiscal responsibility is a far cry from what we have seen from Reform.
Next, cut red tape.
Take all of the reporting requirements around things like environmental or diversity issues, for example. That is trying to get the private sector to implement social policy We would scrap it all.
Or take the excessive risk aversion we have seen in financial regulation. It is clear we have got the balance wrong, with much stricter requirements than our competitor nations. That is why Kemi and I have set out an initial set of reforms to free up huge amounts of capital for our economy and make the City of London more competitive.
Finally, in many ways the fifth point is the culmination of the first four: we have to back business.
A big reason we lost our way in government was too often we failed to remember that the private sector is where growth will come from. Some in business thought Labour would be on their side. Most can now see that this Labour Party has no understanding of how business works. We do. I myself spent years building my own businesses before coming into politics, as did many other Conservative MPs. It is a clear advantage we have over Labour. We need to continue to champion entrepreneurs, investors, wealth creators.
Those are our principles.
We have a plan – a positive, Conservative vision for a stronger economy. It is our job – every one of us – to talk about it, explain it, sell it on the doorstep. It is not enough to explain why people should not be voting for Labour – we need to explain why they should vote Conservative.