The Coalition’s tough spending savings could have got us to a balanced budget without that expensive offset. Fiscal conservatism should be at the heart of Conservatism. You can’t get more dry than that.
There are useful practical lessons to be learnt from the success of Manchester. Conservative ministers, Labour mayors and high-quality local officials all deserve some of the credit.
Right now the big question is how to tackle the poor performance of the British economy and the reasons behind it. Not all are Brexit related, but it’s important to address those that are. We aren’t going back in, but we should still investigate, for our own good, the Brexit effect.
We once again have to think about defence requirements, national capabilities and strategic strengths. This is what Conservatives used to do. We are rediscovering that Conservative tradition.
The sheer boldness of his vision seems far removed from modern capitalism but the technologies he has created to deliver it are of enormous value. Space X is a valued at over half of the $3b value of the top 100 companies on the London Stock Exchange.
Conservatives have, in the past, been good at building up broad coalitions behind big all-embracing Conservative principles, interpretations of which may differ. If we won’t create our own coalitions then the electorate are going to force us into one on someone else’s terms.
For many people who are not working, especially if they are young, their benefits are very low indeed. The big trend of the past decade or more has been to shift benefit spend away from young people and families towards pensioners.
Space is exciting science. It is bold human exploration. But it is also a crucial environment for complex geo-political rivalries too. Artemis II was a model of international collaboration very different from the MAGA rhetoric. Even America now is not trying to do it all on its own.
It is great to see the Conservative Party launching its New Deal for Young People which is a bold attempt to plug the gap of not having any offer for younger people. Any evidence of the party thinking beyond its core vote of pensioners is to be welcomed.
Conservatives used to be more comfortable with going to university, seeing it as a route to a decent job. Young people can’t take that for granted now but if work is a route out of poverty then backing things that deliver that seems obvious
It would be absurd to attribute all the flaws and mistakes of our time in Government to bad people who somehow didn’t care about controlling public spending or immigration.
Jenrick thinks things are so bad that we need a “revolution” but Reform have given little indication of what an economic revolution might look like. Reform cannot be trusted with the public finances. The Conservatives should carry on with the hard work of showing they can be
There are always temptations for oppositions to back measures which make it harder for governments to do things. Yet such tactics must be treated with great care.