If Sunak really is serious about a post-Uxbridge buttering up of motorists, scrapping the 2030 target would not be a bad place to start.
The last of three articles this week as our project continues over the summer and autumn.
The intellectual heft of figures like him will be vital in ensuring that it moves forward, rather than languishing in the same ideological dead-ends that sunk it in the first place.
The tentative signs are that the Shadow Chancellor is switching from an emphasis on industrial strategy and “green prosperity” to one on housebuilding and planning reform.
Government risks fixating on specific projects, such as electric vehicles, rather than nurturing innovation and letting industry develop solutions.
Secular stagnation, resource competition, and great power conflict loom. The era of growing interconnectivity and lowering prices is over; in a hostile new environment, self-sufficiency is everything.
The fifth article in a new series on ConHome about how government might be made smaller, taxpayers better off and and society stronger – through strong families, better schools and good jobs.
The enthusiasm of some of my colleagues for ever greater state involvement in crucial industries is a gift to Labour.
From Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan to Friedrich Hayek and Adam Smith, the wisest economic liberals have always been pragmatic about international competition.
The changing global landscape should refocus our policy on the factors that are need to improve the investment outlook – such as sound macro polices and the level, predictability and simplicity of tax.
Seoul built a strong technical base, and then concentrated state support on producers with proven commercial and global appeal.
Miles Bassett is not alone in claiming that an excess of libertarianism is at the root of our problems. But the Government’s record refutes the claim.
The Tories of the 2030s will need to make a complete clean break with the 1980s. We can think new ideas – and return to older ones to conserve and protect the institutions that make up the social fabric of this country.
“The problems faced by Margaret Thatcher and Nigel Lawson – and indeed George Osborne and David Cameron – are different from the crises and challenges we face today.”
There’s undoubtedly a lot to do before 2030 and beyond. But our target drives the investment and innovation needed to deliver the electric vehicle transformation, lower people’s bills, create jobs, and tackle climate change.