News from the New Party

Letwin's hiatus

In a speech to the Policy Exchange think tank, Oliver Letwin has declared the old economic arguments to be over, and the new ideological battleground to be "society".  Oliver Letwin is precisely wrong.  "Society" is not currently an ideological battleground at all.  Both the Conservative Party and the Labour Party are fighting largely on the same territory where so-called social issues of health, education and welfare are concerned.  The Tory emphasis on public services under David Cameron's leadership has been on better, more efficient management of existing structures, rather than the root and branch reform which is really required.  The "don't frighten the horses" strategy is an electoral device to attract Labour and Liberal Democrat voters - it has little if anything to do with addressing the real issues that need to be faced.  It is all very well Oliver Letwin saying that the Tories would allow individuals and organisations to "act of their own volition in ways that will improve society by increasing general well being", but if this is to be done while leaving the state-run public services unreformed, then the majority of people who are obliged to rely on the state for all or most services will be poorly served.  The whole problem with the state-run services is that they are inherently inefficient.  Constructing private sector lifeboats for those who can afford them will not prevent the public sector ship from sinking.  To this extent, Ed Miliband's comment is correct:

"[The Tory standpoint] undermines and ignores the essential role of government in helping liberate peoples' potential through strong and well-funded public services,"  

Leaving aside for a moment the absurd suggestion that the iron fist of state control can help liberate people's potential, Miliband is nevertheless right that Tory proposals inasmuch as they make any sense at all would make matters worse.  The reason that society is not an ideological battleground is that both sides are scared witless of fighting on this battleground at all.  Labour will defend state-run public services to the death, and the Tories will not touch them. Generations of voters have been indoctrinated with the belief that state-run public services can and will always provide all our needs, while private schools and hospitals are at worst, somehow not quite decent, and at best a convenient escape route when the nationalised freebie services fail to deliver.

Oliver Letwin speaks of a "hiatus in political thought" following Thatcherism, which has resulted in a return to a high tax, high regulation economy and public services which have not delivered value for money.  The Conservatives are seeking to end this hiatus by capitulating to a social-democratic agenda which cannot deliver in order to buy votes.  A more principled party in a mature democracy would address the issues involved and persuade the electorate of the merits of their case.  This is why David Cameron is talking nonsense when he claims that the new model Conservative Party will give the British people a real choice.