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| George Osborne’s conference speech – the verdict | George Osborne’s conference speech – the verdict |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Matthew d’Ancona: All politicians say they back decentralisation; this one has done something about it | |
| The chancellor is an eclectic politician, an instinctive raider of rhetoric (Blair and JFK, for instance). But this was political looting of a different order – his refrain “we are the builders” was lifted from Aneurin Bevan’s legendary promise from the 1945 campaign. | |
| Related: Osborne signals biggest transfer of power to local councils in decades - Conservative conference live | Related: Osborne signals biggest transfer of power to local councils in decades - Conservative conference live |
| The narrative of the speech was no less bold: having won its “sweetest victory” (Cameron’s words), the party must not recline on its laurels. Quite the opposite, in fact: the electorate had given the Tories an instruction to deliver. | The narrative of the speech was no less bold: having won its “sweetest victory” (Cameron’s words), the party must not recline on its laurels. Quite the opposite, in fact: the electorate had given the Tories an instruction to deliver. |
| Essential to the new social compact Osborne envisages is that business will pay its employees more and train many more apprentices. It was always a mistake to imply that the forthcoming cuts in tax credits would be precisely matched by the national living wage. This is a long-haul change in working culture, not an instant quid pro quo: far from bowing to business, Osborne demands that employers accept their social responsibility to pay decent wages. They will resist. | |
| Alongside this, he proposed a radical form of fiscal devolution: henceforth, local authorities get to keep and set their business rates. All politicians say they are in favour of decentralisation; this one has done something about it. | Alongside this, he proposed a radical form of fiscal devolution: henceforth, local authorities get to keep and set their business rates. All politicians say they are in favour of decentralisation; this one has done something about it. |
| It was also the most personal speech this chancellor has given to a party conference: he admitted that his view of government and the good it could do had evolved, that his metropolitan fixation with London was behind him. Most striking of all, Osborne conceded of his “northern powerhouse” scheme: “I don’t know if it will work.” But he was determined to try. In that moment of authentic doubt, Osborne – paradoxically – sounded more like a winner than ever. | |
| Best moment: Standing up for the ring-fenced international development budget in a stonily silent conference hall. | Best moment: Standing up for the ring-fenced international development budget in a stonily silent conference hall. |
| Worst moment: A cheap shot at those who are represented by “pressure groups”. | Worst moment: A cheap shot at those who are represented by “pressure groups”. |
| Jonathan Freedland: The desire to be seen as a leader-in-waiting could not have been clearer | Jonathan Freedland: The desire to be seen as a leader-in-waiting could not have been clearer |
| George Osborne is rarely discussed without some reference to his ambition. In this speech, the scale of that ambition was laid bare. | George Osborne is rarely discussed without some reference to his ambition. In this speech, the scale of that ambition was laid bare. |
| Its most obvious form is personal. He doesn’t yet have the cosmetics completely sorted – his delivery is only ever workmanlike – but the desire to be seen as a leader-in-waiting could not have been clearer. | |
| But the chancellor’s ambition is not confined to himself. He sees a chance for his party to enjoy full-spectrum dominance, to command the centre ground and even parts of the centre-left – terrain he reckons has now been vacated by Labour. So he billed the Tories as not only the party of work but as “the only true party of labour”, a land-grab breathtaking in its audacity. He is not content with stealing Labour’s policies – such as the living wage – and Labour’s personnel, such as Andrew Adonis, whom Osborne unveiled as a new infrastructure tsar: now he wants Labour’s name too. | |
| “Power to the people,” he cried out, daring an echo of Citizen Smith that would have brought derision on Jeremy Corbyn had he tried it. He was proclaiming a “devolution revolution”, invoking the 19th-century era of municipal muscle. He went further, lauding the activism and enterprise, the constant building, of the Victorian age. He had changed, he said. No longer obsessed with restraining government, now he could see its potential to do good. He wants his party to match its 19th-century forebears in engineering, in infrastructure, in building. It seems the ambition of George Osborne is unbounded. | “Power to the people,” he cried out, daring an echo of Citizen Smith that would have brought derision on Jeremy Corbyn had he tried it. He was proclaiming a “devolution revolution”, invoking the 19th-century era of municipal muscle. He went further, lauding the activism and enterprise, the constant building, of the Victorian age. He had changed, he said. No longer obsessed with restraining government, now he could see its potential to do good. He wants his party to match its 19th-century forebears in engineering, in infrastructure, in building. It seems the ambition of George Osborne is unbounded. |
| Best moment: Admitting the Tories had been especially culpable in clipping the wings of local authorities. | Best moment: Admitting the Tories had been especially culpable in clipping the wings of local authorities. |
| Worst moment: Pretending that the history of the British empire was confined to abolishing slavery and toppling tyrants. | Worst moment: Pretending that the history of the British empire was confined to abolishing slavery and toppling tyrants. |
| Anne Perkins: There were some really big ideas, potentially at least, in local government finance | Anne Perkins: There were some really big ideas, potentially at least, in local government finance |
| George Osborne is rubbish at delivering a speech. Although speech-making doesn’t matter the way it once did, come the actual Tory leadership campaign, his oddly smooth skin and style of speaking will be a factor to weigh against all his assets. | |
| Political pyrotechnics helpfully distracted attention from the many things that weren’t mentioned in the speech. But there were some really big ideas, potentially at least, in local government finance. He proposed local sovereign wealth funds (a variation on an idea his rival Boris Johnson has supported) possibly supported by an earmarked, locally raised tax, to invest in local infrastructure. The second (part of the same story, in a way) is to give the business rate back to local government. | |
| Don’t yawn. It matters. This is the tax, now worth £26bn a year, that Margaret Thatcher decided local government couldn’t be trusted with a generation ago. Osborne wants to use it partly as a symbol of his determination to give power back to cities and regions, partly to incentivise the kind of local government structure (elected mayors, mostly) with which he can do business. | |
| The detail is still emerging. There must be real concerns about how the Treasury envisages equalising spending between rich and poor parts of the country, those stuffed full of burgeoning businesses in the south and, say, Redcar in the north-east. But it holds out the promise of giving control of their high-street tax policies back to cities and communities. They will be able to develop business incentive schemes, and the way they manage their economies. In other words, for ordinary people, living ordinary lives, it could make a real difference. | |
| Best moment: “We are the builders” – the first time he said it. Not quite with the Welsh lilt the phrase’s originator would have given it, but a good positive image. | |
| Worst moment: “We are the builders” – the last time he said it. Even he was beginning to sound unconvinced. | |
| Tom Clark: His purpose was to paint himself as the man who had won the general election | Tom Clark: His purpose was to paint himself as the man who had won the general election |
| The chancellor had plenty of tricks up his sleeve, from appointing Adonis to his infrastructure commission, to a new scheme to set local government pension funds to work in financing infrastructure. The overall effect of his turn in the Tory spotlight, however, was not to dazzle, but rather to offer himself as the continuity candidate to succeed David Cameron. His purpose was to paint himself as the man who had won the economic argument and therefore the last general election, and thus also the man with the potential to win again in 2020. | |
| It’s all well and good, unless something goes wrong – either with the economy or with the political standing of a government sustained by a majority of only 12 – between now and Cameron’s departure. Should the government fall prey to big problems, and the European referendum is only the most obvious of several hazards, party members might prefer to entrust the leadership in somebody who represents change. | It’s all well and good, unless something goes wrong – either with the economy or with the political standing of a government sustained by a majority of only 12 – between now and Cameron’s departure. Should the government fall prey to big problems, and the European referendum is only the most obvious of several hazards, party members might prefer to entrust the leadership in somebody who represents change. |
| Osborne offered little of that, save in respect of his concession that representing the northern seat of Tatton had “changed me”. The Tories remain nowhere at all in the suburban seats of the great northern cities, such as Sheffield Hallam and Manchester Withington, which long ago they did used to win. If Osborne can displace northern cynicism about “the northern powercut” and make his “powerhouse” slogan stick – a big if – then he’ll not only change his own reputation, but potentially also put anti-Conservative politics out of business for a generation. | Osborne offered little of that, save in respect of his concession that representing the northern seat of Tatton had “changed me”. The Tories remain nowhere at all in the suburban seats of the great northern cities, such as Sheffield Hallam and Manchester Withington, which long ago they did used to win. If Osborne can displace northern cynicism about “the northern powercut” and make his “powerhouse” slogan stick – a big if – then he’ll not only change his own reputation, but potentially also put anti-Conservative politics out of business for a generation. |
| Best moment: Conceding that the wings of local government have been clipped by governments of all parties, and “most especially ours”. | |
| Worst moment: Knocking a few bricks off his “George the Builder” metaphor, by highlighting the extension of the right to buy to housing association tenants as something that can help to solve the housing crisis. | |
| Mariana Mazzucato: Too little, too late if we are to emulate Germany and China’s ambitions | |
| The government has wasted five years of record low interest rates, when it could have been investing in infrastructure – investment that would have set the UK on the road to a much earlier recovery. So the good news from today’s speech is that the chancellor has finally changed course with the creation of a new national infrastructure commission, and Andrew Adonis is a smart move to lead it. | |
| But Osborne needs to look beyond infrastructure projects and realise that this investment cannot be just about “shovel-ready” projects. There is an opportunity to build a long-term plan to deliver the most modern and green type of infrastructure possible. Indeed, this is what Germany has done with its Energiewende policy, and what China is embarking on too. | |
| Such a move would allow the government to show that it is serious about the environment – remember Cameron’s promise in May 2010 to be the greenest government ever? Rather than continuing to cut subsidies for innovative green energy technology (chastised widely by energy companies and scientists alike), and failing to invest in green innovation, they need to direct serious long-term investment at fully deploying this technology across business and society in the same way that mass production was rolled out via suburbanisation. Rather than localism as an end to itself, a serious long-term growth strategy could line up the new emphasis on infrastructure, with long-awaited green policies and a smart city strategy across the entire UK. | |
| Best moment: Finally some recognition – albeit limited – that infrastructure investment is required to set the UK on a path towards sustainable, long-term growth. | |
| Worst moment: The same old austerity (and “surplus”) rhetoric which shows he has not taken his Econ 101 class, as we advised in June. |