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| Our leaders believe in the state again. Here’s what it should do | Our leaders believe in the state again. Here’s what it should do |
| (7 months later) | |
| The Thatcherite mission of cuts and privatisation is in reverse. Government can again connect with the people | |
| • Steve Richards is a political columnist and broadcaster | |
| Tue 4 Jul 2017 07.00 BST | |
| Last modified on Mon 27 Nov 2017 20.45 GMT | |
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| A taboo is broken. Since 1979 there has been no serious debate about the size of the state and its role. In the late 1970s Margaret Thatcher argued that the state stifled individuals and that she would liberate them by limiting its role and size. Her election-winning populism framed arguments for decades. Reflections on how public services should be delivered were narrow, shallow and haphazard. | A taboo is broken. Since 1979 there has been no serious debate about the size of the state and its role. In the late 1970s Margaret Thatcher argued that the state stifled individuals and that she would liberate them by limiting its role and size. Her election-winning populism framed arguments for decades. Reflections on how public services should be delivered were narrow, shallow and haphazard. |
| Now a new consensus is forming, slowly, tentatively and yet tangibly. We have permission again to talk about the state. Cabinet ministers queue up to demand more money from the Treasury and to make sure voters know they are putting the case on their behalf. Some wonder aloud whether tuition fees are the best way to introduce young people to the state – landing them with debts at the start of their working lives, while Dickensian vice-chancellors, never knowingly overworked, award themselves huge pay rises. | Now a new consensus is forming, slowly, tentatively and yet tangibly. We have permission again to talk about the state. Cabinet ministers queue up to demand more money from the Treasury and to make sure voters know they are putting the case on their behalf. Some wonder aloud whether tuition fees are the best way to introduce young people to the state – landing them with debts at the start of their working lives, while Dickensian vice-chancellors, never knowingly overworked, award themselves huge pay rises. |
| Conservative MPs plead for austerity to be relaxed. Like much of the media they used to be supporters of stringent public spending in general, while often opposing specific cuts. Now they have doubts even about advocating stringency in its safer, more generalised form. | Conservative MPs plead for austerity to be relaxed. Like much of the media they used to be supporters of stringent public spending in general, while often opposing specific cuts. Now they have doubts even about advocating stringency in its safer, more generalised form. |
| This is not a sudden post-election panic in the Conservative party. The author of its election manifesto, Nick Timothy, might no longer work for a near-powerless prime minister, but the arguments he espoused are not going to disappear. There are too many demands on government after years of state inactivity. | This is not a sudden post-election panic in the Conservative party. The author of its election manifesto, Nick Timothy, might no longer work for a near-powerless prime minister, but the arguments he espoused are not going to disappear. There are too many demands on government after years of state inactivity. |
| Timothy wrote a long section in the manifesto about the good that government can do. Given the unavoidable demands on health, elderly care, transport and housing, no Tory leader will enter the next election hailing a much smaller state. Theresa May failed to explain the Timothy agenda – not speaking once in any depth about her manifesto, and making no attempt to inject complex thoughts with populist phrases. But his ideas will not go away. | Timothy wrote a long section in the manifesto about the good that government can do. Given the unavoidable demands on health, elderly care, transport and housing, no Tory leader will enter the next election hailing a much smaller state. Theresa May failed to explain the Timothy agenda – not speaking once in any depth about her manifesto, and making no attempt to inject complex thoughts with populist phrases. But his ideas will not go away. |
| Similarly, Labour’s election manifesto was a high-voltage shock in the taboo-breaking sequence. Brought up on their party’s election defeats in the 1980s, many Labour MPs assumed it was not possible to make the case for more active government in a British election. But Jeremy Corbyn gained seats in Kensington and Canterbury on a programme that made a connection between propositions for government and the insecure chaos of voters’ lives. | Similarly, Labour’s election manifesto was a high-voltage shock in the taboo-breaking sequence. Brought up on their party’s election defeats in the 1980s, many Labour MPs assumed it was not possible to make the case for more active government in a British election. But Jeremy Corbyn gained seats in Kensington and Canterbury on a programme that made a connection between propositions for government and the insecure chaos of voters’ lives. |
| Those who feel “left behind” are not just poorer voters in once Ukip-supporting areas, but young people with affluent parents trying to find somewhere affordable to live, or commuters from the south of England unable to do anything about unreliable trains, or business leaders struggling to access wifi as they travel from Manchester to London. The phrase “left behind” was never a cry for Ukip, but for a more effective state. | Those who feel “left behind” are not just poorer voters in once Ukip-supporting areas, but young people with affluent parents trying to find somewhere affordable to live, or commuters from the south of England unable to do anything about unreliable trains, or business leaders struggling to access wifi as they travel from Manchester to London. The phrase “left behind” was never a cry for Ukip, but for a more effective state. |
| What form should a more effective state take? The answers lie in what happened in the recent era – the one where public spending was a “waste”, and costless “reform” was a solution, a conjurors’ wand to deliver modern public services. | What form should a more effective state take? The answers lie in what happened in the recent era – the one where public spending was a “waste”, and costless “reform” was a solution, a conjurors’ wand to deliver modern public services. |
| To their immense credit, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown raised NHS investment to the EU average and did so partly by putting up taxes. But Blair was so terrified by the electoral implications of the tax rise that he insisted reform must follow. By the end of the reform sequence the NHS was in the hands of so many competing agencies that no single one was responsible. | To their immense credit, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown raised NHS investment to the EU average and did so partly by putting up taxes. But Blair was so terrified by the electoral implications of the tax rise that he insisted reform must follow. By the end of the reform sequence the NHS was in the hands of so many competing agencies that no single one was responsible. |
| The phrase 'left behind' was never a cry for Ukip, but for a more effective state | The phrase 'left behind' was never a cry for Ukip, but for a more effective state |
| Ed Balls in his memoir describes the sequence as the “New Labour tragedy”. To raise any doubts about Blair’s reforms was to be anti-reform, and to question the limits of markets in the delivery of some public services was to be anti-private sector. | Ed Balls in his memoir describes the sequence as the “New Labour tragedy”. To raise any doubts about Blair’s reforms was to be anti-reform, and to question the limits of markets in the delivery of some public services was to be anti-private sector. |
| Following such a stifling debate, a senior health official from Lincolnshire told me recently he had been a fan of the changes to the NHS when they were first proposed, but now despairs. He points out that there are seven NHS agencies in his area. The only way one can improve is by undermining another. Lines of responsibility and accountability are so blurred that in a crisis it would be impossible to work out who or what is responsible. He has become a convert to greater but effective centralised control. | Following such a stifling debate, a senior health official from Lincolnshire told me recently he had been a fan of the changes to the NHS when they were first proposed, but now despairs. He points out that there are seven NHS agencies in his area. The only way one can improve is by undermining another. Lines of responsibility and accountability are so blurred that in a crisis it would be impossible to work out who or what is responsible. He has become a convert to greater but effective centralised control. |
| Because there has not been a focus for decades on how government can or should work, levers are pulled and nothing happens. When he was prime minister, David Cameron asked Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, what plans he had to make sure there was no winter crisis. Hunt pointed out that the government had given up control on this front to other agencies. They had responsibility without power. | Because there has not been a focus for decades on how government can or should work, levers are pulled and nothing happens. When he was prime minister, David Cameron asked Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, what plans he had to make sure there was no winter crisis. Hunt pointed out that the government had given up control on this front to other agencies. They had responsibility without power. |
| One model that surfaced from the old era addresses some of these issues: the blurred lines of accountability; the levers that do not work. In London public transport has improved beyond recognition. With an elected mayor clearly accountable for transport, and knowing he or she will only be re-elected if trains and buses run smoothly, there has been a transformation. | One model that surfaced from the old era addresses some of these issues: the blurred lines of accountability; the levers that do not work. In London public transport has improved beyond recognition. With an elected mayor clearly accountable for transport, and knowing he or she will only be re-elected if trains and buses run smoothly, there has been a transformation. |
| The first mayor, Ken Livingstone, recognised that part of the solution was to recruit the best transport managers from across the world, whatever the cost. Such a model – clear responsibility for elected figures, a body below them bringing in the best managers – could apply to other public services, national as well as local. | The first mayor, Ken Livingstone, recognised that part of the solution was to recruit the best transport managers from across the world, whatever the cost. Such a model – clear responsibility for elected figures, a body below them bringing in the best managers – could apply to other public services, national as well as local. |
| The other lesson from the old era is that voters will respond positively if connections are made vividly. When the last Labour government linked a tax rise with improvements to the NHS it was popular. In striking contrast, the late Robin Cook used to observe that his constituents assumed tax credits were simply a technical adjustment by the revenue, as no national government figures had made the case for them. | The other lesson from the old era is that voters will respond positively if connections are made vividly. When the last Labour government linked a tax rise with improvements to the NHS it was popular. In striking contrast, the late Robin Cook used to observe that his constituents assumed tax credits were simply a technical adjustment by the revenue, as no national government figures had made the case for them. |
| More recently, May was right to suggest that elderly care had to be paid for, but wrong to make only those who suffer dementia take the financial hit. A dementia tax is the wrong connection, a punishment for becoming senile. But pooled risk, where voters pay for elderly care they may need, is one where voters will make a more positive connection. | More recently, May was right to suggest that elderly care had to be paid for, but wrong to make only those who suffer dementia take the financial hit. A dementia tax is the wrong connection, a punishment for becoming senile. But pooled risk, where voters pay for elderly care they may need, is one where voters will make a more positive connection. |
| Delivering services effectively and efficiently is never easy. But in a reverse to the sea change in the late 1970s, voters are demanding that the connections between government and their lives are made once again. Those they elect have no choice but to respond. | Delivering services effectively and efficiently is never easy. But in a reverse to the sea change in the late 1970s, voters are demanding that the connections between government and their lives are made once again. Those they elect have no choice but to respond. |
| Public services policy | |
| Opinion | |
| Jeremy Corbyn | |
| Theresa May | |
| Central government | |
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