The thirteenth 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.
Ministers who have had 13 years to enact change prefer to sound off about problems as if they were in Opposition.
Ministers would need to honestly confront why we are so reliant on immigrant labour and then start implementing policies to cut that dependency – not at some point in the future, but now.
And this is the fundamental problem: it allows us to dodge a broader long-term industrial strategy, precisely because the short-term labour fix is so easy.
The movement has been increasingly attracting graduates and higher paid workers; the political views of most union leaders are generally ignored by the ordinary member.
It is important to note that real wage growth is a feature, not a bug, of Brexit and one Conservatives should be vocal about. Put simply, leaving the EU has begun to deliver on its promise to give greater economic power to the British worker.
In terms of fiscal policy, if the wider economic picture does not allow the debt to GDP ratio to fall, then the focus of the markets will be on the need to keep the public finances in shape.
Its sponsors wants bosses to be held responsible and punished for things over which they have self-evidently no control.
“Long term, sustainable, healthy growth that pays for our NHS and schools, finds jobs for young people, and provides a safety net for older people all whilst making our country one of the most prosperous in the world.”
Jeremy Hunt presents to Parliament the Government’s plan centred on his so-called Four Es: Enterprise, Education, Employment and Everywhere.
Tax incentives are all well and good, but the Government also needs to tackle the discrimination faced by too many older people in the workplace.
A shallow fixation on salaries ignores or disguises the much more challenging economic circumstances of many entrepreneurs and small business-owners.
Every worker should have a pot-for-life, into which all their employers over their working life are obliged to pay.
Such a policy, already successfully delivered in Manchester, could transform thousands of lives by helping those who are willing, but not yet able, back into work.
The fifteenth 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.