A failing health service, people unable to afford meat… and neither candidate seemed prepared for a bold break from the status quo.
Policy thinking aimed at raising taxes and squeezing spending is misplaced and needs to be turned on its head.
I draw on Public First’s Conservative Leadership Policy Tracker which is being continuously updated for all the above.
For starters, a leader with integrity, a reasonably competent Cabinet, a less divisive tone, a new seriousness of purpose on policy and, in particular, some pragmatism on Europe.
The Treasury orthodoxy is that Britain is a slow growth economy, and that tax cuts are inflationary. Neither of these are permanently true.
The effect of benefit policy changes on the incomes of working-age adults and children since 2010 has been an average loss of £375 per year compared with a boost to pensioners of £510 per year.
The so-called Red Wall want us to set out a bold strategy for freedom and growth. If we do, voters lost at by-elections will return.
it is almost impossible to disentangle any effect from the much larger shock resulting from pandemic and war.
As one Cabinet Minister put it to me recently, the Treasury has never been interested in growth, just in collecting taxes.
Above all, to what extent will he present a clear plan and message? My starter for ten is “help hard-working people and go for more growth”.
The shock-absorber is a looser fiscal policy. Although the budget deficit is higher than one would like, the good news is that it is falling sharply.
Selaine Saxby and Julian Sturdy join a ConservativeHome Live discussion on how to develop the Rural Powerhouse.
His Spring Statement was a missed opportunity despite some welcome measures – and further measures may be unveiled during the months ahead.
But unless the Party offers them a genuine shot at prosperity, it risks sliding into decline.