The Budget was, if truly honest, a sign that the Government shuns spending cuts and embraces tax rises – which is ultimately unsustainable.
It will probe whether or or not Sunak can prepare the country for that future – and perhaps succeed Johnson himself, “one fine day”.
Success is most common where donors have focused in terms of the countries with whom they work on a long-term basis.
The most important question today isn’t whether the Government’s plan is right or wrong, but how decisions should be made about it.
It’s welcome that we’re investing much more in services. But we need to tackle the causes too.
We should double down on Product Development Partnerships, which are alive and well in the field of public health.
Plans to formally integrate these two spheres are long overdue – so the Government must ensure it gets it right and does not neglect digital.
If first dose efficacy proves strong, the Prime Minister will have to break with those who fail to think about the marginal costs and benefits of shutdowns.
If it were the critical factor, Belgium should have been superbly prepared for the pandemic. Alas, it was not.
We need to pace ourselves. We don’t want to go for a big bang reopening only to trigger a new wave and be forced backwards.
A move from Ken Clarke to Aneurin Bevan would not only risk harming the NHS, but miss the real target of reform: social care.
I’m delighted to have been asked to help set up the new Taskforce for Innovation and Growth through Regulatory Reform.
As Johnson put it yesterday: “we can’t think of this just as a project for us and us alone”.
In the wake of International Women’s Day, the fifth article in a five-piece series on ConservativeHome this week.