The demographic tide can’t be turned back, but its advance can be slowed – by the self-reinforcing triangle of stronger families, better schools, good jobs, and the stronger society that these help to build.
82.5 per cent of all jobs in this country are in the private sector. Of these, 61 per cent are in the SMEs – small and medium-sized enterprises. In other words, over 50 per cent of all jobs in the United Kingdom are now in small businesses.
While the term ‘levelling-up’ may have faded from public discourse, the pressing need to create jobs and foster opportunity across regions and nations in the UK remains as urgent as ever.
The sad truth is that until Tory MPs – and members – get serious about the trade-offs required for the long-term sustainability of the public finances, tax cuts will remain a pipe dream, and Britain’s economic position will continue to deteriorate.
Making Cambridge a global science city needs to be a cross-governmental mission, rather than one left just to the housing department
What’s missing are the long-term reforms that would overcome resistance by the pension sector. The question is whether the Government will use the limited time remaining in the Parliament to fix these problems.
There are many things that can be done to resist the tide. The first would be for ministers to make the philosophical case for where state responsibility ends, and personal responsibility starts.
The concluding article of 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.
The twenty-sixth 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.
When our political class feels that it cannot act, it cobbles together ad-hoc explanations for why its apathy is actually cunning strategy, hard-headed pragmatism, or just somehow grown-up.
Against a darkening international environment, where the structural advantages and market liberalisations of the post-war decades are being rolled back, peddling the same old snake oil of a tax cut here or there just won’t wash.
The reform of IR35 would not just add substance to the Prime Minister’s second priority of growing the economy, it could form a key plank of the Work and Pensions Secretary’s laudable mission of getting the economically inactive back to work.
He must level with voters about the poor prospects of the public finances – and the need for both a return to austerity and serious decisions around generating growth.
Recently, we reformed the West Midlands Tourism and Hospitality Advisory Board, which speaks on behalf of the sector.
The second part of our series on reducing demand for government, in which we set out a programme for change – focused on families, civil society and government.