By now, the playbook is familiar. Anyone who challenges the cosy status quo of the British establishment finds themselves demonised and smeared by a united front of civil servants and “experts”.
At the launch of Reform UK’s “Contract with You”, we set out a bold vision for rescuing Britain from its financial, social and cultural doom loop. And make no mistake: a bold vision is needed.
GDP per capita grew in the first part of 2024 for the first time in two years, but is still down on its previous level. Stagnation is now the norm: over the last 16 years, it’s grown just 4.3 per cent, compared to 46 per cent in the 16 years leading up to 2008. The tax burden is crushing the life out of businesses, NHS waiting lists are scandalously long and crime has people legitimately worried for their safety.
Our plan challenges the Bank of England, the Treasury, the eco zealots, and the wasteful public sector to end this record of failure. So, of course, the establishment has turned its fire on us.
The attacks from the vested interests started last week. The big banks did not like our plan to save the money the Bank of England hands over in interest to commercial banks. I was the first political figure to raise this issue over 12 months ago. It is now being debated in the City, with economists and journalists across the political spectrum taking it up as their cause. We can debate the quantum, but I am negotiating on behalf of the taxpayers. Already we at Reform are shaping and influencing the policy agenda. With your vote, our voice will be magnified.
Then there’s our challenge to the establishment obsession with Net Zero. No one knows how much it will really cost the public, but estimates for the total cost range in the trillions. This was not the vision sold when the laws sped through Parliament. It may even prove ineffective, if we simply end up offshoring our jobs and emissions elsewhere in the world, making no difference to climate change but making us a great deal poorer. Our plan to ditch this scheme and go all guns blazing on nuclear reactors, built in Britain, has met with horror from the think tank boffins. What more endorsement do you need?
Perhaps our greatest sin was to suggest that there is vast waste in the public sector, that outcomes are poor and productivity stagnant. The civil service bods who enjoy their cushy jobs are understandably furious at the idea they might have to do a real day’s work. But look at the response we’re met with. Practically every time I discuss this, I am contacted by people who work in the NHS or other public sectors to say that I am right, and the waste is obscene.
Some 500,000 more people work in the public sector than 2019, spending is near record highs, yet the outcomes we care about seem to be getting worse, not better. It is self-evident that money is being wasted. We are simply suggesting a tough businesslike approach: cut the waste in the back office and invest it on the frontline.
Britain has a choice: we continue along the path of decline, or we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down, and get to work. It’s time for Reform.
