Sir James Dyson said Britain was full of “raw potential”
SEBASTIAN REUTER/GETTY IMAGES FOR DYSON
Britain today is a declining power, an impoverished hellhole where free speech is all but a distant memory. At least that’s how this country is described by some internal and external critics. Life is more nuanced than the black-and-white opinions served up by unreliable algorithms or populists of all colours chasing clicks and votes often suggest. Last week Britain was forecast to have the world’s fifth biggest economy again by 2040.
But instead of diving into defensiveness, we might first acknowledge that some of the country’s critics do have the kernel of a point. The UK economy has been stagnant for far too long. The average income risks trailing behind that of countries like Poland. Our public services fall short of the standards voters expect. The country’s inability to control its borders has become a running sore. Police priorities often appear perverse. No wonder the national mood has become crotchety and sour.
And yet none of this is a reason to give up on Britain. Perhaps we might take heart from the words of an American entrepreneur, Peter Thiel, who said recently that the UK “has the greatest room for improvement of any European country”. Or perhaps adopt the thoughts of a homegrown business genius. “There is so much raw potential in our country that can be realised,” wrote Sir James Dyson in The Times, “if only we embrace aspiration and inventiveness.” Thiel and Dyson have a point. For all its struggles Britain still has many attributes: superb universities, innovation in science and technology, cultural heft and political and legal stability. These qualities have become suffocated by an ineffectual state. We have nurtured a dangerous addiction to welfare. Layers of bureaucracy and environmental proceduralism have made our planning laws a blocking device. Poor energy strategy over decades has landed us with ruinous costs.
After the Tory party psychodrama, Sir Keir Starmer’s government was elected on a change manifesto. So far it has fallen short. The Labour prime minister is undermined by internal plotting and his own political fragility. He has so far failed in his key goals of ending small boat migration, engendering growth and bringing down the cost of living. And yet Labour still does not have a good reason to dump its elected prime minister. A thrashing in May’s elections may hasten his end, but for now Starmer can pull considerable levers of change. Top of his list must be to accelerate reform of the state. It is the private sector that will bring about growth and the state must help, not hinder. The Planning and Infrastructure Act is a step in the right direction. But Labour has a tendency to give with one hand and take with the other. It loosens planning but tightens employment laws, making life difficult for companies and jobseekers. It makes a welcome U-turn on inheritance tax for farmers but provokes a silly new fight over trail hunting.
Fights are not necessarily bad, but they should be the right ones. Pick a fight with the Nimbys over building more houses. Have a row with vested interests opposing prosperity: the unions or the risk-averse pension funds. A single-minded focus on growth and the sacrifices required to achieve it is essential. This may not save Starmer from the wolves, but it is in all our interests that he gives it his best shot.