My vision for Britain's economic future

In July, the Conservative Party was handed an unambiguous electoral defeat. People were fed up with us, they knew exactly how to kick us out and voted to do that.

We have already seen what Labour have in store: higher taxes, weaker immigration rules, and splurging billions. They’ve spent ￡24 billion in 24 days.

For us Conservatives, unity must be our first step on the road to recovery. This isn’t about holding hands and singing kumbaya. It's about being disciplined and working as a team with a relentless focus on opposing Starmer’s statism and rescuing our country from Labour’s socialism at the earliest opportunity.

Unity is just the first step. We must unite for something. Over the coming weeks I will speak to MPs and party members across the United Kingdom to set out my vision for the future of our party and country. Putting a clear vision for our economic growth will be at the core of that conversation.

We need to be better at explaining why the Conservative path to prosperity is the right one. I remember the anti-business, anti-entrepreneur world of the late seventies when my dad started and ran a small business. And I remember the subsequent transformation under Margaret Thatcher. The difference that made to our lives was palpable; my parents were able to fulfil their dreams and aspirations thanks to what she did, and it is why I am a Conservative.

When I set my own business up, I wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps, but by then the state had truly crept back in and the bar to succeeding was raised. I spent more time filling in form than pitching for business, and when Gordon Brown’s downturn came, my business went under. We need a modern pitch to match that of Thatcher and Reagan to restore purpose to our party, and a British economic dream to our shores.

We must make Conservative Britain a place where everyone can own a stake in our economy, where entrepreneurs can thrive and risk-takers are properly rewarded. A post-Brexit Britain that is competitive, self-confident, and an exporter of goods and services to all corners of the world. A Britain whose people are aspirational and have reason to be optimistic about their future. Where their government helps those that need it, but liberates those that don’t.

We need to depart from the tired post-Blair consensus and break the habit of taxing, regulating, subsidising, borrowing and taxing more. Churchill was right when he said “a nation taxing its way to prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle”. For too long, we have resorted to solving every problem with new regulations or creating a new government subsidy or civil service team to intervene. Labour’s manifesto had 62 new regulations in it, and I have already lost count of the number of new quangos and officials that they have pledged to hire.

We need to be honest and realistic about the role of the state. Since the pandemic, we have accepted more and more government intervention into our lives, but that way stagnation lies. If we want to stimulate the economy, we need to deregulate. We need to resist raising taxes only to hand out subsidies to big businesses, or worse, create state-owned companies which won't cut costs or bills for anyone.

Nationalising the risk is wrong. We need an environment where individuals, entrepreneurs and businesses create wealth with their own vision, expertise, and graft, instead of taking their money off them for civil servants and ministers to ‘invest’ by either being courted by businesses, or pretending to be them.

Lobbyists are teeming in Westminster asking for subsidy and regulation, so that their shareholders’ investment becomes less risky. We need to be stronger in our resolve, harnessing the power of the private sector instead of fleeing from it - and be more discerning about spending other people’s money. Because as we all know, the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money.

It is not enough just to believe in these things, no matter how passionately we do. We have to sell these principles to the British people if we ever hope to deliver real growth and prosperity. We must persuade the people that vote for the regulators to vote for people who deregulate. We must get the people that vote for the tax collectors to vote for those who cut taxes. This must be the central mission for our party.

Only a bold and confident Conservative Party with these values at its core can stop Labour’s state creep. If we are to have any chance of winning at the next election, the Conservative Party must unite over our shared values and once again offer a positive Conservative vision for a thriving, booming Britain. The alternative is all too clear.

If you want to find out more or get involved with my campaign to be the leader of the Conservative Party, visit www.jamescleverlyforleader.com