Breaking news: Rishi Sunak is a right-wing Tory.

Byline: David Taylor-Gooby

WE are now in what journalists call the "silly season". Parliament is in recess and most of the politicians go on holiday. The most serious political comment is what flavour of ice cream they choose, and I kid you not, there has even been an article about the length of Rishi Sunak's trousers.

Most of the serious writers go away too, leaving amateur hacks like me to try to say something worthwhile. I will not write about where I went on holiday, well not yet anyway, because something serious has happened, and because it is the silly season, it may not get the attention it deserves. Rishi Sunak has revealed what he believes in.

When he took office, it was not clear what his actual philosophy was. After the shambles of Boris Johnson and then the chaos of Liz Truss, people saw him as a technocrat, a safe pair of hands who would sort things out.

He had looked progressive during the pandemic, producing considerable benefits for companies and individuals hit by it. So much so, that he was labelled by Tory right wingers as a closet socialist.

Then he pursued a pragmatic course sorting out the problems of trade in Northern Ireland post Brexit. He has also now delayed implementing the post Brexit controls on animal and plant products coming from the Continent.

The Government has quietly dropped plans for a separate safety mark on goods and will continue to use the European "CE" stamp, which reassures customers.

I do not think Sunak has suddenly become pro-Europe. Just that he understands business and realises that friction with the EU pushes up prices and causes inflation. This has incurred the ire of hardline Brexiteers, whose bark, in practice, proved worse that their bite. Brexit ideologues like William Rees-Mogg and culture war warriors like Nadine Dorries have been put out to grass.

Commentators assumed he was going to be a middle-of-the-road Tory who would get the economy sorted and might even win the next election.

But they were wrong. He is in fact a hard-line right-wing Tory. He has imposed harsh economic policies that will hit the poor and middleincome people hard and shows little concern about it. There is no concern for mortgage holders hit with large increases or people suffering from rising food prices, while he swans off to Santa Monica.

Not only are policies designed to reduce inflation hitting people hard, but many economists think they will do more harm than good by collapsing demand in the economy and causing a recession.

Whatever the economics, the humane thing to do would be to offer some relief to those suffering until the inflationary pressures abate. Current policies will not help him win the next election either. Certainly not a traditional, pragmatic or "one nation" Tory.

Then apparently a total lack of interest in "levelling up". Although it was never implemented properly and resulted in Conservative seats receiving most of limited funds available, it was one of the few good ideas of Boris Johnson's administration. It has now sunk without trace.

But these are not the most significant things that have happened. People everywhere are aware of the climate change problems. Even if it does not affect them directly, they see evidence of its impact on television. People feel something should be done, but quite reasonably feel the burdens should be distributed fairly. The less well-off should not bear the brunt of policies while energy firms make huge profits.

Will Rishi Sunak rise to this challenge? On present evidence, "No".

Zac Goldsmith, the environmentalist, resigned from his Government, stating Sunak "had no interest in the environment at all".

Now we see new licences for oil and gas exploration in the North Sea, while construction of a massive wind farm off the coast of Norfolk that could have powered 1.5 British homes has been halted for lack of funds.

The Tories are trying to weaponise schemes such as ULEZ to take an anti-environmentalist populist position, backed, of course, by their cheerleaders in the Daily Mail.

Low Traffic Neighbourhoods are also under scrutiny. Apparently, there is a "motorists' vote" out there that the Tories are after. The Conservative candidate for Mayor of London, Susan Hall, has said she will "turn off the ULEZ enforcement cameras on day one".

These policies are designed not only to reduce global warming, but to improve the health of children in urban areas, which incidentally saves the NHS money.

The first part of the ULEZ scheme in central London has been a great success so far, and over four million people now breathe cleaner air, including children in 1,362 schools. (figures from Transport for London).

Sadiq Khan has been brave in pushing ahead, despite the full force of the Tory media. Schemes to help people and organisations that have to trade in old cars are, of course, both fair and necessary.

When asked why he used his private plane to travel about, Rishi Sunak seemed surprised that people saw this as an environmental issue.

Labour has made going for a greener economy and protecting the environment campaign issues. We should hear about them more in the mayoral campaigns.

The Tories once championed the "green agenda". Now we know they do not. So go for it. A policy for Net Zero that both improves health and is fair to all.

" There is no concern for mortgage holders hit with large increases or people suffering from rising food prices

Article Details

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Author:	David Taylor-Gooby
Publication:	The Journal (Newcastle, England)
Date:	Aug 21, 2023
Words:	913
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