Theresa May has buried Thatcherism. Under a Conservative government, the UK is now embracing the political ideas of fairness and government intervention. This might mark as big a shift in UK politics as those of the 1940s, towards socialism, and of the 1980s, away from it.
Remember that the Beveridge report, which laid the intellectual foundations of the postwar welfare state, was published in 1942, under the coalition government led by Winston Churchill. Similarly James Callaghan, then Labour prime minister, laid the ground for Thatcherism in 1976, when he stated: “We used to think that you could spend your way out of a recession, and increase employment by cutting taxes and boosting government spending. I tell you in all candour that option no longer exists.”
Now, in her speech to the Conservative party conference, Mrs May argues that “when one among us falters, our most basic human instinct is to put our own self-interest aside, to reach out our hand and help them over the line. That’s why the central tenet of my belief is that there is more to life than individualism and self-interest. We form families, communities, towns, cities, counties and nations. We have a responsibility to one another. And I firmly believe that government has a responsibility, too.”
This is evidently a direct riposte to Thatcher’s notable remark: “I think we’ve been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it’s the government’s job to cope with it . . . They’re casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families.” Mrs May has gone much further in her rejection of Thatcher than her predecessor, David Cameron, who merely stated: “There is such a thing as society; it’s just not the same thing as the state.” Indeed, she has channelled Elizabeth Warren, the activist Democratic US senator, who asserted in 2011: “There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own — nobody.” Mrs May’s version of this view is: “Nobody, no individual tycoon and no single business, however rich, has succeeded on their own.”
The financial crisis, and the stagnant living standards it bequeathed, has clearly undermined the legitimacy of the free-market approach. That is why Mrs May’s interventionism, not the libertarian Brexiters’ dreams of the UK as a “free-trading, deregulated, competitive” entrepôt, now dominates. For many, that is what “taking back control” meant. It may also presage a long-lasting shift in UK politics. If one looks at other political parties, the probability of this looks quite high. Labour, in particular, has shifted leftward. This leaves the ground Mrs May wants to occupy, with her bold claims that “we are the party of workers” and that workers’ rights will be “protected and enhanced by a Conservative government”.
The commitment to putting workers on company boards suggests this is meaningful. But is it also workable? Here one must note the nuances in Mrs May’s position. She argues that the UK should be “the strongest and most passionate advocate for free trade right across the globe”, while insisting on the need for control over immigration.
The workability of the new interventionism depends on its detail. It is a matter of fact that UK prosperity depends heavily on the skills and knowledge of foreigners, as both workers and investors. Given that the UK is far from the economic powerhouse some imagine, this dependence will continue. It is vital, therefore, that the new approach does not lead to policies on immigration, tax, corporate governance and control over inward investment that curtail UK access to such valuable global resources.
This is, moreover, not just a question of fact but also of rhetoric. Many foreigners now wonder whether the UK has turned its back on them. The government must demonstrate this is not the case. Perhaps the most important requirement, apart from retaining as much access to EU markets as possible, is to welcome any foreign skilled person with a job.
The new activist approach must, instead, focus on the UK’s weaknesses. The most important of these are the quality of infrastructure and education and the supply of housing. It is also vital to promote competition and enhance the scientific and technological base. If the government were to focus on these challenges, while stressing the UK’s openness to foreign skills, foreign investment and global trade, it might deliver the economic dynamism the UK needs. Mrs May’s rhetoric marks a huge shift. Its impact depends on just how those words become reality.
The working class in Britain has higher bargining power in current leftward western world, as the neoliberal policy since 1980s facing its challenges in 2008-2009 crisis where the profits the core states bring from cheap-labor periphery decline. The growth of such state cannot be ensured, and to enhance legitimacy, weafare policy becomes welcomed.