Labour's war on Middle England risks ruin
This is, however, increasingly the position that Britain finds itself in. The creeping overreach of the welfare state and the rapid proliferation of needs-based policies, statutory requirements, and equality duties has created a situation in which what you contribute and the life you live are increasingly divergent, with more than half the population net recipients of direct state largesse.
Sir Keir Starmer and his Labour colleagues are now setting about making this intention explicit. Their term in office started with an assault on the middle classes, hiking taxes on inheritances and capital gains, and imposing VAT on private school fees. With these early victories under their belt, attention has now turned to explicit punishment.
Last week, we learnt that Civil Service internships are now to be offered to those from 'lower socio-economic backgrounds' – those, in other words, traditionally likely to have voted Labour. This week, we learnt that Labour's expansion of the Equality Act could see middle-class students shut out of good schools. It is a policy that sits particularly poorly alongside the crackdown on home-schooling, and the evisceration of private education: you will take what the state deems fit to provide you, and it will make its judgment based on its attempt to provide complete equality of outcome.
Meanwhile, the funding for these needs-based allocations continues to be drawn from the shrinking segment of the population engaged in useful labour outside of the public sector. With the welfare bill continuing to rise and the Government unwilling to cut it, barring a very sudden change of heart further tax rises this autumn are now an inevitability.
They may also prove counterproductive. In the long run, it is exceedingly difficult to fund a system through taxation of market activity without providing room for aspiration. By flattening outcomes – punishing the hard-working and rewarding the indolent – Labour risks undermining the tax base it relies on.
The slow trickle of high earners out of Britain, and the growing numbers of residents who appear more interested in the workings of the welfare state than in working themselves, are warning signs. Should Labour persist in its war on wealth, victory could come at a steep price.
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"Our role is to ensure that we're supporting businesses who have growth aspirations, and I think it's very important that the policy agenda is supportive of that."
