David Cameron must tackle the optimism deficit

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[/audioplayer]There is an optimism deficit in British politics. Politicians seem incapable of making a positive argument for anything, including the country itself. The British government’s case in the Scottish independence referendum has been almost entirely negative. Those looking for an uplifting defence of the United Kingdom have been left sorely disappointed as the government has instead stuck to technocratic arguments about why Scotland would be worse off on its own.

This failure north of the border reflects a broader failure to persuade people that Britain has a bright future. Fifty four per cent of Britons think that young people’s lives will be worse than those of their parents’ generation according to a recent Ipsos/Mori poll. Only one in five say they will be better. This majority pessimism helps explain why Ukip is doing so well. As one Conservative minister laments, ‘Ukip has captured a zeitgeist of grumpiness.’ If you believe that things are going to get worse whoever is in government, why not vote for the party that expresses your anger about this most vigorously?

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Nigel Farage can now pull off the trick that Nick Clegg performed so effectively in the leaders’ debate at the last election. He can tell people that if they are fed up with politics, vote for him. Farage and Clegg might be very different figures. But Farage could easily echo Clegg’s 2010 call for people who are fed up with the established parties ‘making the same promises, breaking the same promises, making the same old mistakes over and over again’ to come and join him.

Pessimism is on the march at the moment because of three factors.