Philip Hammond’s speech to Tory conference was deeply frustrating. On the one hand, his diagnosis of the problem—that young people feel the housing market is rigged against them and that property ownership is out of reach for them—is right. But on the other, his speech was woefully short on solutions to this problem.
Hammond devoted most of his address to an attack on Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell’s left-wing economics. He gave a very decent PPE essay on why their solutions haven’t worked in anytime or place. Though, the problem is the examples cited are either historical—the 1970s—or sound over the top: Cuba, Venezuela, Zimbabwe. But if the Tories want a contemporary example of what can happen with powerful unions holding a Labour administration to ransom, they should point to the Birmingham bin strike. Indeed, the Tories’ reluctance to try and turn this strike in Britain’s second city into a national issue is perplexing.
If Hammond had moved on from his denunciation of Corbyn’s approach, to setting out Tory solutions this could have been a very powerful speech.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in