The message Tory leadership candidates need to hear

I’ve been the victim of a robbery. In broad daylight. As an average Brit, more than 40 per cent of everything I produce is taken by the government for whatever they want to spend it on.

In theory they ask my opinion on what that should be. But they ask me only every five years, and even then, the chance of my vote making a difference is literally millions to one. That’s why many – or most of us – don’t bother to vote at all and most of the rest simply give the major parties a big two fingers.

Even mediaeval serfs only had to work a third of their time for their masters. We work two-fifths for ours. That’s the equivalent of labouring non-stop, from 1st January to today, 30th May, solely for the government. Only today—Tax Freedom Day—do we start earning for ourselves.

And what do the pounds pinched buy? A gleaming, efficient government machine that protects us, helps us prosper, and protects our rights and liberties?