If there’s one thing this government is addicted to, it’s crackdowns. Rishi Sunak loves to talk tough on how he is going to ‘crack down’ on small boats, climate protestors, Mickey Mouse degrees, banks blacklisting, anti-social behaviour. Just last week Home Secretary Suella Braverman vowed to crack down on homeless people living in tents as a ‘lifestyle’ choice, as if the destitute choose to sleep outside because they like stargazing, rather than because they are crippled by poverty, addiction and mental health issues.
As the government chases ever more intense crackdown highs, it gets its hits from banning things. American Bully XLs. Smoking. Laughing gas. Drip pricing. Noisy protests. Leaseholds in new houses (but not in flats, where owners are much more likely to be exploited). Some bans are more needed than others, but it’s all very strangely unconservative: where are the principles of consumer choice, adult autonomy, individual liberty, free markets? It’s also, in many cases, wholly unnecessary over-reaching.
Passing laws that have neither the means nor the will to be enforced is utterly pointless showboating
Take criminalising the possession of laughing gas.
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