Fox presses for enabling state
The Conservative party must set out a “complete vision” of the kind of country it wants Britain to become, Liam Fox said last night.
The shadow foreign secretary warned that simply reflecting the public mood was not enough – Britain needed strong leadership that would not only set the agenda on public policy but also make clear to people where the government’s responsibilities lay.
In a speech to the Centre for Policy Studies, the Tory leadership contender insisted the state should be an enabler, not an intruder – guaranteeing access to the things people needed but not necessarily providing them.
Mr Fox held up initiatives in the voluntary and charitable sectors as an example of “people helping people”, and urged the expansion of such schemes to tackle social problems such as homelessness and domestic violence.
The family was also a vital component of social cohesion, he said, and the Conservatives must support this unit by reintroducing economic incentives such as the married couples’ allowance.
“Rather than revere the family, Labour seeks to nationalise it. They prefer the institution of the state. We prefer the institution of the family,” he said.
Yet while he believes in small government, Mr Fox insisted that the state must provide the economic environment in which people could be sure of their pensions, the value of their homes and their plans for long-term care when they are old.
This not only involved lowering taxes to encourage innovation, but also ensuring the skills of Britain’s workers were maximised – and this did not mean applying academic educational values to all pupils, as the government was attempting to do.
“What we need is a mixture of vocational and academic education titrated to the needs of each pupil so that their individual skills can be maximised,” he said.
On top of all this, Britain needed to have a strong foreign policy, Mr Fox said, which not only pressed for a strong position on Europe but also made a real attempt to address problems in the Middle East.
Iraq must stop being a “political football”, he insisted. While he agreed with the decision to take military action against Saddam Hussein, this “lies in the past”, and he said Britain’s role was now to help with reconstruction in the country.
“Politics cannot simply be about measuring the reflecting the public mood. Make the case. Create a consensus. Mobilise support. That’s what leadership is all about,” he concluded.
