Will Hutton rightly accuses the main Westminster parties of obsessing, unnecessarily, about the deficit: reducing politics to arid accountancy (“Enough of the dry politics of numbers”.). His prescription for Britain is spot-on. However he is wrong to give any credence to the pretend “progressivism” of Tory groups such as the Good Right.
It is hot air and window dressing to try to detoxify the Tory brand. The likes of Michael Gove are still Margaret Thatcher’s disciples, worshipping at the altar of market fundamentalism and the “small state”. The only parties who currently offer any kind of progressive vision are the Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru.
I wish Will Hutton could advise me how to vote to further his vision for Britain. In my Tory/Lib Dem marginal, I had previously supported my “progressive” Lib Dem MP, but he was very narrowly defeated and has been replaced by a coalition-supporting candidate for this May. I was furious when my vote – and financial support – for the Lib Dems resulted in an extreme rightwing Tory-dominated coalition that has wreaked immeasurable harm on our society and pauperised our local government and public services.
Philip Wood
Kidlington
Oxon
Will Hutton is surely right: “Britain needs businesses that want to create value, backed by shareholders who share that mission.” But this is only possible through the introduction of legislation that won’t be popular at the Institute of Directors.
As long as the first duty of a business is to maximise profits and dividends, and as long as grabbing short-term profits at the expense of long-term investment in apprenticeships, in the reduction of carbon footprint and in paying decent wages, is now seen to “work” in George Osborne’s economic plan, no political philosophy with “a moral project” stands a chance without also having a commitment to radical corporate legislation.
It’s no use appealing to CEOs’ moral sense because we know that fashions in corporate social responsibility come and go. Shaming them doesn’t work either: the concept of shame in boardrooms seems to have diminished as quickly as the income gap has grown.
We need laws that will reward companies for substantially reducing the difference between their highest and lowest salaries, for investing in long-term employment growth and for cooperating with the state in improving all aspects of the national infrastructure. Firms would be compensated for sacrificing short-term profits as a result of improving the lot of their employees and of society as a whole – and would be penalised for failing to do so.
Eurof Thomas
Cardiff
Four years ago, the government was convincing the gullible public that national debt running at more than 50% of GDP was a mortal sin, and had to be countered by extreme austerity. Those of us who pointed out that it had been up to 100% for many years were dubbed irresponsible and profligate – and the politics of austerity were accepted, not only in Britain but in Europe, until the Greek people, and the new Greek government this year, had the courage to stand up and refuse to participate in this defeatist policy.
We need a campaign against the all-embracing austerity so that we might get back to a more normal socio-economic situation where the rich are taxed seriously so that the government can provide a proper system of social welfare for those who need it and restore an efficient working state.
Michael Ellman
London N19
