The Right Response: Conservative ideas to tackle perennial poverty

Abstract

Foreword (excerpt):
While our view is that political theory has its place—those long-running debates about the balance between equality and freedom, and all the rest of it—we nevertheless share with the parliamentarian authors who have contributed to this volume the view that addressing the endemic and perennial cost of poverty and class in practice remains fundamental to any Conservative renewal. With that in mind, this volume presents essays by twelve serving Conservative MPs on the causes, realities, and effects of poverty in today’s Britain. Each chapter contains new ideas in specific policy areas that the authors (and we) believe should be considered and discussed as the “levelling up” mantra is developed into a concrete programme of practical Conservative government action.

The authors represent a diversity of constituencies in England and Wales, and are drawn from across the parliamentary party, so this volume is very far from promoting mere regional or factional interests. The reader will notice, however, that what all of these authors share is the recognition that the conventional “right-liberal” activity of the last few governments—or, perhaps more accurately, certain inactivity—has so far left in place systems that are not working for the poorest people in our country. Naturally, politicians with different policy interests will cite different successes, failures, and possible solutions. But for each of them the “right-liberal” ideological alloy of economic and cultural liberalism has demonstrably failed in some regard, and no section of our society has paid more for those right-liberal failures than the working class.

Citation

Fear, C., & Blond, P. (Eds.). (2023). The Right Response: Conservative ideas to tackle perennial poverty. ResPublica

• Book Type: Edited Book
• Online Publication Date: May 24, 2023
• Publication Date: May 24, 2023
• Deposit Date: Oct 6, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 5, 2025
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• ISBN: 978-1-908027-93-1
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4408353
• Publisher URL: https://www.respublica.org.uk/our-work/publications/the-right-response-conservative-ideas-to-tackle-perennial-poverty/