I think that the big challenge of the 2020s for the country, and for the Conservative party, is to win the fight for free enterprise and the free society. This is under threat like at no other time in my lifetime. And the way that you do that is by demonstrating the benefits of a free market society.
The sign of a civilised society is how we treat the most vulnerable and our social care system is not up to scratch.
I’ve said that the era of the inevitable closure of community hospitals is over because I want community hospitals increasingly to become community health hubs where you have the physios, some of the day cases, the GPs, mental health services and some of the charity-provided services like Aid UK.
If technology can remove some of the labour-intensive tasks where the computer can do better than the human eye; that helps.
You’ve got to support working families. We should be looking to support those who strive the hardest, and increase the national living wage, to make sure that the lowest paid get the biggest increase in pay.
But crucially, the apprenticeship schemes benefit apprentices themselves, who get a good foundation for a career, and it helps to open doors and break down barriers that some people face.
There are clearly skills shortages in some areas, and businesses can make sure they get the skills they need by training people on the job.
The strong economy means there is fiscal firepower and we need to use that to show people the benefits of the free-market system.
