Conservatism is popular – when it solves problems

Promoting common-sense solutions to our daily difficulties is essential. That is why I’m launching a new campaign this week

The fate of a government is determined by the results that it achieves, rather than the promises that it makes. In 2019, the Conservatives showed voters that they were prepared to do whatever it took to get Brexit done. As a result, the party was rewarded with the biggest majority since Margaret Thatcher.  
Many Tories currently are feeling a sense of malaise, yet another leadership election would be madness. Rishi Sunak must lead the party into this year’s general election. What the party need is the right policies – and then to push those policies through.
We know that Conservative principles are popular in the country. But this only translates into electoral success when actual results are shown. 
The challenge is that, in the post-Blair world, obstacles exist at every turn. The institutional and legal structure of the UK is now geared against achieving Conservative goals.
Take illegal immigration. Nothing would be more popular than getting the Rwanda scheme up and running and seeing flights take off. But time and again we hear that this is not possible. Political will seems to be out-trumped by judicial impasse.
We must now push ahead with the Rwanda Bill and be prepared to go further if it does not generate the success that people voted for. If this means opting out of the ECHR, and any other problem treaties, we must do so.
The same is true of the post-pandemic British economy. Taxes are now at their highest since the 1940s, the state is spending more than ever, public services are not providing the level of service we all want and young people can’t buy homes to live in.
Labour proposes more state control, more tax and more debt. It is up to the Conservatives to make the case for economic freedom and lower taxes.
This is a popular policy platform, but MPs need to stop subcontracting their jobs to unaccountable institutions like the OBR and start taking the decisions themselves. Simply hoping that these bodies will come good is no strategy.
We need to break the business model of the anti-free-speech warriors who want to cancel everyone for everything. I do not want to live in a country where people are scared to voice their opinions or politicians cannot legislate to stop young children being socially transitioned at schools because of the Equality Act.
This agenda has gone too far. It is time we repealed the Equality Act and rooted out all the taxpayers’ money that is being poured into diversity and inclusivity projects.
We need to dismantle the tools being used by the detached elites to tell us how to think and speak. At present, debate is stifled, voices are silenced and division is sowed.
It’s time to give people their freedom back – that was what Brexit was supposed to be about: taking back control. Statists want to give this control to a swathe of international lawyers, unaccountable bodies and treaties, anonymous and unelected civil servants, quangos and central government departments.
Conservatives want power transferred to families, communities, businesses and individuals, instead – but the institutional infrastructure that has grown up in the past two or three decades mitigates against that. If we don’t have a plan to tackle these impediments to freedom, achieving Conservative outcomes will forever feel like pushing water uphill.
This is why I am launching a new grassroots movement of Popular Conservatism this week, alongside senior Conservative MPs and some newly selected candidates. PopCon’s mission is twofold: first, to inform and educate candidates and MPs about the need to reform Britain’s bureaucratic structures to allow Conservatives values to flourish. And second, to advance these policies across the country, whilst demonstrating their popularity.
There’s a sense of disenchantment with how democratic accountability has been gnawed away at for more than a generation. Our task is to overhaul Britain’s creaking and stifling bureaucracy to pave the way for a more peaceful and prosperous Britain.