Britain needs a fresh start
The Conservatives have run out of road. Labour must be given a chance to govern
![](https://www.ft.com/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2Fb11510c6-ab8f-470b-80f7-049bf66266cc.jpg?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1)
© FT montage/Charlie Bibby
Twice in the past half-century, in the swings to Margaret Thatcher’s Conservatives in 1979 and to Tony Blair’s New Labour in 1997, elections have brought a sea-change in British politics. Today the country is on the threshold of another momentous shift. Voters appear to have decided that, after an often turbulent 14 years in office spanning five prime ministers, the Conservative party’s time is up. There surely can be no other conclusion.
No party in power for so long can escape a reckoning, and not since at least 1979 has any government left the national affairs in such a desperate state. Growth in the economy and real wages since 2010 have fallen well behind the historical trend since the war. The tax burden is near a post-1945 record, government debt at its highest relative to output for 60 years. Yet public services are unravelling. Britain’s defences are depleted.
The Conservatives can point to external shocks: the aftermath of the financial crisis and great recession; a global pandemic and Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Much damage, though, was self-inflicted. Extended austerity weakened the public realm. Liz Truss as premier in 2022 carelessly provoked a market crisis. Brexit, the defining project of this Tory era, has proven an act of grave economic self-harm.
During the fevered EU withdrawal process, Boris Johnson’s government played fast and loose with the rule of law, undermining public respect for politics and institutions. Britain’s standing was diminished in the eyes of its allies. Rishi Sunak has taken steps to right the ship of state; Jeremy Hunt has been a serious chancellor. But the prime minister does not, even now, appear master of a party mired in bickering and sleaze. All too often since 2010, the Conservative party has prioritised management of its fractious party politics over sound governing of Britain.