Softening net zero targets might well encourage people to think they need not worry about climate change and can ignore the extremes of \u201cJust stop Oil\u201d. It\u2019s a million miles from the responsible course of addressing climate change \u2014 and implicitly saying \u201cwe have a problem, and a plan to address it.<\/p>\n
There are echoes of the same mentality in some of Suella Braverman\u2019s comments before the reshuffle. Talking of refugees arriving by boat in exaggerated language can make them sound like an \u201cinvasion\u201d force, stoking people\u2019s anxiety so that they are \u201cgrateful\u201d when the government \u201cprotects\u201d us. Talking of homelessness as a \u201clifestyle choice\u201d gives a way to say we can ignore it \u2014 when we should be embarrassed at what it implies for failed housing and mental health policy.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The snag is that stirring up anxiety and then presenting oneself as the solution speaks to some very raw emotions and makes it hard to think. In 2019 it seemed inconceivable that a government that had just been found to have illegally prorogued parliament could win a General Election, but the slogan of \u201cGet Brexit Done\u201d spoke to who wanted Brexit and who were fed up with it and in a way that closed down debate. It was very hard to create any discussion of what the promised Brexit would look like, or how it sat with public opinion.<\/p>\n
Much more recently, the political scientist Matthew Goodwin has been talking of widespread alienation from politics. Linking that back to what I\u2019ve been hearing on doorsteps in Huntingdon I am hearing people who are worried (not least about the cost of living) and assume that \u201cpoliticians\u201d are \u201cnot listening\u201d. In that context \u201cwe\u2019ll take your worries away\u201d appeals. <\/p>\n
Cutting back HS2 is a good example. There was no debate. No mention of the \u00a315Bn per year that the government\u2019s own Economic Case for HS2<\/a> indicates it would add to the British economy if HS2 went as far as Manchester and Leeds, or of the benefits of rebalancing the economy between North and South, or of the environmental benefit increased rail capacity getting more freight off the roads. Instead it seemed to be just \u201cwe\u2019ve saved some money\u201d<\/p>\n There is a danger that, as in 2019, the Tories are able to snatch victory by offering things that enable people to worry less \u2014 and trap Labour into being reactive.<\/p>\n The country needs something better than that. We need to find a way to think about the actual problems we face \u2014 which needs leadership that earns enough trust to enable thinking. <\/p>\n At a practical level, we have thousands of councillors who are committed to their communities. Can we find a way to say \u201cYou\u2019ve trusted us to have difficult discussions in local government: can we do that nationally?\u201d<\/p>\n As I write this I have the words of the preamble to the Liberal Democrat constitution<\/a> in the back of my mind. Those words alone might encourage people to have an eye on the possibility of another way of doing things.<\/p>\n It would be a bit of a stretch to talk of \u201cfreedom from enslavement by poverty, ignorance, conformity, or the manipulative behaviour of the government\u201d but, in another difficult time, Franklin Roosevelt\u2019s inaugration address, instead of exploiting anxiety, offered something wiser:<\/p>\n \n\u201cSo, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is\u2026 fear itself<\/strong> \u2014 nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\nA possible Liberal Democrat position<\/h2>\n