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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/08/theresa-may-meant-what-said-act-now-just-about-managing
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| If Theresa May meant what she said last year, she has to act now | If Theresa May meant what she said last year, she has to act now |
| (6 days later) | |
| ‘I understand the frustration people feel when they see the rich and powerful getting away with things that they themselves wouldn’t dream of doing. And they wouldn’t get away with if they tried. I understand that because I feel it too. There’s always an excuse – a reason why something can’t be done – but when that is used as a basis for inaction, faith in capitalism and free markets falls.” | ‘I understand the frustration people feel when they see the rich and powerful getting away with things that they themselves wouldn’t dream of doing. And they wouldn’t get away with if they tried. I understand that because I feel it too. There’s always an excuse – a reason why something can’t be done – but when that is used as a basis for inaction, faith in capitalism and free markets falls.” |
| Theresa May was undeniably right, both about the frustration and its consequences, when she delivered those lines a year ago at the Conservative party conference. But imagine how hollow it would sound if she repeated them tomorrow. | Theresa May was undeniably right, both about the frustration and its consequences, when she delivered those lines a year ago at the Conservative party conference. But imagine how hollow it would sound if she repeated them tomorrow. |
| Nobody expects her to join low-paid McDonald’s workers on the picket line, still less embrace her inner Marxist | Nobody expects her to join low-paid McDonald’s workers on the picket line, still less embrace her inner Marxist |
| Then, many voters were prepared to take her on trust when she vowed to stand up for the struggling against a greedy elite. And while some Tories had reservations about individual policies, the overall direction felt right: a modern, blue collar-friendly economic agenda that spelled a clean break from the Cameron years, combined with an emphasis on decency that spoke to older generations. | Then, many voters were prepared to take her on trust when she vowed to stand up for the struggling against a greedy elite. And while some Tories had reservations about individual policies, the overall direction felt right: a modern, blue collar-friendly economic agenda that spelled a clean break from the Cameron years, combined with an emphasis on decency that spoke to older generations. |
| How times change. One by one, those bold early ideas are being watered down, dumped or deferred. No, companies won’t actually have to put workers on their boards to embarrass executives into keeping their pay down; that’s just one option among many for encouraging restraint. No, shareholder votes on corporate pay packages won’t be legally binding, although a public note will be kept of any shareholder revolts. | How times change. One by one, those bold early ideas are being watered down, dumped or deferred. No, companies won’t actually have to put workers on their boards to embarrass executives into keeping their pay down; that’s just one option among many for encouraging restraint. No, shareholder votes on corporate pay packages won’t be legally binding, although a public note will be kept of any shareholder revolts. |
| This week in parliament, Tories winced as Jeremy Corbyn demanded to know whether all that tough talk was just for the election campaign or if she actually meant it. May, who last year memorably thundered that “if you’re a boss who earns a fortune but doesn’t look after your staff” then the game was up, meanwhile found herself unable even to publicly criticise Sports Direct. | This week in parliament, Tories winced as Jeremy Corbyn demanded to know whether all that tough talk was just for the election campaign or if she actually meant it. May, who last year memorably thundered that “if you’re a boss who earns a fortune but doesn’t look after your staff” then the game was up, meanwhile found herself unable even to publicly criticise Sports Direct. |
| It emerged this week that the retailer, publicly shamed by MPs last year for its “Victorian workhouse” employment practices, hasn’t met some of the pledges subsequently made, to guarantee shop workers’ hours and move some warehouse staff on to permanent contracts. Asked by Corbyn to condemn the company and its use of zero-hours contracts, May ducked the question entirely in favour of a dig about his views on Trident. | It emerged this week that the retailer, publicly shamed by MPs last year for its “Victorian workhouse” employment practices, hasn’t met some of the pledges subsequently made, to guarantee shop workers’ hours and move some warehouse staff on to permanent contracts. Asked by Corbyn to condemn the company and its use of zero-hours contracts, May ducked the question entirely in favour of a dig about his views on Trident. |
| And while doubtless Downing Street is holding back some juicy announcements for this year’s party conference – seen as a chance to reboot May’s domestic agenda – for voters there is too little evidence of practical help for the “just about managing”, or the kind of moral crusade against corporate excess she once promised. | And while doubtless Downing Street is holding back some juicy announcements for this year’s party conference – seen as a chance to reboot May’s domestic agenda – for voters there is too little evidence of practical help for the “just about managing”, or the kind of moral crusade against corporate excess she once promised. |
| Her credibility on these issues is disappearing fast and so this autumn May finds herself at a crucial junction. She must choose whether to take the high road, the long, hard, expensive slog of trying to deliver on the ambitious promises made last year; or the low one, of building up and knocking down straw men in the hope of distracting voters from the fact they’re still broke and the rich and powerful still get away with far too much. Which is why it’s alarming that the one totemic issue on which May now seems happy to confront big business isn’t pay and practices, but immigration. | Her credibility on these issues is disappearing fast and so this autumn May finds herself at a crucial junction. She must choose whether to take the high road, the long, hard, expensive slog of trying to deliver on the ambitious promises made last year; or the low one, of building up and knocking down straw men in the hope of distracting voters from the fact they’re still broke and the rich and powerful still get away with far too much. Which is why it’s alarming that the one totemic issue on which May now seems happy to confront big business isn’t pay and practices, but immigration. |
| Minutes after evading Corbyn on Sports Direct, May was tackling an SNP question on the economic benefits of immigration by arguing that, while on the whole it was good for Britain, it needed to come down “given the impact it has on people at the lower end of the income scale in depressing their wages”. | Minutes after evading Corbyn on Sports Direct, May was tackling an SNP question on the economic benefits of immigration by arguing that, while on the whole it was good for Britain, it needed to come down “given the impact it has on people at the lower end of the income scale in depressing their wages”. |
| The connection between immigration and stagnating pay packets is one she has made before. Yet the evidence for foreign labour undercutting wages is sketchy, to say the least, even though many voters fervently believe it to be true. One Bank of England study did suggest immigration might have reduced pay for skilled workers by about 1% over eight years, but its own author has described the effect as “infinitesimally small”. And as the Institute for Financial Studies director Paul Johnson has pointed out, plenty of other studies find no impact at all. Immigration seems at best a relatively minor factor and at worst a complete red herring in the low-pay debate. | The connection between immigration and stagnating pay packets is one she has made before. Yet the evidence for foreign labour undercutting wages is sketchy, to say the least, even though many voters fervently believe it to be true. One Bank of England study did suggest immigration might have reduced pay for skilled workers by about 1% over eight years, but its own author has described the effect as “infinitesimally small”. And as the Institute for Financial Studies director Paul Johnson has pointed out, plenty of other studies find no impact at all. Immigration seems at best a relatively minor factor and at worst a complete red herring in the low-pay debate. |
| But blaming migrants for the fact that wages haven’t gone up in years is quicker, cheaper, and arguably more popular than identifying and tackling all the other complex reasons why people might not be earning enough to make ends meet – from sluggish productivity to structural issues within particular industries, to the government’s own spending decisions (whose fault is it that nurses and teachers haven’t had a rise for years, exactly?). And that’s why May now finds herself at a dangerous fork in the road. | But blaming migrants for the fact that wages haven’t gone up in years is quicker, cheaper, and arguably more popular than identifying and tackling all the other complex reasons why people might not be earning enough to make ends meet – from sluggish productivity to structural issues within particular industries, to the government’s own spending decisions (whose fault is it that nurses and teachers haven’t had a rise for years, exactly?). And that’s why May now finds herself at a dangerous fork in the road. |
| It would be only too easy, in the current febrile climate, to turn immigration into a proxy for everything else that’s wrong in the lives of the “just about managing”; to make a virtue, even, of opposing big business’s demands for a continued flow of foreign labour. After all, pinning the blame for working-class America’s economic woes on Mexicans has worked for Donald Trump. | It would be only too easy, in the current febrile climate, to turn immigration into a proxy for everything else that’s wrong in the lives of the “just about managing”; to make a virtue, even, of opposing big business’s demands for a continued flow of foreign labour. After all, pinning the blame for working-class America’s economic woes on Mexicans has worked for Donald Trump. |
| But it would do nothing to solve the real problem, and if May meant what she said last year, then now it’s time to put in the hard yards: rebuild bridges with her chancellor, find a replacement for Nick Timothy (the original architect of much of her economic agenda) and embark on the sort of once-in-a-generation economic reform needed to deliver on her promises. | But it would do nothing to solve the real problem, and if May meant what she said last year, then now it’s time to put in the hard yards: rebuild bridges with her chancellor, find a replacement for Nick Timothy (the original architect of much of her economic agenda) and embark on the sort of once-in-a-generation economic reform needed to deliver on her promises. |
| Nobody expects her to join low-paid McDonald’s workers on the picket line, still less embrace her inner Marxist. Conservatives are entitled to advance distinctly Conservative solutions to economic problems (providing, of course, that they work). | Nobody expects her to join low-paid McDonald’s workers on the picket line, still less embrace her inner Marxist. Conservatives are entitled to advance distinctly Conservative solutions to economic problems (providing, of course, that they work). |
| But Tory MPs chose May as leader for good reason, and not just because she seemed to be the only grownup left. She seemed quick to understand Brexit as a broader rejection of an economy that wasn’t working for many people, yet she was offering to rebuild faith in capitalism the reassuringly old-fashioned way, by giving potential Tory voters a chance to acquire some capital; a good job, an affordable home, security for their kids. | But Tory MPs chose May as leader for good reason, and not just because she seemed to be the only grownup left. She seemed quick to understand Brexit as a broader rejection of an economy that wasn’t working for many people, yet she was offering to rebuild faith in capitalism the reassuringly old-fashioned way, by giving potential Tory voters a chance to acquire some capital; a good job, an affordable home, security for their kids. |
| It is unclear that Theresa May knows how to deliver any of this, in a post-Brexit world. But if she wants to be remembered for anything other than almost losing an election, then she’s got to try. Now is absolutely not the time to revert to business-as-usual. | It is unclear that Theresa May knows how to deliver any of this, in a post-Brexit world. But if she wants to be remembered for anything other than almost losing an election, then she’s got to try. Now is absolutely not the time to revert to business-as-usual. |
| • Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist | • Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist |
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