The Conservative Party leadership contest seems to have been heavily focused on immigration and human rights law. These are certainly vital matters for our democracy and security. I think both candidates understand the need to bring down the current unsustainable levels of migration and to take back control of our borders.
What matters to me is who has a wider agenda beyond the issue of migration. In this leadership election, business and economic policy has been less discussed, but as the Labour government pursues wealth-destroying policies, there is a pressing need for an Opposition leader who understands how societies become prosperous.
For me, one candidate has this understanding and can articulate it. And that is former business and trade secretary Kemi Badenoch. She has spoken and written compellingly about the value of entrepreneurship and the need for risk-taking. As an engineer who has worked in tech, she understands we must revive and re-energise the British economy.
I was interested to read the pamphlet that her campaign published this month on the Rise of the Bureaucratic Class. I wrote about this issue frequently – the remorseless advance of the administrative state, the productivity-sapping rise of functions such as compliance, HR and legal departments while core activities such as production, engineering and research and development have declined.
The UK and other Western economies are increasingly sluggish and dysfunctional. This is more than about Brexit: much of the wider West is barely growing and there has been a shift away from genuine innovation and rising living standards.
The Conservative Party leadership contest seems to have been heavily focused on immigration and human rights law. These are certainly vital matters for our democracy and security. I think both candidates understand the need to bring down the current unsustainable levels of migration and to take back control of our borders.
What matters to me is who has a wider agenda beyond the issue of migration. In this leadership election, business and economic policy has been less discussed, but as the Labour government pursues wealth-destroying policies, there is a pressing need for an Opposition leader who understands how societies become prosperous.
For me, one candidate has this understanding and can articulate it. And that is former business and trade secretary Kemi Badenoch. She has spoken and written compellingly about the value of entrepreneurship and the need for risk-taking. As an engineer who has worked in tech, she understands we must revive and re-energise the British economy.
I was interested to read the pamphlet that her campaign published this month on the Rise of the Bureaucratic Class. I wrote about this issue frequently – the remorseless advance of the administrative state, the productivity-sapping rise of functions such as compliance, HR and legal departments while core activities such as production, engineering and research and development have declined.
The UK and other Western economies are increasingly sluggish and dysfunctional. This is more than about Brexit: much of the wider West is barely growing and there has been a shift away from genuine innovation and rising living standards.