In his 1996 book The state we’re In, Will Hutton examined the condition of the British economy and political system. In his new book, This time no mistakes: how to remake Britain, Hutton looks at the perilous state of our national economic and political systems today but also recommends how the mistakes of the last 45 years can be put right and remedied, as we go forward into the vital transition to a carbon free economy. The remedy Hutton supports is to be found by bringing, “Britain’s social liberal tradition together with its social democratic, reformist Labour tradition, as Attlee did so effectively in the government he led between 1945 and 1951”.
Hutton begins by outlining the parameters of the social, political, and economic crisis Britain finds itself in today. This is followed by a quick survey of the last 100 years in the United States and how the benign environment of the New Deal and later post-war policies had been rolled back since the 1970s. In this respect he sees lessons from the USA in terms of if being both an inspiration and a warning to us.
Hutton then outlines the huge mistakes made by the Tories since the 1970s including privatisations, tax cutting, squandering the benefits of North Sea oil and more recently austerity and the damage done by Brexit. All of these are shown to have done great damage to both the economy and social fabric of the country. As in the USA, the foundations of the post-war economic success and social advances have been hugely undermined.
History of the Left
Following this there is a long, detailed history of the Left in Britain and its missed opportunities during the 20th and early 21st centuries. Hutton particularly bemoans the fact that there has never been a fusion between what he calls the new liberalism of the early 20th century and the socialist ethic, which developed around the same time. In Hutton’s mind this has seen the Left divided and without a real sense of purpose and practical plan for most of the last 120 years, allowing the Tories to dominate the government of the country.
Will Hutton’s ambitions for Britain laid out in this book are perhaps best summed up by the man himself:
“The aim must be to create an environmentally sustainable, high productivity Britain that is less unequal, fairer and economically dynamic, and which, while global in its reach, is firmly anchored in its own continent”,
Productivity and trade unions
Hutton then goes on to discuss the importance of raising the UK’s famously low productivity, through a partnership between business leaders and workers, similar to that found in Germany, even going so far as to say that the 1969 White Paper In Place of Strife and the mid-1970s Bullock Report should be revived. He also emphasises the importance of strong trade unions and sectoral collective bargaining in raising not only wages, but crucially worker morale and hence productivity.
Education
One area where I would take issue with Hutton is his description of Michael Gove as an “effective” Secretary of State for Education in the early 2010s. I suppose he was certainly effective in demoralising teachers and starting the huge retention and recruitment crisis we still see today, ten years after he was sacked as Education Secretary. That said, Hutton is correct to point out how education has been criminally neglected by the Tories since 2010 and particularly with regards to the development of technical and practical skills, the skills we will so desperately need in regions like the North East, as we move towards a carbon neutral economy.
Hutton is also correct to point out the enormous damage done by successive Tory governments’ austerity policies since 2010 and particularly the decimation of the excellent SureStart scheme. This scheme which saw the development of an extensive network of one-stop shops across the country for parents of under-fives to help them with health, parenting and early education issues, which not only was surely saving the country money in the long-run by providing the opportunity for all young children to have a decent start in life, but also was the most effective form of real levelling up and introduction of social fairness so far this century.
Rebuilding the public realm
The basic premise of the book, that we need a society where there is a healthy balance between the ‘I’ and the ‘we’, is then developed further by an examination of ways in which individuals in society can benefit from the rebuilding of the public realm. This includes better housing and a better-resourced and fairer justice system. The strengthening of the public realm is not just seen in terms of rebuilding public services, vitally important though that will be, but in terms of greater mingling of the social classes and a more effective civil service. All this would help us stop avoid the terrible catastrophes that have been visited on the country since 2010, while we take the narrative away from the right wing.
A written constitution
Hutton also suggests that we should have a written constitution to improve the current desperately low level of governance in the country. This constitution would have 12 main principles, including giving parliament, “the capacity for forward-looking scrutiny of proposed laws, and establish equal control of the parliamentary timetable and four-year fixed-term elections”. The constitution would also see local government powers entrenched, the House of Lords replaced with an elected assembly of nations, regions and cities, with four-yearly elections held every four years between general elections to the Commons. Meanwhile first-past-the-post should be replaced by a proportional voting system. The Leveson recommendations should be implemented while social media and digital platforms should be reformed. As for foreign relations an office of EU Relations should be established.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Hutton states that the right-wing hegemony can be defeated, not just at the upcoming general election, but also longer-term through the “marriage of the ‘we’ and the ‘I’ of collective solidarity and creative individualism, of ethical socialism and progressive liberalism…”.
Despite some flaws, this is a book which tells a coherent story of how we got to where we are today – and provides a route map out of the current malaise. I would like to see greater regulation capitalism for the common good than Hutton does, but he still right to say that it is needed in the first place. There can be little doubt that as things stand our country is in a steep decline and many of the remedies Hutton puts forward make sense. We need to develop ways of bringing people together to work for common aims, in the way that community was built in the pit villages and shipyards towns of the North East in the 19th century. Perhaps most of all we need hope that things can get better…
