Conservatives must now chart a centre-right path - Charlie Dewhirst

Last year’s election delivered a bruising defeat for my party and we must now earn the public’s trust to serve as a credible party of government once again. This requires honesty about the challenges facing our nation. Solutions will not come from Labour’s politics of envy or Reform’s careless rhetoric. Instead, we must acknowledge past mistakes and chart a centre right path grounded in fiscal responsibility and prudent governance.

The same day I was elected the Prime Minister Keir Starmer stood on the streets of Downing Street, promising a government “unburdened by doctrine”. Yet it’s clear this government lacks a credible plan to tackle Britain’s economic challenges. Instead, Starmer has ceded ground to the Labour left and entered a power-sharing deal that threatens to unravel the hard-won gains we achieved since 2010. Take welfare reform as an example.

Conservative led governments streamlined a bloated benefits system and drove employment, slashing Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants by 700,000 by 2020 and reducing workless households by 450,000. These changes made work pay and restored fairness to taxpayers. But since the pandemic, it is clear the system has grown unaffordable.

Individual claimants aren’t receiving lavish benefits to live extravagantly, but the criteria for disabilities have expanded beyond what is reasonable or sustainable. This trend risks sidelining a growing number of claimants into dependency when we should be supporting and retraining them to rejoin the workforce. Just this week Labour had a golden opportunity to reform welfare and curb spiralling costs.

However, despite commanding a mammoth Commons majority, the Prime Minister failed to pass legislation to curb the welfare bill, folding to pressure from his MPs demanding increases in spending. Even as the bill was being debated, it was drastically weakened to secure its passage. The consequence? It is the same old Labour Party – more borrowing and more taxes.

Under Kemi Badenoch’s leadership, our party has launched a bold policy renewal programme to diagnose the nation’s challenges. The crises we face are both political and economic. Annual debt interest surpasses £100 billion, the state is bloated, productivity has flatlined, and economic growth remains sluggish.

Small and medium-sized businesses, who I meet weekly in my constituency, voice alarm over Labour’s policies, particularly the Employment Rights Bill, which could cost the UK over £10 billion annually in lost growth, further straining our economy.

My party understands that prosperity comes not from top down government diktats but from unleashing the animal spirits of our entrepreneurs. Through our renewal programme, we are reforming business taxes and inviting the business community to co-design a more effective system. We are also launching taskforces to dismantle regulatory barriers, unlocking opportunities for building, investment, and growth to empower businesses to thrive.

Charlie Dewhirst is Conservative MP for Bridlington and The Wolds.