John Redwood

 Wokingham Times

16 November 2007

Last week we learned that 400,000 people left the UK to live and work elsewhere last year. The papers today ask why 400,000 left the UK last year to live and work somewhere else. I would have thought the answer was obvious.

They’ve had enough.

We live in a country where anyone who has gained some qualifications, who tries to pay their own way and to live a decent life feels targeted by this government. We have our identity assaulted, our democratic views ignored, our pockets and purses rifled by the state, our opinions criticised or banned and the public services we do wish to use run incompetently or rationed for us.

We, the English, are told our country is the one part of the Union that cannot have devolved power. Instead our country is to split into Euro regions, and we are to be told we must be loyal to the South-east, or go round telling people we are East Midlanders. The North East told the government in a referendum they wanted nothing to do with regional government, so the government told them they would have more of it.

We are told we have to love the EU and accept its constitution, after the promised of a referendum in order to win a General election. Many of us see the EU as a hostile bureaucracy, tying us up in ever more rules and regulations. We are not xenophobes - most of us like our continent and appreciate its range of cultures, languages and cuisines. We just do not want to be governed by a bunch of bureaucrats who think they have to regulate every aspect of our increasingly complex lives and who we cannot sack via an election.

We are told by the government that our lifestyles are wrong. As the Health Service grapples with its inability to keep hospitals clean and infection free the government blames us for being ill in the first place. People are told they are too fat, they eat the wrong foods, and they drink too much. The government encourages a debate criticising “middle class” lifestyles. Maybe it’s a prelude to a crisps tax or a further increase in alcohol duty.

If we dare to drive our cars we are treated like criminals. The government has put through so many new laws and rules that most drivers I see on the roads daily are breaking one or other law. Motorists do not accept the government’s demonisation of speed in all circumstances and want to see instead proper policing operating against the minority who are driving stolen vehicles and uninsured cars, and those who are driving dangerously for the conditions. Motorists feel picked on when they are just trying to get to work or to the shops to buy the family food.

If we are foolish enough to make some honest money then the tax collectors descend. The government only wants to know us when they are out to take our cash. The Revenue and Customs have become much more aggressive and in some cases unfair, as this greedy government raids us time and again to pay for their army of helpers and advisers, to swell their drinks cabinets and pay their first class airline tickets as they fly round the world lecturing the rest of us on the need to travel less.

We are not allowed to make comments on immigration for fear of a false accusation of racism. We are discouraged from criticising the EU for fear of being called xenophobes. We are told if we want fairer and lower taxes it means we are nasty people wishing to worsen the few health and social services we all do want to be better financed and conducted. Our government snarls about success and privilege, disliking good grammar and independent schools and the best universities. It tells us the two big issues of the day are obesity and climate change. That’s not what they are saying in the Dog and Duck.

They use the “war on terror” as an excuse to whittle away our civil liberties. I can scarcely believe that under a Labour government people can now be arrested and held without charge for a month, and the government wishes to be able to do this for two months.
The threaten us with useless and expensive ID cards, when they cannot control our borders or run a National Insurance numbering scheme which works. We are made to go through all sorts of difficult security checks at public buildings and airports, but not at tube stations and most train stations. Once again it is the law abiding who are made to suffer.

Should we want something back for the huge taxes we pay, we are often out of luck. There is insufficient road capacity for the needs of a modern economy, in a country with a third less good road space than our continental rivals(relative to size and population). There are still queues to get access to healthcare despite all the extra money spent. Many people do not live near to a first class state school, so their children are out of luck.

If Ministers cannot understand why people are leaving, I have this advice for them. Leave the Ministerial car at home next week, and try getting yourself to the office for 9 am each day. Work out what it is like paying the mortgage, buying the petrol, paying the Council Tax and the family food on average earnings in this country, and ask yourself if people really are paying too little tax when you’ve done those sums. Try and imagine what it is like to be English, when the government is directed from a Scottish perspective on so many things. Ask yourself if you think it’s fair that Scotland has a totally different deal in the Union to the majority.
If you still can’t figure out why so many people are leaving, then you are not cut out to be a politician. You are simply, hopelessly and comprehensively out of touch. If you can, then do something about it.