Why isn’t the government learning the lessons of ‘red wall’ towns?

A rare illness has broken out in Westminster. Last week a case of what was known before Brexit as ‘consensus’ was spreading. After two years of dithering, ministers published the ‘Magnitsky’ legislation, named for a lawyer tortured and killed after uncovering corruption by Russian officials. Finally, the UK can impose sanctions and close the door to human-rights abusers and their dirty money. Top of the list are those who targeted Sergei Magnitsky, who prop up a regime that oppresses LGBT people, Muslims and other minorities and that used chemical weapons on the streets of the UK. This is long overdue. It is equally welcome to hear that Saudi officials complicit in murdering journalist Jamal Khashoggi will face sanctions. I gently suggested to the Foreign Secretary that perhaps this might mark the start of a consistent approach to Saudi: one that ends the sale of arms used against innocent people in nearby Yemen. The following day the government announced it is resuming arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Outbreak of consensus — officially over.

Before Rishi Sunak’s ‘mini-Budget’, commentators were excited to speculate about the government’s response to the economic crisis. Tories wanted it to be seen as equivalent to FDR’s New Deal, but immediately Twitter labelled it the ‘Meal Deal’ thanks to the voucher plan encouraging us to eat out again. I was inundated with messages from people terrified by the prospect of the furlough scheme ending in October. They know a promised £1,000 bonus for employers won’t stop job losses in industries like tourism and aviation. I spoke to one man who was among hundreds to lose his job in a travel company because the government was too slow to step in: the loan came through two weeks too late.