A Responsibility Revolution is Needed to Counter the Age of Anger

Many citizens are angry as I often hear and see in my surgeries and messages to me as an MP. The global financial crisis sparked a chain of events that undermined their confidence in how things work. They suffered in the recession and then saw that ‘the system’ didn’t prosecute bankers yet failed to sufficiently fund their vital services. Subsequent years of austerity, the economic damage of Brexit, and an incompetent Tory government have exacerbated the anger and fomented a blame culture.

But blame and anger are always corrosive. They are the easy option. They make simplistic solutions appear attractive to many people who believe they have no control or agency over their own or our collective predicament. This anger has been weaponised by power-hungry populists such as Nigel Farage.

We must continue to deliver change, but while this is necessary, it isn’t sufficient. We need a culture shift: ‘a responsibility revolution.’

Conceptions of ‘responsibility’ have defined and distorted our politics. In simplified terms, for the left, the vulnerable are victims of social forces beyond their control, and the state is their only saviour. For the right, particularly in the Badenoch era that represents the triumph of ideologues over ‘one nation’, this group is solely responsible for their lot and must ‘pick themselves up’ with minimal help.

There is another way of ‘taking responsibility’ that can help deliver positive economic and social change. There are encouraging signs. Keir Starmer’s 2024 conference speech spoke of the ‘trade offs’ that political leaders must outline to the public. That includes not opposing local development if you want jobs and homes for your children and grandchildren.

This candour defines the Starmer approach. Long before the election, and contrary to popular belief now, we made clear there would be no quick fixes in rebuilding Britain.

It hasn’t been easy or popular to take difficult decisions to fill the unforeseen £22 billion black hole we inherited and ensure long term economic benefits for all. Taking responsibility has numerous costs, but already the benefits are starting to materialise, with the reduction in the NHS waiting lists and economic growth up.

Ministers are getting on with ensuring more efficient and dynamic delivery of change. We built the electricity super grid in nine years, the national gas transmission network in seven years, and the oil network in three years. Compare that with HS2.

But responsibility doesn’t only require state actions. The government is rightly enabling business with better skills provision, planning reforms, trade deals, and a stable economy. More businesses must go beyond shareholder value or short-term bottom lines and invest more in advanced technology, automation, and re-skilling their workforce.

This quid pro quo approach applies also to individual citizens. For example, it is no longer affordable to continue to treat unhealthiness without asking people to address the lifestyle issues and choices that feed ill health.

The state must always support those in need, but, where possible, individuals have a responsibility to make decisions so that they are less dependent on welfare support. Parents should also encourage their children to respect education and behave better.

In public discourse, politicians must lead by example, but our political culture flows from the norms we each tolerate and perpetuate. Hence individuals too must take responsibility for engaging in politics in a robust but respectful way. Schools and colleges should teach how our democracy works. Social media companies should do far more to disable not enable routine abuse of politicians and others. The myth that politicians are money-grubbing and malign undermines the ability of politics to help – a dangerous cycle of anger perpetuating the cause of anger.

Blaming the system or expecting government to solve problems alone will not work. We all need to ask ourselves how we can play our part, working with government and others, to turn our nation’s challenges into opportunities for us all.

This revolution could transcend boundaries of party, business and public sector, ethnicity, demographics, and geography. The alternative is anger and blame, which can only benefit the false prophets of the populists, whose only interest is feeding on disaffection to fuel their own power. We are all in it together.

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