Tory leadership candidates aren’t focused on the issues that really matter

This week, three reports landed from influential bodies painting a dismal picture of where we are as a nation, writes Chris Blackhurst

The Conservative leadership contenders (Getty)

For some time now, it’s as if we’ve been existing in a parallel universe.

There’s the one in which the public sector is cracking at the seams, in all areas. There are backlogs everywhere, shortages of staff across the board, everything is taking longer – the impression is of a national and local administrative, operational machine grinding to a halt.

And there’s the one in which the outgoing prime minister was arguing with his then-chancellor about making tax cuts. That dispute has spilled over to the Conservative leadership contest, to the extent that it has come to dominate the proceedings. You could be forgiven for supposing this is a competition based entirely around the ability of the entrants to deliver reductions in taxes, such is the attention heaped on this one aspect of policy.