The government has a ‘code word’ it keeps using. But does it know what it means?

Compassionate governance means working alongside those we seek to serve, not dictating policies from the centre, writes Debbie Abrahams

In very immediate terms, a compassionate government would take steps to help ordinary people weather our current economic storm (PA)

Everyone, it seems, is talking about it. In recent weeks the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, his chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, and Ministers including Michael Gove, have all mentioned the need for “compassion” in politics and an era of “compassionate Conservatism”.

As Co-Chair of the All-Party Group for Compassionate Politics, this is, of course, something I welcome. But I do so cautiously. Compassionate conservatism is not new. As a political ideology it emanated from 1970s America and later developed some traction under President George W Bush.

Critics have, however, suggested that whilst sounding good, without a programme to deliver a compassionate agenda, it’s nothing but empty rhetoric. These warm words need to be accompanied by a genuine commitment to transformative change in both the practice of politics and the policies that it produces.