Penny Mordaunt wants more ‘personal responsibility’ – that’s a coded attack

A leader should set out a vision to capture the best in people, not one that plays to the lowest common denominator

Penny Mordaunt, as part of her pledge to become the next leader of the Conservative Party, has said she wants to see “low tax, small state, and personal responsibility”. The last of these is an interesting and worrying idea. It’s not novel to suggest that people should take personal responsibility; this has been the Tory narrative for years, after all. Mordaunt clearly thinks the party has lost sight of this, and that it should be prioritised and amplified.

But she doesn’t spell out exactly what people should be taking personal responsibility for. Perhaps this is deliberate, as it can mean whatever you want it to. However, it usually implies that the state (read “taxpayers”) should not be there to support lazy, work-shy “benefit scroungers”.

Consecutive Conservative prime ministers have prioritised reducing the amount spent on social security. This aim was the foundation of the universal credit system, although it was spun as a way to simplify and make fairer the benefits paid to people.

The long-term project of dismantling the social safety net has been messy, and far from fair for those needing support – that’s presuming they can even get any. So the idea that the system could shrink further is very worrying. Thousands of people are already using food banks, or resorting to loan sharks, or going without basics; many of them have met the standard required by the Tory ideal and are in work, often juggling several low-paid, temporary jobs.

All of this kills the frequently touted myth that work is the route out of poverty. Instead, work has become a trap that incrementally lowers any hope of escape. You need a particularly steely imagination to believe that the social security budget can be squeezed further. Although that’s an easier leap when you have no personal experience of what poverty and lack of hope feel like – in the same way that many of us can only imagine what wealth feels like.

The idea of individual responsibility is about perception, not fact. It is still a popular view that those on benefits are lazy, or immigrants whose sole aim in coming to the UK is to take advantage of our “generous” system. Even if that were true, the belief is shattered quickly, given the meagre amounts we expect people to live on – even before the current spiralling costs of food and fuel.

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Inequality isn’t just bad for those at the bottom of the pile: it also costs the most affluent. Research shows that the countries with the greatest inequality have excessive rates of consumption, lower levels of trust, and the highest rates of mental health problems, addiction, and social problems.

A leader should inspire, setting out a vision that captures the best in people, not one that plays to the lowest common denominator. Mordaunt’s campaign team are trying to pitch her as novel; as permitting conservatives to “just be themselves”.

Unfortunately, this ambition will cost those with the least the most. We need collective, not personal, responsibility – but that appears to be less appealing to the Conservative leadership contenders. No matter who wins this contest, we will all lose.