It’s key that voters feel the benefit of project chainsaw’

Keir Starmer’s decision to abolish NHS England will spark a debate about the role and size of the state.

- ANDREW GRICE

Government spending as a proportion of national income remained remarkably stable from the 1950s until the Covid pandemic, but grew significantly under the Conservatives between 2019-24. Traditionally, Labour spent more than the Tories, and after Rachel Reeves’s £70bn boost to public spending Budget last October, the state will settle at 44 per cent of the national income by the end of this five-year parliament – five points higher than before the pandemic.

The role of the state has not always been a left-right issue. At the 2017 election, Theresa May promised “active government” and a “strong and strategic state”. Her manifesto said: “We must reject the ideological templates provided by the socialist left and the libertarian right and instead embrace the mainstream view that recognises the good that government can do.”

Some Tories see both sides of the argument. Michael Gove, who in 2023 backed “a state that is active, not absent” to tackle inequality and rebalance the economy. Today, as editor of The Spectator, he runs a campaign against government waste, inspired by Elon Musk. Starmer has now changed the terms of the “big versus small state” debate. He wants a “smaller, more agile” state but an “active” one.