A new consensus

Thinking over the proposed changes to Child Benefit I cannot but help thinking we need to widen the debate. Both sides spend a lot of time talking about the money, how much will be saved, how much it will cost longer term, and this does matter. It matters not just when, like now, money is tight, because Government spends 'other peoples' money. Government has a duty to account for each and every penny, to spend each and every penny well. It's not just about the money though. The money is only one part of the spending debate. We need to come to an agreement about what we want to spend our money on not just how much we want to spend. We live in a very different world to the world in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. What we can do has changed greatly since then and looks set to keep on changing. Social attitudes and norms have also changed. The family model and the 'local community' are not what they were, for better and for worse.

I am Labour because I believe ' by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone'. I do not see the welfare state simply as a safety net, a next best option for those who can't take care of themselves. There are some things the State simply does better than even the most well off individual. Those are the things the State should be doing and of course it is over these things that there is some disagreement. I want to make clear now that I am not talking about questions of nationalisation or privatisation or the involvement of the third sector. These are questions of how provision is managed and achieved. I am talking about not how but what the State should provide. What things constitute national infrastructure and identity?

The new consensus we need to arrive at, to be able to have a genuine debate on spending, is what we want to do with our money and then look at the best ways to do it. Those things the State should provide it should provide for every one of its members. There may be many things the future State will not provide that it has till now, or has tried to. There may also be things that it provides going forward that it never did because they weren't available or weren't as important before. Lets not be frightened of change and lets not be naive about the fact there will be people worse but also better off in the process. Most of all though, lest not be frightened to have the genuine debate about spending, not just how much but why. In the end it's not just about the money its about our identity.