Emergency legislation and economic intervention show that the British state is being beefed up again
s published “Britannia Unchained”, a book lamenting Britain’s “bloated state, high taxes and excessive regulation”. The authors included Priti Patel, Dominic Raab and Liz Truss, now home, foreign and trade secretaries respectively. Later, Boris Johnson would advertise Brexit as a liberating mission for a nimble nation. His supporters dreamed of turning Britain’s face away from Brussels and towards Singapore.
The second factor is Mr Johnson’s plan to level up poorer parts of the country. In the budget on March 11th, Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, announced £640bn on infrastructure spending over five years, the highest as a share ofunder Mr Sunak’s plan was due to settle at 40-41%, higher than any recent point outside the financial crisis. Jesse Norman, a treasury minister, says Brexit and big spending are linked.
But covid-19 is likely to do more than all of these to extend the reach of the state. Already the government has introduced a degree of social control not seen since the second world war. Schools are closing indefinitely. Office workers have been told to stay at home. The elderly have been urged to cocoon themselves from human contact. There is widespread expectation of a lockdown in London.
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