David Gauke

David Gauke is a former Justice Secretary and was an independent candidate in South-West Hertfordshire at the 2019 general election.

Offer a credible economic plan; demonstrate a determination to solve problems, not just exploit them; recognise that lessons have been learnt from the Tory time in office.

The Government – hoping to change the subject from scheduled fuel duty rises – accused fuel retailers of “price gouging” or“profiteering” despite no evidence to support that. Tory opposition is smart but short term. None of it addresses the realities of the public finances.

For all the hope of bringing renewed dynamism to the British economy, Reform UK will not have assembled a pro-growth electoral coalition. The country may well need a brave and radical government, but the populist right – including Reform UK - is not going to provide it.

We know now that the country got out of its 1970s malaise thanks to a government committed to fiscal discipline and a market economy. Were matters worse in the seventies compared to today? Yes. Will matters resolve themselves as positively? Not necessarily.

The strategic challenge for the Tories is that it has been losing support to both its right and left. Move decisively to the right and more votes get lost to left-wing parties, move decisively to the left and watch Reform steal the Tories’ lunch.

Contrary to his parents' wishes, the murder has become a political – and divisive – issue. Naturally there is close scrutiny of how the police acted and about wider police culture. But it has also revealed more about the character, temperament and political strategies of some leading politicians.

In the context of Kemi Badenoch’s improving personal rating (now the least unpopular party leader in the country) and the growing evidence that the air is leaving the Reform balloon, in the gains of 18th June there are signs and genuine grounds for optimism.

This, I repeat, is not an argument against devolution. But it is an argument for a hard-headed devolution that considers local responsibility to be more important than regional equality, and makes the tough argument that we have to live with the local consequences of devolved decisions.

There is, of course, one big, central political story today. A change of Prime Minister is not the rarity it once was, but it is no small matter that Andy Burnham will take up the role later this afternoon.