I will give a few thoughts on Parliamentary Opposition now there is a new Leader.
The task of His Majesty’s Opposition is to oppose when the government is doing harm, proposing bad laws, mismanaging the public sector or imposing bad taxes and charges. It is to support when the government is doing the right thing. The Opposition should not run down the country or damage relations for the U.K. abroad out of narrow partisan interest.
Maybe four years before a new election the Official Opposition should not have a full set of detailed policies, budgets, tax proposals and the like for a possible entry into government then . Many things will change in the next few years, and the Opposition needs time to think about what it did badly or what it failed to do last time in government, to ensure it does better when next given the opportunity.
It may, however, strengthen its opposition to current policy if it not only explains what is wrong, voting against, but also suggests a better course of action for now. So whilst it is right for it to oppose vigorously a set of tax increases that will hurt growth and damage jobs and incomes, it would help to set out offsetting reductions in public waste and needless spending to show the government it could have its spending rises for schools and the NHS without tax rises or extra borrowing.
I have regularly set out several tens of billions of reductions, starting with the £19 bn of carbon capture and storage and over £10 bn a year of needless Bank of England losses on bond sales. There are several others.