Andy Cook: Tories should avoid the Brexit debate trap and resume the fight for Britain’s ‘left behind’

Andy Cook is Chief Executive of the Centre for Social Justice.

A friend of mine once sat next to the producer of the Mission Impossible movies.

He asked how they continued to come up with fresh storylines for each film. The producer laughed, then said: “no, we don’t bother with that – we just think of the most incredible stunts we can do, and then try to link them together”.

With a series of trade deals announced in recent weeks, from India to the US to the EU, it’s tempting to wonder whether a similar approach has taken hold in parts of government. Figures inside No10 clearly believe they are on a roll, with Sir Keir Starmer visibly growing in confidence on the international stage.

But who is benefitting here at home? The actions of this government belie its narrative.  Buried in the small print of these agreements are some awkward truths, especially for those in Britain’s left behind communities.

Coastal towns and the fishing industry, for example, appear to be on the losing end once again. Promises made repeatedly since Brexit ring increasingly hollow. The terms of the India deal raise further concerns. One friend of mine, who runs a logistics company employing lorry drivers, has calculated that under the new arrangements, hiring an Indian national could cost £6,000 less per job than hiring a UK worker, once National Insurance contributions and other factors are taken into account. He is actively considering his recruitment – not because he wants to, but because the incentives are being reshaped by government policy.

The newly rebranded EU “Youth Experience Scheme” also deserves scrutiny.

The final text is yet to be agreed, but the risk is that this will simply amount to importing continental Europe’s youth unemployment problem at a time when this is precisely the opposite of what our labour market needs. Ministers should instead be pursuing stronger incentives for employers to increase productivity and wages, more opportunities for progression, and welfare reform that encourages young people to engage in work. Recent proposals from Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall to remove Limited Capability for Work Related Activity (LCWRA) benefits for young adults – going further than many of her Conservative predecessors – are welcome and overdue.

But these isolated measures do not address a broader and more troubling story. The number of young men who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) has risen by 40 percent since 2019. These are the “lost boys” of modern Britain – a growing, disillusioned demographic that must not be ignored. Recent trade deals do exactly that.

The Conservative Party must now be careful not to get dragged back into abstract Brexit debates.

Polling and focus group evidence shows the public are weary of arguments about “dynamic alignment” and the minutiae of trade arrangements. But there is growing concern about the direction of travel – whether it’s National Insurance disparities, schemes that risk increasing migration yet further, or the sense that the Government is preoccupied with international issues while failing to support, for example, Britain’s pensioners or those struggling to get a dentist appointment.

To their critics, what Labour says appears to be increasingly at odds with what it actually does, adding to a growing sense of despair among voters about the state of British politics.

Cited examples of which there are many include no taxes on working people, freezing council tax, compensating WASPI women, or cutting energy bills by £300.  Now the government is talking tough on immigration while opening the door to mechanisms that would increase it; they say they are ending the reliance on “cheap foreign labour”, to quote the PM, while simultaneously reducing employer taxes on migrant workers.

However fair these criticisms are, if the Conservatives fail to expose them, then Reform UK certainly will.

Politics aside, what we need to see now is not another headline-grabbing stunt, but a consistent plan to deliver meaningful change for the people who cannot afford to be left behind again.

Life isn’t like the movies.