The obvious take on the latest British Social Attitudes is that Britain is becoming more socially liberal. But as we become more tolerant of life choices - homosexual relationships and cohabitation - we seem less tolerant of attempts by the state to help those in hardship.
So does this amount to a newly economically and socially liberal Britain? The anti-state Right will try to see it that way. But they would be sorely mistaken to do so. Half of people see tax and spending levels as about right: a warning to anyone who is looking to take an axe rather than a scalpel to public spending. This is not a spontaneous emergence of new Thatcherite consensus (without the petit bourgeois Grantham moralism.) So where does it leave the Left?
Over a decade of a Labour government has had a dynamic impact on attitudes in modern Britain. In part, the party was responding to shifts in social attitudes that are taking place largely independent of politics. But political leadership also shapes attitudes. Let’s not dismiss the impact that socially liberal legislation- such as the Civil Partnerships Act 2004- has had on the moving the liberal curve further and faster.
It is the attitudes towards welfare that are, on first glance, more concerning. In a society where 2.9 million children still live in poverty there still major injustices to be addressed. Yet it is clear that an abstract appeal to equality and poverty, combined with a sometimes mechanistic argument about redistribution, has limited political purchase.
John Curtice ,of the University of Strathclyde, suggests that it is Labour’s own structuring of the argument -which focuses on the behaviour of individuals- that is to blame. There may be an element of truth to this, especially given near full employment (prior to the recession), tax credits, and a National Minimum Wage. Context and politics both matter.
But the argument for fairness is far from lost as long as it is cast in the right way. Any argument that doesn’t depend on reciprocity is likely to fail: generous Scandinavian welfare systems depend on a strong sense of collective and individual responsibility. A discussion that centres on playing by the rules – which applies as much to irresponsible bankers as to those on welfare – and security in an increasingly risky world, rather than redistribution and welfare, is more likely to succeed in tackling the significant injustices that remain in British society.
Values are constant though context shifts. As someone once said, 'traditional values in a modern setting.' Political parties that decide what they think based on what they think the public think are doomed. But that doesn’t mean ignoring where the public is. There is much to be optimistic about for the modern Left in emerging attitudinal shifts, but it must listen to the uncomfortable messages too.
Anthony Painter is part of the Open Left project at Demos
