{"id":89912,"date":"2026-02-10T08:11:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T08:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=89912"},"modified":"2026-02-10T08:11:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T08:11:27","slug":"the-politics-of-destruction-in-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2026\/02\/10\/the-politics-of-destruction-in-action\/","title":{"rendered":"The politics of destruction in action"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the FT reports<\/a> this morning:<\/p>\n

A record share of people in the UK say taxes and public spending should be cut, according to a leading survey that highlights a widening political divide.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Three charts support the data they note, which has been published in the latest British Social Attitudes report, published today by the National Centre for Social Research.<\/p>\n

The first is this:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There is a marked disquiet about public spending, which is apparently growing rapidly.<\/p>\n

The second is this:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The noted disquiet exists across supporters of all parties, but is most obvious amongst those who are supporters of the Conservatives and Reform.<\/p>\n

The third chart explains why this might be the case:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Even though the evidence is overwhelming that migration makes a net positive contribution to UK society, this is not believed, and concern over migration is creating hostility to increased public spending.<\/p>\n

The consequences are clear.<\/p>\n

First, the deliberate politics of destruction promoted by neoliberal parties, but most especially exploited by Reform, is being seen in action here. The toxic narrative that it promotes around migration, based quite deliberately on a politics of hate, is being used to undermine arguments around the benefits of the state, with a consequent decidedly perverse outcome. This will mean that most of the spending cuts they desire will, in fact, impact most heavily on those most likely to support Reform. This is, of course, not by chance: the leaders of Reform do not just hate migrants; they also hate their own supporters amongst groups with lower income and wealth because the creation of social division and inequality around these issues is a deliberate part of their policy.<\/p>\n

Second, nothing that is happening in politics elsewhere is doing anything to counter these narratives at present, unless you look beyond the mainstream parties. The Greens are obviously an exception, as are Plaid Cymru, whilst the SNP government in Scotland has shown, through its actions, that it is serious about equality in a way that no party in England or Wales has yet done in practice. The corrosive attacks on government spending by all mainstream parties are having consequences that will be profoundly uncomfortable for the sake of division within our society or for the prospects of those who are suffering within it.<\/p>\n

Third, we most definitely need a politics for people, based around a politics of care that provides funding for a better future.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the FT reports this morning: A record share of people in the UK say taxes and public spending should be cut, according to a
 Read the full article…<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96,14,204,35,203,147,224,235,223,214],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservatives","category-corruption","category-economic-justice","category-economics","category-fascism","category-inequality","category-neoliberalism","category-politics-for-people","category-politics-of-care","category-reform"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89912"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89917,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89912\/revisions\/89917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}