Mark Field MP: I suspect the joint plan of the Chancellor and the Governor is simply to keep the show on the road

Mark Field is the Member of Parliament for the Cities of London and Westminster. Follow Mark on Twitter.

As the Greek economic tragedy reaches yet another climax, it remains fashionable from these shores to decry the Eurozone for its schizophrenic lurching between hapless inaction and spurts of frenetic, if misguided, activism.

However, with this critique in mind, it might also be wise to examine carefully what is happening closer to home.

For so long as global financial markets remain flooded with cheap money, courtesy of government underwritten bailouts, then political consideration will continue to outweigh sound economics.

Conservatives are right to dismiss the Opposition claim that the UK economy currently faces a binary choice between growth and austerity. But nor should the coalition fall into the trap of thinking that preserving historically low interest rates is an adequate compensation for sluggish economic growth.

Mark Field MP: Christians are being ethnically-cleansed from the Middle East's hollow new democracies

Mark Field is the Member of Parliament for the Cities of London and Westminster. Follow Mark on Twitter.

The global media circus has moved on from Cairo, Alexandria and the Egyptian seaboard. Soon the current rapt attention to the terrible bloodshed in Damascus, Houla, Aleppo and Homs will similarly pass.

Yet for the nine million Egyptian Coptic Christians and the two million Syrian followers of Christ, whose lineage goes back to St Paul’s proselytising in the first century AD, these are desperate times. Religious minorities often find their most assured protection under dictatorships. Forget all the talk about liberators fighting against the existing regime in Syria, or of democrats and progressives triumphantly taking the reins in Egypt. The unspeakable truth is that the sizeable Christian communities in these trouble-torn states are at greater threat of ethnic cleansing from their ancestral homes than has been the case for generations – often at the hands of the self-styled freedom fighters so feted by the Western press.

Events in Iraq provide us with a timely example. During this year’s Easter celebrations, St Joseph's Chaldean Church in central Baghdad was surrounded by concrete barriers and army checkpoints. Amidst savage bloodletting between Sunnis and Shiites in the aftermath of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the story of Iraq’s Christian population is one that is rarely told. But since the invasion it is estimated that half their number has desperately been driven to exile outside the country. Some 330,000 Iraqi Christians have fled in the past decade to Syria alone (where Christians have been largely protected by the Assad regime). Others have found safe haven in Jordan and naturally some have come to these shores. Under Saddam Hussein, some Christians had risen to the top of politics, most notably Tariq Aziz, Hussein’s Deputy Prime Minister. Yet since the dictator’s fall, violence against the Christian minority, who were often associated with the ‘crusading invaders’, has included kidnappings, the beheading of a priest, the bombing of ancient churches and forced conversion to Islam. 

Mark Field MP: Politicians still haven't told voters that we aren't nearly as prosperous as we thought we were

Mark Field is Member of Parliament for the Cities of London and Westminster. Follow Mark on Twitter.

Sarkozy is history, the Greeks are in paralysis, the Coalition has for the first time experienced mid-term electoral blues (just wait until May 2013 and 2014). This month has already been one of savage reprimand at the polls in Europe. Yet rather than a definitive judgement on the benefits or otherwise of austerity, I suspect electorates continent-wide are issuing a plague on all our houses.

We are reaping the rewards of decades’ worth of debt accumulation, implicitly supported by a generation that enjoyed an expanded welfare state, cheap goods, cosseting employment regulation, never-ending lines of credit and inflated house prices (in the UK and US, if not on the continent). All this has quietly torn massive rifts - between young and old, debtors and savers, East and West – and papered over the developed world’s declining competitiveness in the face of aggressive and dynamic new rivals. Voters are furious that they were sold, and then readily bought into, a lie of prosperity. Nobody, left or right, seems to hold a solution.

As we have sought to understand the roots of the financial crisis, focus has rested upon the role of bankers - their manipulation of and disregard for risk, their short-termism, their failure to respond to public anger and their apparent hostility to change – as well as the apparent willingness of politicians of all parties to give them free rein.

Mark Field MP: Plain packaging of cigarettes should be resisted as a matter of principle by all Conservatives

Mark Field is the Member of Parliament for the Cities of London and Westminster. Follow Mark on Twitter.
 
Perhaps predictably as MP for Cities of London & Westminster I am unashamedly pro-business. For the UK to emerge from the serious economic malaise that has impacted us all since 2008, we must prioritise global trade and economic growth. Liberating businesses from unnecessary and deeply damaging regulation, enabling them to compete, flourish and expand, resulting in all the benefits we know that follow, must be a core component of our economic strategy.

As everyone is aware the government, at the behest of the ever-vocal and influential health lobby, is considering the introduction of plain packaging for the nation’s tobacco industry. I believe this is an unjustifiable step and would create an unsettling precedent – the State prohibiting the producers of a legal product to use its legally-protected and valuable branding. This is a serious challenge to all those who believe in free markets, enterprise and economic system of capitalism. It should be resisted by all Conservatives.

But first, let me be clear. I believe tobacco is an addictive, legal drug for adults. It is perfectly right that it is illegal to sell tobacco to minors (though in passing it is worth noting that our coalitions partners would allow 16 and 17 year olds to vote but not purchase cigarettes – the age restriction for tobacco having risen from sixteen in recent years). I accept also that tobacco smoking is subject to commensurate restrictions and regulation. No one should sensibly wish children to smoke or be encouraged to take up the habit and I believe that all reasonable measures should continue to be taken to discourage, educate and ultimately prevent those below the legal age from taking up smoking. However I also believe passionately in freedom of choice; the decision whether or not to smoke should remain that of the informed adult, without gratuitous interference from the State. 

Mark Field MP: The cost of keeping the Liberal Democrats inside the Coalition may undermine Tory candidates' election prospects

Mark Field is the Member of Parliament for the Cities of London and Westminster. Follow Mark on Twitter.

Regardless of post-Budget and party donor squalls, I reckon it still remains a sensible working assumption that the coalition will sustain for the full five year term of this parliament. Incumbents are notoriously difficult to prise out of Downing Street. Against all odds (or so it seemed) John Major survived for virtually a full term after the collapse of his economic policy in September 1992; similarly even Gordon Brown could not be ousted from the Premiership in spite of apparently perennial terminal crises in the quarter-decade from October 2007. So while Mr Cameron has simultaneously been under fire as not being Conservative enough (from some on his own side) and as too Conservative (from most detractors), my instinct is that the nation feels a sense of resignation that the coalition is the best option we have, particularly when the alternative bears the face of Ed Miliband and Ed Balls. But what of the political cost of holding together this unlikely blue/yellow pact?

To those with government jobs coalition has proved surprisingly congenial. Perhaps understandably that is not a feeling universally shared by those on the backbenches and those tensions will most likely grow.  Nick Clegg’s instinct, entirely understandable in the circumstances, is to be seen as the leader uniquely capable of holding his parliamentary Party tightly together. The strain on the loyalties of many of the fifty-seven Lib Dem MPs has at times been tested beyond breaking point, however, especially for those without prospect or desire for ministerial office.

Put yourself in the shoes of a sixty-something, centre-left Lib Dem MP, who increasingly disapproves of much of the coalition’s policy programme (and certainly dislikes the vocal local opposition and accusations of betrayal he or she is made consistently aware of in correspondence and at surgeries). Imagine then that this not untypical MP has decided not to stand at the next General Election. Inevitably he or she will ask why not spend the last few years of parliamentary life enjoying the freedom to speak his/her mind openly as an Independent Liberal Democrat on the Opposition benches.

Mark Field MP: Even more than tax cuts, we need supply-side reform - which Osborne must now give us

Mark Field is MP for the Cities of London and Westminster

"Maybe something will turn up."

One of the classic stratagems of last resort in politics - and indeed for life in general.

I suspect Chancellor George Osborne’s tactical handling of the UK economy owes rather more than he might willingly admit to the Mr Micawber principle. After all, waiting for something to turn up is not always the ill-advised course of action. The accretion of time often does alleviate, and sometimes even solves, what seems an intractably difficult situation.

The fragile state of our domestic economy at the time of the 2010 General Election and the indeterminate election result meant that a mandate to take radical action on the economy was neither sought nor won by any political party. So in stark contrast to the first Thatcher government which front-loaded the economic pain, Osborne - whilst espousing a tough austerity message - has adopted a more pragmatic, steady-as-she-goes path.

His intention now, I have no doubt, is to maximise the coalition’s chances of re-election in May 2015 even if this results in the delay of essential longer-term structural reform. Equally it would be unfair not to recognise that the difficulties of coalition-building and maintenance, events in the Eurozone and the sheer weakness of the UK economy also persuade against a short sharp economic shock.

Mark Field: Greek and eurozone salvation is no nearer - whatever the bailout merchants may say

Mark Field is the Member of Parliament for the Cities of London and Westminster.

There is not much that unites Eurozone politicians and the financial markets. But it is undeniably the case that neither trusts the Greek government or its people to stick to their latest bailout deal.

This matters because the real impact of the ongoing Eurozone saga is that the opportunity to erect a firewall around the Greek economy is fast fading. Contagion, which by rights should be a pure matter of economics, has now become a product of political interference.

When – and it really is no longer "if" – Greece eventually defaults on its debts and leaves the Euro the real risk is that by then (probably early in 2013) the outlook in Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy will have so deteriorated that the markets will turn on these nations, rather than regarding Greece as exceptional.

Mark Field MP: The new economic thinking is coming from the East

Mark Field is the Member of Parliament for the Cities of London and Westminster.

As we have all learned from the graveyard of failed forecasts, economics is an unerringly inaccurate as well as a dismal science, inextricably bound to the whims of irrational human behaviour. All too frequently it follows that economies develop haphazardly and tend to reflect a nation’s collective ability (or otherwise) to innovate and provide conditions in which the experience and aspiration of its people can flourish.

One of capitalism’s enormous strengths is its accommodation of human nature by the creation of broadly stable environments that liberate and incentivise people to pursue new ideas whilst casting aside defunct thinking. Yet those encamped outside St Paul’s Cathedral in my constituency argue that capitalism is now itself a defunct idea, fundamentally discredited by the global financial crisis. It is a view that is beginning to have greater traction amongst a wider group of middle class, thoughtful, responsible Britons, uncomfortable with and anxious about recent economic developments.

My counterclaim to them is that capitalism continues to offer us the best system of delivering prosperity and liberty to the greatest number of people - but it was never meant to be a static framework. Capitalism works because it adapts and adjusts through crisis. The real problem is that we in the West are now subverting its natural processes of correction by clinging to outdated, discredited ideas and institutions.

Mark Menzies MP: In defence of the Union - a cause for common concern

Mark Menzies is the Member of Parliament for Fylde.

The Prime Minister travelled to Scotland last week to set out the Conservative Party’s case for the defence of the United Kingdom. As a Scottish MP serving an English constituency, I have a dual interest in this referendum: Scottish independence matters as much to my constituents as it does to my compatriots. David Cameron understands this and deserves credit for consistently supporting the Union out of conviction rather than convenience.

The referendum campaign will be a long one. It is currently focused on procedure rather than substance. As the SNP’s vision for Scotland’s future is examined from all angles on the political spectrum, I have no doubt that many swing voters will begin to question how much they have to gain from breaking away from the UK. Which single fault with devolution as it stands is so insurmountable that it requires closing the chapter on three hundred years of history? Do Scots really have more in common with Scandinavians than they do with the Northern English, Welsh or Northern Irish? Scottish people get this. A Scotland that votes for the SNP is a very different beast from a Scotland which votes for independence.

However, that does not mean that Unionists have any reason to be complacent. A strong cross-party campaign is required to represent all the different voices in favour of keeping the UK together. The recent ‘No to AV’ campaign, while not directly analogous, offers a useful example of how politicians can unite on issues of constitutional importance to defend what has been proven to work from populist whims.

All Unionists have an interest in defending the UK. It is natural that Scottish politicians, particularly those with Scottish seats, should play a leading role – but not an exclusive one. I would encourage all Members of Parliament, and especially those with experience of Scotland, to speak up in favour of the Union in order to demonstrate its strong non-partisan support.

Mark Field MP: The lynch mob's victory may be pyrrhic if RBS can't now attract the brightest and best

Mark Field is MP for the Cities of London and Westminster. Follow him on Twitter.

As MP for the City, I have never slavishly defended the level of rewards in financial services which are often disproportionate and, in the current climate of austerity, seen to many as ludicrously out of balance (click here). Nevertheless, the unedifying spectacle of politicians jumping on the banker-bashing bandwagon this weekend, suggests that most cannot resist pandering to the very worst instincts when it comes to debating the bonus awarded to Stephen Hester of RBS.

For sure, such opportunistic grandstanding may reflect the current mood of the general public (at least insofar as collective opinion can be gauged) but I firmly believe the role of politicians must be to lead public opinion rather than to play to the lynch mob mentality that has been whipped up by the media.

Stephen Hester was brought in as a trouble shooter to run RBS after it crashed. Given the mess left behind by Sir Fred Goodwin, and his handsome rewards for failure, it was understandable that Mr Hester might expect a remuneration package that would reflect the mighty challenge of dealing with an organisation that had previously posted Britain’s largest ever corporate loss. As a result, the overall financial package was geared to attract someone of his calibre - indeed he had previously been Chief Executive of British Land on a financial package that dwarfed the sums currently the subject of such fierce controversy.

Mark Field MP: Vince Cable needs to focus on ending the rewards for executive failure

Mark Field is the MP for Cities of London and Westminster. Follow him on Twitter.

Like most Conservative MPs, only a few years ago I cannot imagine that I would have been open minded to the notion of government interference in the remuneration of privately owned companies. However, Vince Cable announced to parliament yesterday afternoon that the Coalition government will rapidly move towards legislating to give shareholders control over the ‘excesses of capitalism’ and clamp down on the ‘rewards for failure’.

Perhaps more than any other, my own constituency, the Cities of London and Westminster, benefited from the boom. Yet I had noticed long before the crisis a growing sense of despair and resentment among hard working Londoners. To their surprise, many highly educated professionals working outside the gilded corridors of financial services had started to feel they were losing out, the growth of the City having merely increased the cost of living and reduced to a wistful dream any prospect of getting on the housing ladder. Having then to bail out the financial services sector, which had previously been so keen to keep regulation and government interference to a minimum, was met with disgust by this cohort. It has been a feeling replicated across many Western societies where stagnant incomes have been disguised by an expansion of debt.

What has emerged in the years since is a middle class revolt over the unequal rewards to labour and talent that has most recently coalesced around the issue of pay and bonuses.

Mark Field MP: We may be no nearer to solving this economic crisis

Mark Field is MP for Cities of London and Westminster.

So here we go again!

Yet another ‘last chance saloon’ Eurozone crisis conference. Maybe, just maybe, this Friday’s summit will be the game changer that financial markets so earnestly desire.

In truth, I am still not convinced, in spite of coverage to the contrary, that Angela Merkel has the domestic political capital to drive forward fiscal union. Her electors may warm to the imposition of Germanic economic discipline on southern Europe, but the inflationary consequences of ECB money-printing provide a profound psychological road block. I also suspect her view of ‘fiscal union’ may be markedly different to that of Nicolas Sarkozy.

A brake on this headlong rush towards fiscal Eurozone union, however, may not be such a bad thing for the UK’s national interest. It also stands to make life easier for the Coalition, which is already trying to finesse demands for holding a referendum insofar as these Eurozone developments necessitate the drawing up of a new EU treaty. A fiscal union amongst the seventeen Eurozone nations, even if created at a time of crisis, would almost certainly impose radical economic reform throughout the EU. The skirmishes between the UK and the Franco-German axis over the proposed financial transaction tax would be merely the foretaste to a long battle over London’s pre-eminence in European financial markets.

Mark Field MP: Instead of tinkering, it's time to think about promoting sectors of the economy with growth potential

Mark Field is the Member of Parliament for Cities of London and Westminster.

Recently at lunch in my constituency, I found myself seated next to a native partner from one of the two Chinese law firms now operating in London. During our conversation I made some passing reference to the ‘global economic downturn’. This was greeted with a wry smile. ‘Back home’, he said, ‘we call it the North Atlantic recession’.

What we so easily forget amidst the West’s doom and gloom – where the Euro teeters, the United States drifts and the OBR’s predictions of sub-optimal UK growth are widely considered optimistic – is that across much of Asia, Australasia, South America and Africa, economies are growing at a steady pace.

Thank goodness. For where there is growth, there is opportunity.

Unlike the 1930s when the global economy was shrinking, here in 2011 economic growth worldwide is likely to exceed 4%. Yet aside from a few vague nods to the desire to increase our exports, we still lack any overall strategic vision and message about the UK’s role in the new world that unfolds before us now with frightening rapidity.

Mark Field MP: Privatise Britain's roads

Mark Field MP is Conservative MP for Cities of London and Westminster.

The road network and public debt - on the face of it, two unrelated topics. One is an under-resourced, often ignored asset, vital to the social and economic well-being of the nation, as much of an essential service as other utilities such as the water, power and communications industries. Public debt meanwhile rises inexorably especially taking account of pensions and PFI liabilities – all in all it is potentially catastrophic to the UK’s future prosperity.

Yet there might be a straightforward way in which transformation of the former could help put a significant dent in the latter.

Ask almost any of Britain’s 34 million drivers and they will tell you a tale of woe about a recent road journey: the potholes, the congestion, the road works. They will also question how the long-standing lack of spending on roads (currently amounting to only £9 billion a year) can be squared with the huge amount of money the Chancellor collects in motoring related charges – around £48 billion from fuel duty, Vehicle Excise Duty and company car tax.

There are few naïve enough to believe these taxes will ever be hypothecated and everything collected from drivers returned to maintaining and enhancing the roads, yet there are equally few who think the current arrangement is equitable. For all the talk of high speed rail and exorbitant train fares these are essentially side-shows to the big transport question of the day – how do we ensure adequate funding for the road network on which more than 90% of passenger miles, not to mention freight trips, take place in this country?

Mark Field MP: The vacuum of vision and leadership at the heart of Europe's economy

Mark Field is MP for Cities of London and Westminster.

Conventional wisdom dictates that we are imminently reaching high noon for the Euro. The assumption then is that the single currency will either collapse or the Eurozone will be forced to move rapidly towards full fiscal union.

Recent experience suggests the road ahead may not be so straightforward, whatever assurances we hear about sorting things out ‘within six weeks’. It is quite feasible that we shall experience many more months of tottering along from market crisis to emergency meeting to fully-fledged conference and half-hearted bailouts to weaker Euro economies. Indeed, provided – and it is becoming the overwhelmingly big ‘if’ in this whole saga – the global bond market remains stable then the cheap price of government debt provides little incentive to create a viable long-term structure for our ailing continent’s economies. With the cost of borrowing this cheap why not continue to appease the Greeks, Portuguese et al? Let’s just avoid the day of reckoning with yet another quarterly elastoplast ‘solution’.

Purists may (rightly) bemoan that politics is being allowed to outweigh economic realities…for now. What is so dangerous about the utter lack of leadership or vision amongst Europe’s leading politicians is that the longer this crisis continues the more private sector confidence drains away and global markets discount the entire region. More crucial still is the risk that the two distinct problems that face struggling European economies, solvency and liquidity, become conflated. The Greek issue is simply one of solvency – or more accurately insolvency. It must be allowed to default, from within the Eurozone. Their creditors (predominantly EU banks) will need to take a substantial haircut. They lent the money at attractive interest rates (implicitly recognising the risks) and must now take the consequences. Although perhaps having hedged their position, the banking fraternity can spread the burden by triggering the exercise of those notorious credit default swaps. The IMF will need to take control of the Greek economy and in all probability we shall need to be on alert if order breaks down as the pain of extreme economic austerity takes effect.