>>"We do redistribute money and we should redistribute money," he says. "But we have to find ways that empower people rather than reducing them to dependency."<<
I sure wish he'd flesh this out. It's hard to imagine a mechanism that would be empowering. If there actually is one, that would bring us a whole new paradigm.
EDIT: Here's a bit more detail.
Tories back wealth redistribution
Oliver Letwin
Mr Letwin is overseeing a policy review
The Conservatives should try to narrow the gap between rich and poor, the party's new policy chief has said.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Oliver Letwin said a future Conservative government should make wealth redistribution its goal.
New Tory leader David Cameron has put Mr Letwin in charge of an 18-month overhaul of party policy.
He is in charge of six policy review groups, including a social justice team chaired by Iain Duncan Smith.
'Empowering people'
Mr Letwin's words will be seen as a break with traditional Conservative policy, which has focused on wealth generation rather than redistribution.
We have gone as far as we possibly can with the redistribution of income
Margaret Thatcher in 1975
It will be seen as a further sign new Conservative leader David Cameron is seeking to move the party towards the centre ground of British politics into areas traditionally occupied by Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
The Dorset West MP and former shadow chancellor told the Telegraph: "Of course it should be an aim to narrow the gap between rich and poor.
"We do redistribute money and we should redistribute money. But we have to find ways that empower people rather than reduce them to dependency."
'Enlarging cake'
The Tory policy director said it was clear that a section of British society was unable to participate in things that the rest take for granted, and one reason for this was lack of money.
"Any human being who looks at that is bound to conclude that we should take steps to enable these people to move out of that condition," he said.
"It should be an aim to empower those who have least to advance, not in the sense of trying to do down those with most, in the sense of enabling those who have least to share an increasing part of an enlarging cake."
His words contrast with Margaret Thatcher, who said in a 1975 speech shortly after becoming Tory leader: "We have gone as far as we possibly can with the redistribution of income. We really now must concentrate on creating more growth so that the size of the cake is bigger."
'Opportunity'
Although wealth redistribution was a founding principle of the Labour Party, Prime Minister Tony Blair has always shied away from talking about it, preferring to talk instead about equality of opportunity.
He last mentioned redistribution in a speech in 2002, when he said he wanted a "Britain in which we continue to redistribute wealth and opportunity to the many, not the few".
Earlier this year, Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain said Labour should focus more on social justice.
"We've got to be much clearer that we really are committed to social justice, we really are committed to redistribution of wealth and income, that we really are trying to narrow the gap between those at the top and those at the bottom," he told BBC 2's Newsnight.
But Mr Hain's suggestion higher earners should pay more tax was slapped down by Mr Blair.
The Lib Dems have been more willing to talk about redistribution but have dropped their pledge to increase taxation.
Pensions
Launching their own review of tax policy earlier this year, the Lib Dems said they wanted to strike a balance between "redistribution and preserving economic incentives".
Meanwhile, in a further sign of the new Conservative tactic of trying to drive a wedge between Mr Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown, Mr Letwin indicated in his Telegraph interview that the Conservative may be ready to back the prime minister on pension reform, as Mr Cameron has already said he will on schools.
Mr Brown is understood to be unhappy with recommendations of the Turner Report on pensions, which would restore the link between the basic state pension and average earnings now a Conservative policy.
"It may be that by the time we're all finished, it's us and the Prime Minister versus Brown and some backbenchers," said Mr Letwin.
Mr Letwin also said schools should be given "greater scope to select on the basis of aptitude" but would not go back to traditional selection by examination at 11.
news.bbc.co.uk |
