Levelling up Britain through distributism | Ojel L. Rodriguez Burgos
The 2019 general election brought with it the biggest Conservative majority since the days of Margaret Thatcher. The spectacular Tory victory saw a seismic change in the seats’ composition of the Conservative parliamentary group, with most of the new members coming from former Labour strongholds. The simple “Get Brexit Done” message proved devastatingly effective in gaining the confidence of a large part of the electorate.
However, there was another phrase repeatedly made that featured heavily in the campaign message. This being “Level Up”; a phrase which even featured prominently in the party’s general election manifesto. The idea being levelling up the regions of the United Kingdom by redistributing wealth from London. As the new administration under Boris Johnson begins to implement its domestic agenda, particularly with the new budget; it must remember that if it truly aims to level up the regions of the country in this manner, its public policy should be Distributist at heart.
Distributism is not a very well-known economic theory, but it was very prominent in the early decades of the twentieth century. During its heyday, the Distributist League was present in every part of the United Kingdom, later expanding to the United States of America. The foundations of the theory are predominantly based within the principles of Catholic social teaching, particularly the encyclical “Rerum Novarum” (meaning of new things in relation to revolutionary change) from Pope Leo XIII. This social teaching was the response from the Catholic Church to the hasty adoption of laissez-faire capitalism and rapid industrialization that was leading to social unease and fallout across Europe in the period. Its purpose was to find a middle way approach between socialism and capitalism.
The theory was made coherent by authors such as G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc, arguing for property rights as the central individual right. They contended that these property rights should be as a widespread as possible, particularly the means of the production in terms of economic policy. On the social front, Distributism argued for the importance of making the family and the community flourish. These tenets within Distributism, are based around the important Catholic principle of subsidiarity.
The principle of subsidiarity is based on the concern of an all-powerful state. The principle states; "a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to co- ordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good.". In simple terms, the rights of the local communities, shouldn’t be violated by larger communities such as the state.
This idea of Distributism and the principle of subsidiarity is precisely the economic and social theory to level up Britain. Take for example, proposals for devolution in England. All powers should not rest in Whitehall or in the big cities, but within our local communities. Decentralization from the upper levels of power should come to our long-neglected communities who have the knowledge to better deal with their own problems.
Distributism gives the intellectual and policy backing to that famous phrase from Margaret Thatcher, a “property-owning democracy”. Home ownership levels are falling across Britain. A truly Distributist approach will see the building of aesthetic housing for the purpose of getting people into the business of owning a home. Moreover, in the boosting the economic prospects of every region, there would be a benefit from a Distributist focus on promoting, for example, local and small businesses.
The conservative values of family, community, civility, tradition, beauty, law and order are encompassed in Distributism. Because levelling up Britain doesn’t mean only economics, it means promoting the well-ordered society we live in. A society where the family and our communities are at centre of public policy. A more united Britain, where we don’t see each other as individual atoms or find ourselves in the “buffered self” as the philosopher Charles Taylor talks about, but instead as part of something much larger and beautiful; our own country. After all, the nation that we each participate in, has shaped us and belongs to us.
The word Distributism naturally creates some uneasiness within the Conservative movement. This is because the word is associated with the philosophy and policies of modern social democracy and egalitarianism. Yet, as Conservatives we value, what TS Eliot called “The permanent things” in society, Distributism provides the intellectual strength for the policies not only levelling up our country but also to truly value what we love about this land.
