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Tony Blair’s essay is full of contradictions that can easily be dismantled. If he wants to ditch Net Zero, why does China produce so many solar panels and electric vehicles? If AI is the future, it will require a great deal of energy consumption.

Would it not be preferable to use green energy sources to reduce the acceleration of damage that fossil fuels do to the planet? If AI becomes so advanced that millions of people lose their jobs, how can he justify reducing welfare budgets?

I don’t see anything radically centrist about condemning people to destitution! Further privatisation of state institutions (or what should be under state control) rarely produces an outcome that is both profitable & high in customer satisfaction.

He’s right about the tax burden on businesses & the need for greater infrastructure to boost economic growth but increasing VAT isn’t the answer. It’s regressive & hits the poorest hardest

With infrastructure reform, it could be geared towards Electric vehicles, charging points, green energy, power via heat pumps, more cycle lanes, solar panels on motorways etc etc. The state needs to manipulate the right conditions to allow green energy companies to thrive.

You can’t rely on the private sector alone. The state would need to step in to help working class people make the transition to green energy, but this would be short term pain for long term gain.

As for his views on Brexit & Immigration, they can get in the bin. Brexit especially. This last decade of low growth, reduced tax receipts, unfilled job vacancies in the NHS & hospitality etc. are a direct impact of Brexit.

The idea that Britain can grow its economy at a much faster rate without loosening the barriers to trade imposed on us by Brexit is for the birds, and he knows it. Labour will (hopefully) retreat to a more soft left position under Andy Burnham, but as of now, they’ve tried to appease the right.