(The Telegraph)- Theresa May has revealed her vision for “the shared society” as she declares that government has a duty to intervene and correct “burning injustices” in modern Britain .
Writing exclusively for The Telegraph, Mrs May says that government should not just “get out of the way” and insists there is “more to life than individualism and self-interest”.
The article gives the most detailed insight into Mrs May’s social reform agenda since she took office and reveals a deliberate attempt to break from her Tory predecessors.
David Cameron’s “big society”, which focussed on getting charities to help tackle inequality, and Margaret Thatcher’s claim there is “no such thing as society” are both rejected.
In its place the Prime Minister outlines an unashamed pitch for why governments should intervene in markets that are not giving consumers the best deal.
“It goes to the heart of my belief that there is more to life than individualism and self-interest," Mrs May writes.
"The social and cultural unions represented by families, communities, towns, cities, counties and nations are the things that define us and make us strong."
“And it is the job of government to encourage and nurture these relationships and institutions where it can, and to correct the injustice and unfairness that divides us wherever it is found.”
The piece will be seen as signalling a major departure from generations of Tory thinking that the best way to help the most deprived is to deliver economic growth through the free market.
It also indicates Mrs May’s determination to rebrand the Conservatives as the party of the “working class” and confine the Labour Party to electoral irrelevance.
The Prime Minister's article previews a speech to be delivered tomorrow that will reveal her vision for reforming British society after almost six months of thinking inside Downing Street.
It is designed to build on her promise made on the steps of Number 10 to tackle injustice and “make Britain a country that works for everyone”.
Mrs May is determined that her premiership is not just to be defined by Brexit and sees social reform as the second central mission of her time in office.
A string of domestic reforms designed to fit within this new vision will be rolled out in the coming weeks.
Announcements to tackle the “despicable stigma” of those with mental health conditions tomorrow will be followed by a new industrial strategy and house building drive.
Writing in this newspaper, Mrs May says the Brexit vote which brought her to power was a signal that Britons want fundamental changes to how the country works.
“When the British people voted in the referendum last June, they did not simply vote to withdraw from the European Union; they voted to change the way our country works – and the people for whom it works – forever,” she says.
“It was a quiet revolution by those who feel the system has been stacked against them for too long – and an instruction to this Government to seize the opportunity of building a stronger, fairer Britain that works for everyone, not just a privileged few.”
Little has been known about Mrs May’s views on the economy because she became Prime Minister without a full leadership campaign or years leading the opposition like her predecessors.
She caused concern among some traditional Conservatives when she indicated at the Tory party conference that she favoured government intervention in failing markets.
In her article, Mrs May disappoints her critics and instead spells out a full-throated justification for why government must step in when markets do not deliver the best for consumers.
“People who are just managing - just getting by - don’t need a government that will get out of the way. They need an active government that will step up and champion the things that matter to them,” she says.
“From tackling the increasing lack of affordability in housing, fixing broken markets to help with the cost of living, and building a great meritocracy where every child has the opportunity of a good school place, we will act across every layer of society to restore the fairness that is the bedrock of the social solidarity that makes our nation strong.”
The comments will raise eyebrows in the energy sector, which has been alarmed by Mrs May’s interventionist rhetoric and fear the government could adopt price caps, something proposed by former Labour leader Ed Miliband.
Mrs May repeatedly writes that her vision amounts to creating “the shared society”, defined as one that “doesn’t just value our individual rights but focuses rather more on the responsibilities we have to one another”.
Sources indicated the phrase has been picked deliberately to indicate a break with previous Tory prime ministers Margaret Thatcher and David Cameron.
Mrs Thatcher once famously said “there's no such thing as society”, adding that “there are individual men and women and there are families.” The comment triggered outrage from the Left.
Mr Cameron’s defining social agenda was dubbed “the big society” and focussed on using charities to help tackle inequality. The vision formed a central part of his 2010 election campaign but was sidelined as focussed on steadying the economy after taking office.
Mrs May’s speech at a Charity Commision event tomorrow comes after a week in which she has been criticised by some commentators for indecision and lacking a vision for Britain.
Later this month the Prime Minister will address criticism over her reluctance to reveal her Brexit priorities ahead of the negotiations, to be formally triggered by the end of March.
Elsewhere in Mrs May’s article she criticises Westminster for failing to listen to voters’ concerns - an apparent reference to fears about the level of immigration being ignored.
She also hints at a willingness to scale back pensioner benefits, referring to “resentments” growing from having a “more prosperous older generation and a struggling younger generation”.
She finishes her piece: “For it is only by being a government that works for everyone that we can tackle the injustice and unfairness that threatens to drive us apart, nurture a new sense of solidarity and citizenship in Britain, and show all those who voted with such hope last year – many who voted for the first time in years, and others for the first time at all – that mainstream, centre-ground politics can deliver the change they need.”
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