If you work hard, you can achieve whatever you want.” That’s what parents have told their children for generations. It is more than just something we say: it is part of the social contract of our country that people and places are able to realise their potential. It is a matter of pride. It is the reason people the world over dream of making Britain their home.
But for the first time in living memory, we are in danger of breaking that promise: young people unable to achieve the dream of home ownership, pensioners stuck on waiting lists for operations, working people paying more but getting less. Everywhere you go, the story is the same. Everywhere you look, things are broken.
