As a Tory MP, I’m calling on leadership candidates to make one thing their priority

I don’t need to tell people about rising prices and soaring bills, but here is one thing the candidates can do about them

While it is far from certain who will win the race to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister, one thing is clear: the cost-of-living crisis will define their premiership. You don’t need me to rehearse statistics about the depth and severity of this crisis. The public can sense it everyday in rising prices and soaring bills.

So we need a response that is commensurate with the pain they are experiencing. That is why I am calling on all of the candidates for Conservative leader to pledge that, if elected, they will introduce an increase to the Minimum and Living Wages.

Why this course of action?

First of all, because it is immediate. An increase to the Minimum Wages can be sanctioned and implemented without delay.

Secondly, because it is targeted. This policy would benefit those who are already subsisting in the most precarious of circumstances and, because they will likely spend rather than save the money they earn, will have a positive multiplier effect on the rest of our economy.

Thirdly, because such a policy could be totemic: stewarding our economy towards one that is high in skill, high in technology, and high in wages.

Inevitably with any expenditure, questions will rightly be asked about affordability. To a degree, I think this is to approach the issue from the wrong perspective.

For me this is about values. It is about building a nation that supports, empowers and cares for everyone. The role of government should be to identify the means that it has at its disposal to achieve that ambition. We ought to ask first “how does this help?” not “how much does this cost?” – although the latter is an important condition.

The cost of this initiative would be largely borne by industry, which should be compensated by commitments to no longer increasing corporation tax. Indeed, wider cuts to business taxes should be part of this agenda – particularly those taxes relating to SMEs, given they employ the vast bulk of the workforce.

Yes we need to address structural problems in our economy. Yes we need to look at our supply chains, and yes a more favourable international climate may yet emerge. However, history has a habit of running away from those who dally or delay. People need help right now and they won’t forgive us for inaction.

To keep up to speed with all the latest opinions and comment, sign up to our free weekly Voices Dispatches newsletter by clicking here

I think we can quite quickly identify some bold but necessary savings.

The completion of HS2, for example, would seem like folly in the midst of a financial crisis – neither immediately realisable nor beneficial to those who most need our support. Meanwhile, the Taxpayers’ Alliance believes many billions of pounds could be saved by streamlining our myriad of quangos. I should perhaps be clear: I don’t think this is a silver-bullet. Building an arc large enough to offer safe passage through this crisis is going to take many nuts, bolts, and joints.

We should, for example, look at increasing benefits and at bringing in the proposed cut to personal income tax without delay.

But I do believe that an immediate and emergency increase to the Minimum and Living Wages can act as a figurehead – a policy that would benefit millions of people in an instant while other forms of support are developed and approved.

After their election our next prime minister will enjoy a honeymoon period in which they will have a narrow timeframe when they are relatively free to act. They should use that period to be bold and to set down a marker of what a Conservative government can be: caring, compassionate, and courageous.

John Baron is the member of Parliament (MP) for Basildon and Billericay