Initially it is important to understand and fully comprehend the meaning of what an authoritarian state actually in fact is. The Cambridge dictionary defines authoritarianism as “the belief that people must obey completely and not be allowed freedom to act as they wish” therefore an authoritarian state has an individual or group executive that seeks to take overarching control of its people and limit their freedoms.
The British political sphere has for many decades until more recently been dominated by a two party system with a contest between the Labour Party and the Conservative and Unionist Party with a centre right and a centre left party taking the majority of the spotlight. The conservatives have been known for decreasing government control with free-market economics whereas the labour party have been known to become more involved in the affairs of the general public to the middle-low level with nationalization and the implementation of the national minimum wage.
More recently the former Conservative government of 14 years took out a number of policies which could be considered to act against their values of protecting the ‘individual’ and the liberty of such which included voluntary control of the people. The majority of these policies were undertaken during Coronavirus with the people not having the freedom to decide but being mandated to wear face coverings with penalties for not following commands enforced by the state. The lockdown was another measure which reduced personal freedoms to new levels restricting many fundamental freedoms and rights of the people such as the freedom of movement as people could not leave their home and move around the country as they wish, combining this with government policy taking young people out of education. The reduction of rights and heightened control is similar to what we would see in authoritarian regimes around the world that we would deem not to have values like ours and could be deemed harmful to our way of life. However, the Boris Johnson administration was acting on a global emergency that no government in the modern day had yet dealt with and they must be applauded for the economic stability they maintained and the speed in which they lifted these measures. To the contrary they also introduced policies like making it so those born after 2008 will never be able to smoke and ban on vapes taking away the ability from people to decide for themselves whether they wish to smoke or vape.
Since July 2024 we have had a new labour government which has taken controlling policies to new heights including fiscal policy with the level of taxation brought to the highest in our nation’s history, limiting people’s freedom and ability to spend the money where they wish and reducing the incentive to work. Adam Smith coined the theory of the ‘invisible hand’ where government interference in the affairs of the people have negative consequences and should have a limited role to play. Where we see the government taking more of the people’s earnings would be states that support the idea of a communist state with counties who bear a high level of control over their people. This combined with an increase to workers rights raising state control of businesses and first to high level high levels which not only restrict the free-markets but also raise inflation. Separately from the economy the Labour government has also taken on additional control policies such as the strengthening of the Online Safety Act 2023 and digital ID meaning the government can have more control on what people access online. If we were not heading towards an authoritarian state the government would leave it to the people to decide and protect their own children as the protection of children should always be the fundamental job of the parents or guardians and adopt a more laissez faire attitude. Moving away from economic and parental obligations the government has also announced they wish to restrict jury trials meaning that those accused of crime are not judged by people on their own level – it must be ensured that juries remain as they are an essential part of a democratic state. This continued control the current government takes over the people when they have the lowest approval rating and combined with policies not mentioned in their manifesto.
Although the United Kingdom is known worldwide to be a democratic state in recent years we have had interference in our free elections with other states trying to influence, introduction of voting ID and recently in the Gorton and Denton by-election we have had accusations of of family voting where Democrat Volunteers have stated this is at “concerningly high levels”. This reduction in elections being fair increases the concern that the UK is becoming an authoritarian state.
Political parties who are not in government have also aimed to have more control with Reform UK policy to remove the Office for Budget Responsibility meaning that they will have less oversight and be able to take out more policy with less opposition, a classic tactic of an authoritarian to reduce opposition. The Green Party and Your Party have also aimed to undertake a number of socialist policies one being the raising of the minimum wage to £15. More recently we have seen the emergence of Restore Britain who wish to ban the burka and halal and kosher meat, another group of policies aiming to increase control and limit rights namely the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Therefore, showing that all parties across the spectrum are all looking to impose measures similar to those of authoritarian states – showing that the UK is rapidly moving towards more of a government controlled state rather than a country that sees individual liberty and freedom as important – moving away from British values. We must stop the movement towards an authoritarian state and protect our freedoms and liberty.
