The ideological roots of this agenda lie in neoliberal economics, shaped by Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman, and actively promoted today by organisations such as the Atlas Network and the Tufton Street network of think tanks. Their programme deliberately weakens social cohesion, normalises inequality and insecurity, and strips public services to the bone. The Tory government between 2010 and 2024 put this into practice as a matter of deliberate policy and Labour has done precious little to reverse it.
Economic stress fuels resentment, and the elite redirect that resentment toward scapegoats from minority ethnic groups, to women, and LGBTQ+ people, all to maintain their hold on power and wealth.
The result is the rise of authoritarian politics across the UK and beyond. It is profoundly revealing that recent polls suggest large numbers of Church of England attendees would vote for Reform, a party whose values are, in every meaningful sense, completely alien to the Christian tradition.
Easter's core command is not complicated: love your neighbour as yourself. That is not a partisan slogan. It is a universal ethical imperative shared across religions and humanitarian traditions alike. If Easter means anything, it requires us to choose renewal over division, to rebuild public services, to resist the politics of exclusion, and to name the forces that profit from our fragmentation.