Means and ends are the meat and drink of politics.
Few would contest the wisdom of our new Prime Minister’s key policy objective to grow our economy and reverse years of low productivity.
One of the key means of doing this is to incentivise people into work and encourage those in part-time work to increase their hours.

Employment has always been the best route out of poverty and it is great to hear the Truss government giving fresh emphasis and recognition to this truism.
There is a welcome public consensus about the objective of economic growth but there is disagreement about the best means to bring it about.

My take is that politicians must work with the grain of human nature and recognise that people will work harder if their extra effort is properly rewarded.

That is why I favour lower taxes so that people can retain more of their income to spend on their own priorities.
Similarly, we should be ensuring that those who receive in-work benefits are not penalised by working longer hours. We should also be encouraging people to become entrepreneurs by making self-employment, once again, an attractive alternative.

As one of the few Conservative MPs who voted and spoke against the increases in National Insurance when first announced by Rishi Sunak, it was a pleasure to see almost unanimous support in Parliament for the legislation reversing that policy.
This change is one of the means by which the economy can grow and is a victory over the anti-growth coalition and Treasury orthodoxy which has dominated our economic thinking for too long.

The next stage in this process should be to ensure that those in employment do not find percentage rises in their wages and salaries being exceeded by increases in benefits.
No one is immune from the cost of living crisis with businesses and households having to respond to the challenges posed thereby.

The same principles apply to our local councils.
It was, therefore, disappointing to read a statement by the Leader of Dorset Council, Cllr Spencer Flower, contesting the opinion of the Local Government Minister, Paul Scully, that there is still ‘fat to be trimmed from councils’. While our Council has performed well compared with many, by reducing management costs by £10million and having a programme of £30million in efficiency savings over a four-year period, it cannot be correct that there are no more reductions in expenditure which can be made to help insulate local residents from ever higher rates of council tax.
I, therefore, invite readers to contact me with their own ideas as to where savings and efficiencies in Dorset can be achieved. Please write to chopec@parliament.uk.