Opinion: “When contracts are broken and words don’t mean what they say, trust is eroded”

Anyone buying a house gets a solicitor to do the conveyancing. The point is to ensure contracts are watertight and trustworthy; the exchange and completion will take place as it should.

When you set up a business, you trust in a particular regulatory framework to support your operations; rules may change, but so long as you stay up to date, you trust that you can rely on those rules to guide your decision making.

When contracts are broken and words don’t mean what they say, trust is eroded. We end up with anarchy.

Either you mean what you say and engender trust, or there is no trust at all. And then, where are we?

I understand that making laws, forming treaties can be painstaking and frustrating. I know a lot of people in our city would like the whole matter of Brexit and the Covid pandemic to be over.

There is a legend about Alexander the Great, that when confronted with the complex and unsolvable Gordian knot, that he cut it with his sword. However, although the knot was severed, it was not actually solved. Rather, Alexander’s impatience and willingness to cut corners was exposed.

It may be too flattering to compare our Prime Minister to Alexander, what they do have in common is impatience. Worse, the Prime Minister is allowing his impatience to lead to recklessness regarding our future. He is proposing a bill regarding Northern Ireland which breaks a treaty he promoted. There are implications beyond just our relationship with the EU: if America or anyone else signs a trade treaty with us, can they be absolutely sure that he would keep his word?

Trust is also a critical requirement for dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic. I am grateful to our police for breaking up an illegal rave this past weekend. However, the damage was already done: the people had gathered. Hopefully, there won’t be health implications.

As much as we may want to attribute the rave to the irrational exuberance of youth, there is likely an element of distrust.

Dominic Cummings drove to Barnard Castle to test his vision; there was one rule for the rest of us, and a different rule for him. Those who break the rules can say that if there is an exception for him, why isn’t there one for me? The problem is that while this is logical, viruses don’t respond to human reason.

A state which is not trusted cannot function. We have a government which is neither trusted at home, nor abroad. I’ve heard from people in our city who are very worried that the autumn weather is going to lead to a double whammy of a flu outbreak and a resurgence of the coronavirus; at this time, who do we believe? Who do we trust? It’s neither prudent nor possible to trust those who make a habit of abusing it.

I understand that many people like to believe they are “conservative”; the small “c” is deliberate. They want change to be gradual, careful and evolutionary.

Unfortunately, the Conservative administration is not this: it is anarchic, disruptive and there is no rational end to these ructions.

The Labour Group and the wider party looks to re-establish trust as a feature of government, and the peace of mind and stability in society that this will bring.