DUTY OF CARE IN CAPITALIST BRITAIN: NOW MORE THAN EVER

Britain has always wrapped itself in the flag of capitalism – industry, trade, free markets, enterprise. For centuries, that economic engine created jobs, wealth, and a sense of national pride. But what is the point of capitalism when its people are left behind, unsupported, and disregarded in times of greatest need?

The very essence of a modern democracy is a social contract: the people work, contribute, pay taxes, and in return the state – backed by its economic system – ensures health, safety, dignity, and opportunity. That duty of care is not a luxury. It is the minimum standard of civilisation.

Yet today, in 2025, we stand in a Britain where food banks are normalised, public services are shredded, and working families struggle to heat their homes. Capitalism has rewarded the few and punished the many. Corporate boards record record profits while nurses queue at food pantries. Private landlords amass empires while young people see the dream of home ownership drift further into fantasy.

The duty of care owed by Britain’s leaders and institutions has never been greater, nor has it been more neglected. We are told by politicians that austerity is inevitable, that “the market will correct itself,” that hard work guarantees success. But the evidence all around us points to a crueler truth: without accountability, capitalism becomes a predator, not a partner.

Responsibility must mean more than rhetoric. It must mean structural protection for workers, investment in public services, and recognition that profit without care corrodes the very society it feeds upon. It must mean an economy built on fairness, not exploitation.

Duty of care is not abstract. It is a child who should never go to school hungry. It is an elderly man who should never freeze in winter. It is a young woman who should never work three jobs and still fall short of rent. It is the daily lives of ordinary people – the ones capitalism claims to serve.

If capitalist Britain wishes to endure, it must remember this: its legitimacy comes not from markets alone, but from the wellbeing of its people. Duty of care is not optional. It is the debt owed by any system that dares to call itself just.

Now more than ever, the people demand it. And history will not forgive if Britain fails to deliver.