Ministers might learn a thing or two from what is happening across the Channel. Following riots by the so-called ‘gilets jaunes' (yellow vest) demonstrators over the past months, France's President Macron has launched what he calls ‘the great debate' (‘le grand débat') in which he and his ministers have been meeting local politicians and residents across the country over the past three months to gauge their views. Ending in mid-April, the great debate's conclusions will be announced in the autumn in time for preparing the 2020 budget.

At first sight this just looks like another cynical attempt by a politician in trouble to placate angry voters and draw the sting from protests. In fact, it has turned into a popular attempt to find out what the public want and why they feel so alienated from the body politic. A recent poll by newspaper Le Figaro found voters' concerns were about lowering VAT, increasing the minimum wage, reducing the number of MPs and increasing stagnant wages, not much different indeed than the concerns of British voters.