The inheritance awaiting Britain’s next government

Almost a millennium ago, Alan Rufus, a Breton warlord, helped his kinsman William the Conqueror squish a Saxon rebellion, pillaging and slaughtering across northern England. Today the view from his ruined castle in Richmond is serene, sheep gambolling beside the River Swale as it meanders through North Yorkshire. Richmond is “a lovely, historic, thriving market town”, effuses Colin Grant, a champion of local regeneration projects, as he shows off its 18th-century theatre.

Since 2015 Richmond’s MP has been Rishi Sunak, the (probably outgoing) Conservative prime minister. The constituency is a landscape of dry-stone walls, the blissful Yorkshire Dales, idyllic villages and pubs named after farm animals. To be sure, the locals have grievances, including over agricultural policy and rural transport. “If you look under the surface, life has become harder,” insists Daniel Callaghan, the Liberal Democrat candidate in the general election on July 4th. But there is scant deprivation or crime. What would a pensioner, relaxing in Richmond’s cobbled marketplace, like to change? “Nothing, really.”

At what is likely to be the end of 14 years of Conservative rule—this article was published before the election result was known—there is more than one story to tell about Britain. Up close, life is more nuanced than the headline tale of dereliction and decay. The safest generalisations about a population of roughly 68m may be demographic. Since the Tories were elected in 2010 it has grown by a whopping 5m people; as immigration surged to record levels despite the vows to bring it down, it has become even more diverse. And as all countries are, Britain has been shaped by forces beyond politicians’ control: the death of the queen, a unifying figurehead; the rise of social media.