RUTH SUNDERLAND: This election is a battle for soul of capitalism

This election presents voters with the most stark choice on the economy since 1979 when Mrs Thatcher came to power.

At the start of her decade-long tenure, few, whether friend or foe, imagined the scale of the economic and social reforms that would take place.

The City was opened up to foreign investment by the Big Bang in 1986, pensions were liberalised, mortgage cartels were broken and right-to-buy for council houses was introduced. 

Millions of small savers also became shareholders as industries including British Gas, BP and, of course, British Telecom were taken out of state hands.

The Labour Party wants to undo most of those reforms and usher in a socialist regime with wholesale redistribution of wealth involving punitive tax rates and asset seizures. 

Swathes of industry have been earmarked for renationalisation, including rail, Royal Mail, water and now the broadband infrastructure arm of BT. 

Similar populist Leftism is being aired in the US by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, to the horror of more sensible Democrat voices.

Here, both main parties have ditched austerity and seem to be vying as to who can offer the biggest public spending bribes. 

Official figures this week are likely to show Government borrowing is already on the rise due to slower growth. This is just the start.

If the Tories get in, there will be higher borrowing to invest and get the economy through the Brexit bumps, while under Labour, John McDonnell plans to tap the bond markets to fund his revolution.

But this is not about the detail of tax rates or how many billions we go into hock – important though those things are. The election will determine the shape of the economy and society for years to come.

A decade ago, the financial crisis led to widespread distrust and contempt for business that is not confined to errant bankers and has not faded away. Jeremy Corbyn and McDonnell can see an opportunity to exploit people who feel left behind to plug their revolutionary socialist agenda.

It is telling that the FT last week hosted a debate entitled: ‘Should liberal capitalism be saved?’ That would not have occurred before the financial crash.

The bigger picture is that the UK needs to pay its way in a much more competitive world. Germany recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the lifting of the Iron Curtain. 

Since then, countries that once were largely closed off from international trade have come on to world markets, including resource-rich Russia and China.

It is a sign of the times that China wants to take over the bankrupt British Steel – an industry where the UK once led the world.

The past three years of rows over Brexit have had a huge cost for the UK economy in terms of important areas that have been ignored or neglected. 

There has been no energy left over to deal with urgent concerns for companies and entrepreneurs, such as reforming business rates.

If Boris Johnson keeps the keys to No 10 he needs to rebuild relationships with business that have been put under strain and become a champion of pragmatic, morally robust capitalism. 

Should the Conservatives fail to do this, Corbyn and McDonnell will remain a threat or new versions of anti-capitalism will emerge. It is not an exaggeration to say the future of capitalism in this country is on the line.