|
A step in the right direction. What a
curious election it was, yet one where each of the main parties got
something to please them. Labour won, we Conservatives at long
last got to see those magic words CON GAIN in numbers and the Lib Dems
finally got one of their last minute surges translated into seats and
swing.
Old News.
Labour, no longer New, got away with saying nothing much
at all. The Lib Dems got away without any serious scrutiny of
their policies. We failed to move on from immigration to all the
positive ideas we had to offer on taxation and expenditure, on
healthcare reforms, on freeing up education from the dead hands of
Whitehall and LEAs (Local Education Authorities), on better policing, on
pensions and so on.
In the dog house.
One party should be going round with a distinctly hangdog
look about it. The purple peril or UKIP (United Kingdom
Independence Party) should be eating humble pie in large quantities.
They failed miserably after all their talk of being the third party in
votes cast last year. Yet again, in the one election that really
matters if they are to demonstrate their boast of massive support for
their extreme policy, they couldn’t cut the mustard even enough to save
most of their deposits across the country.
Purple peril hoist with their own
petard. Worse than that, their intervention
cost us over 20 CON GAINS across the country, leaving Europhile Lib Dems
and Labour MPs in place, a perverse outcome for a Europhobic party.
And in Devon where, to be fair, they did buck their national trend and
save their deposits in most constituencies by getting just over 5% share
of vote, they effectively gave control of the County Council to the Lib
Dems. In eight wards their vote exceeded the margin by which our
Conservative candidate lost. How crass and counter-productive can
they get?
The shape of things to come.
On the other hand, we Conservatives can take great satisfaction in
having re-captured some Lib Dem seats. It can be done, even when
they appear well dug in because they do minimal parliamentary work.
Special congratulations to Geoffrey Cox QC MP in
Torridge and West Devon and John Penrose MP in
Weston-super-Mare.
Not to forget Mark Harper MP’s splendid gain in the
Forest of Dean
from Labour. This is the shape of things to come, we are on our
way at last. |
Getting the message across. OK so what
do we have to do to complete the process, regain the trust of the middle
ground and resume government? I’ve got a little list of thoughts.
First, we have to reiterate our values and beliefs in contemporary
language to show they are relevant to a changed world. Obviously
that needs better thinkers and wordsmiths than the likes of me, but we
now have a new bunch of younger MPs full of energy and ambition and it
shouldn’t be rocket science.
Recipe for success.
We believe in smaller government; lower taxation; more
efficient public services; more choice for the indiv-idual; freedom
under the law; respect for and enforcement of the law; individual
responsi- bility; compassionate Conservative care and consideration for
those who need help; maintaining sound defences; respect for
institutions and traditions; value for money; pragmatic common sense
administration; managing change better, but only when necessary;
preserving and improving the environment. In short, saving the
best of the old while ushering in the best of the new.
Keep it simple.
On the economy we must stick to our guns on lower
taxation, less borrowing, better value for taxpayers’ money in public
services, a simplified tax structure (sweeping away all Brown’s
tinkering tax credits and complexities) and a public spending target to
increase at 1% less than the growth rate of the economy as a whole
leaving more of people’s own money in their pockets to make their own
decisions on spending. That is the best way to free up the growth
potential in the private sector.
Think local.
On local government we must think local and be bold in
returning autonomy to councils and give them control over the major part
of their income. This could be done by introducing a local sales
tax or predicating a percentage of VAT proceeds to be distributed on a
per capita basis as happens now with the business or non-domestic rate.
Or we could make education nationally funded, abolish LEAs and channel
funds directly to schools for them to make their own decisions on
services procurement. Abolishing un-necessary regional assemblies
and structures would also boost local accountability.
Beware Big Brother.
Alongside the theme of thinking local we need to think of
liberty and freedom in a wider sense. This govern-ment has shown itself
to be authoritarian in its approach to civil liberties, privacy,
counter-terrorism and conventional crime. We should beware phrases
such as joined up government which mean putting everything about
everyone on one huge database with empty assurances about data
protection. We should stand up for the individual against a bossy,
oppressive state. Issues like identity cards, speed trap cameras,
merging the Inland Revenue, National Insurance and Customs and Excise
into one mega agency, and powers of detention without due legal process
need looking at again
|
Exercise restraint. We have good ideas
on constitutional change and should follow them through. Most
people recognise the value of the House of Lords as a revising chamber
and a restraint on an over powerful executive. We should argue
for a mixed composition of appointed and elected peers and legislate
to prevent abuse of the Parliament Act. At the same time, we
must stick to the idea of fewer MPs with larger constituencies,
adequate staff support and more powers in standing committees to call
the executive to account. I would like to see a partial return
to proper constituency representation at European level to bring MEPs
closer to the people they represent.
Look after the Countryside.
We think of ourselves as a party of the
countryside so we must re-capture people’s imagination with policies
on the environment. Preserving the best etc and rejecting the
Prescott bulldozer. We have the opportunity to think through
some realistic policies on countering climate change and coping with
its effects.
A final thought.
The rules for Party leadership do need revising and I favour a college
system involving Peers, MEPs, MSPs (Members of the Scottish
Parliament), WAs (Welsh Assembly Members) and representatives from
Conservative Councillors and the Voluntary Party but weighted, say
60%, in favour of MPs. A parallel reform must be to encourage
more local candidates fighting their own patch. To that end,
both Association selection committees and would-be candidates need
training – can we do it and would they accept the need?
Find a theme.
I could go on but don’t have space. We already
have developed a raft of sensible policies on crime, defence, health,
Europe so it’s a matter of fitting it all into a theme. Mrs
Thatcher did it splendidly in the 1970’s. Now we need someone
younger, relatively unknown to the outside
world, with a clear vision of what to do and
where we want to go (just like she was then) to do it
all over again
 |
