There are some who say that the Conservatives must shift leftwards to rise in the polls. They say they must resist Conservative ideas for fear of putting off so called centrist floating voters. This Ā is a very old fashioned view of politics.It. certainly Ā does not fit the current mood.
The reason the Conservatives are low in the polls is a lot of voters who voted Ā Conservative in 2019 are not happy with what has happened and are sending a message to the government through pollsters. Most of them are unattracted to Starmer and Labour . Lib Dems languish on low poll ratings. Some of the former Conservatives are saying don’t Ā know or wont Ā vote to pollsters. Some say they will vote Reform, a great way to deliver a Labour government which they do not want.
I will set out in future pieces Conservative philosophy and policies the government could implement soon to reassure Ā voters that they understand them. Many people did not vote Conservative in 2019 to get a blue version of Labour. They wanted lower taxes, more freedoms, an independent democratic country and the greater prosperity free enterprise and wider ownership can bring. Your thoughts would be welcome.
December 15, 2023
Good morning.
Let us hope this does not get deleted unlike yesterday’s post. š
Keeping your manifesto promises would be a good start. But you have failed to do that over the last 13 and a bit years and have lost a lot of trust.
Trying to be conservative now or saying Labour are going to be worse will no longer work.
It may no be the end, but it is the beginning.
December 15, 2023
The value of democracy is that an unpopular government can be voted out of office. If this were to happen, any new government would likely take notice of the fate of their predecessor.
December 15, 2023
MB, YES! My thoughts exactly; Keep Your Promises.
Here’s another idea, Sunak resigns his position and post as MP (for failing his promises), have a snap bi-election in his constituency and put Nigel Farage up as the Tory Party candidate. It’s a seat Farage would go down a storm and, no doubt more happily, Mr Sunak could return to his career in sunnier climes; a win-win. The Tory Party would then have a least a chance at the next GE.
December 15, 2023
Farage would lose in Richmond, just as he has always lost – a 7 time loser.
December 15, 2023
I think Farage would do better standing in a Labour red wall seat.
December 16, 2023
Why on earth would Sir Nigel join the Conservatives? That party has become so infiltrated by one-nation wets that it has become unsupportable by anybody with a conservative cast of mind. I welcome its coming destruction.
December 15, 2023
Cameron gave a pro EU performance in the lords yesterday which means your party is going further left as he was determined to achieve. This is the man who tried to rig the referendum despite saying he would act on leaving, knowing he had forbidden civil service to prepare to leave. What do you call that JR?
The man who gave dire warnings about economy, manufacturing and even the indicating it could cause war! The one who caused regime change in Libya and made it a failed state causing loss of life, destitution and mass immigration. Wanting EU to March to the Urals. Cameronās greatest achievement without mandate or Queenās speech gay marriage! Those conservatives who disagreed were called Turnip Taliban or swivelled eyed loons if we disagreed with mass immigration!
Sunak bringing back this horrible creature and promoting this man to Foreign Secretary shows the true direction of your party.
Is this what you mean by conservatism JR?
December 15, 2023
As St Augustine didn’t quite say: “make me conservative ,Lord,but not yet”
December 15, 2023
Sir John, I’ll try and break this gently to you. YOUR PARTY HAVE NO CHANCE AT THE NEXT ELECTION. They will be annihilated for their multiple betrayals. Stop net zero/CO2 religion banning our cars/boilers. NOPE. Stop mass immigration at 1.2 million a year, NOPE. Stop illegal immigration by immediate return to France, forget Rwanda rubbish/red herring. NOPE. Stop providing accommodation, health, pocket money etc to illegals. House our ex servicemen instead and let the illegals sleep homelessly. NOPE. Reduce highest taxes ever. Nope. Reduce the Public sector and reform all left wing woke/pc selections to high office. NOPE. Reduce the size of the work from home useless state, NOPE. Strike back against woke gender anti English heterosexual white male non Equality Legislation. Aviva! NOPE. Reduce and reform/time limit the welfare state to get the 5.6 million feckless/lazy off welfare. NOPE.
Even the small stuff doesn’t get done.
Tarmac our roads and stop ULEZ. NOPE. ………….and on and on. But we’ve only had 13.5 years to start and support stupid wars everywhere for no purpose other than stroking massive political ego’s and cause mass migration. All white Englishmen are “ist” this and “ist” that whilst they think we’re intolerant to the uninvited massive takeover of our Country and its culture, values and beliefs. Just go.
December 15, 2023
Opening remark – have you been on a course ‘how to be touchy- feely?
December 15, 2023
š
I donāt know about you but roads near us are finally getting done, a reported pavement got filled too. Take the time to report the deep potholes online.
December 16, 2023
Congratulations. You’ve passed the “moderator”. Having spoken the truth of the disaster that is this Government without being “offed”, is testament to the acceptance of the blog owner, that freedom of speech still works here.
Sadly it is very lacking across the public media these days. And nowt will change for the better under a socialist government.
We need a true blue conservative government in our country (again) who puts people and country before any other consideration, lest we deteriorate into grazing sheep that follow their leader to the abattoir.
December 15, 2023
So yesterday’s post wasn’t deleted?
December 15, 2023
Well we did vote Conservative last time in fear of Labour and the outcome was as you say, a blue version of Labour. Most people I speak to don’t trust the Conservatives any more and see no point in voting for blue Labour – you tell me the difference between the two versions of Labour!
Reform offers an alternative place to put your tick on the ballot paper. They may even get a few MPs! Better than voting Raving Loony or for the various versions of the Uniparty on offer. I’d rather hang than give my approval to Parties that are destroying my country and liberty.
December 15, 2023
Your party endorses the poison of identity politics and diversity ideology. Why does it not criminalise such a flagrant and arrogant form of discrimination?
‘we will rub the Tories nose in diversity’.. this seemingly innocent but deeply sinister statement made by Jon Powell in 1997 is destroying this country. It certainly destroyed the Tory party and we are picking up the cost
Aviva, cancer. NEU, cancer. These people stoke bigotry and get away with it. Why?
Your party must reject all forms of the laughably titled progressive politics that protects racist and bigots and demonises innocent people. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE
December 15, 2023
+++
Hear, hear!
I really canāt begin to imagine why they do the things they do.
Unless they are scared of stepping out of line?
It is soooooo obvious how to regain the polls.
Mind youā¦they could not get away with lying again.
And lying seems to be the only politics they know!
December 15, 2023
To be even slightly conservative would be a start. Blatant green crap, big state, tax and regulate to death socialism since Cameron arrived and has now even returned.
December 15, 2023
Yes, I’ve just written to Aviva to tell them I won’t be renewing my house insurance with them because of this blatant discrimination. Yet another CEO destroying a good company. Laughably, the chatbot couldn’t understand my comment, so much for AI.
December 15, 2023
And that a company put on its feet by the late great Sir James McKinnon. Breaks my heart. He was a Glaswegian and a robust Thatcherite. Think Tebbit.
December 16, 2023
All part of the S.172 Comapny Act that all four Tory PMs could have got rid of but Chose not to. The March left continues with Lord,Greensil,back.
December 15, 2023
The Aviva CEO is analysing the recruitment process to ensure that the company is hiring the best person for the job rather than it just being given to someone’s mate via the Old Boy network. Why do you have a problem with that?
December 15, 2023
Not correct Peter.
There is a different process for recruitment if you happen to be from one particular ethnic group and happen to be from one sexual group.
That cannot be right.
December 16, 2023
You’re wrong. I suggest not believing what is written in certain elements of the media with an agenda to push or on social media.
It’s the same process for everyone. The CEO has just decided to ensure that it’s been followed and someone isn’t being appointed purely because they went to the same public school or Oxford college and they’re “one of the chaps”.
December 16, 2023
Peter
If you aren’t from a diverse background then your appointment goes through an extra process before being confirmed.
Just pick the best candidate.
December 16, 2023
Peter
Speaking to a Parliamentary Committee the CEO of Aviva said:-
“there is no non-diverse hire at Aviva without it being signed off by me and the Chief People
Officer”
December 17, 2023
A signoff is an extra step/check, not a completely different process, and it doesn’t stop “non-diverse” (whatever your definition of that is) people being hired.
The CEO did not say “there are no non-diverse hires”. That would be a story, this is not.
December 17, 2023
But only a sign off for non diverse hires
PS
It was a quote from the Parliamentary Committee Peter.
December 16, 2023
to be applauded. However forced ethnic or sexual balance is wrong.
December 15, 2023
Repeal the equal opportunities and diversity tick-box monitoring
December 15, 2023
It is not obvious that Sunak will offer the agenda you propose. And if he did why should anyone believe him? The Conservative party is doomed.
December 15, 2023
+1
December 15, 2023
To be mire conservative you need actual conservatives in government
This is sadly not the case.
A period of reflection in opposition is required to cleanse the One Nation limp dumb from the party.
An 80 seat majority wasted and no mention of the ruinous product labelling rules for all uk goid coming into force. Even if they aren’t going to Northern Ireland. You betray us at every opportunity.
December 15, 2023
Goods.
December 15, 2023
JR, when less than 1%of illegal criminals are deported from the country, please tell us why Snake has spent so much time and energy on Bobby Stockholm disaster and Rwanda farce? I appreciate he will be in California next year but the rest of us will suffer his stupidity.
December 16, 2023
https://www.migrationwatchuk.org/news/2023/12/15/small-boat-returns-almost-non-existent-home-office-admits
December 16, 2023
Latest figures for info: ( MoD official stats )
Zero arrivals recorded between 04 Dec & 14 Dec inclusive – Yesterday 15 Dec: 292 arrivals on 7 boats.
01 Dec to 03 Dec inclusive recorded 730 arrivals total.
December 15, 2023
Earning support is the way to regain what is lost, but the Conservative Party has already borrowed far too much and defaulted on its obligations. Claiming to offer a better government on the claimed basis that Labour would be even worse is pathetic, even though it is true.
At the last election Nigel Farage held back his candidates in kindness to Conservatives, solely to avoid Labour gaining control. It is he who has earned solid support of those who want the best for our nation. His high qualities, effort and track record of truth & ability are not there just to be called on to prop up a failing partyās lack of performance.
Voters should back whomever they favour. Very many lifelong Conservative supporters are now backing the Reform Party and they are right.
December 16, 2023
Surely the question is will they step down for Reform?
December 17, 2023
Conservative candidates in marginal seats should. They are either destined to lose to Labour or the Reform Party whose popularity is nearing 20% already. Surely those losing candidates would prefer a genuine MP in pursuit of traditional conservative values in their former seat, instead of one that Labour would be likely to deliver.
December 15, 2023
If I use my vote it will be to help the Liberal Democrats get the shameless Theresa May out of Parliament.
I realise that like David Cameron she might then find her way back in as an unelected legislator-for-life.
December 15, 2023
I support your contention regarding the dreadful T May, but wouldn’t Reform be better than voting for a candidate who’ll take your vote as pro-rejoin?
We really need to treat the whole Lablibcon cabal as one large cancerous lump in British society to be removed, rather than to move around within it.
December 15, 2023
That will leave May in the seat. If you want yo sack the incumbent you have to vote for whosoever can beat them.
December 16, 2023
Correct.
If I lived in another constituency then I might well vote for Reform.
December 15, 2023
‘They’ always seem to find a safe haven for the renegade politicians after their misdeeds.
December 15, 2023
Dennis,
People in my area did the same for the bi election. Huge swing, but it worked.
I would prefer Reform, nevertheless the increase in vote for Reform helped oust the Tory.
December 15, 2023
Vote for England, Denis!
December 17, 2023
Before anybody blames me for helping the Liberal Democrats here they should read this letter from one of their local councillors published in the York Press back in March, plus the 35 readers’ comments attached to it:
https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/23357184.brexit-pointless-self-destructive—now-proof/
“Brexit was pointless and self-destructive – now we have the proof'”
“I HAVE officially now heard it all!
The third Prime Minister in eight months, Rishi Sunak, has told businesses in Northern Ireland that they are in the āworldās most exciting economic zoneā because they are in the EU single market.
So, pray, what was Brexit all about? And why has so much time and energy been spent extracting the rest of the UK from the single market?
What an utterly pointless and self-destructive exercise this has been.”
Thanks a lot, “Brexiteer” Rishi.
December 15, 2023
That old chestnut. Vote Reform and you will get Labour. So you better vote Tory. I am so disappointed with the Conservatives. Vote Tory and you get a coup and a usurper. How they have lied and squandered a huge majority. If they had stuck to their manifesto and with the democratic leader that got them in power we would be in a far better place. The vote on Rwanda was a farce with the Tories voting to save the party and their seats rather than the country, except a few.
Voting doesnāt matter anymore. Even if Labour get in sir Kneelalot wonāt last a year he will be ousted by the left and Corbynās mob. Much like how the Tories behave really. No difference.
December 15, 2023
Well stay small state. Do not impose religious views on healthcare whether reproductive care or GIDS services.
Its not just Islamism threatening reason.
Allow marches but only in a park with all names taken and organizers responsible for any costs.
They threatened people wearing poppies for goodness sake.
There are many ways to deal with migration. Just stop people chain migrating and they should NEVER claim asylum and then go for a holiday. They can go home … once.
One answer to boat people is to give them start up money to go. Only people who give up traffickers should ever get to stay.
December 15, 2023
I would accept the arguments in this carefully-worded piece, were it not for the string of absolutely dire by-election results. The public appear to have had enough of incompetent government, epitomised by the revelations from the Covid enquiry. How many cabinet minister changes have we had since 2019?
To this we could add watering down our net zero commitments, partygate, the highest taxation levels since WW2, partgate, the endless sewage dumping in our rivers and bathing beaches, partygate, Truss/Kwarteng trashing the nations pensions, the cost-of-living crisis, partygate, giving Ā£285million (!!) to the Rwanda government and the migrants crisis – 1.2 million of them last year. The pro-fossil fuel, climate crisis denying PM whom the public do not like – and partygate.
It might be possible to persuade conservative voters to retun to the fold, but Sunak is not the man to do it. Losing his rag at Starmer during PMQ’s – which was broadcasted all round the world – does not impress the electorate.
December 15, 2023
Have they, I wonder, considered the vast increase in sewage created by their policies?
Augean stablesā¦and they took 30 years to clean.
December 15, 2023
I think that COP 28 has revealed the reality behind your belief in Net Zero SG.
Whilst we (UK) are busy killing off our remaining industry and punishing our population with unaffordable renewable energy and anti-car measures, the rest of the world is pretty much continuing as usual – if not accelerating it’s use of fossil fuels. Chine/India are still building coal-fired power stations, a new one every two or three weeks. The US has increasing levels of carbon emmissions and now produces more oil than the Saudis. None of the major global producers of carbon made ANY practical (or binding) committment to changeing their ways at COP.
To be clear, I have no problem with adopting technologies that lower carbon emmissions as they become available but only IF they make good practical and economic sense. No one forced me to buy a mobile phone. What I strongly object to is our virtue signalling political classes posturing on the World stage and pretending that our “Leadership Example” makes any difference to either overall global carbon emmissions or other countries policies (most especially where it would harm their economies).
All we are achieving currently is to make life more expensive for UK citizens and hiding our real carbon footprint by exporting our industry to places such as China (who don’t give a toss about carbon) only to import foreign finished goods as being completely “carbon-free”. This is creative (carbon) accounting nonsense of course.
By all means drive your EV if you want SG (still got that one with the “350 mile range” ?) and be happy you are doing your bit if you like. However, don’t beleive for a second that Net-Zero is a vote winner. When asked, of course people want to “Save the Planet” but I can assure you that they don’t want to pay for it – especially when they are increasingly aware that ignoring global reality is really expensive and won’t make any difference to the climate (at least until the rest of the World starts acting very differently).
December 16, 2023
Pro-fossil fuel propaganda and bullshit, overlong, delete
December 15, 2023
Interesting. In your world the Tory Party to go further left. In mine they need to start acting in the interests of this country. This does not involve moving to the right. It involves putting the people of this country first and coming up with a sane energy policy.
Closing power stations without building new ones (Hinckley C is just one and a ludicrously expensive and unproven design) whilst building wind turbines with no way of storing electricity is not sane. Pursuing a policy of air source heat pumps which are impractical and unaffordable is not rational. Trying to move to EVs is just plain stupid without the grid capacity to charge them.
So, no need to become right wing. Just a bit of common sense will do.
December 15, 2023
The only time the Conservatives have behaved like true Conservatives was under Liz Truss. Please, do that again. Please, on behalf of everyone in this country who wants to see you ousted and a competent administration take over, I beg you to do that again
December 15, 2023
Lemming : āPlease, on behalf of everyone in this country who wants to see you ousted and a competent administration take over, I beg you to do that again.ā
Yes, but this apparent competency will only be ensured because we will have a Parliament, civil service, judiciary, educational establishment, police, quangos, institutions and the BBC/MSM all on message.
All our current problems will disappear as the ONS and the media will get their instructions. Ofcom and the Online Safety Act will ensure no dissent.
So, Lemming, you are correct in that the next administration will be seen, or rather will seem to be competent, just as the people living in Russia and China believe of their governments. We have witnessed the Left transition us from political correctness to cancel culture, sackings and the amendment of historical records, so full censorship and control of all institutions and records is the next step.
The only crisis which will be too extensive and difficult to hide will be the energy crisis brought about by CAGW and the implementation of Net Zero. But this is a deliberate tool to provide an excuse to further ramp up authoritarian rule with the rationing and control of food, transport and heating all necessary to save the planet.
Furthermore, this crisis, if not the next pandemic, will be used as the reason to cancel all further elections. This will be the result of a democratically elected government completely ignoring the promises it made to the electorate.
December 15, 2023
Lemming,
If a Government adopted and fully implemented the policies of Ms. Truss, not only would that Government be widely supported by the truly British electorate , but Britannia could be truly unchained.
We need a revolution, not necessarily bloody, but certainly bl**dy soon !
December 15, 2023
Oh, bless! If that was “true Conservatism” the party is doomed. Economically, socially, politically, financially incompetent. What’s not to like?
December 15, 2023
Dear Sir John,
I think that you are completely correct – but conservative promises were made but not delivered in this last decade. You have to be able to deliver on your promises, but as your excellent Christmas Party spoof shows, the Govt. is not in control of getting promises delivered. That is in the gift of the civil servants.
One should also remember the old adage of looking at what people do rather than what they say. In this light the comment on socialism “spending other peoples money until it is all gone” is very true. We have no money. Draw your own conclusion. Good Luck.
December 15, 2023
Charles L. Dodgson who created the Wonderland adventures as Lewis Carroll had a strong grasp of mathematics and logic. Many of those in the Treasury, OBR and Bank of England lack even basic common sense. Carroll generated freedom of thought into immense values of enjoyment. The others cause mainly depression and despair stifled within the strait jacket of their own incompetence and waste.
December 15, 2023
But they are well qualified to destroy an economy.
December 15, 2023
They did not even try to deliver on their promises for the last 13+ years. With politicians (with rather few notable exceptions like JR, Moog, Cash, Lilley, Bridgenā¦) one can only judge on their actions. Cameron gave a cast iron promise, claimed he was a low tax at heart EU sceptic and even claimed he would stay on and deliver Brexit if that was the outcome! He delivered none of this and just abandoned ship like a petulant child. Now he is back as Sunakās choice of Foreign Sec. – Lord Cameron of Greensill Libya or something I think.
December 15, 2023
Yes – tack right!
I have spoiled my ballot-paper at the last two local elections, to send you lot a message. At the general election, if the polls are tight, I’ll vote Conservative but more to keep Labout out than you lot in. If Labour still has the huge lead gifted by Sunak, I’ll be spoiling my ballot-paper again – and hoping that your party is wiped out, so it can find its soul.
P.S. I’ve been a member of the Conservative Party four times. The local association showed no interest in my being a member. The chairman didn’t respond to an email. And CCHQ took no action on the association offering an appalling membership experience. So that’s part of the reason I’m here on this excellent site – because you, unlike most of your colleagues, seem to care about what the voter wants.
December 15, 2023
What we wanted in 2019 was our sovereignty back from the EU and its agents. We wanted a dynamic economy attracting entrepreneurs not social service dependent illegal migrants. We wanted a reduction in red tape that was holding business developments back and a freer more relaxed society not constantly being hectored by bureaucratic public sector jobs worths in health and safety, planning, or other self important body.
What we wanted in 2019 was the cancellation of Theresa May’s net Zero nonsense and a return to domestic energy strength rather than importing that resource we already had an excess of but not allowed to access it.
What we got was, lock down, more jobs worth, a police state, a continuing ban on energy extraction, no new sign off on nuclear SMRs, Matt Hancock, partygate, mass immigration mass illegal migration via small boats across the Channel, roads unmaintained broken suspension and burst tyres.
What we wanted was our trawlers catching our fish in our own territorial waters. We are still waiting and are now told the EU will control our fishing rights based on our extraction in 2016.
We wanted stable sensible spending policies with low inflation and sound money. None of that happened plus we continued to pour billions down the maw of HS2.
Not very successful in getting what we wanted were we?
December 15, 2023
A Labour government is inevitable, SJR, the way this one is carrying on. I’ll vote Reform, not to get Labour in power, but in the hope that Tories-in-name-only will lose the power they have over your party when it’s in opposition, and I can vote for it again. That’s how it is.
December 15, 2023
President Reagan expressed it very well: “Dance with the one who brung ya.”
For the last 13 years so-called Conservative Governments haven’t. Cameron deliberately changed the Parliamentary Party into a Blair Tribute Act. And after Johnson got an 80 seat majority, with assistance from Nigel Farage, the Party completely betrayed the millions who voted for a real Brexit, proper border controls/reduced immigration and Conservative policies.
Instead they got left-wing policies and an obsession with the climate change scam and Net Zero, which most of them simply can’t afford.
How do you get back the voters who have abandoned the Party? Oh, I think the LibCONs know full well what they would need to do ….. but they don’t want to do it.
Just one recent announcement demonstrates that: Sunak says he will reduce the appalling level of immigration – nearly 3 million people in just two years. But he’ll do it in the Spring, when another half a million will have come here. He’s like the sinner who prays “Please God, make me good ….. but not yet.”
There’s no way back for him, or the Party until the LibCONs have been ditched and the Party stops doing what the WEF wants and starts doing what the voters want.
Dance with the one who brung ya.
December 16, 2023
+many.
Emphasis, they do not want to. JR is an extreme fringe in his party who consistently ignore him and a few others with minority views on conservatism.
December 15, 2023
I donāt think that the tories did themselves any favours when they purposely destroyed education ( or went along with said destruction). And they have destroyed (our) religion too.
I donāt pretend to any great intellect but to hear and experience some people is truly terrifying. Degenerate and stupid beyond comprehension.
They actually believe that Labour will deliver some sort of Paradise on earth.
Some think that small parties can deliver.
And the tories have encouraged their delusions.
Anyway. Democracy has gone. We are an occupied country.
December 15, 2023
Everhopeful, how have the Tories destroyed education?
By increasing the leaving age from 16 to 18? To 17 in 2013, 18 to 2015.
By improving our position in the PISA lists?
7 Dec 2010 ā The UK is ranked 25th for reading, 28th for maths and 16th for science
England in maths to 11th in 2022. England also climbed from 14th to 13th position for reading, and remained in 13th for science, according to the Department for Education.
December 15, 2023
What is certain is that Conservatives in the country do not want a repeat of the current consocialist cabal that are in government. There are so many factions at work within it that it has become undefinable and as a consequence does not reflect their wishes. Additionally the diversity of approach to its imagined programme has allowed the civil service to run their own programme undetected by government. The deservedly highly chastised Home Office have suddenly solved their backlog in assylum applications by mass approval. What problem they say, there are now only 18,000 awaiting a decision. Who will be accountable when the first of their approvals opts to play out his terrorist role on UK soil. You can bet it will be anyone other than the Home Office.
While Labour are intellectually and solution dormant and the Lib/Dems await crumbs of dissent to fall from the table, you deride Reform for splitting the Conservative vote. They are the only answer to those who wish to vote Conservative to achieve a Conservative government. They are at over 10% already, just imagine where they might be after a few months of Nigel explaining the time of day to the electorate. He only has to be honest and factual, the consocialists are self destructive as soon as they open their mouths.
Should Reform gain the respect and support of a majority of the electorate I hope they have an appreciation of the extent and depth of the Swamp they will be faced with. Little short of an administrative revolution from where I sit.
December 16, 2023
Yes but it starts with everyone having the courage and noise to vote what they believe in. Tory party Do Not represent conservative views nor do they honour their manifesto promises. Sunak stated he would serve with integrity and implement the 2019 manifesto, he sends out weekly five priority lists that has nothing to do with what he elected as No.2 chancellor!!
December 15, 2023
I am an associate member of the Bessemer Society (https://www.bessemer-society.co.uk), a forum for the senior executives of HardTech businesses (where innovation results in manufacturing) – its national sponsors are Rolls Royce and Tata Steel. Bessemer believes based on its membership that the UK has a role in the world which includes re-industrialisation and exporting solutions globally which contribute to both reducing the impact of climate change and also delivering step change improvement in productivity (ie achieving more with less). Such businesses can also play a key role in levelling up because they require a much broader set of capabilities than, say, a software business.
Here is a video which illustrates what is happening in the world of manufacturing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0rXm0ww5aQ
I am deafened by the Government’s inability to articulate any kind of strategy which stands a chance of rallying lots of people right across the political spectrum.
December 16, 2023
We turned our back on making anything years ago, preferring to cream off profits in the City without doing anything but listening to insider chat. Hence Cameron loving up to China.
December 15, 2023
Here we go, beginning of the propoganda offensive.
To be clear, it’s worth taking the nettle of a Labour government to later achieve a renewed Conservative one via a significant Reform vote.
Continuity with this bunch is the worst case scenario.
December 15, 2023
āTo be more Conservativeā Thereās a thought this Government is, well I donāt know what, it certainly isnāt Conservative.
They have trashed what there was of the economy, we now have the highest taxation on record, the highest borrowing seen in peace time. Then we get to the control of expenditure, it just keeps growing un-checked and are unable to deliver on anything. The refuse to āmanageā the BoE is out of control, the OBR comes over as a leftwing political organization, then there is the exponential growth in the NHS of administrators and managers and no delivery.
In the round it gets down to were ever this Government spends our taxes they are the āmanagementā of those entities, the sole responsible party to ensure a payback delivery for the electorate, the taxpayer and they refuse. They seem to be off doing their own personal things serving masters elsewhere, but not serving the Country or its people
December 15, 2023
Basically John, the Remainers in Westminster, irrespective of party. Have bought this debacle on themselves. We voted in our millions to be an independent country & take control back from Brussels. Including controlling our borders.
The Remainers, including Boris & Gove disrespected our vote & ignored our wishes. Today nothing has changed Westminster is still 80% remain!
You say a vote for Reform will give us Labour. That is just an assumption based on current polling. However, there are many disgruntled voters who will not vote Tory or Labour ever again. The outcome could well be a coalition which as we know is not ideal but does mean the balance of power is curtailed! Which is preferable to the serious damage incurred by a Labour government!!
December 15, 2023
What will bring back conservative voters is Conservative candidates.
But not the Conservatives pretending to be socialists that CCHQ springs on the constituencies – who turn out not to be Conservatives at all, but socialists pretending to be Conservatives.
December 15, 2023
We don’t want more empty talk to reassure us that the government understand us – we have already had too much talk and too little action. Who would believe anything this government would say? They have lost all credibility. The only thing you care about is getting re-elected and will say anything to achieve that. As we have seen over the last 13 years, your election promises are worthless. We know Labour, LibDems, SNP and Greens are just as bad if not worse. We want a real alternative to what has become a virtual one party state.
December 15, 2023
Conservatives or the cabal that is this Government create problems for themselves in not understanding Democracy and the point of Parliament.
As reported yesterday they show āāTruly risibleā lack of disclosureā the man in Government that cant be held to account appears, if the report is only partially true, is running rings around the electorate all for self-interest.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/12/14/downing-street-publishes-lord-cameron-links-uae/
Thatās the Conservative Governments overriding problem, the actual Government of the land is all about self not service, and the numpties are awarded on-goals daily.
If this Conservative Government expended, they same energy and concern as they do with their personal self-interest, we wouldnāt be having this conversation
December 15, 2023
So why is your Central Office insisting on candidates all being soft right, indeed with the appalling One Nation group it is clear your goal is to become a Social Democrat party.
December 15, 2023
return to Conservative policies? Where has there been any evidence these last 13+ years?
All the electorate witnesses is a move even further away, with groups breakaway in outlook but weakly allowing the Government of the day to scrape by – probably thinking once Labour get in they will be there for at least 2 more elections. Perhaps so many of these faux Tories will lose their seat that essentially a new Conservative Party will rise?
The biggest hurdle will be those who operate in CCHQ – it needs a clear out of these remoaner/ liberal leftie types that have killed off traditional Tory MPs.
December 15, 2023
Unless your party reverses all this net zero nonsense and gets rid of Sunak and his cabal it is doomed. What happened to customer choice? Boiler companies and car manufacturers are being given quotas for selling a percentage of heat pumps and EVs. If they donāt meet these quotas then customers buying other products will have to pay a surcharge.
December 15, 2023
āSome say they will vote Reform, a great way to deliver a Labour government which they do not want.ā
Or we could carry on voting āConservativeā and still get a Labour Government as we have now. As far as Iām concerned there is nothing to choose between the fake Tories and Labour so why not get the real thing and be done with it. So I will be voting Reform.
December 15, 2023
This is the era of the politics of affront. We ordinary plebs are affronted by the illegal immigrant invasion; by the militant trans agenda and how it has enabled sexualisation and mutilation of children; by the ostrich approach of the police and courts towards wilful mass obstruction of the King’s Highway; by the onward march of malevolent technology and its application e.g. ULEZ cameras; and by the damage that Net Zero aka the Great Leap Backward is set to inflict upon our disposable income, our savings and our freedoms. A far from exhaustive list. The party of Thatcher and Churchill would not have allowed any such affront to prevail. Might there be another party who will step up if the party of Sunak and Hunt continues to turn a blind eye?
December 15, 2023
Sir John I have voted Conservative for the last 30 years. You say vote reform and get Labour, even you must notice that the electorate do not see any difference after the charade of the last 13 years. As your book says I donāt believe you. Itās time for a change and treating the electorate like they are stupid with a few soon to be broken promises to win an election wont work this time as Nigel Farage is apt at indicating. I will vote reform until I can vote for a true Conservative government.
December 15, 2023
We have seemingly hundreds and hundreds of quangoās each on their own appear to become self-interest cabals.
Ofgem created to protect the consumer from the overreach of monopolies. So today we get āOfgem is to hike household energy bills to help protect suppliers after consumer debts surged to a record Ā£3bn.ā This is a Conservative Government managed entity thatās is now working for someone else.
The Conservative winning back their voter?
December 15, 2023
I can no longer trust your Parliamentary Party to act like Conservatives so I cannot trust your party with my vote and I am going to give it to Reform. It is my hope that many more people will resist the propaganda that a vote for Reform will produce a Labour Government and have the courage of their convictions.
If a Labour Government is elected it will be due to your Party’s failure and the unrepresentative nature of the ‘first past the post’ voting system.
Time for a change.
December 15, 2023
Sir John, you and your ERG colleagues may be interested in this letter in the Belfast News Letter today:
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/columnists/roderick-crawford-the-reality-is-that-uk-law-not-eu-law-remains-dominant-in-northern-ireland-4446280
“Roderick Crawford: The reality is that UK law – not EU law – remains dominant in Northern Ireland”
And maybe even in the reply that I have sent:
“Roderick Crawford writes that “Alignment with limited EU law is required to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland and protect the single market; this was agreed in December 2017″.
Yes, because the Irish government adopted an absurd, extreme and intransigent position, and EU supporting Tory Prime Minister Theresa May found it convenient to cave into their demands.
Since when it has transpired that goods carried across the land border can if necessary be checked by the Republic on their side, at sites away from the border, without reigniting terrorism.
And not only Northern Ireland, why should all businesses and individual citizens in Great Britain be forced to live under retained EU law in perpetuity to pander to the Irish government?
Moreover, why should we allow Northern Ireland to become a wide open back door for possibly defective goods driven in from the Republic to pass on unchecked into Great Britain?”
December 15, 2023
Dear Mr. Redwood,
May I respectfully suggest that you refrain from saying “Some say they will vote Reform, a great way to deliver a Labour government which they do not want.” I find it rather an insult!
It is like saying that voters should always vote for the Conservatives, irrespective of how centrist, left-leaning or just plain useless they become. How are voters to get the changes they want to see if they continue to vote for a party that no longer reflects their views and continually shatters the promises they were elected upon – such as reducing migration? It is proof-positive the Conservatives are out of touch and do not understand the people who once voted for them.
I look forward to reading your future pieces on philosophy and policies the government could implement soon but I have little faith that your party will adopt them.
December 15, 2023
The bleedin’ obvious says if sufficient numbers voted Reform in about 250 constituencies they would be asked to form a Government as the biggest seats winner.
December 15, 2023
He’s missing (actually ignoring) the fact that although voters who are switching to Reform don’t want a Labour Government they also don’t want another fake Conservative one.
The only way to change others’ behaviour is to first change your own. So if you want REFORM (which I do) then there’s no point whatsoever in voting for the status quo.
December 15, 2023
Freedom of choice, democracy, capitalism, invention, rule-of-law, charity starts at home, free-markets, less-government, less-tax, less-intervention, less-migration, less-social-engineering ā¦..all phrases now missing from the conservative party manta
December 15, 2023
The main political divide is no longer between the economic left and right. It is now between the globalists and the populists.
Starmer, who prefers Davos to Westminster, has parked his tanks on the globalist lawn. The Tories, who in 2019 campaigned as populists, have governed as globalists. There is a split down the middle, the root cause of your poor poll ratings.
As things stand, you must determine how to succeed in this position. This task is highly challenging, as a political re-alignment is highly likely.
December 15, 2023
This looks like common sense to me, and I look forward to your further posts on this subject.
My main reason for commenting here is that I cannot get access to the ‘Response’ page for your subsequent post regarding the OBR and Bank Christmas Tea Party. I always enjoy your Christmas posts, and this was way up with the best of them. I do hope you have given it wide circulation among the upper ranks at the Treasury, and all the OBR membership. It is said the the truth is often painful and I have no doubt that the recipients in both institutions will be feeling most uncomfortable.
With best wishes for Christmas and 2024, and many thanks for all your wise words in 2023.
Reply The Xmas story will be released here and in video form nearer to Xmas
December 15, 2023
I hope you’ll refrain from ‘and everybody lived happily ever after!’
December 15, 2023
The reason the Conservatives are low in the polls is because they have abandoned conservative policies.
Everything this Tory government has done and is doing make them look more like Labour than Labour — and of course, this forces Labour further left, wishing to harm the electorate even more with harsh programs and laws, just to stand out as different.
The Labour party also do not deserve to win any elections – they are even more despicable than the current government.
The Tories have been ineffectual in taking control of the people who are supposed to work for them and carry out their policies, the civil service, while at the same time HMG is seen as a puppet of the WEF..
It would help if we felt we could trust the Tories, but the last few years have shown them to be not just deceitful and corrupt — They are no longer fit for purpose!
December 15, 2023
Lest any of your readers are in doubt, the first sentence of your last paragraph says it all. It is confirmation that Conservative philosophy and policies have not existed in the 13 plus years of this government. A plea to resurrect Conservatism at this late hour sounds desperate and will not happen because there are not enough Conservatives in your government to carry it out. Conservativism does not predominate in your party and government has been handed to civil servants, quangoes, warped industrial management philosophy and fringe interest groups to such an extent that the interests of the majority population are totally ignored. There is no coming back from such a failed position for what was a Conservative Party.
December 15, 2023
Oh John, if only !
Reading your blog each day helps keep me sane, in that there are still some Mp’s with Conservative values, but I am afraid you seem to be in the minority, your so called “One Nation” Conservative Mp’s are not for our Nation at all are they, and there is about 100 of them we are led to believe.
Afraid appointing candidates from Central office has helped to destroy the very basis your Party.
The mantra that we are not as bad as the others, is simply is not good enough.
I never have been a big C conservative, but we have to reward the commercial risk takers, the strivers and workers, so that their efforts are worthwhile, otherwise why should they bother.
Yes of course we need to help those who are unfortunate and through no fault of their own (medical issues and the like) who simply cannot help themselves, but not those who choose simply not to bother.
So many of your Party’s policies are now so wrong, both in thought, word, deed, and action, and the list is growing !
December 15, 2023
the Conservatives are far too close to the Labour party, not just on policies, but also on background and world view of its professional politicians and political candidates. far too many things are agreed in cosy ways between the political elite of all the main parties which is divergent from the decent majority of voters.
the Conservatives should be pushing much more individual freedom, and real power in the individuals hands, and far less state control, rationing, allocation, and monopoly. across all spheres of life.
December 15, 2023
Instead Sunak wants to force all 16-18 year olds to study his favourite subject Maths.
He wants to ban under 16s from Social Media, that is their parentās job.
December 16, 2023
He could usefully insist on MPs doing a course in Maths, secondary modern level, and ban social media for them too!
December 15, 2023
Here we go. The old ‘don’t vote Reform or you’ll get Labour’ scare campaign starts right here. Well maybe we don’t care anymore. Why should we believe any Tory manifesto they may put forward, knowing they have no intention of doing any of it. They say in investments that past performance is no guarantee for the future, but in politics I beg to differ. How many elections have we trusted Tories now? How many times have we been let down? If we don’t vote reform there will never be any change and we will just get more of the same old same old. I see no-one on the horizon who is likely to lead the Tories who will do anything different than follow the WEF globalist agenda to the detriment of our country. We need a wholesale clearout.
December 15, 2023
It ought to be three strikes and you are out. I’d hazard a guess your Party has used up the three many times over.
December 15, 2023
Iām not sure how the election slogan of ālabour will be worseā is going to work, we have unchecked migration, highest ever tax burden, anti-enterprise tax laws, and few
MPs willing to deliver the benefits of Brexit. Voting conservative would mean more of the same. Voting labour may be more of the same. It may be better, it may be worse.
Voting reform, well, I doubt they would make some of the decisions that have been made in the last decade of conservative run government.
It would appear that actual right wing parties are making progress in Europe. I suspect the same will occur here in the U.K. if the government is not reflecting the concerns of the electorate, why should we vote for them again?
Unfortunately nothing our host has said is convincing me that voting conservative is going to enable a change of course significant enough to improve things.
So by that logic, Iāll vote for a change. Opportunity exists in time of change. But the current trajectory of the U.K. is not one I can support.
December 15, 2023
I feel I want to summarise:
1) Stop the boats
2) Adopt a sensible energy / carbon policy
3) Use your own media channel to explain what youāre doing
4) Defund the BBC
Times running out. Electoral oblivion is waiting with open arms for the Tory Party.
December 15, 2023
Sadly, Sir John, to have conservative policies, which would lift our party in the polls dramatically, requires a Conservative PM, Chancellor, Home and Foreign Secretary, together with conservative MPs. Which the last few years show clearly we have not got!
You are fighting a losing battle unless you send in your letter, with 52 other MPs and then stand for Leader of the party and PM.
December 15, 2023
Right but letās also recall the trajectory of the polls. We got to -11% under Boris as his govt collapsed, with dozens of his chosen colleagues deciding (correctly) that he was incapable of performing the office of PM. On the day he left – because people knew he was going – we were up to -5%. Nothing very Conservative or free market was happening, but Starmer who is clearly a useless non-entity, had no cut through.
Then unfortunately our elderly membership, urged by the Tory ārightā, chose Liz Truss as leader and PM. Following the cack-handed disaster of her 49 day term in office we promptly fell to -30%. The triumphant blob grabbed control of the reins of govt, and Rishi Sunak has governed in the anaemic way he has due to this.
In the latest illustration of Lizās unsuitability for leadership we read she is to take the PM pension of Ā£125,000 pa for life following her 49 days in office. That public sector pensions are out of control is one of the many things that free market Conservatives could and should have addressed at some point over the last 13 years but havenāt. I suppose itās always difficult to turn down money, but itās an unedifying sight.
When we get the electoral shellacking thatās coming to us, barring a miracle, letās at least be honest with ourselves as to why itās happened.
December 15, 2023
Under no circumstances would I vote for Sunak/ Hunt . Their approach to economic management does not match up to the needs of a country that is crying out for stimulation and hope . The country badly needs leaders who have integrity and skill and the determination to ensure that we have respect and capability in the world . Unelected bodies have no place in making decisions for the voting public ; yesterday was another typical example of this occuring . As it stands we have been shamed by Biden who has allowed his meagre record to affect our standing and prevented the trade deal that is so important to us ; under a Thatcher or Churchill this would never have happened .
Our approach to managing the immigration crisis shows our weakness ; under determined and respected leadership this would be featured positively and without any outside influence ; I predict that in the coming election this matter will be decisive . Equally the extent of the Civil Service size and control must be minimised and the management of the NHS put back into the hands of medical professionals and local control . Another feature of considerable damage is the Inadequate capability of Local Government and the extent of building development . I could go on and on but I do not wish to bore any of the contributors .
December 15, 2023
If I wanted to vote for a more left leaning party than the current Conservative Party there are already several already established parties to choose from, including Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens. Why would I vote for a party that changes with the wind as it chases votes? The Conservative Party has had 13 years to do conservative things. Paying lip service to them now and pretending to move slightly back towards the right will only convince the gullible.
December 15, 2023
“Some say they will vote Reform, a great way to deliver a Labour government which they do not want” – but what is the risk from a Labour government? Might it do dastardly things like *: –
Jack up taxes to the highest level in 70 years?
Keep inventing new taxes?
Put up national debt to over 100% of GDP?
Ban cars and gas boilers?
Massively expand the size, power, and cost of the state?
Print money like there’s no tomorrow?
Open the borders to dinghy people?
Allow the highest immigration ever?
Drive down wages with imported cheap labour, and call it āgrowthā?
Put 2.6 million British people on the dole?
Nationalise failed businesses?
Introduce price controls?
Let the EU make laws for Northern Ireland?
Put us all under lockdown?
Introduce internet censorship?
Let teachers indoctrinate kids into extreme woke and green ideologies?
Make financial regulators follow “environmental” targets?
Declare “trans women are women”, and let predatory men into girls loos?
Stand by and do nothing while greens blockade our streets?
Fail to reform the NHS, while wasting more money on it?
Slap masks on our faces and force us to stand six feet apart?
Start testing makeup on animals on the order of the EU?
Run up inflation to double digits?
Ban smoking for grown-ups?
Expand the state to control football?
* – not my list, seen a few weeks ago on Guido Fawkes comments.
December 15, 2023
And add per today’s proposal, forcing under-16s to ask their parents for explicit permission to use social media platforms
December 15, 2023
excellent
December 15, 2023
Instead of saying voting for Reform will bring in a Labour government, one should ask why people should wish to vote for Reform in the first place.
What do Reform stand for that chimes with people?
In the same way as the Brexit idea, pushed by UKIP, had to be accepted by the Tories to win – the Tories should now see Reformās ideas as an opportunity.
December 15, 2023
Youāre right. Your argument is with the left of your own party, however, who donāt want to give up on the pre-2016 consensus.
I fear things will get worse after the election, when the wet tendency will be fewer in number but greater in proportion.
December 15, 2023
Dissecting what you have posted..
“There are some who say that the Conservatives must shift leftwards to rise in the polls.”
Then those individuals would be best advised to go and join the Liberal Democrats.
“The reason the Conservatives are low in the polls is a lot of voters who voted Ā Conservative in 2019 are not happy with what has happened and are sending a message to the government through pollsters.”
That is correct. Many who voted Conservative in 2019 are not happy with the leftist Liberal regime, increasing crime, costs, and illegal immigration not being dealt with. Plus you could also add failing to take Brexit opportunities seriously.
“Lib Dems languish on low poll ratings.”
Correct. If people wanted wishy-washy pro EU and liberal policies, then the Lib Dems would be doing far better in the polls than they currently are. The fact they aren’t, does not seem to resonate with some of your colleagues, who still seem determined to push Liberal policies through the Conservative Government.
“Some say they will vote Reform, a great way to deliver a Labour government which they do not want.”
To be fair JR, your Government has been given chance after chance to put things right and do what the majority of voters want. The failure to do this simple thing has resulted in many (including myself) to look for alternatives come next year. If you want someone to blame for this, then I strongly suggest you blame the leadership of your Government. Not voters fed up with lie after lie, and inaction on important issues.
“I will set out in future pieces Conservative philosophy and policies the government could implement soon to reassure Ā voters that they understand them.Ā ”
That is all well and good, many here agree with your ideas and visions. The issue is the leadership of the Conservatives Government don’t. Hence why they are in the current situation.
“Many people did not vote Conservative in 2019 to get a blue version of Labour. They wanted lower taxes, more freedoms, an independent democratic country and the greater prosperity free enterprise and wider ownership can bring.”
Correct. However, you can also add:
– Action on illegal migration.
– Net Zero with zero cost to the taxpayer.
– Curbing the increasing woke nonsense that has been allowed to flourish.
– Taking FULL advantage of Brexit freedoms.
– Stopping the rise of state sponsored laziness for those that can’t be bothered to find employment.
December 15, 2023
Sir John the best thing in my opinion for you to do is to join the Reform Party. You just waste your time and effort in trying to change the Conservative Party.
I think most people no longer trust most MP’s to put the best interests of the ordinary citizen first. They prefer not to go against the Global institutions and put their standing on the global political stage ( of the West) as their priority . This is at great cost to the UK citizen without any long term benefit. A couple of small examples – sending two mine sweepers to Ukraine and leave the channel undefended from an illegal invasion. Rough sleepers attacked on the street but illegal immigrants in hotels.
A Conservative Government made cuts to the Police Force a decade ago and it has never recovered from this even though there was a later recruitment drive.
We can save money by retiring all the experienced Officers. It is just not numbers that count but experience.
December 15, 2023
Sir John
The argument is that all the alternative would result in a Labour Government, while that is true how else is the electorate able to get rid of this weak failure of a government. The Conservative Party isnāt helping, they will encourage the āfoot soldiersā to go out and canvass and yes āLieā once more but how many lies can a party activist put up with telling? How may lies can the electorate take?
To suggest that the nightmare of highest taxes and borrowing in history alone is not alone a failure is lubricous. Then to ask us to judge this shadow of a government to be judged on its delivery, of its promises and policy over the last 13 years is just as ridiculous. There is not even an interest or notion that they want a UK Economy. They have refused to manage their out-of-control expenditure. They have refused to manage the exponential growth in staff rates ā the factor in the bonfire of the quangoās. How big a list do you want.
Yes, all versions of alternatives will not do us any favors but at least we would have by force removed those that are todayās problem.
I would suggest they are not listening and have no interest in hearing Mr & Mrs Small person they are just the surfs get to pay the bill when the culprits leave the building.
December 15, 2023
Your question is a thinly veiled yell for help.
We need to very substantially increase the pay of frontline nurses, para-medics, doctors, Police, Armed Services, health care workers and fund this out of a targeted reduction in the expenditure not controlled directly by Ministers.
This country has enjoyed a Balance of Payments Surplus in three years since the Second Boer War, for the rest of the time (120 odd years) we have been living off the “Fat of Empire”.
Democracy, either in FPTP or Proportional representation format, gives the electorate the power to choose to pay themselves more than they actually earn. The ‘books’ are balanced by selling the silver and borrowing.
The well is dry.
Your only hope is for Farage to have sufficient numbers to form a coalition.
Voting Conservatives are not enamoured with MPs who have defenestrated Johnson and Truss and watched while the CS ousted the Brexiteers and went woke.
We either have a reset now or after a dose of Labour and the OBR’s estimation of debt/GDP ratio goes astronomic.
December 15, 2023
On the one hand we have to stop digging the immigrant hole, get everyone back to work, in better paid jobs, increase population density in towns and cities – so the young have some hope of buying a house; sort the self-employed, VAT
and on the other hand cut expenditure, so cull Quangos and ESG.
We desperately need cheaper reliable energy (and we have over 100,000 young men sat around doing nothing in expensive hotels who could rebuild our energy infrastructure).
We need to be on a War footing, Putin and the Iranians, China and the effects of Global Warming aren’t going away – and they won’t be solved by electric cars and heat pumps run on fossil fuels and intermittent renewables.
December 16, 2023
Sir John knows full well what has been gathering speed in his Party for the 13 years. Sadly his principles and misplaced loyalty to a thoroughly dishonest set of leaders prevents him from announcing to his constituency ‘enough is enough, I can no longer support this constant steering of the ship backwards towards oblivion. Today I say I will relinquish the Whip, resign from the Party and provide a by-election standing for Reform (or Independent?). I wish however to continue to represent my constituency in whose interests I have fully and honestly always acted.’
Please Sir John – just do it!
December 16, 2023
The new de-dollarised financial system that the Russians,Chinese and their allies in the BRICS and global south(basically most of the world,population wise) are putting together will destroy the UK’s finance-based economic model.We will become a beggar nation,overpopulated,unable to feed ourselves and hugely energy-deficient.
The UK needs to find a way to earn a “proper” living…..and quick!
Get the life rafts ready!
December 15, 2023
I saw the following comment elsewhere, which is very concerning:
āTrying to get a temporary warehouse job in southern Hampshire to add a bit of bunce for crimbo…….don’t bother, the big menial work agencies, such as V3 get 20-30 applications from migrants per job, many with fake documentation.
But they don’t care.ā
This meshes with what I have heard elsewhere. While parties debate the finer points of āwho is more left than whomā, this is what is going on in our country. It will not change unless politicians address actual problems on the ground, and quickly.
December 15, 2023
A migrant has died in the Channel and Cleverley says the Government ‘must and will do more’. Why do we have to do more about the demise of a freeloader in an overcrowded dinghy in French territorial waters? British people die regularly in misadventures in rivers and the sea and the Government says nary a word. If your principal concern is the welfare of illegals then Border Farce should pick them up directly from the French beaches.
If you want to win back lost support, end the hypocrisy. The problem is that the migrants are neither needed nor wanted here, not their ‘dangerous journeys’. Remove the pull factors rather than chuntering about French police, criminal gangs and dinghy manufacturers. Stop giving them luxury accommodation, free phones, and legal aid, the French certainly don’t do these things. Send them anywhere that isn’t here regardless of ‘safety’, provided that they can freely choose instead to return home by courtesy of the benevolent British taxpayer.
December 15, 2023
anyone would think the illegals are being shot at by the French, and have cast off in the dinghy that was nearby risking lives at sea rather than die on the beaches. Just having time to club together at 2000 Euros each to jump aboard the rubber boat.
December 15, 2023
The rest of the human cargo should have been taken straight back to France. If the French had stopped them launching the dinghy, no-one would have drowned.
December 15, 2023
You know that and we know that. It’s the deluded government that still wear the lib dem blinkers. When will they use their eyes? ‘There’s none so blind as those who will not see’.
December 15, 2023
We need green.We need green belts protected.We need to stop building houses squashed into already over populated areas with tiny rooms posing as elite housing.We need to sort out income tax and not penalise the hardest workers.We need to stop pandering to big businesses and encourage those who build business on our shores without seducing them with too low taxation as we need loyalty to the UK.
December 15, 2023
This government seems to be prioritising immigrants’ needs over British people being thrown out of homes, sometimes because the landlord’s rental has been confiscated or needs to be sold, and sometimes because the tenant can’t afford the rental as it has gone up after COVID-19. If you can find a hotel room at short notice for our arrivals without paperwork, then what of the PiP claimant that Toynee writes about today made homeless in Manchester?
People think it is just a problem with small private landlords, but housing trusts are selling 1000 homes and not replacing any over 20 years; how is that allowed to happen? What was the point of selling council houses to organisations that weren’t business people willing to invest and grow local housing stocks? Instead, they sell the homes, often bought for Ā£ 7,000 each at a profit. Where has all the money gone? Why aren’t they making a profit by investing in buying up x-council houses as they return on the market? Why don’t HAs buy up retirement apartments to free up 3-bed council houses when only occupied by one on housing benefit, people say they would down-size if suitable local apartments or bungalows were available?
December 15, 2023
Meanwhile I note some of our Caledonian friends likely face swinging rises in income tax rates. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes! One would have to have a heart of stone not to laugh.
December 15, 2023
“The reason the Conservatives are low in the polls is a lot of voters who voted Conservative in 2019 are not happy with what has happened and are sending a message to the government through pollsters.” Well, up to a point. Could it be because your government (you are still a Conservative, aren’t you?) has totally failed to manage Covid, the NHS, the cost of living, you know, the things that MATTER to people and has instead preferred to waste time and money on performative actions like Rwanda that won’t even solve the problem they are supposed to address and that over 90% of people don’t rate as a top priority.
“Many people … wanted lower taxes, more freedoms, an independent democratic country and the greater prosperity free enterprise and wider ownership can bring.” Well, yes, we all like lower taxes, but those of us who are not selfish know we need to pay for a decent society, something over thirteen years of failed economics has done its best to destroy. You know, as well as anybody, that we WERE independent before the massive act of national self-harm that YOU promoted. Free enterprise has not been shown to generate greater prosperity for most people, the current form concentrates wealth in the hands of the few at the expense of the many. If wider ownership was so good, why are so many privatised industries in trouble?
December 15, 2023
Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me for thirteen years?
JF
December 15, 2023
Yes, the electorate show stupidity time after time. That is exactly what CCHQ rely on as they cast nets around for dumb sheep.
December 15, 2023
MT- Agreed and it does not matter which party you vote for NOTHING will change until our whole system of government is changed starting from the very top.
The whole system is rigged against you as the Globalist UK Establishment control the agenda and the narrative and have done for decades.
December 16, 2023
Certainly the mass media narrative is wall-to-wall,floor-to-ceiling propaganda.You can see that only too well if you do your own research particularly with regard to the pro-Ukraine,pro-Israel lies that pollute the news.
December 15, 2023
Dear Sir John,
Over the past 13 years your supposedly freedom-loving Governments have banned and/or mandated by law more things than any in the previous 60. And it is not just Covid or even climate change. For me, the symbolic last straw is Mr Sunak’s ludicrous rolling ban on tobacco sales – a bright idea that does not survive an hour’s thought. That’s it. Unless Mr Sunak formally reverses tack, there is nothing the Conservative Party can do or propose that would persuade me to vote for it at the next general election, though I may well vote for Conservatives locally.
Mistakes can be forgiven, especially if acknowledged: whether over Covid and the ensuing tax burden, HS2 (acknowledged 7 years too late), over well-intentioned but mistimed tax cuts or over birthday cakes. One can even forgive Mr Johnson for betraying Northen Ireland after former Conservative MPs tied his hand behind his back.
However, the lack of any coherent vision and systematic failure over the NHS, crime, punishment (let alone rehabilitation), migration, the family, universities and inustry all point to incompetence and a change of government.
Worst of all, perhaps, for Conservatives, has been failure over business, which has seen our corporate infrastructure wither as the trade deficit widens. In Germany, the interests of its home businesses are crucial to the formation and timing of federal and states’ policy. Under the Conservatives, the private sector (other than financial services) is as much ignored, sniped at and taken for granted as under Labour – just when its interests should be the cornerstone of a coherent climate change strategy.
Your party has a lot to rethink. I hope you will be able to play a part in it.
December 15, 2023
27 million employees got lower taxes with the cut to national insurance, although you wouldn’t think it, the problem is the people you gave this to don’t believe you did and wouldn’t vote for your government anyway and the people you took it from are paying in more through fiscal drag and capture of child benefits.
People still say that you froze the personal tax bands; well, actually, no, the Tories raised the NI band from Ā£9880 2022/23 to Ā£12750 2023/24 (Ā£2870 extra per year before paying NI). Your messaging is rubbish.
December 15, 2023
Yeah for the NI bands. But NI is only part of the taxation story. The basic allowance has evolved as follows:
2015/16 10,600.
2016/17 11,000.
2017/18 11,500.
2018/19 11,850
2019/21 12,500.
2021/26 12,570.
And as shown on ifs.org.uk as %age of average earnings the progression of the basic personal allowance has not only slowed down [and has certainly neither followed the inflation rate nor the so well advertised increase of (some) salaries in (some) sectors] but is expected to turn to a negative slope. And the same is true for the thresholds for basic, intermediate and higher rates once they are compared to the average earnings.
So do not try to be more Huntish than Hunt, most people are going to pay more tax.
December 15, 2023
I donāt understand why Hunt was put in position of chancellor, Iām not a fan.
It was Kwasi that reversed the 1.25% Ee and Er increase put in place by Boris government from 6/4/22.
2020 was the covid pandemic, when the whole Country was under lockdown conditions, things changed for the government finances a lot, it was unprecedented, the Labour Party wanted to lockdown harder and for longer.
What I said stands it was a reduction in tax that people havenāt noticed. They could have left the NI threshold frozen with the tax threshold. I believe they are trying to reduce the tax of workers rather than the retired, it is the workers and younger generations we are told are struggling with their student loans 9% grad tax, their high rents, difficulty getting on the housing ladder. What do you think the opposition will do instead? Iāve been reading the Resolution Foundation which Sir Keir is very keen on as he says they shine a light on what working people need.
Here are a few of their suggestions:
1. Raise CGT on shares to 37%
2. Hike dividend tax from 8.75% to 20% (this is after company profits have been taxed at 25%)
3. Charge NI on rental income
4. Extend Employers NI to include pension contributions
5. Slash the VAT registration threshold to Ā£30k in line with the EU.
6. Introduce a Road Duty system for electric vehicles, repeal the 5p cut in fuel duty and increase each year by 2%
7. Change IHT to reduce the band, with a lower rate of 20% applied to smaller estates
There is lots moreā¦
I didnāt see anything about raising personal tax thresholds.
December 15, 2023
tracy – do think clearly. NI down 2% for a small range of income. Frozen Personal allowance on many times the NI at 20% and then 40%.
Even worse Income tax will be paid on the 2% amount saved Ā£150 to Ā£750 per year max.
Fool some people, eh?
December 15, 2023
Actually Mickey, Iām really narked that this government have frozen the income tax threshold and reduced the dividend tax thresholds (but if people didnāt notice the NI saving by increasing the threshold by nearly Ā£3k then how can we persuade Hunt to raise the personal tax allowance), my response was about the National Insurance rate, it had been put up to 13.25% for employees and more NI for employers to 15.05% on 6/4/22 that carry on paying at the full rate once the higher rate is earned not the 2% rate, this was for the Health & Social Care Levy. Thank goodness the government saw the light and the 1.25% increases were reversed in Nov.2022 after six months to 12% and from April ā24 10%.
12% of Ā£2870 = Ā£344.44 for anyone earning more than Ā£12750 pa.
If people earn Ā£25,000 the saving on NI of 2% over the primary threshold will be a further Ā£248.60.
So Ā£593.04 per annum NI saving. Yes only 2.4% of the gross but still a cut.
The NI threshold in 2010 was Ā£5720, in 2015 Ā£8060, in 2020 Ā£9500 2023 Ā£12,750.
December 15, 2023
Homeowners face being hit with a āboiler taxā as manufacturers attempt to offset the cost of the heat pump rollout.
Worcester Bosch has announced the price of all its gas boilers will increase by Ā£120 in the new year, while Vaillant is also preparing to increase its prices by Ā£95.
The Government aims to install 600,000 heat pumps a year from 2028, but Worcester Bosch said it had āno optionā but to raise the price of boilers as the UK market ādoes not have the scaleā to meet government targets
December 15, 2023
Indeed. And I intend to vote Reform because the Conservatives are not doing what you advocate – nor will they as long as the Sunak/Hunt axis retains power. Labour will not tax and spend more because it’s nigh on impossible to do so. When Labour gain power, there will be open warfare between the spendthrift Labour Left and Rachel Reeves, with Kier Starmer desperately pleading for unity. There will be time for the Conservatives to reform.
December 15, 2023
Sadly there is no way back. The conservatives had the chance and you’ve blown it.
Time for the Conservatives to be infiltrated and taken over, or to go the way of the Dodo.
December 15, 2023
I am a Conservative Party member and have never been so badly affected by any government in my entire lifetime. Rishi Sunk and Jeremy Hnut have allowed IR35 to continue despite the damage it has caused to individuals and businesses. The 46% taken at source from the self employed has been devastating. This is more tax than these people would pay if they were employees. It must be abolished and abolished now for this government to survive. They also need to abolish the pursuit of NetZero, purge wokery from schools and public sector departments, invest in infrastructure and be self sufficient for energy. I have no intention of voting for this pair – they have crippled me and at least 800,000 other self employed people. I WILL be voting for Reform.
The con
December 16, 2023
This party has not been conservative since John Major ousted Margaret Thatcher. The only hope is John Redwood for leader – but that wonāt happen because the Parliamentary party is not conservative. Reform is likely to get more votes than the Tories at the next election. Probably there will be more spoilt ballot papers than Tory votes. Just over 100 years ago Labour became a party from nothing, so maybe Reform can do that again. We MUST have another choice.
December 16, 2023
‘Some say they will vote Reform, a great way to deliver a Labour government which they do not want.’
Voting Reform may give a Labour government bu for the long-term it may be worth doing.āAssume the Conservatives lose and Reform also do badly.āThen the One Nations in the party, even if no longer MPs, will drag the party further left by claiming it’s the Left’s policies which won.āWhereas Reform getting a high vote share shows appetite for real conservative policies and gives ammo to those who think ‘way for the government to win back lost support is to be more Conservative’.
Short-termism, set by the political cycle, causes politicians to over-promise and bail-out funded by debt and money inflation to ease the debt.āVoters, in comparison, are capable of thinking long term.āReform could prosper from this as enough remember how UKIP’s large vote share succeeded in pressuring the Conservatives.
Plus a Starmer term may fare as well as Biden’s given the disgraceful lock-down harm it inherits.
December 16, 2023
IMHO the best thing for Conservative voters to do is vote for Reform where possible.
The Conservative Party hase lost anyway and will continue to lose while it is not Conservative.
It needs to expel the socialists if it is going to win the election after next.
December 16, 2023
“There are some who say that the Conservatives must shift leftwards to rise in the polls”.
This is difficult to comprehend. I cannot call this Government and its policies “conservative” but I can see the close association with them and the socialist MO.
The writing was on the wall, post 2019, when that Labour “Red Wall” dumped them to vote Conservative. Clearly, they were unimpressed with socialist policies that never enhanced their lives, expecting a huge dose of conservatism to enhance them. As they would have done, if Thatcher economics were still practised. But no, instead of true Conservatism we got a pseudo-Lib Dem approach which took us left into socialism. Worse, they actually believed this was best for OUR country. And still do.
The phrase “Out of the frying pan into the blazing fire” comes to mind when I think of what comes next for us poor British citizens in 2024.
I cannot vote for a non-Tory ‘Conservative’ Government again, nor can I vote for any socialist Party. If there is a local candidate for the new-Tories, “Reform” I expect I shall not be alone in preferring them.