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Yawning Boring Edited

Brexit fatigue. Time for some Tory vision. 

Peter Bingle
September 25, 2017

The Tories need to learn to trust the Prime Minister and her Brexit Secretary to secure a good Brexit deal and start to focus on those bread and butter issues which really matter to most voters, says Peter Bingle. 

I suspect I am not the only person who has had enough of Brexit. I am literally bored silly! Commentators and politicians seem to have forgotten that before they had to make a choice in the referendum most voters weren't that interested in the issue of the EU. Nowadays we hear little else …

So the Tories need to learn to trust the PM and her Brexit Secretary to secure a good deal and start to focus on those bread and butter issues which really matter to most voters.

It would seem that austerity is now behind us, so in the November Budget the Chancellor needs to start redistributing the benefits of those difficult times to those folks who have had to make personal sacrifices for the greater good.

Politics should come into play here. It is surely time for the Tories to focus on helping Tory voters and potential voters rather than on folk who will never ever vote Tory. This is surely one of the most brutal lessons of the terrible 2017 general election campaign.

It is right that the government continues to take more and more low paid workers out of paying tax. It is equally right and morally justifiable that the government reduces the level of tax paid by those who have always paid their taxes. The middle classes need to feel they are loved by the Tories. Reducing the tax burden is surely a fundamental tenet of being a Tory?

Having a clear and radical set of education and health policies must be a priority. At the moment, the health policy appears to be to spend even more money on the NHS. I simply have no idea what our education policy is. Time perhaps to replace Greening and Hunt with Tories who want to be both radical, brave and Tory? The slogan for both services is surely very simple: "Improve the quality. Increase the choice."

Money in itself is not the answer. If it was there wouldn't be a problem to solve. On the choice issue, I cannot remember the last time I heard a Tory minister applaud people who have taken out private health insurance or who send their children to an independent school. Shocking! At the last election Corbyn's commitment to impose VAT on school fees barely merited a response from the Tories. Tories should always support the right of people to spend their taxed income as they wish.

Policing is a major problem for the Tories. There was a time not so long ago when Tory Home Secretaries received standing ovations at the Police Federation Conference. During her time at the Home Office the PM's relations with the police service soured. There was certainly scope for efficiency savings but the Tory message on policing and security is now undermined by the fact that police numbers are down by more than 20,000. This has to be addressed and numbers increased. Otherwise voters simply won't listen to the Tories on law and order.

Corbyn has demonstrated that people are bored with boring politics. He offered something different and forty per cent of voters were attracted to his agenda at the last election. The Tories need to start displaying some passion and conviction. At the moment there is almost no passion at all. It is all too managerial, professional and dull. We live in a world where voters want more than that. This surely explains the appeal of Jacob Rees-Mogg. He is refreshingly different …

Next week's party conference in Manchester offers the Tories the opportunity to launch a radical new domestic agenda which resonates with the public. I just hope they don't play safe and offer more of the same.

 

Silhouette
Peter is the Founder of Terrapin Communications. With a career in politics and communications that has spanned almost four decades, he is one of the country's leading public affairs practitioners. His career has seen him advise many top companies, including McDonald’s, HSBC, L’Oreal, Permira, Motorola, Camelot, Rolls Royce & Kellogg's.
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