The Conservatives’ long road back to credibility

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Last year, the British Conservative Party suffered its worst defeat ever in a general election. Then things got worse. Despite the appointment of a young leader, Kemi Badenoch, described as an original thinker, and the Labor government’s faltering first year in power, the Conservatives are a distant third in the opinion polls. Nigel Farage’s British nationalist Reform Party has usurped its role as the main party of the right. Badenoch’s first speech at the party conference concluded with a worthwhile pledge: abolishing stamp duty on primary residences. But her party has a long way to go to become the sensible and credible opposition Britain so desperately needs. Much of its fledgling program is headed in the wrong direction.

Badenoch said she would take some time to think before revealing her policies. Islah’s rising performance in opinion polls and questions surrounding its leadership have forced it to rush through many proposals that appear immature. Talk about creating an American-style “removal force.” Deportation From the UK, 150,000 migrants a year have no right to remain, which raises questions about whether Britons, whatever their feelings about immigration, really want such a thing, even if it is realistic.

leaving The European Convention on Human Rights, instead of pressing it Fix itIt would put Britain on the side of Russia or Belarus, and pose a threat to settlement in Northern Ireland. cancellation The Climate Change Act 2008 would be a betrayal of the leadership shown by the UK and the Conservative Party on the green transition, and the jobs and investment it has generated.

Pursuing Farage’s reform partly in relation to such policies will not work, because voters to whom such measures succumb will always prefer real action. Nor would such steps appeal to younger voters in a party whose supporters are now average Just under 60 Urgent need.

In the face of the Labor Party, which is struggling to address the financial and economic problems in Britain, and the Reform Party, which is offering imaginary solutions, governor The priority should be to start rebuilding its reputation for sound management. It is the only party in the UK that has shown a previous ability to control spending while stimulating the economy through tax cuts and debt treatment. Here, as in the recognition that the Conservatives must once again seek to become the natural party of business and enterprise, there were some signs of encouragement.

Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride’s plan Cutting £47 billion Public spending over five years on social care and the civil service is moving in the right direction, although further cuts in foreign aid would be very unfortunate. But there are still gaps between ambition and reality. Achieving such savings will require serious reforms, which successive governments, including the Conservatives, have avoided or mishandled. Badenoch’s new “golden rule” of ensuring that half of spending cuts are used to reduce the deficit, and only half to cut taxes, seems just common sense.

A £9 billion pledge Scrap stamp fees This is positive – the tax slows the property market and limits mobility – but it is difficult to finance and implement. Moreover, the fact that Badenoch put forward such an interesting plan four years before the next general election is a sign of her political weakness. Her rival, Robert Jenrick, has built a popular following even as his Faragesian pronouncements have given him away Lack of seriousness.

As with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer last week, Badenoch’s unexpectedly confident speech may have bought her some time. But she, like him, may face a challenge if her party performs poorly in the English Assembly elections and the Scottish and Welsh Parliament elections next May. The danger is that it will simultaneously be drawn into more ill-considered maneuvers to support its electoral base, rather than presenting serious proposals to the government.