Conservative Party Chairman Grant Shapps was caught lying this week when he claimed that the Tories had halved the deficit, when in truth it has fallen from £156bn in 2009-10 to £98bn in 2013-14. This was ignored by all the major news outlets. 24 hours later, when Tony Blair suggested that Ed Miliband might lose the coming general election if he insists on fighting it from the left of New Labour, it made headlines across the country. This is, I fear, a hint of vitriol that is going to be heaped on anyone who dares to suggest that there is a better, more fairer way of fixing the problems that led to the 2008 financial crash. Too many people at the heart of our politics and media are either unable or unwilling to contemplate that voters might have the stomach for something more radical. The polling company Populus recently tried asking people to chose between de-branded parties that were differentiated by their stance on a series of high-profile issues. Once the party labels were removed from policies, a majority of those asked thought immigration had been good for Britain, favoured our continued membership of the EU, providing it was reformed, believed that the state needs to regulate business more, felt that private companies delivering public services amounted to privatisation and supported gay marriage. Tony Blair wouldn’t approve of all of these policies, not would Cameron, Clegg, nor Farage. The public, however, would seem to be looking for a party with the ability to deliver on these issues. populus.co.uk/item/When-voters-say-all-parties-are-the-same-theyre-just-complaining-that-other-voters-aren%E2%80%99t-sufficiently-like-them-/
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 18:31:15 +0000
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