Hands up who is surprised that the Tories have already U-turned on their promise to introduce a price cap on energy bills – the much vaunted manifesto policy that prompted suggestions they were “parking their tanks on Labour’s lawn”? In hindsight, it’s obvious that an idea scavenged from Ed Miliband – totally out of step with the party’s core values and broader agenda – would be vulnerable to being dropped at the first available opportunity.
Of course, the Conservatives are not the only party that have ditched a manifesto promise. Some might argue it’s unfair to condemn the Liberal Democrats too harshly for abandoning plans to scrap tuition fees – after all, as junior coalition partner they only held so much sway – but for my generation it has become a symbol of political betrayal and disappointment.
It’s not only about the fees. There’s a feeling that Nick Clegg attempted to present himself and his party as something that it wasn’t. Having never previously been in government, they were able to convince many young voters they were a more leftwing, progressive alternative to Labour – unlike the Conservatives, there was no previous record to judge them on. There is now, so it’s hardly surprising they were punished at the ballot box as a result.
When politicians are willing to switch positions on a whim – to match whatever their researchers tell them swing voters want to hear – you need to dig a little deeper to figure out what they’re actually likely to do once in power. Clegg has never been particularly economically left wing and it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that he felt comfortable working with David Cameron and George Osborne who do, after all, occupy the most liberal wing of their party. Nor should anyone be shocked that the Liberal Democrats are reportedly again considering propping up a Conservative government, albeit only on a policy-by-policy basis this time.
And so to the Tories. Should we be surprised they’re U-turning on their Miliband-esque manifesto commitments? Theresa May is much more of a social conservative, true, but for all the chatter about “seizing the centre ground” that followed May’s speech at the Conservative party conference last year, her agenda has actually been remarkably similar to that of her predecessor in many respects. No end to austerity. No deviation from the programme of spending cuts mapped out by Osborne. No scrapping of the public sector pay cap, at least for now, despite growing pressure from her own MPs. The one major difference is her fairly single-minded commitment to pursuing an extreme Brexit, which the Cameronite wing of her party considers a calamitous mistake.
At this point, it seems reasonable to assume that a Conservative government will not prioritise the wellbeing of people dependent on the state. That the party is content to see the number of children living in poverty spiral upwards, nurses and other key workers forced to use food banks and families made homeless as a result of harsh sanctions and an arbitrary benefit cap. Though an increasing number of Conservative MPs are now calling for the public sector pay cap to be lifted, none have attempted to explain why it’s taken them this long. It would be nice to believe that they have suddenly become concerned about the hardship faced by their constituents. Following a disastrous general election, though, it’s more likely a desperate attempt to cling on to their seats.
In general, the Conservatives’ electoral strategy seems to rely on voters having remarkably short memories. Even as they are U-turning on the last policy they poached from Labour – the energy price cap – there’s talk of promising to cut tuition fees in order to lure education young people away from the left. An anonymous Conservative MP told the Financial Times’s Jim Pickard that their deeply unpopular manifesto was the “last time we’ll be honest with the public” and former minister Robert Halfon laughably suggested they should rebrand as “the Workers’ party” to win back support – as if the electorate would simply forget their history of attacks on trade unions, and of using political power to lobby for companies with a business model built on exploitative employment practices.
Thank goodness it’s unlikely to work. Unlike the Lib Dems, they have a long track record of government, on which they will be judged. There might have been a time when this sort of shallow, insincere politicking would have fooled people, but it’s now likely to repel far more voters than it attracts. There’s a growing feeling that it’s time for genuine, systemic change – and all the Conservatives have to offer is more of the same.
