We Conservatives cannot waste our opportunity this conference. It is our chance to show that we have been listening to the public. That we have learnt what we got wrong and have a positive plan to sort our country out. The bar has not been set high. We’re following a Reform conference big on showbiz but small on serious ideas. A Lib Dem conference with more silly stunts. And a lost and confused Labour conference with a Prime Minister whose personal ratings are in freefall.
All things considered, commentators could write our conference off before it has started. We are coming at this from a diabolical position in the opinion polls which suggest we would lose even more seats than last year – our worst election result in history. They would be wrong to make that assessment too early though.
The Prime Minister’s rapid decline in popularity should not come as a surprise. Only one in five UK adults voted Labour last year. They got fewer votes under Starmer than under Corbyn in 2017 or 2019.
The problem for us is that this collapse has happened so rapidly that we have not had time to get our own house in order. The disenfranchised voters are therefore looking elsewhere. For now.
Starmer is discovering too late that most of the public voted for tougher borders, less government spending, and lower taxes to leave more of their hard-earned pounds in their pockets.
All these things need tough measures but are impossible to get through Labour’s out of touch, left-wing backbenchers and union paymasters. We saw that laid bare with the Government’s botched attempt at welfare cuts.
We cannot blame people for looking at Reform. They come with no baggage and are good at making solutions sound so simple. But if they ever got anywhere near power, their lack of credible plans and fantasy spending promises would cause untold harm.
Uncontrolled public spending ultimately means tax rises – that’s a fact. At this conference, we must offer a sensible, disciplined and pragmatic small ‘c’ conservative plan, but also a positive and optimistic vision for the country we want to be.
We need to start looking excited about how we can take the country forward and build a better Britain. If we can’t look excited about a future under the Conservatives how can we expect people to feel enthusiastic about voting for us again?
