Other than saying, “the state should stay out of things”, they haven’t had much to say. This must change. They need to set out how they’d do things better.
There is a radical, ambitious zeal evident throughout the document, and it is shown again in the desire to end iniquitous disparities between the generations.
The basic principles of limited government, economic and civil liberties, freedom and equality under the law are almost entirely absent from her programme.
May’s manifesto is real politics – that’s to say, a serious attempt to prepare Britain for the post-Brexit challenges of the future.
The Prime Minister’s manifesto will have its flaws, but she has grasped the implications of Brexit more surely than any other senior politician.
A key problem for Farron’s party is that Labour is competitive among young people – many of whom have not forgiven it for tuition fees.
There has been progress – and there are signs that many BME Labour voters are beginning to feel that their votes are being taken for granted.
Why spend money on grammars, rather than dealing with school overcrowding? And why back Trident rather than the Navy’s conventional fleet?
That the pursuit of Farron was legitimate doesn’t mean that they, or anyone else, should feel happy about it – or the bigger trends of which it was part.
I feel we have gone too far in publishing and overly political manifestos which make it difficult to govern subsequently.
This first piece of a mini-series on what should be in the manifesto argues that the Conservatives must get serious about living within our means.
Above all, don’t neglect the obvious. May is vulnerable to Tory revolts – as the NICs debacle proved. She wants a real working majority.
During a meeting with other disgruntled Conservative MPs, George Osborne allegedly told the Education Secretary: “Now you see why I didn’t do this.”
The Education Secretary is grappling with reform of the national funding formula for schools at a time when spending on them is under pressure.
The first part of a ConHome mini-series on the future of technical education after this general election.