They're only losing the popular vote by usually around 3-4%, if the democrats had been in power for TWENTY YEARS, the GOP would easily win the popular vote, especially because its just downright ASB for there to be no recession and a continuous economic boom for that period of time. IOTL if there had been no 2008 crash, republicans would be able to win the popular vote. Hell, McCain was neck and neck in the national popular vote polls up until Lehman Brothers collapsed, and that was after eight years of Bush (who had like a 25% approval rating at the time).
A New Britain - A British Political TL (1995-)
- Thread starter Daudkhan
- Start date
John Edwards didn't win another term because though im an idealist no party would ever win six terms in office. I made Colin Powell the President of the United States with a 356-182 margin because of the apathy with the democrats and because the Powell/Baker ticket who were liberal republicans were able to provide a home for the millions of moderate democrats, sorry I didn't write it in.
There will be a crash in the foreseeable future but I just wanted to see what they would have been like if the Global Financial crisis had not occurred.
2015 General Election
Budget 2015
This was a Pre-Election budget, knowing that the government was in for a fight with the general election that was about to occur, Ed Balls had decided to give a budget to win over the public. As he stood up he reported that the economy according to the Office for Budget Responsibility which had been set up in 2006 by the Labour Government. That the economy had grown by 5.6% in 2014 and was forecasted to grow by 5.7% in 2015 , 5.9% In 2016 , 6.1% in 2016 , 6.2% in 2017, 6.3% in 2018 and 6.5% in 2019 and 6.6% in 2020. The rapid economic growth that had occoured over the last 7 years had been at first attributed to the finical sector but the national plan had clearly boosted the rates of economic growth as it had a long term vision of transpfokrign. the economy from being a service sector economy to a manufacturing economy. The growth rates showed that Britain could have the highest growing economy by 2017 and therefore re-asserting it's power as a global force. As for the budget surplus it was reported that the government would have a £180 billions surplus in 2015 , £189 billions in 2016, £195 billions in 2017, £202 billions in 2018 and £211 billions 2019 and £225 billions in 2020. These strong rates of surplus figures had allowed the investment in the front line services but also in the national plan. And as for inflation that was low with rates of 0.5% in 2015, 0.4% in 2016, 0.7% in 2017, 0.6% in 2018 ,0.5% in 2019 and 0.4% in 2020. The running of the strongest economy in the western world would be something that Labour would have going for them in the election.
The investment in the public services had been one of New Labour's key selling points that they were reforming the NHS for the better and with public approval. That in 1997 £42 billions was spent on the NHS compared to the £199 billions in 2015. The rapid investment in the NHS had seen the creation of 171 new hospitals , 88,000 new nurses, 79,000 new doctors. The 10 week guarantee that had been allocated for treatments. This had been effective in causing considerably less preventable deaths and therefore had been another key selling point for the public that the life is clearly better under the Labour Party and therefore it would be absurd to ruin it. Also the new 24 hour gaurantee in making sure that people who need an appointment will receive one in 24 hours was brilliant. More invesemtment within the physical care had also seen much more investment placed within mental health and social care. It had been undoubted that the radical reforms to the National Health service had been one of their crowning achievements.
As for Education there had been investment within the state education system had been a huge investments from £39 billions to £121 billions. These were some profound investments within the education system this is because the investments that had occurred within the state education system had allowed the construction of 783 new schools and the refisburishment of another 1,000 schools. These were profound investments that had allowed there to be greater levels of devleopment within the education sector. But also the hiring of over 65,000 teachers and the raising of education standards in the state education sector with 81% of students getting 5+ GSCEs this was another one of the achievements of the Labour Party But also the introduction of the graduate tax had radically increased funding for the state education sector by £7.1 billion. But also the introduction of Education Maintance Allowances and the University Maintance Grants have helped in assisting the students.
As for Public services in general the total consumption of public expenditure had risen from 38.4% in 1997 to 46.9% in 2015 the radical increases had been mainly attributable to the raises in the front line services eexpendtiture and therefore this had been one of the key success being able to run a strong economy whilst also investing in public services. As Ken Clarke stood up for the 10th response he hoped and the polls were showing this would be his last response as leader of the oppisition. 'So here we are Mr Speaker, after 18 years of government they have announced nothing new, no change just the same old polices being repackaged how on earth can they say that they are the party of change when they have run out of ideas, this country needs a new centrist alternative that doesn't turn the clock back but instead looks to the future what this country needs is a new conservative government to take over from this out of date failing labour government and that's the argument we will take to the country the moment this man runs out of time and calls that election'.
| Party | Result |
| Conservatives | 44% |
| Labour | 36% |
| Lib Dems | 18% |
| Conservative 332 (+141) | Labour 270 (-91) | Lib Dems 22 (-49) |
Labour Manifesto-A Future Fair For all- 04.04.15
As the Labour manifesto was launched ig was clear that there party had been in government for 18 years and therefore the element of modernisation had been essential, Ken Clarke had successfully labelled the Labour Party as a party who has run out of time. But they knew that if they were to win a general election then they would be able to have broken the glass ceiling and win 5 general elections. Sp as the Party launched their manifesto this is what policies they had.
- Raising NHS Spending by £6 billion every single year
- Cutting the Waiting lists by 1 million over the course of a parliament.
- Reducing the time it takes to book an appointment from 48 hours to 24 hours
- Increasing funding for mental health by 3.4% annually in real terms.
- Having more NHS walk in centres to provide specialist care for those in need.
- Looking at the recommendations of the Dilnot report and looking into a national care service.
- 100 new hospitals by 2020.
- Allowing greater levels of freedom for new schools
- Radically cracking down on truancy
- Having a fundamental review of examinations and there should be a report in wether or not they should be scrapped
- A new £40 a week maintenance grant for those low income students wanting to go to colege
- No review into University Funding till 2025
- No raises in the basic, higher or top rate of rate of income tax.
- Keeping and expanding the 10% lower rate of income tax
- Raising the threshold of Inheritance Tax to £500,000
- Raising the threshold of stamp duty to £300,000
- Raising the state pension by £25 from £110 a week to £135 a week.
- Maintaining the Winter Fuel Allowance and the Free TV Liscence
- Increasing the Winter Fuel Allowance to £450
- Reducing Council Tax Bills by £600 for those over 65s.
- 30,000 new police officers.
- Contuinig the expansion of community support officers.
- Tripling funding for Drug Treatment Facilities.
- Expanding the youth community support schemes so that by 2022 there is a youth centre in every constitutency
- Increasing funding for defence from £51 billion to £70 billions by 2019.
- Renewal of Trident Nuclear Missile
- No change in the relationship between the UK and the EU
- Providing 40 hours of free childcare by 2018
- Expanding Sure Start centres to every constituency
- Keeping the 9 months maternity pay
- Increasing the sick pay to £250 a week
- 75% CO2 Emissions cut by 2035
- More tax incentives for electric cars
- Rail transport to increase by 40%
- Referendum on Lords Reform.
| Party | Percent |
| Labour | 43% |
| Conservatives | 41% |
| Lib Dems | 14% |
| Labour 336 (-25) | Conservatives 276 (+85) | Lib Dems 15 (-56) |
Conservatives Manifesto-Time for a Change - 5/04/15
As the conservatives convened for their manifesto launched they had a right to be confident they had been polling well and they were beginning to change and the developments of the manifesto was conducted through the likes of Micheal Portillo, Micheal Heseltine, David Cameron, David Davis, Eric Pickles, Alan Duncan and Ken Clarke. The slogan time for a change was an essential one because it encapsulated a feeling which was whilst the Labour Government had done a lot good but what the conservatives were proposing was a change not a return to the past.
- The Construction of 60 new hospitals by 2030
- Investing an extra £9 billions a year in the NHS
- Reforming the watiitng times so that nobody would have to wait more than 12 weeks
- Making an appointment within 24 hours will be the new target
- Reducing the annual increase in NHS targets by 35%
- Investing an extra £2 billions annually in mental health
- Reducing waiting times to see a therapist to 48 hours
- Introducing a new publicly funded National Care service to provide social care free at the point of use.
- Increasing the funding of state education by £5.4 billions annually
- Having a review into grammar schools set up by Lord Ardene to be reported by 2019
- Maintaining the University Graduate Tax
- Spending an extra £9 billions on defence expenditure
- Raising troop levels to 100,000
- Maintaining the Trident Nuclear Detterent
- Keeping the points based system on immigration
- Reducing the total number of net migration to below 150,000
- Handing all immigration policy to an independent panel
- 35,000 police officers
- introducing a police watchdog in order to reduce crime
- Crime Reductions year on year
- Investing in the youth centres by 54%
- £8 billions in tax cuts
- Raising Inheritance tax threshold to £2 million by 2020
- Raising Stamp duty to £750,000 by 2020
- Remaining in the EU
- Resisiting any federalisaiton
- 40 hours of free childcare
- Increasing and upgrading tax credits to £3,000
- Free Rail and Bus travel for Over 65s and Under 21s
- No cuts in the Number of MPS with the next review in 2025
The Manifesto was interesting as though it continued to focus on conservative values of tax cuts, strong defence and running an effective economy but there were some social democratic policies such as the investments in the public services of £18 billions extra every year but also there were policies like allowing immigration to be put on an independent board was effective. The Conservatives had reformed and changed there perception from the nasty party to the party of change and pragmatism,
| Party | Result |
| Conservatives | 46% |
| Labour | 41% |
| Lib Dems | 12% |
| Conservatives 334 (+143) | Labour 285 (-76) | Lib Dems 10 (-61) |
Lib Dem-The Real Change- 06/10/15
The Lib Dems were in a state of crisis having dominated politics and had momentum it seemed to many that David Laws had single handedly ruined the momentum that the Lib Dems had when the leadership of Vince cable and Paddy Ashdown. Laws was on the hard right of the party and though a strong social liberal most of his economic values had pushed away huge quantities of social democrats and moderates who had given the Lib Dems a huge base.
- Abolishing all NHS Performance Targets
- Cutting the growth of investment from £8 billions to £2 billions
- Fundemental report into the future of nHS looking at European opitons
- Being open to private management of NHS Facilties
- Allowing all schools to have greater levels of autonomy and freedom
- Abolishing the independent appeals panels to allow more school discipline
- Allowing Private businesses to come into the state sector
- Introducing new mandatory minimum sentences for criminals
- Devolving police power to the councils
- Abolishing ID Cards
- Cutting the Basic Rate of Income Tax to 15% by 2022
- Cutting the top rate of tax to 30% by 2020
- Reducing Corporation Tax to from 26% to 18% by 2022
- Raising the Personal Allowance to £20,000
- Cutting VAT to 10% by 2020
- Focusing on tax cuts rather than spending increases
- Having a Referundum on Joining the Euro
- Having more localised referendums and localised politics
| Party | Result |
| Conservatives | 43% |
| Labour | 40% |
| Lib Dems | 14% |
| Conservatives 308 (+117) | Labour 277 (-84) | Lib Dems 13 (-58) |
BBC Election Debate
As the party convened for the BBC debate it was a very interesting debate there was to be an interesting thing. Ken Clarke had come to dominate the media cycle by focusing on the centre goiurn d and promising a new change. But also the debate was to be held in Birmingham and as the three leaders would to convene it was all up for grabs. Ken Clarke had spent the day doing debate prep with Micheal Portillo as Labour and Micheal Heseltine as Lib Dem. It would be an interesting debate. For Gordon Brown he had spent the day in the midlands debating people but also his debate prep has been done with Alastair Campbell as the Conservative. Campbell who had been Blair's special advisor and had been kept on for Gordon Brown and been effective. Theo Bertram was doing David Laws. Bertram had been a brownite and interesting part of the party and an effective debater. As for the Lib Dems, Tim Faron was doing Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg was doing Ken Clarke. And the entire BBC debate would mainly be focused on tax, economy, welfare,educaiton and health. Here are the leaders opening statements.It started with Ken Clarke
'Well thank you David, this debate is about you it's about where should Britain go. I believe that as a country we have got such a great future ahead of us, we have developed so many great things over the years and I think if we can keep developing and changing we can be better now look not everything labour has done in the last 18 years is bad they have done many good things and I would keep those but only through proper real meaningful change can we help the country'
Gordon Brown came second for his statement and as he began to spoke there was a common theme which was to unite the public.
'We are at a turning point, at the moment this country is at a crossroads I believe that we have such a bright future ahead of us and If we get the decision right now we can have permernant economic growth and opportunity for all but if we get the decisions now we will return to the 1980s. We have ran this country for 18 years and I know that we can see our best days lie ahead but we need to do is to make sure that we are able to focus on building up this country'
It was an interesting opening statement for the Prime Minister and he was to focus on two things the achievements of the Labour Government and the plan for the future. As for the Lib Dems, Laws was going to focus on his libertarian policies.
'Why did I become a Lib Dem, Freedom it's the most vital concept of our time. The defending of liberty is something that the Lib Dems are brilliant at and why do I focus on Liberty because we need to defend now there is a lot of mood for a change but we can't change our liberty as far as I'm Convinced vote Liberal for liberty'
The Opening statement was seen as effective in being focused but also dubbed pompous.
As the Debate convened it started about tax. Ken Clarke started the pitch about having lower taxes and cited the no tax rises pledge as a means of helping out the lowest paid. Gordon Brown had also been able to focus on the fact that under Labour there had been 78 tax reductions over the last 18 years. Brown continued to cite his pledge of not wanting to raise taxes. Laws was on comfartable terriortry where he pledged to 'have a tax cutting agenda' and it worked Br for the attacks. As Ken Clarke said to Laws 'so you are planning £42 billion of tax cuts where are you going to find the money'. Laws said that the would reduce some of labour's excess spending. Clarke detailed that through the budget surplus they would use £11 billions to finance new tax cuts. Gordon Brown detailed how he was going to expand the 10% band. Brown said 'We want to help everyone not just the priviliged few'. But it was concluded that Clarke had won the debate and the tax cuts he had focused on were to incentivise aspiration and enterprise.
But as it moved onto Education, there was an interesting focus it started with Gordon Brown detailing the huge public spending plans that had seen total spending on education rise from £39 billions in 1996/97 to £145 billions in 2014/15. He was Able to cite the huge school building programs but as Brown put it 'We are going to keep investing in education but it needs to have more reform'. Brown detailed how the Labour Party would be invest £25 billions over the parliament over the course of the next parliament into education. Brown was able to state how Britain was now No.1 in English and No.3 for Maths. As for ken Clarke he was able to focus on two things the first is how as he put it 'You talk about the investment and you forget to mention that we are propsing to spend more on education than you but secondly we are trying to reform education whilst keeping the coursework and the standards but removing the educational establishment who think all must win prizes and to put it simply Gordon why won't you get rid of them'. Brown did remark that funding had risen and so had standards within education and there was the return of competitive sports and the sprit of competition. David Laws said how 'We need to get the state out of education nd allow the private sector which often does better access to education and if that means privatisation so be it'. It was clear that Clarke had won Education section of the debate but that Brown had made some very good points.
When It came to Welfare, Ken Clarke went first he was able to focus on two aspects of his welfare plan the tax cuts that would be given to low income families in the form of uprarting tax credits but he made a remark which was very interesting 'The best route out of poverty is through work and when in government we cut Unemployment in half now we are promising to keep the new deal so we can get more people into work but we must have more jobs' Brown then said back to Clarke 'You talk about unemployment who were the party that said Unemployment is a price worth paying the conservatives, which party had 3 million unemployed for 1/3rd of there entire period of office the conservatives so the choice is of course between a Labour Government that wants full employment or a tory party that think unemployment is a price worth paying'. Laws then said 'Look what we have to understand is that we can't be a culture of entitlements and I really do think we should look into allowing charities and businesses to run our welfare state because we need to roll back the state' . This had led Ken Clarke to make a defence of the welfare state 'What the Lib Dem doesn't understand is that whilst we need to ahem more freedom the culture of safeguards and safety nets is vital it links back to the social contract and we can never break it'. Brown was asked to give his view and he said his own view 'We live in a compassionate society and we can't create society where people are left to fend for themselves whilst we must have greater individual responsibility we must be compassionate and it seems to me that David Laws wants people to fend for themselves in the streets' Brown had clearly won the Welfare state debate which was natural Labour Party Terriotry.
As for Health, this was going to be interesting, Labour had increased Health Spending from £42 billions 1996/97 to £181 billions in 2014.15. The NHS Spending had rapidly risen under Labour but equally as Chancellor Ken Clarke had increased the NHS budget by £18 billions in two years and he was the health secretary under Mrs Thatcher. So as Brown started he said 'The NHS has always been our number priority and we have always cared for it, in government we have increased the NHS Budget by £139 billions, built 210 new hospitals, hired 115,000 new nurses and had cut the period of waiting from 18 months to 18 weeks that is a record we have along with many achievements and I don't think we should go back to the dark old days'. As Clarke spoke he knew this would be a hard areas as despite he had modernised the tory party specifically on making them promise more on the NHS than labour, there was still a social stigma with the tories and the NHS so Clarke decided to flash his modernising social democratic credentials 'Whilst we must have market interventions and more market forces, the NHS must be safe from this, I ran the NHS for four years in the late 1980s now it's true there have been many improvements under Labour but we need to have a new approach because I support the ideals and the values of the NHS now whilst it needs investment and we are going to put in an extra £9 billions every single year we do need to modernise the way the way its conducted'. As for David Laws he decided to make a pitch to the right 'We are the party of Europe and therefore I think we need to look into the European options for healthcare in the way they have social insurance systems and this would be more effective for the healthcare system and again we can use the free market for healthcare'
As the Debate concluded after 90 minutes it was then to finish with Closing statements, the first was to be David Laws,
'I started this debate by explaining my devotion to freedom and I hope you understand that, I understand that my views will not be universally popular but they are right because if we are honest with ourselves we know that government can't do everything and what I want to do is to give power to the people'
A very brief closing statement which then led to Ken Clarke,
'Well this evening I have tried to show what I think a conservative government would do for this country which is to change the way we are governed, we know that Labour has done a lot of good but they are run out of energy and they have ran out of ideas, this Conservative party with new thinking ,bold ideas and values that will get this country moving we believe it's time for a change'
The Prime Minister was to finish the entire debate with his statement,
'I have been focusing on the central problems of this country for 18 years working with Tony and then doing it myself, Im very clear that our policies are there to help those who need our help we then have to make sure that we invest more in the Health Service, Education and the Police. I want to create a bigger and better society because that is what we're becoming but it requires to stick with the government that works because we will create a future fair for all'
And that was it, the debate was over it had been one of the most interesting debates the debate had been watched by 15.6 million people on BBC 1, the debate had clearly shown Ken Clarke's likability and his pragmatism this had been effective in showing to the public that the conservatives really had changed but also knowing that this would be his second election nd if he lost his final election. For Gordon Brown it was an interesting debate the reason this was so was because he was able to show that New Labour had been very interesting and his social democratic credentials had been effective in being able to reflect the policies of the Labour Government. As For David Laws the entire thing had been a complete disaster and therefore his views was so far on the right that it would make Bill Cash Blush,
Who won the Debate?
| Leader | Result |
| Ken Clarke | 48% |
| Gordon Brown | 43% |
| David Laws | 9% |
Opinon Polls
| Party | Result |
| Conservatives | 48% |
| Labour | 42% |
| Lib Dem | 10% |
| Conservatives 336 (+145) | Labour 287 (-84) | Lib Dems 11 (-60) |
Paxman Interivews
As Jeremy Paxman began to interview with David Laws, Laws was trying to recover from the appaling debate performance, So Paxman asked him the first question 'Do you want privatise the NHS', The Question had been interesting because it had been used as the line of attack by Gordon Brown and the Labour Party to win more Lib Dems. But also Ken Clarke had been using as his attack to bring over Lib Dems. Laws said 'I want to see more European alternatives to this socialist monolith' Paxman said so that's yes. And Laws said 'Look in this country we have a vast socialist monolith and it needs to be brought down and ended people can do better than government'. In regards to Education Laws openly advocated academies for all schools and therefore back door privitsaiton. Laws focused on his slogan of less government more people power. The Liberal Democrat Campaign had been a complete disaster and it was known that if they were to hold on to 15 seats they would be lucky. Charles Kennedy and Vince Cable had been talking about creating a New SDP.
As Gordon Brown started his interview, Paxman asked him an interesting question 'How long can these rates of economic growth go on for', Brown had decided to talk about the rates of growth by saying that 'If you look at the creation of the National Plan which has supported industry and the creation of new industry that has been able to create new rates of economic growth and I do believe that so long as their is a Labour Government we will have these rates of economic growth which has not only given us a surplus but has helped us invest in our public services' Paxman then asked him how did he feel that a Conservative party was more as he put it 'That a Conservative party had more interest in the front line services Than you' Brown said defiantly 'Whilst I do see Mr Clarke and Mr Portillo have changed their minds on public services can anyone say truthly that the mainstream of the Conservative party has changed their mind'. Brown was then asked 'What will you do if you lose'. Whilst the election was close and anything looked possible Brown said 'We will not lose, I know it's tough but we are going to win a fifth term because I believe that when the British people look at our record of increasing investment in the NHS,Schools and the Police are we to be trusted when we say we will run a strong economy and will continue to do so and we will continue to reduce unemployment so IO believe as hard as it might be we will win'. It was an interesting interview Brown was a well liked Prime Minister but there was a felling of time for a change.
Now for Ken Clarke, he had a formidable campaign and there was a chance of the conservatives being the largest party in an election, as Clarke sat down, Paxman asked him a question 'What will be the first priority if you become Prime Minister' Clarke said 'Building on the successes of the last 35 years on the basis of being an enterprising free market that has a social conscious the reason I want to do this is because whilst we have changed the Conservative party and we will keep doing that we will need to change aspects of society'. Another aspect that Paxman focused on was the NHS, Asking Ken Clarke so 'Your pleading an extra £45 billions of investment by 2020 for the NHS where is the money coming from' , 'Well we are going to use the proceeds of economic growth because as an economy grows there will be more money for the public expenditure and I passionately want more money for public services but we have to do it right'. Paxman decided to change the focus by talking about the issue of Immigration asking Clarke 'Do you see a natural limit on the total limit of migration' Clarke who was very ambivalent of the 150,000 figure decided to reluctnatly agree with party policy saying 'This country has benefited from immigration hugely but we need to have limits now we have said the 150,000 figure is a net figure but I have suggested that it should be put into an independent panel compromised of an ex Home Secretary probably Micheal Howard, 2 ex officers and a member of the CBI plus a front line border force officer should compromise the indepdnet board because we trust the experts'. Finally Pazman asked him the Blunt Question 'Do you think you are going to win' Clarke looking at the polls seeing him ahead says 'We are going to win an overall majority there will be no deals or coalition we will win a majority conservative government because the public can clearly see we have changed'.
As the Interview ended it was clear that once again Clarke and Brown were nearly tied because they had performed so well, Ken Clarke had come across as a pragmatic bloke who was in touch with ordinary people and Gordon Brown came across as the trusted prime minister. But the interesting part was that both held up well to paxmans scrutiny. Here is how the polls looked.
Which was the Best Interview?
| Leader | Percent |
| Ken Clarke | 47% |
| Gordon Brown | 45% |
| David Laws | 8% |
Who will you vote for?
| Party | Percent |
| Conservatives | 46% |
| Labour | 44% |
| Lib Dems | 10% |
| Conservatives 311 (+120) | Labour 301 (-60) | Lib Dems 11 (-60) |
Final Day of Campaign
'Well here we are after 18 years of opposition and turmoil we are on the verge of something quite special but this can only be dome through the election of a conservative government the way we are as a country we are a nation of enterpeneurs and manufactures we are the workshop of the world, because what we believe in is a society that says to people who want to di the right thing yes we are behind. you every step of the way, Indeed we are going to create an economy that has tax cuts but also has greater levels of public spending because we need to create a society where people who do the right thing can get on life but we are the party of aspiration and enterprise. But why do I believe in reforming the conservatives because we have to reach out to the public now if we win tomorrow we will have some great ministers wether David Cameron who will be a great foreign secretary or David Davis who will be tough on crime, Micheal Portillo who will keep running the strong economy, Eric Pickles who will run a humane social security policy and Alan Duncan who will strengthen our defences. But of course Micheal Heseltine who will be a great deputy prime minster and an outstanding secretary of state for industry. Let's get out their tomorrow and make history'
As for the Labour party, Gordon Brown had ran an effective campaign along with Ed Balls, Alan Milburn and David Blunkett. With Peter Mandelson and Alastair Campbell running the entire campaign. As Brown decided to come into the rally he got a live applause and a standing ovation, Brown had ran a good campaign and he finished his rally this.
'So as I said at the debate we are at a turning point and I believe that this country is at turning point and then we can continue with the high rates of economic growth the strong economy and the huge investments in the public services, we can continue with a society that has low rates of poverty and high rates of educational attainment. We can continue to run a strong economy and build on the public services or we can change into a conservative britian that prioritises inheritance tax cuts before income tax cuts, that prioritises infrastructure spending before the NHS. The tories may have changed their tune but they have not changed their minds. We are continuing to path forward the agenda for a new Britain and I believe that our best days lie ahead but it requires to stay the course and not go back to the days of tory britian let us go forward together to create a future fair for all'
BBC Election 2015
As the Election night convened it was to be interesting as it was anything to play for whilst the possibility of an overall labour majority was non-existent the Lib Dems were going to get anhiliated but could the conservatives do well as the BBC started for their election night here it started.DD-David Dimbelby
JV-Jeremy Vine
LK- Laura Kunnessberg
AM-Andrew Marr
DD-Thank you, well here we are this is our general election night and it is going to be interesting, Can Gordon Brown win another term and give the Labour Party a fifth term or will Ken Clarke provide the first tory election in 23 years. And we are going to track the results live with our desk and Jeremy Vine will be showing through his swingometer and his graphics about the state of the parties.
JV- And in my huge vault of graphics I will be able to effectively reflect what this country has done in their votes tonight and here our paving stones flying into Downing Street and can Ken Clarke pave his way to No.10 he will need 135 new seats to win so can he do it.
DD- And our Press will be tracked by Laura Kunnessberg who will be providing the sound analysis on how people will be reacting to the election.
LK- Well David I will be tracking the election and showing the clear interest that the public has had in the election and who will win.
DD- And of course Andrew Marr who will provide analysis as the results will come in and of course we will be providing exit poll data, so Andrew what are we to make of this exit poll.
AM- Well the exit poll has been wrong in the past but this one has sampled 50,000 people in a 100 marginal seats with the question 'How did you vote'.
DD- And here is our exit poll and what we are forecasting a hung parliament this election is too close to call with the conservatives as the largest party, the conservatives will have 313 seats, Labour 291 seats, Lib Dems 11 seats, Others 30 seats, Andrew?
AM- Well David if that Poll is right then the conservatives would have gained 122 seats whilst not a majority but it is quite a pheononel gain, Labour have put up a good fight keeping 291 seats and the Lib Dems have been absolutely destroyed losing 60 of their 71 MPs and if that poll is right you will see cheers in tory HQ, anguish in labour hQ and fury in Lib Dem HQ.
The Morning After
| Party | Seats | Percent | Votes |
| Conservatives | 331 (+140) | 47.4% (+12.2 %) | 14,995,101 |
| Labour | 284 (-77) | 43.5% (+5.0%) | 13,178,932 |
| Lib Dems | 9 (-62) | 9.1% (-18.2%) | 2,835,754 |
It had been an extraordinary night the conservatives had won a majority of 12 seats but an effective majority of 21 seats when you minus the Sinn Fien MPs. As Ken Clarke came back to CCHQ he was hailed as a hero for taking the tory party back to power with an overall majority which few had seen possible when he became the leader, he hailed it as a 'stunning victory of epic proportions'. Gordon Brown came to MIllbank down but not despaired he held a remarkable amount of seats and he won 13 million votes but the tory surge had been monumental that night. As for the Lib Dems David Laws would immediately tend his resignation in disgrace.
Clarkes Cabinet
First Cabinet meeting
2015 Spending review
2015 tory conference
2015 labour conference
Police Reform
Education Reform
Budget 2016
2016 Local Elections
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I think he proabaly will, because though he was defeated he still had nearly the same amount of seats as Harold Wilson did in 1970 and also he got nearly 2 million votes than the last election so he would have a legitimate case for staying on as leader plus the Labour Party had a leadership election just 23 months ago so therefore I think they would want to keep Gordon Brown but I think it's possible that he won't lead them into the next election.
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2015
The New Government
As Ken Clarke became the PM there was a sense of change within the air, he had won a majority of 12 seats, Having led the tories back from oppisiton and into government, as he came into CCHQ he was hailed as a hero even by his fiercest critics nobody saw this result coming most had foreseen the probabliltiy of a minority government of either party. No-one had seen this coming so as Ken Clarke came down to Downing Street he decided to make a speech which would unify the nation after 18 years of Labour Government he decided to unite the country.
'Her majesty the queen has asked me to form a new government and I have accepted but before I talk the new government let me just say a few words about the outgoing government compared with 2 decades ago our country is more generous abroad, more compassionate home and more tolerant globally and I on behalf of the whole country would like to thank Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and therefore remind them that they haven't lost the people. Our country will experience a change to express the new modern compassionate Conservative party which I Believe in, our government will seek to heal the country and when there are differences we will repair those differences, but enough of talking it is time now to do'
As Ken Clarke came to Downing Street he realised that No.10 was finally his, the strong bold and initiative leadership that he had privatised had been effective because it allowed him to modernise the Conservative party in contrast to the tragic leadership of Bill Cash so as he decided to announce his cabinet it was interesting in his choices.
Prime Minister-Ken Clarke
Deputy Prime Minister- Micheal Heseltine
Chancellor of the Exchequer - Micheal Portillo
Foreign Secretary - David Cameron
Home Secretary - David Davis
Health Secretary- William Hague
Education Secretary- David Willets
Work and Pensions Secretary - Eric Pickles
Trade and Industry Secretary - Micheal Heseltine
Energy and Climate Change Secretary- Nick Boles
Defence Secretary - Alan Duncan
International Development Secretary- George Osbourne
Chairman of the Conservative party - Micheal Fabricant
Transport Secretary - David Gauke
Communities and Local Government - Theresa May
Scottish Secretary - Ruth Davidson
Welsh Secretary - Stephen Crabb
The cabinet was a diverse government of moderates, because there were those who would be considered social democrats such as Eric Pickles, Ruth Davidson, and Alan Duncan. There were those would would be considered centrists such as David Cameron, Micheal Portillo and George Osbourne. But also those who would be on the right like David Davis. So therefore the broadness of the cabinet was effective in the government being able to be a unifying one.
First Cabinet Meeting
KC-Ken Clarke
MH-Micheal Heseltine
MP-Micheal Portillo
DC-David Cameron
KC- Well here we are at last, we are now running the country and I think we should just crack on, key item on the agenda is of course the upcoming spending review in regards to the public services, Now I have made it explicit clear that we will not be returning to the era of austerity primarily because the economy is growing so for then for us to return to an era of economic instability and to an era of unpopularity is over so Micheal?
MP- Well as you said PM, the era of austerity is over and therefore we have to be pragmatists as we said in the election we would be wise spenders not big spenders, so therefore I thinks e should seek to raise public expenditure by 1.8% of GDP or £40 billion, the reason we would need this forward spending plans are essential is because we need to create a society that works for the public and therefore I believe we should be raising public expenditure on the front line services but also we should be creating a greater levels of infrastructure because if we want to have greater levels of economic growth then it requires us to have a strong infrastructure. So therefore I think we have to spend an extra £10 billion on health, £8 billion on education, £6 billion on police, £5billion on transport and £11 billion on infrastructure this plan would be interesting because it would be bold and would take the wind out of Labour's sail.
KC- Ok Micheal?
MH- Well I absolutely agree with everything that Micheal has said, he's right we do need to spend more on the front line services and have a greater levels of infrastructure the main reason I advocate for more on infrastructure is because if we have a proper construction it would help after all we are the party of businesses so therefore if we can have effective constructions and develop greater levels of infrastructure would be able to develop the economy. So im in favour of this proposal.
KC- Ok David?
DC- Yeah I think that the proposals that are being suggested here are absioutley right the idea that we can continue with the current state of public service funding is adequate but I don't think our country should be settling for adequate so therefore we should be focusing on a new inactive which is to enhance public expenditure and to do it quicker,. I think we need to create a society of public-private partnerships, the idea that we should abandon the concepts of a public and private system is ludicrous but then once we provide the reform to public services then we should invest them.
KC- Ok so all those in favour of the spending review? Ok all in favour splendid.
2015 Spending Review
As the chancellor stood up to the dispatch box it was the first financial statement made by the government since 1996 and therefore there were a few interesting things such as the public spending proposals on the front line services and then taxation. As he stood up he did praise the economy under Labour but then decided to announce the new growth statistics which would be 5.9% in 2015, 6.1% in 2016 , 6.2% in 2017, 6.3% in 2018, 6.5% in 2019, 6.6% in 2020. These were some strong economic growth forecasts and Britain was growing the fastest in rate in the entire western world and were on the verge of beating china in economic growth rate,And this is one of the core economic strengths that the uk had which is their growth rate was huge and therefore made the uk formidable, the revival of the uk economy was huge and also Micheal Portillo and Ed Balls had worked together on maintaining the long term plan.
As for public Expenditure the UK was spending 43.1% of GDP on public expenditure and Portillo had privately pledged to spend 47.5% by 2022 he wanted to raise public spending in order to detoxify the tories and continue the modernisation agenda, So therefore he outlined how over the next 7 years there would be an extra £108 billion spent on public services and the reason this was essential is because the front line service funding commitments which were more Than Labour had allowed the conservatives to take the mantle of being the party of front line services. The commitments made on front line services were effective so therefore Portillo committed an extra £10 billion on the NHS, £7 billion on Education, £6 billion on Law and Order, the reason there was an emphasis placed on public services and the reason that the society needed an effective public serrvices that could be redeveloped within society.
As for the NHS the extra £10 billion was found and Portillo had announced that this would be the baseline increase for the next six years, this would gaurantee the NHS at least an extra £60 billion by 2021, he announced the construction of 50 new hospitals, the hiring of 50,000 new nurses and 35,000 more GPs, the raidcal reform of the NHS had been beneficial and it looks like the conservatives had no intention of stopping. As for Education the Graduate tax scheme isn't going to be scrapped and that was the premise in that the core part of the escalation of the education budget over the last decade was going to be kept and therefore the education reforms under New labour were not going to be ditched.
As the chancellor sat down, Gordon Brown was going to have a difficult job he was going to have to attack the tories for being to left wing, after all the public spending plans would make Dennis Skinner Blush. So as the leader of the Labour stood up he decided to go for it 'Mr Speaker today the chancellor has stood up and gave a speech in which he has said in effect that all there most cherish principles of free markets, deregulation and enterprise are now gone so how can we trust them to run the country because if they were to abandon their most cherish principles in opposition what can they do in government because they do not simply understand that by taking their principles and throwing them away people will realise that while the shadow cabinet might have changed their minds, has the honourable lady for witham (Priti Patel) changed her mind has the honourable member for Esher and Walton (Dominic Raab) changed their mind no of course not isn't the truth that they are a divided party and they will be a divided government'
Labour Conference- Leeds- 29/09/10-03/10/10
As the conference, convened it was their first in opposition for nearly two decades there was an element of despair in the same way there was for the tories in 1997 except it was concluded that Gordon Brown would not be shoved out and that since he led labour to a satisfactory result winning 43% of the country and 13.1 million votes that he should stay on but also there was a fear that if Alan Milburn was to become the leader the party would drift to the right, so therefore they kept Gordon but the conference had there notable speakers, John McDonell, Ed Balls and Gordon Brown. The party did have a flirtation with the left at the conference as shown by the fact that the McDonell was the second most watched speech in conference. And here is how it went.
'Conference, this is a key turning point we can decide if we want to be party of our roots which is of socialism or a free market party. The last labour government did exceptional things and I do fear for the country but we must understand that we must present a clear divide between the conservatives and the Labour Party. And we are going back to our roots because the tree of capitalism his rotten and is failing because we have tried to implement capitalism under good and humane labour governments and it hasn't worked Because Capitalism won't work because it will create mass unemployment and the destruction of the welfare state so I ask this conference to say this Labour Party best when we are boldest best when we are untied best when we are labour'.
The speech was very robust and very traditional because what McDonell was articulating was what some saw to be true Labour values however the Labour Party didn't want to have a full scaled fight over some 'abstract theortical questions totally irrelavant to the needs of ordinary people'. Ed Balls went up next and decided to speak up for the modern labour values.
'Conference we are the party that has been running the country for the last 18 years and whilst we did so much good there was a simple feeling of time for a change now this doesn't mean people we as social democrats then turn our backs on what we believe I think is the most essential principle as social democrats is to understand that since we are the party of pragmatism then were must be pragmatic about the future so therefore we have to accept that not everything the conservatives believe in is wrong and therefore as social democrats surely we would not want to cause too much harm we are the party of government and if we are willing to stay the path of moderation and pragmatism then we will win but we can't go on lurching and nor can we start a path of idealigcla narcissism let's keep focusing and let's keeping winning'
The way Balls dressed the party conference with interest and making sure the party are properly focusing this is because the ex chancellor and probably the future chancellor, Ed Balls had decided to give a party conference speech which was involved in allowing a standing ovation. Next Up was the Prime Minister Gordon Brown the leadership of Brown had been effective he was able to make sure that the Labour Party were able to focus so he went up and talked about education, health and the theme of change and he said this.
'Conference we need to change this party, I don't see the point of moving to the left but nor do I see the point of going to the right we just need to give the good stable leadership the country needs and that's what this party has brought to the country and we will continue to bring that to the country, the change that we have had in going to opposition has for us luckily been a stable on and freinds I know we will be back into power in the not too distant future but we have to work and come together otherwise will give the conservatives more power so let's focus and change thank you'
The conference had been a success for the Labour Party it had allowed them to focus on change because it allowed the Labour Party to properly focus and therefore recover from the period of trauma that they were suffering from.
| Party | Percent |
| Conservatives | 47% |
| Labour | 45% |
| Lib Dems | 8% |
| Conservatives 311 (-20) | Labour 304 (+20) | Lib Dems 10 (+1) |
Conservative party Confernance- Opportunity For All- 5/10/15-9/10/15- Brighton
As the tory conference convened it was interesting as they came in it allowed the government to properly articulate their vision they had done what many had seen as New Labour in reverse taking the tory party to the centre ground and making Labour more social democratic. As the tories came into the conference there were going to feel like they were back in power because they were able to properly exercise influence the main speaker were to be David Davis, David Cameron, Micheal Heseltine,Micheal Portillo and Ken Clarke. But first up the Home Secretary David Davis
'Well thank you for that welcome I got at the start but conference let me just finish by saying this what is our approach to crime it's being tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime we are the party of law and order, that is why I think should introduce mandatory life sentences for murders the idea we say to people for those who commit such a disgusting offence and then they will be sentenced to only 20 years in prison and could be out in 10 is obviously clearly a nonsense. So therefore we should seek to introduce a mandatory life sentences. So therefore whilst I passionately believe we have to be tough on crime we should prevent the youth from getting into crime so therefore we should seek to maintain youth centres, I want to young people off the streets and to be doing something with their time'
The speech was very interestin, Davis was an unashamedly dry right winger and for him to make a thoughtful speech was interesting the attention was placed on the mandatory life sentences was interesting as the tariff reform was to be scrapped and the introduction of the new reforms to crime would be interesting but as Davis dominated the coverage, David Cameron the foreign secretary was up next, Cameron who was a moderate decided to convey a more internationalist foreign policy. Cameron had decided that Britain should not join the euro but within that he was going to be as pro-europeans as possible. So the speech went like this.
'Confrerence in this new world of freedom and control how does Britain take a leading role and I believe it is through understanding what we are which is a nation at the heart of a peoples Europe, we don't want to be in a country called Europe but since we are a nation that needs to work with others in order to thrive in the world we have to understand that the argument for Europe is an argument for competitiveness we are in Europe we are not going to leave but being able to change this country in order to ensure that there is a society of opportunity for all then there has to eb proper focus placed on making Britain at the heart of Europe but we will have to understand that by working with others does not make us less British it makes us more global so let's get out there and do it'
Next Up was Micheal Heseltine, Hezza had been at the heart of tory conferences for nearly 35 years and as he decided to give a speech as the secretary of state for trade and industry as long with the title of the Deputy Prime Minister, Heseltine who was a natural moderate had decided to give an effective speech on the state of the country and how to create an opportunity society.
'Conference we are here back in government so therefore let us now seize the moment which is that of power we have so much to do wether it is reforming and modernising the industries of the country, wether it is the health service or of course bringing opportunity for all of our people and that is our approach opportunity for all we want to create a society where everyone can come together and work together we are no left wing nor right wing we are pragmatic so let us remain that way and now we have taken so long to get back into power let us not now become a bunch of right wing hysterics let us be the party which represents this country all fo this country not certain elements the entire nation thank you'
Hezza was making a very robust speech imploring the tories to unify and not to split though it would change the country it would make it better, Heseltine was a moderate a one nation conservative but the use of the speeches in the party conference were very very interesting and now for the chancellor of the exchequer Micheal Portillo, Portillo who was a converted moderate. 'Converted' after the 1997 General election as Portillo stood up he gave an effective speech focusing on the issue of taxation., Health, Education and Welfare.
'Friends we are here focusing on our agenda for government our first priority must be maintaining the strong economy which this country has done and which our party has done so let's not forget what this parties purpose is to run a prosperous nation not to hold back, that's why we are running a strong economy and that's why we must introduce a new efficiencies guarantee this would apply to public expenditure and also within regulations. The reason this was essential is because we are modern party that live in this new world of freedom and therefore in this new world of freedom and control we can create a new society of greater liberty for the individual we are a new nation but we can change the country for the better'.
Portillo was an interesting speaker the election of the conservative government had ensured the new consensus the socially democratic consensus in that whilst both parties were in effect left and right they were both in the centre ground. This was shown by the lack of radical change from the spending review in the summer. As the Prime Minister Kenneth Clarke came into the hall he received a 5 minute standing ovation by everyone of all factions as this was the man who had led the party back to power even those who were sceptical of the Clarke leadership were hailing him as a hero. his speech was focused on the themes of education, health and law and order.
'Well we are back in power and let's not forget that we are back in government and that is a remarkable since a decade ago we convened this conference with our friends in the media saying that we are finished and now we are back in power but by changing and reforming this country is what we need to do and this can only be done through two means investment and genuine reform, I don't think we should make the public sector the dominant service we need to involve the private sector but that doesn't mean we should then remove the founding principles of the state sector. I believe passionately in choice and competition but this can only be ensured through pragmatism in society because we can be so much better than this but only through change can we make sure this'
The speech like the conference had been overall a success it had been able to place the conservatives in the right strand of thinking since the election they had a honeymoon in the opinion polls polling consistently above 45% the collapse of the Lib Dems had been huge but they also know that the Labour Party had been polling well at 42% on average and whilst the conference had been a huge success two party politics was here to stay.
| Party | Percentage |
| Conservatives | 48% |
| Labour | 43% |
| Lib Dems | 8% |
| Conservatives 342 (+11) | Labour 268 (-16) | Lib Dem 12 (+3) |
Police and Crime Reform
The reforms were essential in crime policy the government had made the reforms of lw and order one of the key the agenda of the conservatives as a way of getting the right wing on the side of the modernising agenda by allowing David Davis to become the Home Secretary was a strategy of near genius as it showed that Ken Clarke had not abandoned the conscience of the party, the reforms set out in the bill were certainly on the law and order wing and here is what was in the bill
- Allowing Stop and Search Powers to be exercised by the police
- Introducing Prison sentences for all violent crimes
- New Mandotary Life sentences for Murder
- Hiring 25,000 new police offricers
- Allowing officers to have tasers and to use them in violent disputes
- Expanding the CO-19 units
- Building 60 new prisons by 2020
- Reducing the Prisoner Prison officer ratio from 80:1 to 50:1
- To increase drug treatment centres funding from £2.9 billion to £17.4 billion by 2021
- Making sure these centres are run by the Department of health.
'Mr Speaker, I'm finishing this debate by concluding by saying this we are the party of law and order in this country today, but the reason I believe this is because in this country there is no such thing as a lawless society and therefore we should believe in a new form of law and order which is tough on crime and the causes of crime but it also says to those esteemed violent thugs you cause suffering to the public so we are taking away your liberty, it also says we are going to strengthen the powers of the police to create another 25,000 officers and then also building 60 new prisons. If we are going to make the proper investment in the cause of crime then we have to be tough on crime and I commend this motion to the house'
As Davis sat down, Blanket stood up and articulated the vision of the labour policy on crime:
'Mr Speaker in this bill there are some plain issues the first is the refusal to introduce prison sentences for non-violent crimes as well as violent ones, it is the refusal to state where the funding for the 60 new prisons will come from, the failure in stating just how many CO-19 units would be expanded but here is the big issue, Mr Speaker the Home Secretary has been a campaigner for civil liberties for as long as I have known him and today he has decided to allow stop and search how on earth can the so called party of freedom want to prevent liberty from being exercised in it's form. So therefore we should reject this bill now'
As the vote commenced it was interesting the government were going to win but there were some discontented conservatives on the issue of not wanting to re-classify drugs, not wanting to hire 40,000 more police officers and the civil liberty tories who think stop and search will create a police state but the result was foregone
| Party | Ayes | Noes | Abstentions |
| Conservatives | 319 | 2 | 10 |
| Labour | 2 | 280 | 2 |
| Lib Dems | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| Others | 10 | 13 | 7 |
| Total | 340 | 295 | 19 |
The Margin was bigger than expected but it had occurred with a 45 vote majority for the government on a key piece of legislation in order to make sure the bill went through, it had been a good bill for the government and the fact that no amendments passed had been even better.
End of Year
It had been a good year for Ken Clarke it had allowed the conservatives to properly focus on the issues of this country on health, education and law and order. But above all the crowning achievement was this he had got the tories back into government which nobody thought possible but also one of the core reasons that the popularity of Clarke was his blokeish image had made even more of a likeable fella. As for Gordon Brown well he hadn't crashed and resigned intact he had a good debating style at PMQs which made him seem formidable and with the Lib Dems crashing and rumours of a split Labour might benefit even more. As for the Lib Dems, It looked like if Laws wasn't going then there would be a split.
UP Next
Budget 2016
Education Reform
2016 Mayoral Elections
2016 Local Elections
Health Reform
2016 Tory Conference
2016 Labour Conference
And Much More
Last edited:
2016
Budget 2016
As Micheal Portillo stood up it was the first tory budget in 20 years, The Conservatives had decided to cheer him on knowing that the chancellor would be announcing how the economy would be able to grow under a Conservative government the economy would be having very good economic growth rates it was forecasted that the growth rate would be 6.2% in 2016, 6.3% in 2017 6.1% in 2018 , 6.2% in 2019 and 6.4% in 2020. These were strong economic growth rates ,One of the interesting factors was that Micheal Portillo had promised to stick to Labour's spending commitments. And the economic growth forecasts would have been reflecting that the UK Economy was becoming the fastest growing economy on the planet. The surplus projections were £118 billions in 2016 , £128 billions in 2017 , £135 billions in 2018 , £145 billions in 2019 , £153 billion in 2020 and £160 billions in 2021. The surplus projections had been reduced due to the National Investment bank.
As for Public Spending the Health service which had been an interesting part was the Conservative promise not to cut Labour's spending plans and this had been one of the key components of the tory revival. Because what then happened was that he announced Simon Stevens would be launching a comprehensive review into the National Health service the reason was stated was because it allowed the conservatives to state that whilst they wanted to run that strong economy they also knew that the public services did need a lot of help. So therefore Portillo announced the Stevens review to be finished in August and then Parliament will be able to vote on the recommendations of the report. He also announced that the Stevens report would look into the idea of a National Care service.
As for state education, there was to be a rapid increasing in the funding for state education, Portillo announced that there would be an extra £7 billion for Schools this would be used in order to build more schools and to help the state sector the reason they wanted to do this was because the Conservatives had been ideologically dragged to the centre ground and though this had been disputed it had been accepted that since the centre ground had won them a general election then the centre ground is where they would be. So therefore Portillo announce an extra £13 billion for the School Building programme which was planning to build 1,000 more schools at least. Portillo announced the new dearing commission which would be looking into how to properly invest in schools whilst ensuring that the reform is delivered for education. Portillo announced that the education maitnance allowance would be updated to £30 a week.
For Crime Policy, Portillo decided to announce that the increase In the police budget would be of 3.5% in real terms this would be done in order to make sure that the police budget can increase to £26 billions by 2020. He also announced an increase on court building the Labour Party had increased court building to 60 per year Portillo made it 75 a year. Also the increase inn funding for the CO-19 units would be interesting for law and order. Defence Portillo announced an extra £9 billions a year for the military, Plus the troop figures would be raised to 100,000. But there would be an increase in the equipment. program.
As for Tax there was one big announcement for next year the basic rate of income tax would be cut from 22% to 21%. It was the lowest basic rate in 85 years and as he commanded it to the house of commons it was greeted with a cheer the budget had been successful. As for Gordon Brown when he stood up he decided to stick it to the right wing by saying 'Mr Speaker today the government have introduced a budget which of course ends all conservative values because it is a budget which spends more on health, education and the police it is a labour budget. And whilst of course there are measures we are welcome not least we propose them the members I worry about are on the backbenchers the people who are trying to influecenc the conservatives the people who want to end the NHS and state schools and we must stand for true labour values or we will suffer and as for this government we will run them out office'.
2016 Local Elections
The Local Elections were going to be interesting the Conservatives were in a good state their campaign had been an interesting campaign the reason this is so is because the campaign had been focused on the themes of prudence. Prudence in when they are tory councils the economy and the finances are ran sensibly and when they are Labour councils the councils are ran with high levels of spending but the tories had also ran to the centre ground which had been effective in being able to proclaim that whilst they were in the centre ground that in a conservative Britain there was more money being spent on the public services. The Campaign had overall been a success for the conservatives. Notably the speech made Alan Duncan where he talked about the modern compassionate conservatism.
For Labour well they were in a good place though they had lost the General election and these were based of the 2012 Local Elections which had been very good for the conservatives, there was an element of uncertainty one of the big issues for Labour is simply that when they were out of power they were realising that far from the conservatives running to the right they were actually staying in the centre ground. Gordon Brown and Ed Balls had ran the campaign and had become the face of the campaign. And it was an effective campaign for the Labour Party because they had decided to pride themselves of their natural bases such as the health service and Education but it was clear that this would be difficult for Labour.
For the Lib Dems the meltdown hadn't stopped David Laws had refused to resign to the fury of Charles Kennedy and Laws wills till advocating his economic liberalism and as Charles Kennedy asn this social democratic wing had openly refused to stump for the Lib Dems. Laws had decided to fight a campaign based on privatisation and tac cuts. Which had alienated the core base of the Lib Dems. And as the campaign began to unravel it was clear that the Lib Dems wouldn't do well
| Parties | Councils | Councillors | Share of the Vote |
| Conservatives | 95 (-7) | 8,321 (-410) | 48.9% (+5.5%) |
| Labour | 93 (+24) | 8,183 (+1,092) | 47.8% (+8.5%) |
| Lib Dems | 5 (-13) | 565 (-893) | 3.2% (-15.1%) |
| No Overall Control | 10 (-4) |
| Conservatives 315 (-16) | Labour 305 (+21) | Lib Dems 5 (-5) |
Scottish Election
As Scotland came to the polls they were compelling the idea of a fifth term Labour Government it looked unlikely that the tories would win the election, but their campaign was interesting as in Scotlands there were three main campaigners, Eric Pickles, David. Cameron and Alan Duncan. They were considered to the the three most left wing members of the cosnervative party ministers. So therefore as they were in the cabinet and therefore with that carried weight and substance. The Campaign in Scotland was very interesting for the conservatives and as the Conservative leader Douglas Ross came up the manifesto included policies such as the infrastructure fund or the incomes support allowances for the poorest in society, but their most notable pledge was the 80 new hospitals to be built by 2021.
For Labour Scotland was the Natural Heartland for Labour securing 42 of the 59 MPs and winning 60 MSPs. Labour knew that they were only five MSPs away from winning the election outright but the were under threat from the tories and the SNP So therefore the leader Iain Gray who had succeed Jack McConell. Gray who was though less charismatic seemed to have the right answers to the right questions and therefore was able to present as the man for the right times. He had a natural affinity to those in Central Scotland. He looked like he would win. Labour were helped with Gordon Brown's speech which was bold and focused on how to help the poorest in society. Though New labour had been electoral success, seeing brown in his roots made the public realise this man was of sincerity.
Willie Rennie ran an interesting campaign for the Lib Dems, Rennie who had a passionate hatred for David Laws and his positions ran a socially democratic campaign focusing on public services, Indeed it was known that Rennie had been allowed to properly articulate the view of building on Scottish education by making that campaign about Scottish education was effective in being able to articulate a more liberal Britain with focus on education. Rennie knew that the 2011 was the last point where the Lib Dems had the Ashdown/Cable Boost and therefore he wouldn't go in freefall but there was an advantage which was that they had been in Coalition with Labour for 19 years and therefore had credibility.
For the SNP there campaign under John Swinney had been focused on the theme of Independence knowing the tthey could get as high as 30% of the vote but this was unlikely so they made it about the future of Scotland and though Swinney was a popular leader the SNP were in trouble.
So the result was foregone:
| Parties | Seats | Share of the Vote |
| Labour | 62 (+2) | 41.6% (+1.1%) |
| Conservatives | 29 (+4) | 28.9% (+4.2%) |
| Lib Dems | 25 (+3) | 17.6% (-1.8%) |
| SNP | 10 (-5) | 6.4% (-0.9%) |
| Greens | 6 (-4) | 5.5% (-2.6%) |
The Election had been good for the three main parties, labour were just three seats away from the overall majority, the Labour Party had won a fifth term in government and this was successful the renewal of the coalition between labour and the Lib Dems looked near certain the coalition had gone from having 82 seats to 87 seats and therefore the overall majority had for from 35 seats to 45 majority and therefore the programe of reform would be put through. For the Conservatives winning 29 MSPs was good as they would now be the official opposition yet again. But Overall it had been a good night for Labour and the Lib Dems
Wales Election
Wales would be interesting for Labour the campaign had been rallying them for a fifth tern labour government and one of the core reasons the Labour's campaign was successful is because they had a natural conenection to the people of Wales and that natural connection did work in being able to understand the issues of Wales as they were able to focus on the front line services such as Health and Education and Unemployment and crime. Welsh Labour were singnficantly more to the left than the National Labour Party. Rhodri Morgan was one of the most popular politicians in the country and of course being a friend to the likes of Dennis Skinner and the left were running the Labour Party..
For the Conservatives the campaign was going to be a form of torture the conservatives had decided to select Andrew R.T Davis a dry right winger though the leadership had preferred Phillip Lee who was a moderate and would have properly locked the centre ground down for the Conservatives. But the candidacy of Davis has been seen as on the lunatic right wing and by focusing on proposals such as crime not on the Health service or Education but instead focusing on crime. The campaign hadn't been as effective for the conservatives.
As for the Lib Dems, their leader Kirsty Williams had been working in a coalition with Labour and this coalition had led the reforms on education, health and housing. The reason that the Welsh Lib Dems were not in freefall was Because they had credibility in running Wales and therefore could claim that they would be the brains to Labour. Though no one knew how the elections would go because the Lib Dems in England were in collapse and therefore they were hoping that the personal popularity of Kirsty Williams and the credibility of the government could keep them with enough infleujcnce to prevent labour from winning an overall majority.
| Parties | Seats | Share of the Vote |
| Labour | 30 (NC) | 41.1% (+0.7%) |
| Conservatives | 10 (-5) | 24.3% (-6.8%) |
| Lib Dems | 9 (+2) | 22.3% (+5.3%) |
| Plaid Cymru | 7 (+5) | 7.5% (+2.3%) |
| Welsh Socialist Party | 4 (-2) | 5.1% (-1.5%) |
The Welsh Labour party had successfully won a fifth term and had nearly broke through the majority line it had looked at points they might have but this was interesting because the coalition talks had allowed Labour to do another deal with the Lib Dems but there was a band of rebels who wanted to a deal with the Welsh Socialist party notably including Rhodri Morgan the first minister, But however it was another deal with Labour and the Lib Dems as though the Lib Dems were more to the right than Morgan they were social democrats and could work with Labour. Indeed the fact the Lib Dems had preformed so well in Wales was baffling to Laws as the welsh Lib Dems had campaigned far more to the left than David Laws.
London Mayoral Election
The Campaign was going to be tough for Labour and Ken Livingstone. As they were campaigning for an unprecedented fifth term and Livingstone did have genuine achievements to his name the reduction of the fares year on year the remodernisation of the train stations and deregulation off the busses. This is including of the 1.8 million homes that have been built in London since 2000. And the homes for rent policy was working. Livingstone had announced that this would be his final election. But one thing was undeniable he had made the job his own. Livingstone who was the most left wing politician in the UK and tipped to be a potential leader of the Labour Party looked ready for another term.
After the disaster performance for the Conservatives in 2012 where they came third. Clarke had decided to work on getting a moderate as the candidate and the obvious choice became Rory Stewart. Stewart who was more aligned to the David Milliband and Alan Milburns than he was to the John Redwoods. it allowed him to win over Labour voters. And the Rory Walks strategy which had involved Stewart talking to the people not to tory members but to the people. The Strategy was an act of genius, Because it was him going to labour voters and talking to them and it worked massively, areas like Tottenham, Brent, Tower Hamlets, Whalthmstow and Lewisham. Areas which had gone labour for decades were now going undecided because, Stewart especially in the debate looked calm and collected and spoke common sense.
As for the Lib Dems, Brian Paddock had come second 4 years ago and with a rejuvenated conservative party he knew that there was no chance of that occurring again but instead he decided to make it about crime and law and order. Having been a police officer for 25 years he decided to focus on the themes of law and order, Paddock though more of a Cableite than a Lawsite had tried to work with the leadership more than in Scotland and Wales. The leader of the Green Party Sian Berry had also ran a formidable campaign focusing on not just the environment but also on the issues such as income inequality, welfare state and rebuilding the housing estates. Berry was running a campaign to the left of Labour. Not of Livingstone as it was known that her and Livingstone did consider each other as close friends but ran a campaign against labour.
| Candidates | First Ballot | Second Ballot |
| Ken Livingstone | 39.22% | 52.99% |
| Rory Stewart | 37.78% | 47.01% |
| Sian Berry | 13.56% | |
| Brian Paddock | 9.44% |
The result was close very close for Labour winning a fifth term was magnificent. But the tories had nearly won they had gone from being pariahs of London to being a potential party of government and it was fair to say that whilst the tories were not popular in London. Rory Stewart was very popular in London. As for the Mayor he had secured an unprecedented fifth term and that was a crowning achievement for him and for the labour party. The Greens were happy in securing 13.5% of the vote quadrupling the vote they had in 2012. But for the Lib Dems the collapse they had was just clear how big the writing on the wall is. And here is how the London Assembley looked.
| Party | Result | Share of the Vote |
| Labour | 10 (-2) | 45.1% (-1.8%) |
| Conservatives | 7 (+2) | 29.2% (+1.1%) |
| Greens | 6 (+2) | 16.1% (+6.3%) |
| Lib Dems | 2 (-2) | 9.6% (-7.0%) |
It was going to be a deal between Labour and the Greens as that is how the coalition had been before and it was to be a renewal of the coalition the that had been going on for 8 years. The Labour Party in London had been more to the left than National labour and though the Labour Party were annoyed at the Greens for the attacks they didn't want to go into coalition with a right wing Lib Dems. But though the talks were about to go ahead the tories though talked about doing a deal with the greens were told in effect to get lost. The tories assembly members were more to the right than Rory Stewart and through Sian Berry did respect Stewart calling him a 'respectable and decent man which is odd for a right wing Conservative party'. The Greens wanted to a deal with Labour and so it was done yet again.
Education Reform
As the tories came back into the house of commons the work goes on and the reforms continue, David Willets had been a fairly mediocre education secretary having not beaten the bandwagon of investment and reform and one of the core issues was that he was not doing enough reform for education. Willets though a pleasant man was not worthy but he had hoped this bill would help him boost his standing in the government. The Reform included the following provisions:- Investment increasing by 5.3% every year in real terms
- Building 80 new schools every single year.
- Expanding the Charity status for private schools to allow greater provision for private schools.
- Offering students Vouchers to go to private schools.
- Constructing new Grammar Schools so that by 2025 they make up 20% of schools
- Removing any teachers who do not encourage an environment of competition.
- Increasing the quality of academies from 3% of total schools to 10% of total schools by 2019
- Providing Schools with greater levels of autonomy in deciding who they hire and what they teach.
- Making 50% of GSCEs Coursework down from the 75%.
'Mr Speaker we have talked time an again about creating a proper education system a system which is effective and a system which delivers for the people of Britain and in short that is what we are going to do, now I suspect that this entire house is going to be supporting provisions such as the massive investment which we are going to do and the building of the schools but we. are going to support the reform and to be honest Mr Speaker I don't understand why labour are opposed to this all we are doing is putting the money and the reform and I know the honourable lady for Normanton pontefract and castleford will come up with all sorts of silly objections to the bill but the policies are the right ones and they will be implemented'
As Willets conclueded his statement, Cooper focused on the issues of standardisation of education and deciding to focus on the reforms toe examination and trying to make schools to become academies.
'Mr Speaker as I finish this debate, I conclude by saying we have a state education and this in notable by the tory voucher proposal how on earth can they brag about being the centrist party of one nation moderates and yet they advocate proposals such as vouchers which is a form of back door privatisation of education is that what the government meant by one nation one people. And the education secretary talks about my silly objections really is it silly to object to a portal to take students out of the state sector and put them into private education with less standards, is it silly to reject a proposal which will privatise state education overtime and sack teachers for having different methods, if this government pursues this bill they will be finished'
| Parties | Ayes | Noes | Abstentions |
| Conservatives | 319 | 11 | 1 |
| Labour | 0 | 284 | 0 |
| Lib Dems | 4 | 6 | 0 |
| Others | 0 | 21 | 9 |
| Total | 323 | 322 | 10 |
It was close very close, the tory rebels had tried to thwart the bill and with the opposition out in full force it was suspected that the vote could go from being defeated by 2 to the government winning by three. Certain reforms had alienated people but the conservatives had been won over by saying that Grammar schools reforms would be accelerated., But this was close.
Labour Conference- Rebuilding Britain- Manchester 30/09/16-03/10/16
As the Labour Party convened for their conference it had been a good year for them the successes they had in Scotland and Wales and London. But there was a certain element of pain not being able to run the country hard clearly hurt the Labour Party but the keynote speakers this year would be, Rhodri Morgan, Iain Gray and Gordon Brown. As Rhodri Morgan took to the stage he was greeted with a cheer from the delegates being more to the left than the leadership did help In being able o build a society focusing on reforming the country of Wales and the Labour Party so as he decided to conclude his 33 minute speech by saying this:
'Conference the theme of unity is vital if the tories are insistent on destroying the country then we have to hold their feet to the fire and make sure they are not moderates they are right wing and we showed them for what they were in Wales where we secured a fifth term for the Labour Party we have now become the natural party of government in Wales and what we learned there from the people is simple when you listen and hear people they will listen to you and then they will realise that your values of socialism are the values of compassion, social justice and tolerance which they share and so let's change the party so we can change the country'
The speech was a robust speech articulating the vision of the Left that Morgan repestened having wanted to nationalise things such as electricity he came across a reasonable man of the left, Next Up was Iain gray the first minister of Scotland and though he was. not as charismatic as Morgan, Gray never claimed to be one of the key selling points was the fact he was a man who could get things done. His speech had focused on the issues such as nationalism and health.
'What this party has been for decades is a broad group of thinkers and people who will listen to others and it's through the rapid change that we can change this country and it's not through shouting and debating old theoretical abstract useless questions that are totally irrelevant to the people we need to get back to our winning ways and though we are party of left of centre party with manynways of achieving democratic socialism it requires to be pragmatic as we are not a party of ideology we are party of power so let's focus on winning the next general election. I believe that this party has got a brighter future but only by winning'.
Next Up was Gordon Brown, Brown had bene the prime minister and was the leader of the Labour Party and he decided to make a speech focused on themes of reconciliation and then he decided to make a speech about winning the next election.
'Thank you for allowing me to lead the party but to understand that to change the country is essential and but only through investment and reform can we make sure that this nation is change for the better and the reason I implore this party to reform is because we are so close and I believe that the elections that we have won in the past show what we are a centre left party that wants democratic socialism but don't start undermining the records of what we achieved the second we do that is the second we enter the slippery slope of opposition let's bang the drum of policies to walk through the door of power'.
The Speech was bold and as the conference finished the labour party did focus on being able to rebuild this country and rebuilding Britain and that was his main focus in society which was rebuilding Britain,.
| Party | Percent |
| Labour | 46% |
| Conservatives | 42% |
| Lib Dems | 11% |
| Labour 334 (+50) | Conservatives 271 (-63) | Lib Dems 23 (+13) |
Conservative Conference- Leeds-The Next Move Forward-Leeds - 4/10/16-7/10/16
As the Conservatives convened for their conference it was interesting they had passed a series of legalistive reforms on Health,Education and though some of the reforms were very controversial were because it allowed the party to become more palatable with the electorate which allowed them to win a general election. The key note speakers were David Davis, David Cameron, Micheal Heseltine, Micheal Portillo and Ken Clarke. It was to be an interesting Conference. David Davis went up.
'Conference I have always said we have to be tough on crime and the reason we advocate for this position is because I believe it is about time we then begin to focus on the issues of police numbers and hiring more police on the streets and the reason we focus on this is because we are the party of maintiaing law and order but how have we done this so far we have done it because we believe in cutting out the paperwork and getting people on the beat to cut crime and therefore we have to set new targets, now the reason we need targets is to make sure that people don't have to pave the streets in fear because we have a duty to make sure that people are not suffering and if we are going to be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime but to deal with issues such as poverty we have to be tough on the criminals'.
Davis had a good speech though he was a natural orator and next up was David Cameron who decided to focus on foreign policy it was known that Portillo had been drained by being the chancellor and therefore he was tipped to becoming the next chancellor and Portillo would replace him as the foreign secretary. Cameron stood up and decieded to talk about his vision for a global Britain.
'Friends we are trying to convene in order to talk about the vision for a new Britain and to make the next move forward but I want to talk about the global Britain and the reason I want the vision fo Britain working with Global nations Is because I believe we have such a bright future it can only be done through the sense of pragmatism that makes our future better providing that we can run this nation in an effective manner. I want us to enhance our defence cooperation with the rest of Europe as we are on the verge of succeeding because it requires us to not just be the allies of Europe but the allies of the world in developing humanitarian aid policy in enhancing foreign aid so that we can help this nation'
The speech wasn't his best and it seemed to bumbling and not as sophisticated as Cameron normally was next up was Micheal Heseltine who had been an effective orator at tory conferences for 40 years he decided to make a speech which would be his robust and focused on building on the power and attacking the enemy which is the Labour Party.
'Well as we are coming to this conference we have to focus on one thing power, my friends we don't have a natural grip on power and conference if we intend to develop one then we have to understand that we have to keep the coalition of moderates and right wingers together, being trade and industry secretary is an honour and therefore in order to reform industry it requires us to work with the private sector in order to make the effective change that people want to see they want the real meaningful change that this country needs they don't want to create a society of idleness they want to see Britain manufacturing and they want to see Britain leading again so let's get out there and lead'
Focusing on leading through industry was an effective premis of debate that would help the Conservatives and indeed Micheal heseltine. Now from one Micheal to another, Micheal Portillo had stood up and gave another robust speech on the state of the economy which was booming still.
'This is our time and though people changing and working and making industry better and that has been our achievement over the last year we have changed and reformed British industry for the better and because we are the party of industry we have thrown out the rulebook and have allowed people to use common sense in the way they run their lives and that is what we are a pragmatic party that want to the best for our country so therefore I have set out the case for low taxes, deregulation and for limited government that is what I have believe and it is what I have always believed it requires us to be modernised and changed this is what we are'
Finally, the Prime Minister knowing that he was the champion of moderate coneservatism decided to make his speech of the year focusing on the issues of law and order, health, education and social issues.
'Conference we are here to discuss the state of the nation which has improved over the last 12 months a lot because of the election of a conservative government. This new modern Conservative party is something that will change this country for the better and the reason I believe this is essential is because we are the party of government we are a party that wants to help those who are suffering by shying the state isn't the first choice. You are the first choice, but it also says that the state isn't the first choice but it is the safety net for society I know we can do so much better providing we are willing to focus on what makes us win which is a determination to unite and to win'
The Conference had been a success for the conservatives because it allowed them to reflect their values but to put them into a modern context and therefore it worked in helping them modernise reform and change.
| Party | Percent |
| Conservatives | 47% |
| Labour | 45% |
| Lib Dems | 8% |
| Conservatives 323 (-8) | Labour 295 (+11) | Lib Dems 10 (NC) |
End of Year
As the year finished it was interesting for the Labour Party in being able to show in the heartlands and the grassroots of the Labour Party and therefore as shown by the results in Scotland and Wales had been good along with London and the closeness of the polling was interesting for the tories and Labour. The Conservatives were bold in the centrist vision that was helping the tories stay in power but there was going to be a reshuffle as stated after the budget. The Lib Dems were in crisis that was never ending.
UP Next
Budget 2017
Cabinet Reshuffle
Health Reform
Local Election 2017
Tax Reform
Labour Conference
Tory Conference
Change for the Lib Dems
Last edited:
2017
Budget 2017
It was Micheal Portillo's budget and his second as chancellor but as he came into the house of commons the economy was very strong and in good condition he was able to report that the economic growth rate was going to be 6.3% in 2017, 6.2% in 2018, 6.5% in 2019, 6.4% in 2020 , 6.6% in 2021 and 6.8% in 2022. These were extremely strong rates of economic growth and because these rates were substantial it allowed the economy to be increased because of long term plans and one of the most notable was the introduction of the national plan. What this did was that it created a merged between a free market and a partially planned economy but the use of pragmatism within the economy had been rebuilt due to the national plan it linked to the planned economy. however Portillo decided to increase regulation on the manufacturing sector and the reason this was necessary is that it would enhance the state control on industry. There was also a focus on the budget surplus which would be £125 billions in 2017 , £132 billions in 2018 , £141 billions in 2019 , £150 billions in 2020 , £156 billions in 2021 and £162 billions in 2022. The debt repayments had been completed and therefore it allowed half of it to be used on public expenditure, 25% on the National Investment bank and 25% on savings. Tax cuts would have to wait for another day.
As for Pubic Spending the increases in public expenditure had been occurring for nearly 16 years but also the core reason that they decided to raise public expenditure was because the era of austerity that been implemented throughout the 1970s and 1980s and the 1990s. So therefore it would take a generational reform in order to properly develop the Health services and also the front line services though the proportion of expenditure had risen rapidly under New Labour the conservatives had promised to stick to the labour party's spending plans and it was a fundamental part of the detoxification stratagy. So therefore the new NHS Spending settlement of £8 billion was put through. The spending settlements were being changed to base it on need and need alone. The reforms had also led to the Stevens report o. the fundamental restructuring of the National Health service and one of the core reasons that restructuring of the health service would be essential is because the reforms that had been enacted under New labour did provide vast amounts of investment but the reform though implemented didn't introduce the deep and fundamental reform of the health service so in effect Labour had done the first half of the job which was to invest vast amounts into the health service however where the failure had been based of was simply this there had been a lack of modernisation of the health service so therefore the Stevens report would be used to outline the details of modernisation of reform.
For Education the long term funding settlement had guaranteed an extra £6 billions of investment for education and the conservatives had decided to pledge an extra £600 million on top of this in order to effectively reform the public services so therefore it would allow the conservatives to portray themselves not as the nasty party but as modern compassionate conservatives. The use of a modern compassionate conservative party was effective as it allowed the conservatives to change their image and though the modernisation had been going on since November 2005, Portillo who was tipped to becoming the foreign secretary in the incoming reshuffle it would allow there to be another stand for the whole strategy of modernisation. So whilst there was going to be some reforms within public services and therefore the reforms made to education had been interesting in helping the Labour party renew and rebuild the strategy of the Conservatives. They had only managed a narrow majority and though that was triumph it was trying to reshape the vision of the conservatives as a moderate party and this had been effective.
There was also an expanding of the police and defence budget, the rises of 8% and 10% in the police budget in real terms had been very effective and it had allowed the tory purists to not have complete rage and contempt that they did indeed have something to talk about. Portillo announced a real terms increase in the police budget of 11.8% the reforms that been enacted in the police reform bill by David Davis which had been effective in cutting crime by 6.7% and 7.1% in 2015 and 2016. So therefore the reductions in crime had merited the substantial investment. But also the defence systems would need to be invested more in but the reform would have to be implemented with vigour. The reform did not necessarily mean any form of marketisation of defence or private reform. As the defence secretary Alan Duncan would outline it meant reform within personal and management. The Defence Bill in detailing the reform would be put forward in 2018. But Portillo did announce the guaranteed 5.1% increase in real terms.
The 1% cut in the basic rate of income tax that had been done last year would not be done this year primarily because the reforms into the basic rate would need to be done in terms of thresholds in order to have reform. And this would be done in the tax reform schemes later in hte year. But the ideological reform did often refer to reducing the tax burden however the re-introduction of a pledge such as the tax guarantee as William Hague pledged in 2001 was ditched because it was going to cut the total tax revenues as a percentage of GDP which would therefore increase the annual deficit every single year so therefore there would be no introduction of the tax guarantee. But the Corpration Tax rate whcih had remained at 24% after the tories stalled decided to announce a tax cut on Corporation's from 24% to 22%.
As Gordon Brown stood up to deliver his response to the budget it was going to be bold to say the least. 'Mr Speaker today the chancellor stood up and delivered his speech and it was derisory and windy to put it gently, the chancellor has in effect decided to ditch everything he has ever believed in and has decided to become a fully paid up member of the Labour Party, but Mr Speaker there are things welcome not least we proposed them, we welcome the vast investment in the health service which we proposed, we welcome the vast investment in education, we also welcome the support of the national plan all labour iniatives but the chancellor had stated his core proposal to cut the taxes for Britain's millionaires how can they say that this is a modem fair and compassionate society when they themselves are giving rue to the rich and one rule for the rest. This modern compassionate socially democratic Labour Party is the new form of pragmatism that this country needs are people who are willing to take action on the things that matter to hard working Britain's'.
Cabinet Reshuffle
There needed to be new life in the Cabinet because whilst the ministers had a credible amount of popularity there was an element of stagnation but also a feeling of change and whilst Gordon Brown and Tony Blair but they had extremely large majorities that allowed them to have the authority so therefore as the reshuffle began it was decided that there would have to be changes. Clarke had considered bringing in more moderates Ultimately this is what he decided.
Prime Minister-Ken Clarke
Deputy Prime Minister- Michael Heseltine
Chancellor of the Exchequer- David Cameron
Foreign Secretary-Michael Portillo
Home Secretary-David Davis
Health Secretary- William Hague
Education Secretary - Michael Gove
Work and Pensions Secretary - Eric Pickles
Trade and industry Secretary - Michael Heseltine
Chief Secretary to the Treasury - George Osborne
Secretary of State for Defence- Alan Duncan
International Development Secretary - David Lidington
Energy and Climate Change Secretary - Nick Boles
Chief Whip- Patrick McLoughlin
Chairman of the Conservative party- Michael Fabricant
Local Government and Communities Secretary - Sajid Javid
Housing and Urban Development Secretary - Theresa May
Environment Secretary- Justine Greening
International Trade Secretary - Anna Soubry
Secretary of State for Justice- Robert Buckland
Secretary of State for Scotland - Ruth Davidson
Secretary of state for Wales - Stephen Crabb
The reshuffle had been more than expected there had been eight changes, whilst Michael Portillo David Cameron swap had been expected, the sacking of David Willets had not been nor had the change in Theresa May's job been expected, the appointment of Patrick McLoughlin was a universally welcomed appointment because of his amiability and the fact that he has held in high regards by those of all strands of political thinking and by all strands there is a very good reason that Patrick McLaughlin had become the parliamentarian of the year is because of his ability to strive and unite. The reshuffle had been a success in being able to hire people who were mainly one nation conservatives and the centrists.
Local Elections 2017
The Campaign had been interesting for the conservatives the fact that they had been in power for 2 years and still hadn't crashed in the opinion polls was a miracle for the conservatives and the fact that they had been able to focus on triangulation of the political spectrum which ha bene represented through the spending increases and the tax cuts. That ha been enacted by the conservatives. It wasn't an electorally popular strategy. Cameron had been an electoral asset for the conservatives and therefore had been beneficial. Cameron who was a natural one conservative had been able to focus on the priorities of the country. The tax reductions of Corporations had bene allowing the conservatives as the party of aspiration and enterprise but also it allowed the conservatives to potray themselves as the party of modernisation and triangulation. The use of triangulation had benefited the conservatives in showing that they have changed and they can be trusted in running ht public services. The tory Campaign had been focused on tory councils being prudent and compassionate. Cameron, Heseltine and Ken Clarke had been the key electoral assets.
For Labour, there campaign had been interesting Gordon Brown and Alan Milburn had decided to run a new Labour campaign with some traditional left wing concepts the reason that they were focusing on those traditional Labour concepts such as beating unemployment and ending the housing crisis but also focusing on the reform of the public services. The reforms to the public services that had been enacted under the New Labour years were perceived to be crucial and the reason this would be essential is because Brown was trying to fight off the left wing and the Blairites at the same time and therefore he would try and make sure that if he did well in these Local Elections he would be Able silence his doubters,
For the Liberal Democrats it was a crisis after another. David Laws leadership of the Lib Dems had been a complete tragedy and the Tories had benefited acres from the collapse in support for the Liberal Democrats. Laws knew that even those who voted for him were not daft they could see what was going on which was in the space of four years the Liberals had ended 45 years of progress. Charles Kennedy had taken over the campaign mantle, Kennedy who was far more popular and on the Ashdown wing of the Lib Dems would be able to effectively change their minds over the course of the next few years and try to rebuild the Liberal Democrats.
| Party | Councils | Councillors | Percentage |
| Conservatives | 77 (-14) | 7,561 (-1,540) | 41.3% (-0.8%) |
| Labour | 74 (+25) | 7,362 (+2,150) | 39.4% (+5.1%) |
| Lib Dems | 26 (-11) | 3,210 (-911) | 19.6% (-4.3%) |
| Conservatives 303 (-28) | Labour 291 (+7) | Lib Dems 31 (+21) |
The Conservatives had a respectable performance in the local elections after running the country they were still able to defend their councillors is pretty phenomenal and therefore obtaining 41% of the vote displayed just how popular Ken Clarke was and the lead had been cut from 7.8% to 1.8% and therefore that type of defence shows two things the first is that the conservatives had still displayed a form of resilience and also that their strengths had been fully acknowledged. However for labour there were also some interesting facts notably that due to the modernisation strategy the conservatives had been allowed to be have momentum but there was also an issue which is that Gordon Brown though the most formidable chancellor since R.A Butler had been at the centre of British Politics for 25 years and maybe it was time to step down.
Health Reform
The Stevens report which had been released in the summer and was detailing some bold recommendations on modernisation and what this did was it allowed the free market to have a greater say on Health Policy. William Hague was a one nation conservative and therefore some of the reforms would be done in order to have fundamental reform of the NHS but still making sure that the NHS is free at the point of use and the principle of having it free at the point of use was a crowning principle which no government would dare to get rid of despite the fact that there were 13 Conservative MPs (Dominic Raab, Priti Patel , Robert Jenrick , Liz Truss, Kwasi Kwarteng , Lucy Allen, Andrea Jenkyns, Esther McVey , Andrew Percy , John Baron , Steve Baker , Mark Francois and Ben Bradley) who all activley called to dismantle the National Health Service and to make an Americanised system of privatisation. These MPs were often ridiculed and mocked with Ken Clarke calling them 'Fucking morons'. So therefore as the reforms came through the conservatives had two options the first was to try and to unite the conservatives but as Clarke said 'Those idiots wont back us so let's do a bipartisan package'. So therefore here were the reforms that were put into the Health service reform bill.- An Annual boost in the NHS Expenditure of at least £8 billions in real terms
- Introducing a new Mental Health Guarantee of £3 billions every year
- Introducing the National Care Service to make sure that Social Care is free at the point of use
- Bringing in the new 10 week guarantee to receive treatment for Illness
- Cutting the NHS Waiting lists by 500,000 by 2022
- Increasing GPs by 25,000 by increasing their pay 8% year on year for this parliament.
- Hiring 50,000 new doctors
- Cutting the time it takes to receive mental health treatment.
- Reducing NHS Targets in half.
- Expanding the Foundation Status for all Hospitals by 2021 but limiting the borrowing power to 30% of the total hospitals costs
- Freezing Prescription Charges at £5
'Mr Speaker today the reforms had been introduced into law and what will the reforms it will sustain the NHS For the next 25 years so how do we do this, now what we believe is through investment and reform of our public services the reason we need to reform is because by allowing us to invest but what do I mean by reforming I mean changing the way the health service operates in the future it means allowing us to understand that whilst the health service is going to be a reformed it will create a model that will be sustainable for the next generation. And I'm interested in creating policies that will be sustainable for the next 25 years. Because unlike the party opposite we don't begin to reform services to win elections we do it for the good of the country, And after all what is the opposition seriously objecting to, Are they objecting to the 50,000 more doctors, Are they objecting to the 25,000 more GPs, are they objecting to £8 billions extra every year for the health service, are they objecting to the National Care service which they never introduced, What are they objecting or is it just what they always do political point scoring with no interest for the public, I think when the shadow secretary of seat for health the honourable member for Leigh stands up he should address these point of reform because let me quote what the former health secretary the honourable member for Darlington professes to believe 'Reform is essential, if these public services need to be sustained for the next generation then there needs to be an accepting of the modern day realities, and what are these realities using the independent sector because the public will not trust us to put the investment without genuine and meaningful reform'. I agree with the honourable member for Darlington and as I conclude this statement it will be very interesting to see how the shadow health secretary will explain the split in the Labour Party and I commend this bill to the house'
Hague had made a typical robust statement from the Health Secretary this was pioneering reform and nobody knew how this was going to go, there were going to be 10-15 Tories against but nobody knew which Labour MPs were going to back it, though Gordon Brown and the Whips had done a three line whip against the piece of legislation realistically they knew that if the government lose they would have to listen to the tory rebels. But Andy Burnham decided to give a very robust speech attacking the tory party record on the health service.
'Mr Speaker the conservatives are attacking us for not supporting this bill, now of course we welcome the investment and the new GPs and doctors but are they seriously suggesting we trust a government whose in cohorts with 15 right wing MPs who quite frankly haven't been taught the facts of life and couldn't understand the meaning of compassion if it came up and presented itself in their face, the secretary of state has stood their and defended the reforms to the health service, but let us remember that these reforms of investment who brought that in we did. In the last two years they have promised to stick to our spending plans and let us remember what their record was when they were in government without the influence of our spending plans, what they do, the 20,000 more managers the 50,000 fewer nurses, these are the people that did the NHS internal market which was the first step to dismantling the most sacred intuition and who enacted that policy none other than the Prime Minister himself. So for them to proclaim that they are the Party of the NHS is like me saying the honourable lady for Telford is the beacon of honesty and decency, it's like me saying that honourable member for Esher and Walton is the encapsulation of tolerance and decency. Now we will vote against these reforms not because of the principle as we agree of with some of the legislation that they are proposing it is the Core fundamentals which are very good it is the fact of how can we trust a Conservative party that is in links to a right wing bigoted fringe that are delusional, Mr Speaker we are the party of the NHS and it's about time we vote against this back door privatisation'
The reforms were fiercely debated as though they were reforms that both parties do agree with it was debated on the reforms because it would allow there to be greater levels of prominence on the legislation in regards to health but also the core issue of the debate was based on wether or not the bill would be a form back door market based privatisation so therefore the reforms were scheduled for a vote at 10pm and nobody knew how it would go.
| Parties | Ayes | Noes | Abstentions |
| Conservatives | 312 | 15 | 4 |
| Labour | 2 | 267 | 15 |
| Lib Dems | 4 | 6 | 0 |
| Others | 2 | 19 | 9 |
| Total | 320 | 307 | 28 |
The Government had won a huge victory despite the 19 tory rebels the government had persuaded 17 Labour MPs to abstain or to vote for the Bill and the 4 socially democratic Lib Dems to vote for it. But the victory of a 13 vote margin had shown the logistics of the Conservative party in it's ability to whip votes.
Labour Party Conference- Birmingham - Rebuilding Britain- 29/10/17-04.10.17
It was their third conference in opposition and Gordon Brown was still the leader, the Labour Party had began to reformulate their position as a centre left party this was In response to the McDonnell left with the left and soft left taken control of the National Executive Committee and therefore would be able to gain a substantial proportion of the left and therefore with the NEC taking control of policy it would allow the Labour Party to then say they are the party of principles, the principles of social justice and opportunity for all. These principles would be the essential for a Labour Party in order to properly function in a modern compassionate society that the Labour Party it requires the party to make sure that through a new modern socially democratic society it then allows the labour party to focus on the policies of nationalisation. Some of the most notable nationalisations included Rail and Water. Re-nationalisation of water and rail was seen as a cornerstone of the Labour left, as whilst the New Labour wing had come to dominate the party but defeat did hurt the Labour Party and therefore the party were able to focus on the new issues such as the development of AI and also the technological revolution. But the old policies were still being debated the policies of renationalisation were interesting but were they viable. The people that would be speaking at the conference included John McDonnell, Alan Milburn and Gordon Brown. These thinkers within the Labour Party did represent the factions of the party with those within New Labour such as Milburn and Cooper, but there were those who were Brownites such as Brown and Ed Balls. The soft left factions such as Andy Burnham and then the Hard Left such as John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn. But as John McDonnell stood up to the conference and decided to say what he thinks.'Comrades `we are here to debate the reforms of this party in understanding that we are socialist party and we have socialist values not tory values, the values of the labour party of opportunity for all and social justice are the right ones but so are the values of tackling inequality, ending the housing crisis beating unemployment, people may criticise socialism with their right wing tabloid regurgitation but remember what socialism is, socialism is the NHS, Socialism is the State Education system, Socialism is the pensions system. Now what do these things have in common socialists like Beveridge, Keynes, Atlee, Wilson, Bevan and Benn these are the people we take inspiration from why because they have either done or contributed to the reforms that this country needs as what this country needs is socialism an ideology which doesn't believe in equality of income or outcome but which says let us be of help to those who will need it the most and therefore the reforms we have implemented and fellow socialists these reforms are bold and transformative throughout this conference the socialist campaign group will detail more reforms that we will do, we control a majority of the NEC and we have leading roles in nearly all councils in the inner cities. These are our policies, the renationalisation of water, rail and gas, the 50% top rate of income tax for incomes above £150,000, the ending of the graduation tax, the reforms to the health service to make sure that it's funded for the next generation, the reversal of the deindustrialisation which this country has suffered from for far too long, because what deindustrialization did w.as that it destroys communities in the north of England which had been destroyed and ruined by the inhumanity of Mrs Thatcher's government. These are our policies so when people want to discredit and condemn let us remind them of what we are , this labour party best when we are boldest best when we are untied best when we are Labour'.
McDonnell's speech was lauded and supported by the party faithful, It was halfway through a parliament and the fact that Gordon Brown was still the leader of the labour party was showing the true testament of the mans spirit. Alan Milburn had been running the campaign for Labour, Milburn who was a pure Blairite and had helped the tory reforms to health to pass so it wasn't expected to be the best conference speech, Milburn who was a reformer by nature and a bi-partisan had with a few concessions allowing the increase d funding and more staff would allow the health service to have a form of fundamental reform within the health service through an independent review so Milburn decided to tell the conference as he sees it.
'Conference the value I love the most about this party is the value of debate, the fact that all views in all factions are respected and acknowledged and the principle of debate requires us to have two different ideas, this party has always been the party of the sensible centre ground we have always understood the values of the Labour party the values of social justice and a fair society and opportunity for all these values are unchangeable but this party isn't an echo chamber and nor should we act like one. We are Party that understands that our values will never change but the means of implementing the values must be brought back into question not because we want to destroy the values of the party but because would want them to live for the new age. Now I know there are those who will be furious about the fact 17 MPs including myself did a deal with the Tories to ensure the health bill passed let me explain why because if the conservatives had the bill voted down by their right wing then it would cause the government to link up with the hard right of their party and what they believe I tell you conference is so repugnant it would make us all vomit. So therefore we should understand that these reforms we legislated for are Labour reforms in building more hospitals and investing more hospitals. And I know that people are furious with us over this but I must say when the national interest forces us to work together friends we must listen to the national interest'
Milburn made a typically robust speech focusing on the themes of social justice but when the Leader of the Opposition decided to stand up and gave a sixty one minute speech to the Labour Party and in that he detailed the reforms that the believed in to the public services.
'Freinds this Labour movement our movement of fighters and believers is without a doubt the greatest fighting force for fairness in decades. Because what we stand for is fundamentally right. And don't forget that what we had been fundamentally reforming the public services for decades, long before these conservatives had the faintest clue. So comrades for these conservatives to say that they are the party of public services is a contradiction within terms. These are the people who have done more damage to the public services than any other government in living memory. And for them to try and claim that they are the party of public services is ludicrous. But I understand there are some concerns about the health reforms on why labour supported a governments reforms on the health service. There is one reason we had to preserve it through genuine and meaningful reform. The idea that we should allow right wing conservatives who have not understand the facts of life the idea that they should be allowed to say what happens to the NHS is a betrayal of beliefs.And if we are the party of modern social democracy we can not betray our beliefs out of pettiness, we need to resume the path back to power but only through reform so let's get out there and do it.
The Conference for Labour had been a success, the conservatives had maintained a poll lead because of the leadership of Ken Clarke but one of the core reasons that the Labour Party were behind was simply put people had forgot what Labour believed. And a party without beliefs is a party that can't be effectively judged. The left of the Labour Party had taken control on the policies and the only reason there was a form acquiescing was specifically because nobody wanted a split.
| Party | Percent |
| Labour | 45% |
| Conservatives | 42% |
| Lib Dems | 13% |
| Labour 323 (+49) | Conservatives 277 (-53) | Lib Dems 21 (+11) |
Conservative Conference- Brighton-The Next Move Forward-06.10.17-10.10.17
As the Conservatives convened for their third conference in government it was with the right to run the country and therefore it required them to refurbish the policies of the Conservative party, whilst the party had been taken control by the centre ground the party faithful who were seen by many as on the right and as Ken Clarke famously describes them 'as fucking bastards'. And though the party faithful had a lack of ideological alignment to the PM, one thing was undeniable he had single handily brought the conservatives back to power and therefore that alone would give him the right to run the country. But the conference would have several speakers such as David Davis, William Hague, David Cameron and the Prime Minister. Davis went up first:'Conference one of the things have always been is tough on crime and a as a result of that we have been able to reduce crime by 23% since 2015. And this in itself is a remarkable achievement and the history of this party in being able to do things which most things are impossible the fact we can make them possible shows why conservatism and the philosophy of being tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime is a core part of who we are, as a society we don't want to pave the streets in fear, we don't think its right to let people out after only a third of their sentence is served, we understand that whilst of course we must reform the inner cities that does not mean we should allow increases crime as an acceptable evil, Crime hurts and specifically targets who have nothing left we are the party that believes in greater levels of freedom and control but that can only be ensured through having proper long term measures to cut crime. And the main one is to expand sentencing guidelines we can not create a society where people who commit violent attacks should be allowed out in 5 years, We do not need to create a society where we subsidise scroungers. We are party that believed in Law and Order. And because we passionately believe in and therefore by reducing crime we have the right to then to reduce crime and because we are reducing crime we can proclaim we are the party of law and order'
The reforms that the Conservatives were making to law and order did see reduced crime by 23%. But this was also attributable to the increases in police officers, Next up wold be the champion of all the health reforms , William Hague who had been known for his supreme parliamentary debating skills but also because he had pushed through the reforms which had allowed the health service to be sustained for the next 15 years. Hague had openly stuck two fingers up to the right wing of the conservative party by seeking the assistance of the Blairite Labour MPs. Hague had two ideas the first was to tailor his message to the traditional members. But the second approach was what he was going to do explain why he did what he did.
'Friends I'm fully aware that there are going to be people who will be opposed to what we did in passing the reforms in order to modernise and change the NHS for the better. The reason we are going to reform these public services is precisely because we want to maintain the support for the public. We can not become a society that forces people to the margins of society. This should never be an adoptative approach it would be detrimental and therefore I could not in good conscience ever support a proposal which would knowingly undermine the public services and society in general. if we are willing to defend the core principle of the social contract then we will be able to thrive, not because we are on the left it's because we have a social conscience reviving the image of the conservative party is fundamentally essential unless we can change society then we are going to be in a society which whilst has a conscience also states that there is a fundamental purpose to reforming and rebuilding society. That if we are modernising party that is capable of reforming and changing if we are able to do this then we will reform our public services for decades of reforms to the public services and if we can continue the reforms of the public services then we will be able to change this nation for better days ahead'
The reforms that Hague had made to the health service had been bold and initiative but what it had allowed them to do is that, David Cameron the new Chancellor was up next, Cameron who was a natural one nation conservative and the President of the Tory Reform Group had been an interesting chancellor immediately outlining £12 billion for infrastructure the reforms to infrastructure that ha dot be done were essential and the reason that this would have been Done is to make sure specifically that the economy can be prospering for the next generation. Cameron had decided to make the speech tailored to the moderates and the enterprising aspirational individuals of society.
'Conference we are here to discuss the state of the nation now in order to understand that where the economy is going, since we have the highest rates of economic growth in our history this is surely what we have to preserve the strongest economy ever and the way we can do this is through common sense and pragmatism this is what is fundamental to the nations economy. And therefore in order to make sure the society can continue, and because we as conservatives understand that in order to reform society but to maintain these reforms for the next decade. I believe passionate believe in a low tax economy not because we want to reward the right but because we are understood that a low tax economy creates a high growth economy and therefore allows us to spend more nevertheless. So therefore by understanding that economic combination of reduced taxes which will enhance economic growth and the reason I talk about enhancing economic growth is because it will develop the society we all want. I passionately believe it is essential to create a high growth economy, So therefore if we can keep that strong economy with that strong infrastructure than we are sorted. But we have to understood that only through running a strong economy can this be done. But we must talk about tax cuts. I think it's about time that we raise the threshold of Inheritance tax to £2.5 million. We have already had some raises of the threshold to £700,000 but we do need to keep going ,If we do not provide the low tax economy than we are not going to see the economy grow as high as we know it can. Tax Cuts are essential in order to see the economy grow. The treasury has identified £10 billion of tax cuts that will be carried out over the next 2 years. £5 billion tax cuts in the next budget. By introducing the tax cuts we would be able to effectively stimulate the economy and have greater levels of economic growth. Now whilst I have identified the tax cuts, I want to carry these out over the next two years this is the agenda that we must continue into the future'
The Speech that Cameron had made had been allowing him to properly focus the minds of the conservative party faithful the reason this was seen as essential is because by being able to optimise the economy that had been able to properly focus and develop the state of society, Cameron who had been identified as very much of a one nation conservative had also tried to reform the way his party could run the economy. Cameron who was a natural moderate did have acres of credibility amongst voters in the centre ground. The Prime Minster Ken Clarke was the final one up for the tory podium. Clarke had decided to go back to his traditional tory roots, talking about the state of the nation.
'Conference we are here trying to discuss what we think about how to revive the state of the nation and that is what we are best in effectively reforming this country, If we do not think reform is essential then we are going to becoming a society which then condemns people to be left behind and we must not do that, we are party of compassionate conservatives and what does that it mean it means of course we believe in free markets, deregulation and tax reductions. But it also means we are advocates of but also it is because we are passionate moderates and the reason I believe this is because what is the point of trying to have your principles if you can not implement your principles when you are in power. I am a passionate believer in modern conservatism. And what does that mean it means that accepting that not everything the left believe in is wrong, ok a lot of what they believe is quite demented. But in order to fully develop society but the way this can be done is through accepting what both factions because though we secured 47.3% of the vote which is the biggest share of the vote since 1959 and that in itself is a phenomenal achievement but we have to unite the country and to therefore deny 43.5% of the country a right to be heard is lunacy. And I understand that there are left wing idiots in the Labour Party who are to put it simply complete idiots. But we have to unite this country, because if we are willing to unite Britain. Because if we are able to bring this country together then this will do a lot of good and I know this country can go forward because we are forward, so lets keep going forward not back.
It was an interesting speech from the Prime Minster that seemed to charecterise Unity tone in order to bring the country together whilst Clarke had been traditionally a unifier the interesting implication that it's time to work together and cross party lines was something that was very intersting but also because the David Laws leadership was clearly coming to an end and it looked near certain that Charles Kennedy or Tim Farron would be the leader of the Lib Dems. Clarke knew that Labour would lose a lot of votes but equally the Conservatives would lose a lot of votes as well because the Fears of allowing David Laws to have any sort of influence on the government. With that fear gone, the Lib Dems would be allowed to slowly surge back.
| Party | Poll |
| Conservatives | 46% |
| Labour | 42% |
| Lib Dems | 11% |
| Conservatives 332 (+2) | Labour 277 (-7) | Lib Dems 15 (+5) |
What this poll reflected was that even two years into a majority conservative government they still polled well for the customed one nation conservatism, that had come to appeal to the nation which stated the whistle eh vales of social justice and opportunity for all were the values of Labour, the Conservatives had tried to seize these values specifically for this reason, the principle of triangulation is one of the core reasons that the conservatives were still Able to poll at 46%. The reshuffle had been effective in renewing the purpose of the government.
Tax Reform
The reforms would have to be introduced in order to sustain the tax system for the next couple of years, the tory right wanted a progressive tax cutting agenda. The tax cutting agenda included the reductions in the basic rate of income tax which had been done in the 2016 Budget. But there had to be increases in the rates of personal allowance. Cameron had in the conference said the treasury had identified £5 billion of tax cuts that would be carried out within the year., But the piece of legislation would include more than £5 billion of tax cuts. So therefore the Bill on tax reform included the following provisions.
- A 3% cut in the Basic rate of Income tax to 18% by 2022
- 10% Lower rate of income tax would be applied to incomes below £23,000
- Raising the threshold of the 40% rate of income tax from £43,000 to £86,000 by 2023
- Raising the Tax-Free Personal Allowance to £11,000 by 2021
- Cutting the Percentage of Inheritance Tax to 10% and raising the threshold of inheritance tax to £3 million
- Reforming Capital Gains tax to one flat rate of 18%
- Reviewing the sustainability of the council tax
- Cutting the Corpration Tax rate by 1% for the Next 5 years to bring it down to 17% by 2022
- Cutting the Headline Business rate down from 18% to 14% by 2021
- Cutting the Percentage of Value Added Tax to 17.5% to 15% by 2019 by cutting it to 16% and then to 15%.
- Abolishing VAT on Fuel
- Introducing a new Fuel duty desclator which will reduce the price of fuel by 3% over and above inflation and keeping this until 2023
- Looking into re-pricing duties such as Alcohol and Ciggerets, by reducing those duties by 2% over and above Inflation.
- Increasing the threshold of Stamp Duty to £1 million and cutting the top rate of Stamp duty from 14% to 10%.
'Mr Speaker during the election we promised to restore power to the people, now one of the main ways is through economic reform, deep and fundamental economic reform. Now whilst we are investing a lot more into the public services and the £12 billion extra into infrastructure, it is time for us to bring our taxes down. The surplus which had been started under the last labour government and has been accelerated by this conservative government. This has allowed me to pledged the tax cuts as Im doing. The reforms to income tax would allow there to be more incomes for the individual, these comprenshive set of reforms will guarantee £1,000 for an average individual these set of reforms will take of the excess money from the government and give it back to the people. So what could honestly be the opposition by the Shadow Chancellor. Its not going to come at the expense of the public services because we have detailed the long term spending settlements with the public services, so Is there a genuine issue for all of this to put it simply no. Of course not. Though the shadow chancellor with deliver his nonsense about how these are too much tax cuts, these tax cuts are right for the people and these tax cuts will be essential for the new and modern age and if we are serious about reforming this country this bill will be passed and I commend this statement to the house'
And therefore as David Cameron sat down and then the shadow chancellor. Ed Balls decided to Stand up and communicate the Labour's Opposition to the proposals of the Labour Party having promised not to raises taxes they could not be able to do this from the left so they would have to do it on a position of tax cuts that would be able to last but the reason that these tax cuts would be able to be disputed is specifically due to the quantity of tax cuts not the principles of tax cuts
'Mr Speaker these reforms are going to implement a series of public spending cuts, the government is pledging £10 billions year of tax reductions these are primarily in regards to direct and indirect taxes. £10 billions that we could be spending on education on health or the welfare state are tax cuts they are going to give to the riches in society,. Now they proclaim that everyone will benefit from these tax cuts, will they?, they say that the person on average earnings will save £1,600 a year, this is based of a £180 saving on alcohol duties, that's based of the people drinking 10 pints a night, now I know the health secretary might approve of that but most people don't. Let's have a look on what they say about introducing a fuel descelator, this is off course because they introduced a fuel duty escalator in 1993 because of there absolute incompetent handling of the recession as a result of them joining the ERM at high rate. And what their calculations say is because of the fuel duty desclator the average person will save £250 per year yet that's based on the idea that people go to the petrol station every 2 days, I know the chancellor might need filling up every 48 hours but most people don't, And therefore let's look at some other tax cuts oh of course the inheritance tax cut, typical of this tory party one rule for the rich and one rule for the rest. And then they dare say that they are the party of everyone. The Cut in VAT, £15 billion now this of course would be effective if the government were not promising to exempt Savings above £1 million from VAT, And that's presumptively because every minister in the government have savings above £1 million. Same old tories. The reforming of Capital Gains Tax to a flat rate off 18% and this of course this is because any transactions that these tories wish to do will be based on property which be subjected to Capital Gains Tax. So to answer the Chancellor's question we are opposing these tax cuts because they convince into darkest tory narrative that it really is one rule for the rich and a rule for the rest. So if anyone wants to make Britain a fairer society they would vote against this piece of legislation.
| Party | Ayes | Noes | Abstentions |
| Conservatives | 328 | 0 | 3 |
| Labour | 1 | 283 | 0 |
| Lib Dems | 2 | 7 | 0 |
| Others | 4 | 17 | 9 |
| Total | 335 | 307 | 12 |
Lib Dem Leadership Election
(0-Pure Gladstonian , 10-Social Democratic (Ashdownism)
Tim Faron - 7.9
Charles Kennedy- 9.5
| Candidate | Percent |
| Tim Farron | 55.81% |
| Charles Kennedy | 44.19% |
Tim Farron being elected as leader of the Lib Dems was unexpected and the fact he won by 11% was showing how he won in a manner that retained his authority. Kennedy was immediately made the deputy leader and the treasury spokesperson. Kennedy had immediately proclaimed his support for the revival of the Lib Dems under Tim Farron. And Indeed 3 days later the Lib Dems did see an uptick in the polls going from 10%. to 15%. Farron had made speech detailing his commitments on esnruing greater levels of social justice and a means of changing the Lib Dems to a more centre left party. But the election of Tim Farron showed the Lib Dems were by the fingertips clinging onto reality and sanity and were on the path back to influence.
End of Year
It had been a good year for Kenneth Clarke passing through two pioneering pieces of legislation, the education reform and the tax reform also the government were polling in the midst of 45%, however though they had clearly had a good year, the Lib Dems were in the midst of a revival in the opinion polls, the leadership of Tim Faron over the last 8 weeks had been able to give the Lib Dems another chance at being heard, And as the Conservatives knew all to well that any rise of the Lib Dems would inevitably cost them seats, lots of seats in the south of England. For Labour it was clear that Gordon Brown would be fighting the next election for the Labour Party but the issue was Labour were being dragged to the left as the NEC had passed policies such as renationlisation of the railways and off water. For the Lib Dems there revival was now inevitable after 4 years of falling it looked like they were finally back on the right track
UP NEXT
Budget 2018
Housing Reform
Lib Dem Policy Review
Lib Dem Confernece
Labour Conferecn
Conservative Confernce
Employment Reform
Oil disputes
And much more
Last edited:
2018
Budget 2018
As David Cameron came to the dispatch box for his first every budget he had inherited a strong economy, Cameron had decided to first start with the growth rates for the next 5 years which were to be 6.1% in 2018, 5.9% in 2019 , 6% in 2020, 6.2% in 2021, 6.4% in 2022 and 6.5% in 2023. The brief downturn was as a result of the tax cuts bill that was passed that helped the economy grow very quickly but it also provided the UK with the strongest growing economy in the world, the rates of surplus were forecasted to be £119 billions in 2018 , £125 billions in 2019, £131 billions in 2020 , £139 billions in 2021 , £146 billion in 2022 and £155 billions in 2025. These were still to be extremely high rates of economic growth tarts showed the Economy was still growing with the debts now at zero there was allowances for huge public spending increases onto of the substantial tax cuts.
The Health service was a key part of the debate there was a huge increase of £10 billion in one year and this would help in providing the health service with a real terms increase of 6.6% which was substantial and as Cameron who was a genuine one nation conservative had affirmed the role for the state in regards to healthcare and there was still that state control that would never go away because to put it simply as Cameron said 'if we ever undermine the core values of the health service it is a form of electoral suicide'. Cameron also decided to open up a commission onto social. care into upgrading care homes but he also announced that social care would be free at the point of use. Cameron also announced there would be a reform package for the NHS to make sure that whilst the investment would be going in there out be genuine reform.
In regards to Education, there would be £6 billion of new investment for education which was bold and transformative for the country and whilst there had been greater levels of investment, Cameron had also announced that there would be an extra £30 billions by 2022 for school building which he said would lead some of the biggest increases in school building which would lead to the construction of over 1,000 new schools by 2030 and lead to the refirbishment of 3,000 more. Cameron also announced the expansion of the EMA for college students for incomes below £25,000 with a new upper £40 a week for the lowest incomes.
Cameron had decided to increase police spending by 6.5% In real terms and also decided to have an increase in the total quantities of courts so that they could cut the time it took for a person to go through the entire court process. Cameron also increased the baseline figure of tax credits from £2,000 to £2,750. Also there was a new National Investment Bank of £70 billions phased in over a parliament to properly tackle climate change as climate change and the green agenda was part of the modernisation strategy that had helped the conservatives to receive a second hearing from the public. Cameron also decided to announce that the basic rate of income tax would come down from 21% to 19%.
As Gordon Brown stood up he decided to make an emboldened speech against the budget saying 'This chancellor has decided to pioneer through legislation that gave tax cuts for the rich but no opportunities for those who need it most and then he declares his party as the party of Social juice what a disgrace and a joke this chancellor is, but of course mr speaker we hear nothing about the anti poverty agenda proposed by the prime Minster we hear nothing about the agenda for full employment as proposed by the foreign secretary and the prime Minster so we now see the dives is it now time that this shower resign and allow a stable government to run this country'
Housing Reform
There were going to be some bold reforms to the state of housing this is because throughout the last forty years there had been a crisis within housing so therefore the conservative government decided to propose some substantial reforms under the new housing secreter Theresa ma, may who had a conversion to social housing had decided to propose reforms that they knew would not only unite but would alienate the right wing of the Conservative party so as the housing secretary stood up this is what was in the bill.
- The construction of 300,000 homes by 2023
- Introducing rent controls of 2% real terms rise maximum in the public housing
- Allowing the private sector to build homes with regulation on quality
- Raising the threshold of stamp duty to £400,000
- Cutting the top percentage of stamp duty to 8%
- Cutting the deposit rate from 10% to 7%
- Building on both brownfield and green belt sites
- A new £8 billion fireproof fund to renovate accommodation that needs proofing.
Theresa May had co-authored the entire bill on her own and decided to make it a pure one nation conservative bill that acknowledges nd allows a substantial role for the private sector but Keeps the role for the state and as she stood up to the House of Commons she knew that there would be legislation debated through the. parliament Theresa May stood up and decided to propose the motion on behalf of the government.
'Mr speaker this bill is going to radically transform the state of the nations housing we the Conservative party are on the side of the working people we want to create a society that helps people into good quality of housing which for example is why we have proposed an extra 300,000 homes to be built by the next four years, now what did the labour manifesto propose only 200,000 homes a year but we are also proposing some tax cuts for example by helping people onto the housing ladder by reducing stamp duty and also cutting the deposit saving the property buyer on average £8,400 but also after recent disasters because we are a listening government we have intorudyced a new £8 billion annual fire-fund that will help properties become fireproof, this bill deals with the housing crisis and I commend this statement to the house'
The Labour Party had decided to make Vernon Coaker the shadow housing secretary the Gedling man had good experience of bad quality housing and as a member of the soft left had proposed the agenda for reform which included rent controls for all properties that would help those in need but also cutting the deposit requirement to 5%. Coaker had decided to make a stinging attack on the record of the government with this speech.
'Mr Speaker the record of this government speaks for itself they had decided to propose a series of reforms to housing and therefore they try to implement pieces of legislation which Is in effect Watered-down pieces of legislation within the Labour Party proposals but I ask the minister where is the ending of no fault evictions where is the abolition of the bedroom tax where is the rent freeze they have proposed some very bold pieces of legislation in this but I fear that this is too little to late'.
When it came to the vote it was close to put it mildly the right wing faction of the conservative party had stated their opposition to the bill and therefore there would be the loss of 35 MPs but there was to be a shock.
| Party | Ayes | Noes | Abstentions |
| Conservatives | 295 | 15 | 21 |
| Labour | 43 | 243 | 0 |
| Lib Dem | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Other | 20 | 3 | 7 |
| Total | 368 | 263 | 28 |
Due to the huge bipartisan support support the bill had been passed with a majority of 105 it was a huge huge victory for the government as the tory right wing were now aware that there power had gone as there rebellions were meaningless as the government were more than. willing to reach across the aisle and to get support.
Lib Dem Policy Review
- A devotion to a free and publicly funded national health service
- Upgrading state education facilties
- Increasing Employment regulation such as the minimum wage
- A Referendum on the single currency
- Increasing local government spending.
- Expanding tax credits and pensioner related benefits.
Local Elections 2018
The campaign had been interesting for the Conservative Party had been In government for 3 years and they were still polling at 41% now the campaign had been centred around the themes of the. strong economy, the high rates of employment the declining rates of poverty and a society with a growing Education and growing rates of improving healthcare. The campaign was led by Ken Clarke but also with David Cameron, Micheal Portillo and Micheal heseltine leading at the helm it helped In building up the conservatives.
The Labour Party had decided to make Gordon Brown and Ed Balls the two major parts of the campaign it was focused the economy to grow hugely and It allowed them to say that they are the party of the public services but it also allowed them to proclaim to be the party of the public services but they also showed that through their strong economic management and of society it allowed them to be the party of social justice. But also it linked to society and making it better.
The Lib Dems had been revived under Tim Barron who had abandoned the right wing policies of David Laws and under Faron the Lib Dems were polling at 23% and therefore it helped them in re birthing and renewing the liberal democrats be growing back as an emerging party.
| Party | Councils | Councillors | Share of the vote |
| Labour | 85 (+12) | 8,353 (+1,246) | 44.6% (+2.8%) |
| Conservative | 73 (-19) | 6,101 (-2,656) | 35.9% (-9.0%) |
| Lib Dems | 22 (+12) | 2,732 (+1,300) | 19.5% (+6.2%) |
| Others | 5 (-5) |
Lib Dem conference
As the Lib Dem party conference convened there was an element of hope in their ambition as they realised that after the exceptionally bad leadership of David Laws the public were genuinely prepared to give them a second hearing, Tim Barron was a popular politician coming across as a modern compassionate liberal. The conference would Hear a keynote speeches from Charles Kennedy, Paddy Ashdown and Tim Faron. First up was Paddy Ashdown as the man who took the Lib Dems to their best elections since Asquith. He made a speech which pleaded for modernisation and to embrace farronism.
'Thank you conference for that very warm welcome I know we are in the midst of a party reform but let us think about what we need to do is to make sure that we can become the party that appeals to all the people again thatdoenst appeal to just a selective group of anarchists but instead appeals to all the people, because there is a future for liberalism as people want government that is behind them, not infront of them but supporting them when the election comes we as Liberal Democrats must be able to focus on what the people want such as a full free and fair national healt service universal to all. How do we create a fair free and open society its through a society tar gives opportunity for all.We are the party tat wants to give opportunities to every single person in this country'
It was a typical Ashdown speech focuses on the issue of social democracy. Ashdown was a social Democrat and who held values that were in the party that made him on the left of the Lib Dems. Next up was Charles Kennedy who was the Lib Dem treasury spokesperson and the deputy leader. pf the party. What worked about the Faron/Kennedy relationship was it combined charisma and experience that made the Lib Dems into a very formidable force.
'Conference there is a new feeling within us we are the party that in order to build and to reform society it has be done through progressive liberal values so for example the freedom of speech we passionately defend the right for people to say what they like and that means we have the right to brig in new views such as the expansion of helathcare and education the ability to properly focus with the economy what we believe in is a liberal society that helps people up and moves people forward and that is what we as Liberal Democrats thrive in and it's mot just talk we have control of 103 councils and are they left wing lunatics or right wing reactionaries no of course not, we are party fo pragmatics'
Finally, the leader of the liberal democrats Tim Barron decided to speak, under his leadership the Lib Dems had gone from being at 9% to 16% and had been an air of hope of reviving the Lib Dems once and for all there was talk of them where they would get an extra 30-40 seats. So Tim Farrons speech had concluded by saying this:
'We are in the process of rebuilding and the process of changing as a party we are modern compassionate liberals we believe in liberal values of freedom, justice and opportunity but how do we bring these values into the modern world and it's through understanding what it is the country wants and that is a modern liberal society and I know we are in a crisis but we are down but we are nt out because this party has rebuilt itself before and we will rebuild and reform again'
The Conference had been a huge success the policy agenda though not comprehensive had provided the Lib Dems with a new hearing from the public it allowed them to portray themselves as the ash down Lib Dems that had been so successful for them in gaining seats at general elections. Here is what the polls looked like.
| Party | Poll |
| Labour | 42% |
| Conservatives | 39% |
| Lib Dems | 19% |
| Labour 318 (+30) | Conservatives 275 (-56) | Lib Dems 36 (+26) |
Labour Conference- Developing the New Britain- Manchester- 29/09/18-03/10/18
The Conference had been intersting the Labour Party had moved to the left under the contour of the left in the NEC, Gordon Brown had been on the front-line for politics for the last 26 years but some felt that maybe it was time for him to step down as Labour leader there was talk of Alan Milburn, John McDonnell Yvette Cooper or Alan Johnson or David Milliband taking over the leadership of the Labour Party. The four main speakers would be David Miliband the shadow hone secretary, Alan Milburn the shadow foreign secretary, Ed Balls the shadow chancellor and the leader of the Labour Party Gordon Brown. David Miliband was up first as the shadow Home Secretary he decided to focus on the simple policy of being tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime.
'This party when in power cut crime by 8.2% every year on average why because we understood that you had to be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime which meant we built 250 new prisons radically reformed sentencing guidelines to increase prison sentences for violent offenders but we were also tough on the causes of crime which saw us increase funding for schools, which saw poverty come down by 56% which saw the introduction of the minimum wage and the creation of sure start which all tackled the causes of crime so never forget what we did but please also remember what we can do should we become the government we will hire 20,000 more policies officers expand prison sentencing but equally have the anti-poverty agenda that makes us Labour'
The speech had been a success for the Labour Party and for David Miliband he had been an effective shadow Home Secretary who in effect became David Davis sparing partner and most polls did show that he would be a formidable oppoment. Next up was Alan Milburn, Milburn who had been the leading Blairite had often been bullied at conferences due to his agenda for reform but in opposition he had become a leading light against the government's right wing backers had helped him become an ally of the labour faithful he decided to give a speech which would be attacking the conservatives and pleading for an internatonlist foreign policy.
'We are a forward thinking modern socially democratic Labour Party and a core part of the social democracy is our belief in internationalism we are a forward thinking party now what does its require us to do its to understand that we should be at the heart of Europe a peoples Europe, an of we do that then we are able to be a leading superpower because the empire isn't coming back but to reform, this country and to be at the heart of Europe then we can be able to focus on how to build this country up for the better now whilst we have some profound reforms for the public services we have also got to reform our internationlist outlook and if we do then better days will lie ahead'
Milburn's speech was good the phrase 'peoples Europe' had stuck, Milburn who was in favour of joining the Euro and knowing that there could be a referendum on the euro should the Labour Party get back in to government, Milburn had struck up a very close personal friendship with Gordon Brown and therefore it helped the stature of the labour frontrunner for the leadership. Next up was Ed Balls who was attempting to be the chancellor and would be should labour win his speech focused on the themes of a strong economy under Labour and how society would be stronger under a Labour government.
'Conference never forget what we did we are the part of the party that provided the country with the strongest economy in the western world and ten reason this was essential is because we had revived British industry and that was a many of our core achievements in the eighteen years that we run the strongest economy and never forget that is what a labour government does and whilst we will be in opposition it will be interesting to see how this government decide to react in regards ti the front line services and maintaining the strengths of the economy but it requires us all to unite behind the Labour Party platform and not to divide'
Ed Balls had made a good speech to conference used to in effect praise the last labour government it was a government that helped that did radically reformed the United Kingdom and they were proud of it but the conservatives were still a formidable fighting force and therefore as Gordon Brown took to the stage he decided to make a speech which was focusing on the future of this country in making the Labour Party back into power.
'Thank you conference we are at a turning point in 19 months time we are going to have a general election and the choice is very simple do we keep the modern reform to the public services or do we abodon it, do we create a society that helps the poorest or do we create a society that punishes society do we create a society that incentivises jobs or do we force through a low wage low standards society as a party we have to undertake the true values of this country the values of solidarity social justice and opportunity for all but make it a society that can be implemented for the modern world I have a greta belief in this country and I know that Britain can be better'
The conference had not been the resounding success that they hoped though there had been some good speeches and it was clear that the moderates took control of the conference the conservatives under Ken Clarke looked better and sounded more reasonable and looked like a party of the centre ground and therefore after the conference Gordon Brown made it clear that he would not be leading the Labour Party into the next election.
| Party | Percent |
| Labour | 45% |
| Conservatives | 35% |
| Lib Dems | 20% |
| Labour 343 (+65) | Conservatives 230 (-101) | Lib Dems 46 (+35) |
Conservative Conference-The next move forward-Leeds-05/10/18-09/10/18
As the conservatives convened for their conference they had a successful year with a booming economy with deep tax cuts and with a government though they had a right wing faction who were being condemned by the opposition so therefore there would be a series of speeches made by David Davis, Micheal Portillo, David Cameron and the Prime Minister Ken Clarke.So David Davis went up first and decided to talk about crime and how to reform crime policy and how to bring down crime overall. This was to be a speech used not only to please the tory faithful who felt that the government had gone too far too the centre ground. Davis made a speech attacking criminals and announced more prisons.
'Members we as conservatives do passionately believe in closing down the something for nothing society we want to make sure that we can bring down crime and make sure that our economy is growing but we as conservatives understand that you can't do anything without deterrents and high sentences does the trick always. Since we brought in the crime and disorder bill crime has fallen by 18% and that is a huge achievement now we have done ut because we have faith in the police and we trust law enforcement to do their job, we also passionately believe in cracking down on lawless thugs who seem to think it's ok to cause the hard working man and women terror. We must send a message to the lawless scumbag your days of terror are over, we will find you and we will arrest you and the you will be taken away from society and left in jail. But how do we deal with the most serious criminals, Capital Punishment has always been a debated issue of how do we deal with the people who have committed the most heinous crimes that we put them to death, I think we should have a vote in parliament on wether or not to restore the ultimate detterent in this country (loud, loud applause) and when the vote happens I will be voting to restore it to make sure that capital Punishment will be brought back'
To say the ministers on the podium were stunned would be a huge understatement but there would be vote on the restoration of capital punishment will be voted on in a free vote in 2019. Next up would be the foreign secretary Micheal Portillo, he had been foreign secretary for nearly 18 months and had been successful in making Britain an internatiomosy country in not just Europe but around the world so therefore as he strode to the podium he would make a speech about Global Briatian and was using it to fire up the tory conference.
'Friends we are here gather for the development of this country, we the conservative party believe in this county and that means we want to implement the interests of this country once and for all and the way we do this is through defending liberty and human rights, we are the party tact always makes a full throated defence of freedom and our staunch defence of liberty and that makes us superior but why do we defend liberty it is because we believe that every person has got something to give to society and therefore our invasions of Sudan was a tough decision but I would do it again and it's for this reason if we the party who always stands up for justice and liberty were simply were willing to walk by on the other side and let people suffer then we would have no right to call ourselves the Conservative party'.
Portillo and Clarke had both spent years outlining the concerns in the Darfour genocide and the intervention to intervene had been extremely controversial but it was a success and that was undeniable and therefore Portillo feeling he had to make a defence of his policies showed the controversy but also the decency but next up was the chancellor David Cameron, Cameron who had been more impulsive to do tax cuts but had also imp,emeted some of the most radical public spending increases that by the standards of the conservatives were exceptionally high. However there was no opening for the leadership as it was known by the party that had it not been for Ken Clarke they would not have come anywhere near power. So David Cameron stood up and talked about his views.
'We are the party of prudence we shall always be the party of prudence but the way we maintain this prudence is through our pragmatism in understanding that we are not moving to the left we are not going to move to the right we are just going to provide the good solid leadership that the country needs we need hope for our country, we need real change, hope for our country that is what this week is about and that is what we as conservatives believe In and in the new management of change we have to understand that f course we will cut taxes and we should because to os the right thing to do but we must also have good plan to radically improve the public services we as the Conservative party have a passionate defense of social responsibility and that is why I continued the Investment in Education as if we can build people up and get them with their lives that's we believe we don't believe in a government that's constantly in front of people we need a government that defends people, change is possible but as a party if we can keep being the new modern compassionate Conservative party then we will win'.
Cameron's staunch defence of the public services in a centre right conference did show his moderate views and therefore it did make him more popular and respected, there was no prospect of Cameron leaving the post of chancellor but it allowed him to focus on what came next the prime minster Ken Clarke was up and deccided to give a speech on the future of the Conservative party where he said,
'Conference we are the party of reforming and changing society we always have and always will be but how do we keep these reforms it is because we are the party who believe In public service reform now how do we do it, it is through the investment and reform of the public services and how do we keep the reform going in to the public services to make them better for the 21st century and being able to build things up and maintain them for the next generation that is what we as conservatives believe in or as I have always said 'Free market policies with a social conscience' that is what I believe in a society where we can reduce regulation and taxes but we must always always keep the social compassion that we as conservatives beliieve in and yes we had been tough but we never have been and never will be a nasty party, it was a conservative Wilberforce who led the fight against slavery it was the conservatives Shaftesbury who led the fight against child labor, it was a conservative Churchill that took the fight to fascism it was the conservatives that brought in the state comprehensive education and ended rationing and it is the conservatives that built on the strongest economy. We are a reforming party and reforming is a good thing because it shows that you are a capable of modernising ndchnaging and the. that shows the country that you are a modern party that is ready to be the natural party of government so kets get out there and make sure that happens'
The speech had been bold on the vision for reform and therefore made the conservatives look electable but nobody knew how oddly eb the new leader of the Labour Party, but for the conservatives the conference had worked.
| Party | Percentage |
| Conservatives | 42% |
| Labour | 37% |
| Lib Dems | 21% |
| Conservatives 336 (+5) | Labour 263 (-25) | Lib Dems 30 (+20) |
Employment Reform
It was a key part of the agenda for reform was employment legislation, the conservatives knew a key part of building a new coalition of voters and this included working class voters so therefore, Micheal Hesletine the secretary of state for trade and industry would have a series of employment reforms to build the country up for the better so therefore in the employment reform legsilation which is a key component part of the government's plans as a one nation conservative government, heseltine who had always been a proponent for employment law in order to boost employee contentment and then to increase the profits of the company. So here were the provisions In the employment reform bill.
- A £10 an hour minimum wage by 2022
- Introducing the 40 hour week in the new financial year
- Reforming Business rates to link it to Income.
- All Employees are entitled to 21 days of fully paid sick leave
- Outlawing all unpaid internships by 2019/20 tax year
- Increasing maternity leave to 12 months by 2021
- Bannning all zero hour contracts
- Not allowing trade unions into the private sector.
- Legislating for the wages councils in order to assist those on wages below the national average income.
The bill was interesting, Heseltine who was known for his big tent thinking did seek counsel from the trade unions and the private employees, heseltine had decided to close the debate for the government on the issue of employment reform and making the economy better for this who needed genuine financial assistance to the workers.
'Mr Speaker this bill Is going to transform the outlook of this country and the way we treat our workers and our bosses what this piece of legislation does it that it builds upon the successes of the last twenty years bt puts a business mindset and with that reason it allows to focus on what is right for this country and that means an economic policy which of course rewards aspiration and enterprise by cutting taxes an having adequate and pragmatic deregulation but we do have to live In the modern realities of society and therefore it allows society to develop now let us understand this core principle we as conservatives believe in profit and if the workers have high morale then their output will be high and because we want to create a free enterprising wealth creating economy we must also show compassion to all of our people and that is what compassionate conservatism means it is understanding that we as a society wants to make this country a better one and I know we can be so much better and by passing this piece of legislation will help us in our credibility as a better compassionate conservatism'
Heseltine who was a moderate had decided to make a speech focusing on the needs to modernise and reforming this country for the better and as Labour's employment spokesperson Rodney Bickertsaffe stood up he decided to focus on how the government had not gone far enough. So here is what he decided to say.
'Well here we are this bill is a good bill but there are many reasons that it is doesn't go anywhere near far enough for example where are the break slots in 8 hour shifts, where is the promise to ban only overseas recruitments, where is the gaurantee of a flexible contract, or the promise to double paternity leave where was the promise to introduce bereavement leave for people who lose members of their family, where was the promise to regulate against redundancy, and also if you look in the fine print they are restoring the industrial tribune, where is the promise to end exploitative employees through workers being allowed to sit on the companies boards. This bill doesn't go far enough so therefore we will not support this bill.
| Party | Ayes | Noes | Abstentions |
| Conservatives | 306 | 18 | 6 |
| Labour | 33 | 250 | 5 |
| Lib Dem | 6 | 4 | 0 |
| Other | 5 | 17 | 8 |
| Total | 354 | 289 | 19 |
The vote had been a huge success for the government with a last minute deal on sick play and flexible hours the Labour Party decided to make it a two line whip so therefore whilst it was highly recommended that MPs voted against the bill but that they would still be Labour MPs If they didn't vote for it.But the bill had gone through and had been a success overall for the conservative government.
Next UP.
Labour leadership Election
Budget 2019
Local Elections 2019
Capital Punsihment vote
Labour Conference
Tory Conference
Health Reform
Pre-Election Planning.,
An Apology
My uploads over the last 8 weeks has been shit so I'm sorry about that I have been revising for my A-Level exams which will help me get into university so I have been exceptionally busy but luckily that is all over so I can get back to writing my alternate story on this timeline I will do my best to upload one every single Sunday and if I can't there will be one every week anyways.
My uploads over the last 8 weeks has been shit so I'm sorry about that I have been revising for my A-Level exams which will help me get into university so I have been exceptionally busy but luckily that is all over so I can get back to writing my alternate story on this timeline I will do my best to upload one every single Sunday and if I can't there will be one every week anyways.
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2019
Labour Leadership Election
After Gordon Brown announced his resignation the Labour Party had decided to stand down as leader of the Labour Party there were a few candidates the first was John McDonell the leader of the left wing faction of the Labour Party, David Milliband the shadow home secretary, Alan Milburn as well had decided to stand having secured 45% of the vote 6 years earlier he felt that maybe he could become the leader of the Labour Party, Alan Johnson was also a leadership candidate to win the leadership of the Labour Party had decided to focus on one thing could they win a general election or not. Milburn's campaign started well as he was bale to focus on tiger concept of power, Milburn who was a pure blairite had allowed his credibility to go up especially during his time as foreign secereteray had allowed him to forge good relations with international leaders and allowing him to proclaim him to be the centrist but also the man who could be the next Prime Minister.
Next up was David Milliband he was the Home Secretary who had been able to focus on the image of the Home Secretary who is being tough on crime but also wanting to prioritise the causes of crime as shown by his great speech to the party conference and he decided to make his leaderdship pitch based upon an opportunity for all idea. Milliband was seen as the most popular by the electorate with polls repeatedly showing that he would take away the tory majority and if there was a different tory leader, Milliband would easily win an overall majority.
John McDonell was the third candidate for the leadership of the Labour Party, McDonell who was the banner of the left and had the policies such as the renationisation of all industries that have been privatised since 1979, it also included policies such as raising the top rate of tax from 40% to 50% and repealing the tory trade union laws but he also pledged some huge increases in the public spending and therefore presented his ability to not just reach out to those on the new Labour faction by promising to invest in the public services which he said was 'a crowning achievement of the 18 years'.
As the campaign progressed it looked like anybody could win the election, Milburn was the front runner but anyone could grasp the nomination, throughout the debates it was clear that David Milliband was the future of the Labour Party as the way he centred the campaign around being electable and being ready to win the next general election and the polls showed time and again that David Milliband would easily win the next election but there was one snag, Ken Clarke was like Tony Blair in that they were able to attract vast quantities of support which helped them, to win a general election by being able to root out the stigma of voting for their parties. Here is what the result was:
| Candidate | First Ballot | Second Ballot |
| Alan Milburn | 35.21% | 53.02% |
| David Milliband | 33.63% | 46.98% |
| John McDonell | 31.16% |
By electing Alan Milburn the Labour Party had selected the compromise candidate, though economically he was on the moderate wing of politics his internationalism had allowed him to return to the core base of the party especially with his Pro-Islamic foreign based policy had allowed him to distance himself from his image as a hardcore blairite. The Shadow Cabinet of Alan Milburn went like this:
Leader of the Oppisition - Alan Milburn
Deputy Leader - Harriet Harman
Shadow Chancellor - Ed Balls
Shadow Foreign Secretary - David Miliband
Shadow Home Secretary - John McDonell
Shadow Health Secretary - Andy Burnham
Shadow Education Secretary - Lisa Nandy
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary - Jess Phillips
Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry - Jack Straw
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury - Rachel Reeves
Shadow Employment Secretary - Jonathan Ashworth
Shadow Justice Secretary- Sir Keir Starmer
Shadow International Development Secretary - Douglas Alexander
Shadow Secretary of State for Local Government - Alan Johnson
Shadow minister for Women and Equalities - Harriet Harman
Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change- Ed Milliband
Shadow Secretary of State for Wales - David Hanson
Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland - Tom Clarke
The cabinet Milburn appointed was very much a ministry of all the talent in that there were people on the soft left but many brownies notably Ed Balls was kept on as shadow chancellor, though Milburn had not wanted to drift too far idoeligcally the appointment of John McDonell as the shadow Home Secretary did raise a few eyebrows as he had appointed a left wing libertarian to the post of shadow Home Secretary but then again, McDonell had famously said 'Roy Jenkins was the most transformative home secretary in decriminalising abortion and famously supporting the abolition of Capital Punishment'. Milburn's olive branch to the left though good was strategic knowing that McDonell secured 32% of the vote showed the left wing faction of the Labour Party were not going anywhere.
Budget 2019
It was David Camerons second budget he had been an effective chancellor in being able to command strong rates of economic growth that had been dominating the economy though it had bene temporarily reduced by the huge tax cuts which had been popular. In 2019 the rate of economic growth was 5.7% in 2020 would be 5.9%, in 2021 it was 6.2% in 2022 it was 6.3%, in 2023 in 6.5%, in 2024 it was 6.6%. The tax cuts did have a hindering impact on the growth of the economy because it costed so much but the use of the proceeds of growth did help the budget surplus forecasts were to be £118 billions In 2019 the budget surplus would be £115 billions, in 2020 it would be £126 billions, in 2021 it was £135 billions , in 2022 it would be £147 billions in 2023 it would be £156 billions and in 2024 it would be £165 billions.These were still reflecting that the uk was the strongest economy and that was something that always helped the government in their credibility.But also their inflation rate was low with it being 1.3% in 2019, 1.1% in 2020, 1% in 2021 , 0.8% in 2022, 0.7% in 2023 and 0.5% in 2024. The low inflation rates also helped in providing a decline in prices that helped the government.
For the NHS,Cameron announced a huge £8 billion increase in public expenditure for the national health service what this provided the NHS with an extra 6.3% in real terms and therefore allowed the health service to be more improved. The Conservatives had tried to improve their position on the NHS, the credibility had increased when famously Ken Clarke had threatened to expel 23 conservative MPs on the hard right for advocating for the dismantling of the NHS. Cameron who was seen by many as Clarke's natural successor and therefore detailed that there would be another £2 billions for mental health in order to cut down the waiting times for those who needed help and also the investment of £4 billions into social care had helped to maintain the national care service to keep social care free.
For Education, Cameron announced an extra. £6 billion for schools that helped the education system properly revive the secondary schools and qhatbthis was showing is that the conservatives who had attempted to reform the state sector on education in the context of the syllabus and also the reforms to increase the numbers of academies had helped in p-roviding more choice within education, the investment and reform mentality had come to dominate the public Services for the last two decades which is the money would be going into the public services providing there was genuine reform, providing the full autonomy to schools and therefore proviiding more freedom for schools.
For other public spending programs the police budget was given an extra £5 billions which is a 12.9% increase in real terms, there was also a huge expansion of the transport budget providing an extra £9 billions which is a 22.1% increase in real terms expenditure and therefore would therefore be used to reduce the fares by 6% and expand the routes. The quality of the transport system had bene radically improved as a result of the investment into the transport services over the last 8 years. There were other reforms including the welfare state which included a new conditions placed on welfare benefits, Cameron had announced that people would be requried to seek work and show clear proof that they were seeking work but he also announced an increase in the headline payout of tax credits to £3,000. The total share of government spending as a percentage of GDP had risen from 45.2% to 45.9% of GDP.
As Alan M`ilburn stood up and decided to focus on the government's economic incredibility ads he knew yahoo with the increases in public spending but he said this 'Mr Speaker what we have seen today is the government clearly demonstrating encores the public their clear lack of understanding of economics they have on the one hand provided the country with a series of tax cuts as shown in the bill they supported two years ago but then then they decided to also increase public spending now I remember what fmr President Bush used to call it Voodoo Economics because what he identified clearly was that if you cut taxes you will decrease the rate of growth within the economy but I must inform the house the due to their total lac of understanding on how to run a prudent economy the have costed the country £32 billion in lost growth revenue. Or put it this way that is £1,850 for very tax payer in this country gone due to their incompetence and when we get to the election in 14 months time we will make sure that the public are reminded of that'
Milburn's speech was robust and clearly lambasted the government and though his opposition was made clear the issue was quite simply this how could a labour leader. be seriously prepared to complain about greater increases in public spending and the conservatives seeming pivoting to the left on the public services was effective in being able to cast the conservatives as purist thatcherites who would show a complete indifference to the suffering of the public. And with 14 months till poling day here is how the polls looked.
| Party | Percent |
| Labour | 38% |
| Conservatives | 36% |
| Lib Dems | 24% |
| Labour 312 (+29) | Conservative 266 (-65) | Lib Dems 46 (+36) |
There were some interesting things to take from this poll the first is that with 14 months till a general election, the Labour Party only being ahead by 2% in the opinion polls showed that the conservatives would lose 65 seats but also have their highest amount of opposition seats since October 1974 and the Lib Dems would have a revival going from 10 to 46 MPs. But also these figures showed that whilst Labour could easily do a deal with the Lib Dems and have a solid majority of 66 but equally the conservatives could do a deal with the Lib Dems and the DUP and Ulster and have a majority of 1. So anything was possible.
Local Elections 2019
This was the last major nationwide poll until the next general election, the conservatives had decided to run a campaign based on the successes they had done inclouding the strong economy which had seen the UK with the second highest growth rate sin the world but also they decide to campaign on the fact that the United Kingdom was a debt-free nation, It looked certain that Ken Clarke would be fighting the next general election for the conservatives and therefore there was not a huge talk about any future PM but then Ken Clarke would be 85 if he wanted to go for a 2025 General Election so there would be successor issue in the next term but at least for now the conservatives looked in control. The conservatives campaign centred around Ken Clarke, David Cameron and Micheal Heseltine. Cameron who was now set to become the next Prime Minister had decided to make himself more well known.
The Labour Campaign had been focused on the public services, the National Health Service was always Labour's jewel in the crown in that the country would not trust the NHS in the conservatives hands however the funding of the NHS under the conservatives had rapidly increased and the real terms funding increases and allowed the Health Service to not just sustain but to look fit throughout the 21st century. And since 2015 there had been a real terms increases in the NHS funding on average of about 7.4% and therefore allowed the funding to be sustained. Whilst there were some great speeches and press conferences the Labour Party. didn't look they were going to do hugely well in these local elections.
As for the Lib Dems they were going to have an interesting campaign, Tim Faron had revived the fate of the Lib Dems as he came across as a modern and a leader who often seemed to be in tune with the mood of the public and therefore this helped in reviving the fate of the lib dems, the traditional talking points of Europe had gone so therefore he decided to focus on the benfiits of social liberalism and economic interventionism. The effective mix between social liberalism and economic interventionism therefore effectively charecterising the mood of the public to being economically left of centre but also being socially liberal and luckily for the Lib Dems the is precisely what the country was beleiving.
These were the results of the local elections
| Party | Councils | Councillors | Percentages |
| Conservatives | 90 (-5) | 7,981 (-340) | 43.3% (-5.6%) |
| Labour | 80 (-13) | 6,743 (-1,400) | 36.2% (-11.6%) |
| Lib Dems | 25 (+20) | 2,165 (+1,740) | 20.4% (+17.2%) |
| No Overall Control | 8 (-2) |
| Conservatives 338 (+3) | Labour 248 (-35) | Lib Dems 42 (+32) |
On these figures the conservatives would increase their majority from 20 to 26 and though they had been in power with a small majority they were now possibly going to win the next election but with an increased majority. For Labour these local elections were stunning their share of the vote had collapsed mainly to the Lib Dems and it seemed they woould not be winning the next general election because of the huge Lib Dem revival that might give them as high as 55 seats and re-affirm as the third party.
Capital Punishment vote
For the fees time in 25 years the conservatives would be having a vote on capital punishment and it looked unlikely that the vote would succeed and many in the media saw it as a way of David Davis trying to please th conservative base, Davis who was naturally a liberal Home Secretary and though a conservative he had hailed Roy Jenkins as the greatest and Davis had introduced civl liberties reforms that provided people with more safeguards in the protection of the security of the individual in making sure that their personal details are not intercepted without a court order had also helped the Conservatives. The crime and reform bill had also provided the police with greater levels of force in the context of weaponry but also it allowed them to have greater sentences for cimrinals and to build more prisons. But as the debate loomed the aye vote would be interesting most pundits forecasted there to be 150 votes in favour of capital punishment at the best. David David Davis opend up the debate for the government.
'We are a nation that believes in the security of the individual now over the last couple of years there have been several reforms that have helped us reduce crime but there must be the ultimate deterrent and that is the key words 'ultimate detternt it is not the first resort but for serious murderous offences it does make clear sense that we must then say well it's time to use the ultimate method of Capital Punishment this vote would be on the principle not on the practice but if this house agrees to the vote in principle then we could discuss methods. Now before I close my speech I hope the house would forgive me one moment if I direct my closing remarks to my conservative friends on this side of the house, as a party we have always believed in the preservation of the law and the belief that we must preserve order and we can do that of course by putting criminals who are thugs in prison but I would like you to think for a moment if your loved one had been tortured and killed would you wish to see them back to on the street in three decades no fo course you wouldn't in last years conference we declared ourselves to be the party that would allow everyone to get on in life and quite rightly that we did but how can we seriously say that we believe in giving every single person the chance to succeed but how as c conservatives can we say this with sincerity if we then show an indifference to the most heinous and vicious criminals in society so I ask that we vote in favour of this motion and to bring back order'
There were some clear 'hear hear' from tory benches but it looked clear that the despite Eloquence of Davis's speech there was little to no chance of the restoration of hanging. John McDonell decided to close his debate as shadow Home Secretary it was his first major policy speech since taking up the post 5 months ago.
'This motion is saying e should bring back hanging firstly why, they say it will deter crime but since we expanded the whole life sentences in 2011 crime has fallen every single year, their second argument is that of victim sympathy well what the Secretary of State seemed to have forgotten is that there were still murders during the 18th and 19th century here is what this government can't seem to comprehend is that there is a substantial and undeniable possibility that of innconcence, case after case after case of where a court of law has found a person guilty of murder only for new and undoable evidence to come and show how they haven't done it, the Guildford four, the Birmingham six, The Tottenham three and Judith ward there are so many instances of where a court of law and society might want to have someone killed but if they haven't done it then what's the point also we all know why the Secretary of State the honourable member for Haltenprice and Howden didn't want to include the methods in the vote because lethal injection has been ruled by amnesty international to be inhumane and has led to several botched executions. the hangman noose can cause sever levels of suffocation and are often botched executions. How many more time do we have to get something wrong before we then finally identify a problem, this vote was called as a crowd pleasing stunt as a way of calming down the conservatives grassroots we have to make laws that are genuinely helpful to the people in society or to put it simply 10 words tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime. We are a party that wants t show compassion to people who need it the most'
The Bill was a free vote and here is how it unfolded knowing that there would be a substantial rebellion no body would know how it would go.
| Parties | Ayes | Noes | Abstentions |
| Conservatives | 67 | 249 | 20 |
| Labour | 29 | 250 | 4 |
| Lib Dems | 2 | 7 | 1 |
| Others | 11 | 12 | 7 |
| Total | 109 | 518 | 32 |
The vote on Capital Punishment failed by 409 votes and this forced the government to reconsider the issue and therefore would not allow the reinstatement of capital punishment. The interesting part about the vote on Capital Punishment David Davis the Home Secretary voted against the reinstatement of the death penalty.
Welfare Reform
The reforms that were made to the welfare state for the last fifty years were very significant wether it was the introduction of tax credits In 1998 or the Thatcherite reforms that forced people into work which seems ironic for a government that had unemployment at 3 million for six years and a party that had said that 'Unemployment is a price worth paying' and therefore the welfare reform packaged has bene able to show their ability to modernise and reform this system of benefits there had been a clear emphasis placed on getting people of in-work benefits and getting them into work, 1.1 million people didn't have a job and whilst these were so much lower than the 3 million that had dominated the thatcher years and the major years. The reforms to welfare would be interesting as the work and pensions secretary was the most left wing member of the government. Eric Pickles had been a maverick tory MP often working with New Labour and it was known that he voted Labour in 2001 having only entered parliament in 2005. Pickles had decided to make the bill centred around employment and enhancing the quality of workers rights which he saw as essential th bill included the following provisions.
- A new basic minimum wage of £12 an hour by 2024
- An expansion of the 10% starting rate of income tax for incomes between £14,000-£31,000
- Increasing the time of full time sick pay to four weeks
- Reforming working conditions to make sure that all workers receive at least 4 hours of breaks a week.
- Having a three strikes welfare policy which says if someone is offered a job and doesn't take it they should lose 50% of their benefits, if they reject it the second time it's 75% gone and if they don't get a job the third time they would not be entitled to a penny of welfare benefits.
- Increasing the basic state pension to £100 a week by 2023.
- Creating new instant support scheme for those who lose their jobs mainly focused on redundancy payments guaranteeing that the government pays unto 35% of the employee's salary for 6 months.
- A 20% Windfall levy on the Utilities and the banks to create a £11 billion welfare to work programme to help 1 million people of benefits and into work
- Abolishing all industrial tribunal related fees and to make sure that if people are sacked unjustly they can repeal the sacking without intimidation of any sort.
The Bill was an interesting one because whilst it was done by a conservative minister it was seen by many as moderate and reasonable. But then again the reason the`t the conservatives were polling at 42% is because whilst they were a party that did believe in genuine means of making sure that the welfare state revived for the 21st century the bill would almost certainly pass as there were provisions that nobody could disagree with, Labour couldn't be seen voting against raising the minimum wage but nor could the conservatives. been seen voting down provisions that would alow there to be proper measures on cracking down on welfare fraud. It was a bill that would effectively gather no opposition except from the finger on both pairs who would get at leat 100 of their fellow MPs to join them. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Eric Pickles who had decided to proclaim his centrism and his working class support and an ability to enshrine not just his working class roots but also over the fact that he had strong personal connections with Labour MPs and he decided to give his speech on the bill.
'We are the party of full employment and why do we do this it is because we understand that in order to create a truly better society it requires us to understand that in order to create a society that is based on opportunity it requires us to listen to all concerns that is why we have decided to update the minimum wage to £12 am hour which will increase the pay by £975 a year it's why we have also increased the total quantity of sick pay but then we have also decided to make sure that people who can work do work and that there is no deep abuses of the welfare system because one of the main ways to preserve a public service is through deep and necessary reform and of course they will remain universal to all and we will not start to means test the public servivces and nor would we would ever support the creation of a two tier system within the public services. But in order to maintain the welfare state it requires this house us to vote to make sure that work is incentivised and that people would rather work in the new economy of technology because this is an issue, how are we going to develop the world in the new climate of the technological revolution we must change with it and whilst that is going to mean industrial practices with it, this bill is firm and fair it is able to be a modern welfare reform bill for the 21st century getting people of welfare and into work and I commend this motion to house'
Pickles had decided to make a policy decision on reforming the welfare state for the better but what then the opposition stood up and the shadow work and pensions secretary Jess Phillips decided to display the opposition to the government in regards to the bill and some of it's more right wing provisions the bill would be interesting because it was a centrist bill and was not a traditional tory orthdox bill by any means. But here is what the shadow work and pensions secretary Jess Phillips said
'Mr speaker is the same old tories behaving as they always do punishing the poorest there is no provisions for single mothers who find it difficult to work because of the employee discrimination the minister promised In February that when the welfare reform bill would be coming to the commons that it would include specific provisions to incentivise single mothers to get to work and to help them. Where are the specific plans to get young people into work all we have from the work and pensions secretary is a promise to consult on this issue. This government have to bow to the 25-30 right wing MPs who do not understand the beer concept of social justice or the concepts of compassion though the work and pensions secretary is a good and decent man and quite frankly he should be on our benches rather than his benches, he has taken consultation from the honourable lady for witham (Priti Patel) who says 'Nobody should care about unemployment' or the honourable member for esher and Walton (Dominic Raab) who thinks that the 'British people are the worst idlers in the world' how can we vote for a bill that has the fingerprints of right wing conservative MPs who quite frankly have more in common with the tea party faction of the Republican Party in America than the modern compassionate Conservative party. But we also have major policy differences for example they think it's perfectly ok to withdraw benefits from people who are incapable of working, but there are also provisions in the fine print that the minister refused to talk about for example the expansion of work capability assessments. How are they going to asses who is fit to work and who isn't fit to work. I ask the minister will they allow a private company to be running these new regulations because if they are going to be outsourcing it to Serco then I fear that will happen is quite simple the government will be showing an indifference to unemployment and suffering and to poverty because they are going to be run by companies who sole motivation is profit, no of course we need business being very profitable but when will this government understand that there are certain things you can not and shouldn't make profit of and welfare education and the NHS along with defence are those key things so we will be opposing this bill and will be amending it and I ask my colleagues on the other side of the house to rake your conscience'.
The speech was very robust and a solid attack from Jess Phillips who had been able to focus on what was going to change in the reform of the public services and the welfare reform bill had been able to properly reform the bill with 9 ammendments that mainly focused on three things the first that the government would not be able to outsource the responsibilities to the private sector but it also focused on making sure that the new deal had. targets to make sure people did get back to work and overall here is how the bill was voted on.
| Party | Ayes | Noes | Abstentions |
| Conservatives | 303 | 20 | 13 |
| Labour | 34 | 248 | 6 |
| Lib Dems | 7 | 3 | 0 |
| Others | 11 | 11 | 8 |
| Total | 355 | 282 | 27 |
The bill did pass with relative ease the concessions that were granted on the welfare reform bill had allowed it to pass along with the amendments ultimately it was because 34 Labour MPs had voted with the government providing they were able to offer greater concessions that would help too boost the incomes of the bottom 10%.
Labour Party Conference-Keeping the Change- Birmingham 28-09-19 - 02-10-19
The Labour Party had convened for their latest conference and indeed there last one before the general election and though the polls showed Labour ahead it was only ahead by about 3% in the opinion polls and whilst there. were some huge benefits tit he fact that the Liberal Democrats were surging ahead and that would damage the conservatives in the south and therefore would cost the conservatives at least 35 seats in the south and therefore the Labour Party would have to maintain the Labour Party in the north of England and in areas that have been called the red wall and though it looked very probable nobody knew really how it would go. The four key notes speakers would be John McDonell the shadow Home Secretary, The shadow foreign secretary David Milliband and the shadow chancellor Ed Balls and the Labour leader Alan Milburn would be talking to the confrernece about the need to reform and with months to go till the impending general election the Labour Party decided to make themselves look appealing. First up was the shadow Home Secretary John McDonell who spoke about the benefits and credibility of liberalism in regards to crime policy and made some bold pledges.'Comrades we are in a fight against crime and that is a fight that we as democratic socialists understand because when we were in power we had a very key and solid mantra that we would be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime and that is what this party is about understanding that deterrents and of course that means we must have a strong and effective prison service that effectively letters thugs and criminals from walking the streets thats why we will continue to support the efforts of the Home Secretary to strengthen sentences of criminals. But it also means we have to be tough on the causes of crime which means addressing the issues of poverty, social deprivation and Unemployment but it also means tackling the issues of education standards and the inequautues within society because we believe in a society that gives every single person the chance to succeed and when people talk about the vales of the Labour Party that is what it means it means understanding that through opportunities for everybody and giving everyone the fairest chance to succeed will help crime come down. But comrades there is a bigger issue. Drugs. We understand that everyone makes mistakes and that poragmitism is essnrila the war on drugs has been the biggest failure since the Suez Crisis it has put tens of thousands of people in prison who needed to be in treatment so therefore should we become the government let me make it clear that we will legalise drugs and then spend our time going after the drug warlords who really do cause trouble and really do cause suffering. This plan is bold but it needs to put in place otherwise we are going to have a severe overflow in prison capacity which is unaffordable and unecessary. Roy Jenkins who has been the most transformative Home Secretary in the last 100 years once said 'In order to make long and substantive change you have to do things which might receive criticism but which is morally the right thing to do' let us embark on that spirit thank you comrades.
To say the speech was bold was a huge understatement, McDonell had In effect called for the legalisation of drugs and this was bold and was therefore one of the big reforms would be to legalise drugs and therefore would naturally reduce crime and therefore would allow the Labour Party to cut crime and therefore reclaim the mantle as being the party of law and order in the coutnry today. Next up was the shadow foreign secretary David Milliband who had decided to focus on the themes of internationalism and having greater levels of corporation with the new socially democratic countries such as Germany and Italy. He also talked about the special relationship the relationship between the Milliband and Colin Powell's Secretary of State Condalezza rice was a very good one and it showed that a Labour Party could work with a republican adminsitration and with it looking likely that Charlie Baker who was the Vice President and the Former republican governor of massachussets it looked very likely that baker would be winning the next election. So therefore Milliband decided to make the conference speech centred around the theme of internationalism.
'Conference we are living in a new age of change the benefits of social democracy are becoming well known in Germany the Social Democrats and the liberal party went into coalition ;last year and since then unemployment had come down, inflation has come down and poverty has come down but guess what economic growth is up and manufacturing is up. We are the party that has a common understanding of running a strong economy but also running good and effective public services and that is why we can hail ourselves as the party of international compassion because in the time we were in power the foreign aid budget grew from £12 million to £28 billions and what this did allow us to do it allowed us to regenerate Africa for the better but also it has allowed us to provided nearly 103,000 British jobs we are a nation that is compassionate and outward looking and reins this is why we need to win the election in 8 months time because we can't allow these tories to run the foreign aid department. But there are other important things to consider the special relationship is the greatest relationship and the most valuable now there was concern initially about the election of a republican adminsitration but I urge this conference to know that President Powell and Vice President Baker are just as dedicated to internationalism as this conference are. We are a party that passionately believes that Britain is an outward looking nation not an inward looking nation that we are country that believes that Britain is an outward looking nation not an inward looking nation that we are nation that seeks to help everyone in the world and not a nation that simply walks on by the other side of the road, we are party that has a devout belief in not just bringing opportunity for all in this country but working to make sure that every single person to this world, so let's keep building the new society that we need to create'
Milliband's speech was very clear in his devotion to an internationalist based foreign policy that would allow society to develop and make sure that whilst the economy knelt growing and that Labour kept tofucisn ion the need to reform the public services there must also be a need for them to focus on the internationalist foreign policy which did support the doctrine of humanitarian intervionism with invasions such as Kosovo and Sierra Leone there was an emphasis placed on the need for a more globalist outlook and to reach out to the world more easier. Next up was the shadow chancellor Ed Balls. Balls who was a brownite with tendencies to go on the soft left. Balls had committed the next Labour government to over £50 Billion of spending pledges should Labour become the government and therefore this was effective as it was able to show that Labour were willing to reach out to the Labour Party's core base which had suffered deep alienation for the last 20 years. Balls had decided to go to the party conference and talk about simply what a labour government would do should they become the government.
'Well thank you conference, I want to set out to you today the Labour agenda for Britain we are party that has a devout belief in the public services and we have a devout belief in giving opportuntities to every single person now should we become the government there are several things I fully intend to do and here is what they are, firstly we are going to rebuild the national health service as a decent public service for all of the people. We also have to regenerate the schools whilst the investment into the frontline has been going on the scale back in capital investment for schools is a disgrace in times when our economy is experiencing such strong levels of economic growth then surely it is right that we then foils on the policies of what we believe which is that every single person has a right to have a good and high quality education without the constant overhanging threat of it being closed due to a lack of quality, that every single person has the right to go to a hospital that is modern and equipped for the challenges of the 21st century and therefore to understand that we asa party have a devout belief making sure that people can succeed. Let us focus on the new age of technology which will govern the public services for the next decades. But conference let us be pragmatic naitonlisation as a matter of dogma and ideology is not going to be pratical. Though we should consider these natuonlissations on a case by case basis. So for example, There is a quite clear case to renationlise the railways as the current system of privatised railways operations are totally ineffectual and needs to be deeply reformed but the way we do it is through having a publicly owned, publicly accountable British rail at it's core. But then we must also understand that the industries such as telecoms and Airlines have clearly worked under Private Ownership and therefore it is vital that we maintain the system of private ownership but should we become the government we will take control of the railways and British Steel. So let us get out there and win the next election to make this country better'.
Finally, the leader of the Labour Party Alan Milburn who had decided to do a unity speech in his speech. Milburn did have a credentials of unity which was shown by that all factions of the Labour Party with hard left wingers such as John McDonell and then moderates like Alan Johnson. and therefore he did look like a potential prime minister except there was an issue for him. Ken Clarke was the most popular tory leader in history and his ability to convene with Labour Party supporters. Clarke knew that he could win the next election providing he focused on holding the centre ground but Milburn stood up and tried to reclaim the centre ground.
'Confer4ence this party is at a turning point and a significant turning point we can win the next general election which will be in 8 months time or we could lose and the reason I emphasise the fact that we at a turning point is because it requires us to develop and reform and not to eb reactionary and to be pragmatic in understanding that nearly 73% of new prisoners is because drug possession not dealing and therefore by legalising drugs we will stop the substantial increases in the prison capacity and therefore allow us to have the resources to properly attack criminals who cause people so much harm, that of course it makes sense in a global world that we get to the heart of Europe and have an exceptionally close relationship with our American allies who are without a doubt our closest partners on the planet. It also makes sense that since we founded these great public serivces that we not only maintain the public services but that we continue to reform and develop the public services for the 21st century and to make sure that they have substantial quantities of investment into the public services but also that we make sure that they are modernised. The reason I emphasise the need for modernisation is because how can we say that we support the principles of the public services if we are seriously willing to let them stagnate and die out surely if we are democratic socialist party e should focus on our values because what are they, they are the values of solidarity, social justice and opportunity for all those values are brilliant and unchangeable but it's putting the values into the modern world that is what our objective must be. Because our values are indeed the values of the country but it's reforming the values and putting them into the modern world if we can do this then the victory is inevitable. But to do this it means understanding that we can';t suffer from the disease that is ideological purity it means that we understand that we don't have to answer every question with the answer of nationlisation but nor do we answer an industrial issue with private ownership, it means that we show pragmatism. If we can remain the party of pragmatism that keeps changing and reforming and builds on the successes of the labour party of the last 119 years in values but also in power than we can win but we need to understand that we as a party can reform and change whilst keeping our values but just bringing them into the modern world then let us get out there and change thank you conference'
The conference had been not as Milburn planned but it worked the policies of renationalising rail and steel had proved to be very p[opular with the public and provided the Labour Party with a substantial boost in the opinion polls but also the clearness of the oratory had also helped the Labour Party in showing it's values and the policies of the Labour Party. There were some speculation that the manifesto would be more left wing than any since 1987 but Milburn assured the progress think tank set up under the Blair Years focusing on the Blairite values and had provided Milburn with Half of his staff, Alan assured them that he 'was a pragmatic person who doesn't get caught up In unworkable policies just because some on the fringes want it'. Milburn though however had brought in left wingers into the labour inner circle. But he did assure the conference that under his government there would be no direct raises in the headline rates of income tax, national insurance or VAT. The core benefits of the Milburn ideology as many in the media had called it. That he wanted to make sure that whilst the values of the Labour Party were unchangeable but the3 means of applying these values in a modern age.
| Party | Percentage |
| Labour | 42% |
| Conservatives | 35% |
| Lib Dems | 22% |
| Labour 336 (+48) | Conservatives 248 (-88) | Lib Dems 42 (+32) |
Conservative Conference- The Next move forward- Brighton- 05/10/19-08/10/19
As the Conservative party convened for their conference before the general election they had two things to get past a Labour Party conference that had boosted their standing in the opinion polls pretty well after a very successful party conference and the second was trying to shove aside the growing momentum of the Lib Dems which had started winning back voters in the south through being the real alternative to the conservatives as their pitched centred of this, that voters in the south would not tolerate Labour but they wanted a centirst alternative to the conservatives and that is where the Lib Dems had a policy opener for them. The Conservatives had decided to make the keynote speakers, David Davis the Home Secretary, Micheal Portillo the foreign secretary, David Cameron the chancellor, Micheal Heseltine the DPM and the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry but then also the Prime Minister Ken Clarke. David Davis was up first and decided to focus on the reduction of crime and Labour's policy on drugs.
'Thank you conference we as conservatives have always had a devout belief in cutting crime because we believe that a society can only cope through an effective crime system that properly puts law and order at it's heart and the way we do thing that makes us understand that crime is a disgraceful concept that crime is a ruthless menace against civilisation and the only way it can be combatted is through genuine and aiuthorative measures the reason that we are pragmatic conservatives is because we understand that whilst we have to be tough on crime cracking down win lenient sentences and making sure that we as modern forward thinking conservatives understand that you also have to be tough in the causes of crime now heat does that require it requires a fundamental re-look at the inner cities and the poverty of the inner cities and why do we as conservatives understand this it is because we have a pure and resolute belief in social responsibility and with that makes us a sporty that of course believes in the free market but also makes us understand that in order to make a proper system of being tough on crime and the causes of crime that constant of a very simple mentality if we can cut crime we can then have a better society. But by being tough on the causes of crime it allows us to be the party of compassion. So whilst we failed on the capital punishment vote we have to understand that we are a modern party so let's act like it thank you very much'.
It was an interesting speech from the once right winger Davis, though he did place himself as a man of the right he did emphasise his liberalism but what had shocked the public was that in order to be tough on crime and the causes of crime which had suprised people. Next up would be the foreign secretary Micheal Portillo. Portillo a once man of the Thatcherite right had decided to make his internnationlist credentials though a convinced federalist sceptic he had supported Britain's membership of the European Union and the reason that Brtiain wasn't joining the Euro as Clarke and Cameron wanted to do was because Portillo told them not to to. Portillo decided to make his speech about internationalism.
'Well thank you conference we are party that has a devout belief in Global Britain and the reason I believe in this is because we can be a nation that not only reforms this country but also has a leading role on the international stage and make no mistake there is a leading role for Britain on the International stage wether it was the increase in defence expenditure on the pragmatic increases in the foreign aid budge that have saved os many lives and who lead the effort the people of this country. When we decided to impose a maximum limit on immigration of 200,000 around Europe who lead the effort we did. Or wether it was breaking down the trading barriers of Europe to allow people to export and trade goods as freely as possible and therefore renewing and enhancing the single market for the next generation who led the effort there Britain did, and who created a glob al tax rule to limit the tax avoidance we did. Britain has a huge role to play on the international stage and that is why we have the ability to change and reform and that is what I would like to talk to you about how we can reform and change society. So let us keep reforming and here is how we do it, trade is the key part in reforming the economy we need to understand that there more we trade the more we can export and the more we export the greater levels of Jobs they are. SO we should continue to lead the global effort in breaking down the trade barriers. Other issues include human rights now let us never forget that should we be containing to championing human rights then it requires us to be pragmatic in understanding that there will be unpalatable and unsavoury people and we as a modern pragmatic party have to understand that by developing and reforming by remaining pro-eruopean and working with the world we can make this nation better so let us get out there and do it'.
Next up was David Cameron the shadow chancellor who had decided to position himself within the centre ground and knowing that Ken Clarke won't be able to fight a third tern Cameron would be able to position himself as a moderate with riches to the party faithful. Cameron decided to centre the speech around three key themes, tax, welfare reform and reviving British industry this would be his final speech to the general election and which the conservatives at the moment not looking to win. Here is The final extract of Camerons speech to the conference.
'Conference we are here understanding just how interesting of a position we are in, If we can focus on what we are doing which is the management of a strong economy and that is our strongest credential the ability to make sure that the rates of economic growth are the fastest in the world and that would show how strong we are as a country and now that is why we as a country really do have to continue to renew and manage ourselves the more pragmatic we are and the more smart we are it will allow us to develop reform and modernise and those are the three key words that must govern our way of thinking. Develop, reform and modernise this party can't be stale by effectively developing our beliefs for the modern era will allow us to work on making our values there for the modern world. By reforming the way we implementing our values it will allow us to make them better for the modern world but also by modernising the Conservative party makes us understand that our values of enterprise and limited government are brilliant values but it's making it applicable for the modern world. The election is so close and make no mistake it is winnable a second overall majority can be done but what does it require us to do it requires us to change and reform. In order to reform it makes us understand that Britain's public services are a core of our society and that is what I believe in a great society where no one is shut and no one is excluded and non one is told that they do not matter. We are a bold and transformative society and we are a bold and transformative party so let us keep being that and let us keep being what is great about us all thank you so much'
Micheal Heseltine was making his last speech as a cabinet minister he already that he would not be standing in the next election after 54 years in parliament, Heseltine who was the second most powerful man in the country had been key in not just saving Liverpool but in the downfall of Mrs Thatcher and of course being the Prime Minister. Heseltine was interesting character as though he took the tories to the ir worst defeat since 1832 it was accepted that they would be buried in 1997 but Heseltine had remained exceptionally popular as a politician. As he stood up for his final conference speech he decided to centre it around Interevention of British industry it was well known that Steel was failing and Labour had promised to renationlise the industry. Here is the closing remarks from Heseltine's speech to the conference.
'Mr. Chairman when we understand that we as conservatives have a devout belief in Employment and want to achieve a society where people are in jobs and not on welfare that is our core philosophy to bud a society where people can thrive and prosper we believe in creating a society where people who want those opportunities to get those opportunities and that's what I believe in. And in order to do that we have to revive British Industry and that is where were thrive in that thinking that nobody can thrive without genuine assistance and that is why I want to turn your attention to the steel industry in 1992 I said that I would intervene before Breakfast lunch and before dinner then I would get up the next morning and I would do it all over again and that is where we as conservatives understand that an industry as vital as steel can't be allowed to fail so today I am intervening I'm taking over all the steel companies and this will save the 150,000 jobs related to steel. We can't leave everything to the market and therefore we must show pragmatism in whilst showing our commitment to the free market in understanding we are not going to start throwing away jobs through ideological purity. Let us be the party that can reach out to all people not just the few. I don't believe in nationalisation unless there is a clear case for it and in the steel the case is clear, the public W`not us to show that we can be sensible and that is how we will win'
Next up was Ken Clarke, the leader of the Conservative party and therefore it allowed him to give his final conference speech before the general election. Clarke who was a moderniser and a moderate had decided to reform the public. services once and for all so therefore, Clarke had decided to focus on the theme of modernisation and expanding the base of the conservative party to moderates and outreaching to new voters. So therefore here was his final conference speech before the election.
'Here is what we can do if we change, a second term. We have not won two consecutive terms since 1983 and that's what I think that in our strategy of modernisation and pragmatism that we can continue to appeal on the basis that we a party of pragmatism that understands that through investment and reform of the public services we can indeed sustain them for the next election and that is above all what makes us conservatives in understanding that through creating a society that gives opportunities to every single person in this country and therefore the biggest way is the maintaining and developing of the greatest public intuition that we have which is the National Health Service as there is nothing better than to make sure helathcare will be free at the point of use because the people who need it deserve it and I completely condemn any single person who believes that we should abandon the national health service and we must never abandon it. The huge increases in the funding of the national health service under this conservative government has allowed it to build 50 new hospitals, hire 61,000 more nurses and 36,000 doctors these are some of the amazing real life changes that society can makes. But there are other things such as Education that are just as vital and in improving society now the reason I focus on society is because we are one people we don't live alone and we must understand that as modern compassionate Conservative party must say that government is right behind you that of course we don't want to ever undermine businesses but we must understand that in order to effectively reform the public services for the next generation and if we can do this then we can maintain them and develop them for the next generation, In the election in 8 months time we are able to reform society than we can win and that second term is do able so let's get out there and seize the moment'
The Conference speech was interesting and the entire tory conference was a success for them because they were Abel to stage themselves as the party of genuine reform and of genuine change and this is why the Conservative party were making a lear recovery because with the nationalisation of steel and the rates of economic growth plus the fact the conservatives had quite clearly positioned themselves in the centre ground ready for the election in 2020 anything was possible.
| Party | Percentage |
| Conservatives | 41% |
| Labour | 35% |
| Lib Dems | 23% |
| Conservatives 341 (+6) | Labour 241 (-47) | Lib Dems 51 (+41) |
Dudley North By Election
The By-Election in Dudley were to be fascinating Labour held the seat for decades and the reason that this was so is because this was a system that was based on manufacturing and the reason the Labour Party had been worried is because the tories proposed nationalisation of the steel industry had allowed the tory party to claim that they had the interests of the working class at their core and Labour decided to fight a campaign based on revitalising schools and hospitals as well as British industry and the Lib Dems had decided to fight a campaign based on being a new modern compassionate liberal democratic party. Here was the result of the 2015 Election
2015 result
| Party | Votes | Percent |
| Labour- Ian Austin | 17,983 | 52.5% |
| Conservative - Les Jones | 12,347 | 36% |
| UKIP - Bill Etheridge | 1,804 | 5.2% |
| Greens - Will Duckworth | 1,563 | 4.5% |
| Lib Dems - Mike Collins | 512 | 1.4% |
| Majority | 5,636 | 16.5% |
The campaign would be focused and Irving up turnout for Labour but for the conservatives they decided to focus on winning Labour voters knowing that the votes of UKIP and Lib Dems would not help them, so they decided to make the campaign focused on the saving of the steel industry and the manufacturing industry with good reason under the conservatives the share of world trade that came from Britain had risen from 21.3% in 2015 to 27.2% in 2019 and that was significant in that typical labour areas were given jobs and therefore undermined the core argument of the Labour Party. Labour's campaign on investing in the public services did help but Labour were in a bad place as the tories controlled the council and the roads were being rebuilt and council tax was coming down so therefore the result was interesting and inevitable.
| Party | Votes | Percent |
| Conservatives | 15,863 | 44.1% (+8.1%) |
| Labour | 15,181 | 42.4% (-9.6%) |
| Lib Dems | 3,183 | 8.8% (+7.3%) |
| Greens | 1,109 | 3.1% (-1.4%) |
| UKIP | 432 | 1.6% (-3.6%) |
| Majority | 782 | 1.7% |
The By Election was stunning, the Conservative party had gained a seat off the Labour Party by targeting labour voters now whilst the majority was 782 the swing of 8.8% was huge now this was widely attributed to local circumstances and the cinompetenc of the Dudley west Labour Party and the thrift of the tory council but make no mistake this was a failure for Labour, the Lib Dems had increased their vote by 2,500 and by 7% that had made them comfortably the third party.
Next UP
Budget 2020
Final PMQS
Labour Manifesto
Conservative Manifesto
Lib Dem Manifesto
Chancellors Debate
Paxman Interviews
Election Debate
Election Night
The Morning After
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2020 General Election
Budget 2020
It was three pre-election budget for the government the conservatives had been in power for five years and were they to stay in power for another five years they would have to sell it to be £110 billions in 2020 , £119 billions in 2021 , £128 billions in 2022 , £135 billions in 2023, £148 billions in 2024 and £156 billions in 2025. The surplus was being re-built after the impact of the tax cuts did reduce the growth of the surplus because the tax cuts were so substantive but there were also some very good rates of economic growth and therefore this allowed the economy to grow by 6.2% in 2020 , 6.5% in 2021 , 6.6% in 2022 , 6.8% in 2023 , 7% in 2024 and 7.2% in 2025. These were exceptionally strong rates of economic growth that made sure by 2022 the UK would be the fastest growing economy on the planet and that was the core part of the conservative appeal in that the prudence of economic management had allowed them to position themselves as the party of economic credibility. The UK had become one of the leading nations of providing money to nations that needed to borrow. Inflation forecasted at 1.1% in 2020 , 0.9% in 2021 , 1% in 2022, 0.8% in 2023 and 0.6% in 2024 and 0.5% in 2025. These low rates of inflation had allowed the economy to be growing and also allowed real terms increases in pay to be more substantial and with that a clear elevation in the feel good factor for pay rises were genuinely meaningful and they allowed the public to convey the feeling of a feel good factor that would be helpful for them in the upcoming general election.
In regards to the National Health Service the government announced a huge £10 billion in the NHS and the reason that this could be popular for the government is because this would be an increase of nearly 7.4% in real terms it was able to be a pre-election spending increase but the fact is the NHS budget had risen by nearly £53 billions in the first term of a conservative government there had been some huge increases oil funding for the national health service, Cameron announced that should the conservatives become the next government they would be able to propose a health service reform bill but ensure that health service funding would rise every single year in a way that made sure that the reforms were developed in the health service. Cameron also announced that the 15% tax relief on private medical insurance and private hospitals introduced in 1989 would be abolished by 2022, there would be an immediate cut to 10% this year , 5% in 2021 and then it would be eliminated by 2022. Though this measure only brought in £3.2 billions it was making a broader point that the conservatives would be championing the core principles of the public services and the National Health service.
For Education, the graduate tax had provided an extra £6.8 billions for the state education system this was modelled off the Scotland approach in regards to Education and this would lead to a substantial increase of funding that allowed the state sector to properly thrive for the next generation. The investment had been substantial within education that had allowed the conservatives to properly proclaim themselves top be the party of education and management of good public services and therefore it helped them to understand that through good and effective as the public service was there had to be an emphasis on independent run schools that were maintained free at the point of use. It was breaking open the state monopoly on education whilst maintaining that core principle of free at the point of use principle which had `lowest there to be more choice within there state sector that had created more choice within education and that element of choice within education but at least with the reforms had been beneficial in that education standards did consistently rise so therefore it did help. The reforms to college were mainly based on construction and making sure that there were proper construction of the schools and colleges. Universities became better regulated with Cameron announcing a new body called Universities Independent Regulatory Authority. (UIRA) which was there to regulate the universities and if there were abuses within the system they would have to be effectively regulated to make sure that there were going to regulate the universities and the regulation element was clear and key to the reforms.
For taxation there was a big announcement that from next year the basic rate of income tax would be cut from 18% to 15% it was a huge cuts in the basic rate of income tax costing nearly £11 billion but the reason this was done because this was there way in showing that they were indeed the conservatives were the party of the working class and therefore it would allowed them to counter the image of the Labour Party as the party that Champions the working class. Cameron announced that whilst the tax cuts act would be implemented there would be bigger focus on reforming the public services whilst providing huge amounts of investment it was clear that the right wing of the Conservative party would be having no say at all in how the conservatives would the winning the upcoming general election. Cameron finished the budget by saying 'I hope to be delivering the budget again in 12 months time'.
Alan Milburn stood up and delivered his response to the budget it would be interesting to see that how he would be responding to the budget with a general election in 6 weeks time nobody knew how it would go whilst Labour were still ahead it was neck and neck and with a resurgent Liberal Democrats who will be getting about 23-25% of the vote. Milburn decided to make this focused on the alternative labour vision for this country based on. the strong economy, the low unemployment and low inflation. His speech went like this. 'Mr Speaker this is the final budget from a government who knows whose time is up. Now I could talk about their record in producing Lower rates off growth than what the OBR had forecasted for the labour government 5 years ago. Because when are we going to reach a 7% rate of economic growth under this government it's going be 2024 under Labour it would have been 2019. So therefore with these sluggish rates of economic growth isn't it clear what this country needs is a strong economy not a party that believes it once said they are the party that can run a strong economy and how much has the headline growth rate grown by well in 2015 the growth rate it was 5.8% it is now 6.2% the growth of the economy has been 0.4% in increasing levels why because they squandered our future on tax cuts for the rich how can they be the party of fiscal responsibility when they can reduce the rates of economic growth for political opportunism. They are a party that says s one things to one pool,e and one thing to another. Now when this election comes they will fight as being the party of the centre ground let us just remind them of there right wing faction that said that the chancellor did not think as a conservative. Let me just put out the vision for the Labour Britain a nation where we can have extremely strong rates of economic growth that will allow us too become nation of full employment. It will allow us to become a nation where society can still be developing as a society or where we can have a properly funded National Health service that will be able to go from being the third best health care system in the world but instead being the best healthcare system in the world. A Labour Britain where we can have taxes that are low but taxes that are appropriate because we need to create a society that is based on being. simple and prudent. Prudence for a purpose that is what must dominate our thinking I know that as a nation we have such a great future ahead of us but what it requires us to do is to keep maintaining that strong economy that had been grown by the Labour government and now which is being developed by these tories for as a society how can we develop when we believe that we will just have to accept what we are given and a Labour Britain would create a future fair for all'.
The Budget speech had been a success for Cameron In being able to portray themselves as modern forward thinking conservatives and then it allowed them to be potrayed themselves as a party that whilst occupies quite clearly the centre ground but it makes them understand that as a conservative party they could be able to win the election providing they capture the centre ground for the country but the election would be close and the most interesting part was that a labour overall majority was do able but so was a hung parliament, it wasn't ruled out ht possibility if having a conservative government with an overall majority. But nobody knew how it would go, here is how the polls looked:
| Party | Percent |
| Labour | 39% |
| Conservatives | 37% |
| Lib Dems | 24% |
| Labour 311 (+28) | Conservatives 274 (-62) | Lib Dems 45 (+35) |
Final PMQS-30/03/20
With the calling of the election being four days the Labour Party led by Alan Milburn decided to make this Prime Ministers Questions one fo the best where he opened up by saying 'In the last election the Conservatives promised not to raise the tax burden, The tax burden has risen by £32 billion so will the make same Pledge again'. The Prime Minister Ken Clarke decided to say 'Firstly I don't understand how the taxes have risen when the chancellor passed a fundamental tax reform bill that cut taxes for 35 million people, when he was in office the total tax take rose by £138 billion and under this conservative government it has risen £32 billions so I think that's been a success but would he be prepared to tell us how miuchb taxes would rise if the British people suffer a momentary lapse of judgement and vote him in'. Milburn decided to then talk about Education, The reforms to Education under David Willets had been an interesting reformer by strengthening the graduate tax which he had welcomed when it was brought in. But also the reform sunder Micheal Gove had been controversial with him providing greater levels of autonomy for schools. Milburn asked the PM. 'Last week the education secretary said that he would like to see all schools become academies and therefore lose their funding from the Department of Education is that what the Prime Minister means by the new modern compassionate conservatism'. Clarke decided to shock the public 'I can be proud of the fact under this conservative government the total spending on Education had risen by £28 billions and we are proud of the fact that every single secondary school has received an extra £800,000, these are some bold and substantive reforms that had helped transform the schools, we are poured of the fact that we have increased the Education Maitanance Allowances by an extra £1,000 a year and that's what I mean by modern compassionate conservatism what do they mean by their social democracy all it seems to me is that they seem intent on building on the brilliant reforms of the conservative government'.
The Third Question that Milburn asked was in regards to Crime, there had been a strong success with David Davis as Home Secretary had successfully brought down crime by 24% by passing there crime and disorder bill that would be making sure that crime kept falling due to the reheater levels off autonomy that had been given to the police force. Alan Decided to ask the government 'Crime has fallen by 24% could the Prime Minister tell us between the time period 2010-2015 how much crime fell by'. Clarke said 'Im very proud that Crime has fallen by 24% which means and that since 2015 there have been 850,000 less crimes that is an achievement now it's true that the Last labour government cut crime in office because they decided to give the police more money to fight crime and I'm very happy that members of my party did vote for that piece of legislation and that is the way we work then when they something right we support and when we do something wrong we oppose it now will he explain way he has a Home Secretary who is the honourable member for Hayes and Harlington who has called for defundunding of MI5 and the reduction of police officers, I think the honourable gentlewomen is a sane reasonable moderate but why does he have a Home Secretary who is a left wing lunatic'. Clarke knew that if he could talk about Labour's left wing faction long enough that Milburn's central appeal of being the moderate social democrat would be fading away. Milburn decided to say this, 'I say to the Prime Minister that what does the Home Secretary and shadow Home Secretary have in common they both have an idolisation of Roy Jenkins who is the most transformative Home Secretary In this countries history and let me assure the house that in John McDonnell we have someone who will be a sane liberal voice for creating a freer and liberal society but let me ask the Prime Minister another question about the state pension, Under the Last labour government we brought in the pension credit which had become in effect the second state pension, now according to the treasury red book figures which show how they want to phase out the pension credit could the Prime Minister tell us how much money people will lose'.. The Prime Minister decided to reply by saying 'We have no intention off abolishing the pension credit or watering it down, all we are down is re-adjusting the initial terms of the pension credit which is not been sufficiently means tested and because if we can means test these welfare subsidies they will then help the poorest in society and when people lobby against the concept off means testing here is what I say to them, why on earth do we think it's legitimate to give the richest in society the same help as the poorest in society, surely we should be appropriating help based on need and not ability to pay and I thought that is the approach of the left for so long'.
The Fifth Question from Alan Milburn would be talking about the situation of Sudan at the moment there had been a mess up with the election being rigged and asked the Prime Minister 'So three weeks since the complete fall out of Sudan I ask the Prime Minister what is he going to do about it, will he accept Labour's proposal on deploying UN Peacekeepers and 50,000 troops in order to make sure President Enzliee is inaugurated and prevent the killings'. Clarke and Portillo had both announced the deployment of 10,000 troops of 2 weeks ago however since then there had been no major developments and therefore the use of the question showed how he wanted to keep the issue being discussed. Clarke decided to respond 'The Honourable member is absolutely right the state we see in Sudan is utterly disgusting and we do have a duty to solve it and an ability to make sure that this problem is solved now the way we can do this is by of course making sure that there are more troops now in regards to Peacekeepers he does make a very important point but this will take time and these reforms will take time but let me make it explicitly clear we will be finding clear ways to make sure that when we can Sudan will have it's democracy'. The Final Question was profound 'In the 18 years of the Labour government, crime fell, taxes fall, spending on the NHS and Schools went up and so did the economy. These were genuine and meaningful reforms that also led to the introduction of the national minimum wage, sure start, tax credits, peace in Northern Ireland, Kosovo and Sierra Leone. These were some profound achievements what can the Prime Minister say the that he has done that could constitute as genuine achievements'. The Prime Minister stood up and said 'He wants us to list the achievements ok here are some 5 years of solid economic growth with another 5 years on the horizon.How about the lowest rate of inflation in 50 years. Also the fact that we have the best schools in our history or the fact that people have to wait only 7 weeks for treatment on the NHS the lowest ever waiting times also how about the fact that the waiting list is only 700,000 which is down from 3.2 million a decade ago. We have made more reforms such as the expansion of tax credits and the 10% basic rate of income tax or how about the lowest crime rate in 55 years or the lowest morgatges for 60 years. What about the fact that when International companies want to invest we are their first choice, we have built this country up so well so let's not go back'.
| Party | Percentage |
| Labour | 37% |
| Conservatives | 36% |
| Lib Dems | 24% |
| Labour 305 (+22) | Conservatives 269 (-67) | Lib Dems 55 (+45) |
Conservative Manifesto- Let's Keep Moving Forward-2/04/20
The Conservative Manifesto was bold, very bold he was able to make sure the conservatives could still win this election but they also kn ew that with the polls still neck and neck it would require them to give some red meet to the Liberal Democrats and to Labour voters the manifesto articulated what Ken Clarke called 'The sensible and compassionate manifesto that doesn't make ludicrous and unaffordable pledges but nor does it reject the ned to help the poorest in society'. Clarke had the following policies in the manifesto:
- An extra £9 billions a year to the NHS
- Making sure the NHS Waiting lists would Continue to fall and to make sure that we can have 0 waiting list by 2026
- Increasing the number of nurses by 55,000 by exempting nurses from the graduate tax and paying them £35,000 by 2023
- Increasing the number of doctors by 35,000 by allowing there to be a recruitment drive for younger doctors and also seeking to reduce the time of medical school to 4 years.,
- Enhancing the quality of mental health so people could seek treatment with an extra £2.6 billions every year to reduce waiting times to a week
- Increasing social care capacity to make sure that by 2024 the waiting list for social care would be cut in half.
- Hiring an extra 15,000 cleaners by 2024 to make sure that every hospital has at least 10 cleaners to make sure the hospital is always clean.
- To Construct an extra 50 new hospitals by 2025.
- Ensuring an extra £6 billions for the State Education and to make sure that this will create an extra 500,000 school places.
- Creating a system of autonomy within State Education to allow schools to expand but also to make sure that schools can spend their money with 'common sense' provisions.
- Providing schools with 95% pass rates and therefore creating a need to expand.
- Creating more Grammar schools but making sure that there would be the same level of investment in the state sector.
- Ensuring proper school discipline by saying that if a student misbehaves and is constantly causes havoc they are taken to a rehabilitation school and then re-admitted.
- Keeping the Graduate tax but expanding the Maintenance Grants to uptown £7,000 year for the lowest income students.
- Increasing the Education Maintanace Allowances to £60 a week or £3,120 a year.
- Creating the Vocational Grants of £20 a week for those who want to pursue a Vocational Education.
- 50,000 extra police officers by uprating the pay of officers to £27,000 a year.
- An Increase of Drug rehabilitation treatment centres from 250 to 1250 by 2020
- Setting a Limit on the total quantity of immigration to 200,000 a year.
- Enhancing the Independent Panel on Immigration and Asylum Seekers
- Outlawing any potential for offshore processing centres.
- Making sure Foreign Aid Spending is at 1% of GDP by 2022 and then to 1.5% by 2027.
- Therefore ensuring the Foreign aid budget rises from £20 billions in 2020, to £29 billions in 2022 and then £48 billions by 2027. the figures are based on the current economic growth rates of GDP.
- Maintaining the Triple lock into the 2030s to make sure pensions will rise by pensions, earnings or 3%
- Introducing a flat rate of council tax set at £200 for all over 65 pensioners.
- A £12 billion boost to ensure all people with savings below £300,000 will be secured at all costs.
- No Rises in the lower, basic or top rate of income tax.
- Cutting the percentage of inheritance tax to 20%
- Having a referendum on the EU Constitution
- Looking at the 5 Tests on the Euro In the mid term of the parliament and will not be seeking to join without a referendum.
- Keeping the EU Social Chapter including the Working Time Directive and seeking to update the minimum wage when possible.
- 12 months free maternity leave with a guaranteed pay of £200 a week
- Also ensuring that the women when returning to work will not be fired.
- 8 months of Paternity Leave with £180 a week and The same no firing provision guaranteed for men
- Ensuring 30 hours a week of free childcare by 2022 and then expanding it to 40 hours by 2024.
- Introducing new targets to make sure that Britain is net zero by 2040.
- Investing £35 billions in solar and wind energy
- Building more nuclear power plants to increase it from 21 to 80 by 2030 but ensuring that they are publicly owned till 2065 and that any privatisation would have to be voted through by 75% of the house of commons
- A £20 billion road construction project with the redeveloping and renewing of the roads to make sure that every single pothole is fixed by 2030.
- Looking at alternatives for Bus and Rail Ownership whilst not primarily nationalisation.
- Having a free vote on Fox Hunting
- Reforming the Common Agricultural Policy to ensure that farmers receive a boost in their incomes.
- Reviewing Genetically Modified Crops but not ensuring that they are legislated for unless they are safe.
- Holding a series of indicative votes on the future of the house of lords and making it a referendum.
- Keeping the Number of MPs at 650.
- Having a full independent review into benefits and opposing factors to Proportional Representation and then if it its supported by the house putting it to a referendum
The Conservative Manifesto was bold very bold. It had decided to reach out to labour voters by promising huge investments in the public services and also promising more money for infrastructure but also the promises to cut the council tax for pensioners and then to make sure that taxers wouldn't be raised did help with the base. But there were some huge gambles, the referendum on the Euro and the potential one on Proportional Reprensation it was going to be very interesting to see what would happen. But it was setting out an agenda that ion there was a hung parliament which was likely at the moment. It was showing to the Socially Democratic Lib Dems that the tories were modern and genuine about being in the centre ground. Here is how the polls looked.
| Party | Percent |
| Conservatives | 40% |
| Labour | 34% |
| Lib Dems | 25% |
| Conservatives 321 (-15) | Labour 256 (-27) | Lib Dems 52 (+42) |
Labour Manifesto- A future Fair for All- 05.04.20
As the Labour party convened for their manifesto launch in Manchester it was up for grabs, Milburn was certainly more ideoligically to the throes of the Prime Minister Ken Clarke but he also knew the the would hjabe to keep the base happy if he had any hope of winning this election especially with the fact that with the Lib Dems clearly were going to do very well and therefore Labour would have to of course try and win over one nation conservatives but it was holding the base which was crucial, but they had decided to remind themselves that they are New Labour and the second they return to the credentials of Old labour then they would be in trouble so therefore they decided to make the manifesto a far reaching manifesto inspired in a way what the conservatives did which was to reach out to as many as possible.Here is what was in it:
- Making sure the NHS has an extra £12 billions.
- Increasing the physical Health care budget by £6 billions. Mental Health care by £2 billions and social care by £4 billions.
- Introducing a new 6 week guarantee that no person would have to wait more than six weeks to receive treatment.
- 100 new hospitals by 2025 to be built by the government and within corporation from the Private Financial Iniatives
- Greater levels of freedom for patients to choose their GPs providing they are within the National Health Service.
- 10,000 new cleaners to make sure every hospital has at least six new cleaners.
- Providing more choice within the system of schools and education to allow people to go to any school they want within their location.
- Giving schools foundation status to provide them with greater levels of autonomy in their decision making in terms of hiring staff and apropiating budgets
- Making sure that no primary school class is above 15 and no secondary school class Is above 20
- Ensuring that they are 1,300 new sure start centres.
- Looking into the policy of means testing the graduate tax based on income and therefore seeking to reduce payments for low income households.
- Hiring 30,000 new police officers to have a focus on being able to reduce crime.
- 18,000 new community support officers which will be used to ensure greater levels of community support.
- Having a five fold increase for drug treatment centres and the places for drug treatment centres.
- Ensuring the full powers of the independent regulators on Immigration and Asylum numbers are fully held too.
- Having an effective UK Border system to make sure there is a proper crackdown on Identity Fraud.
- Increasing the state pension by £20 a week but also introducing long term pension savings account which will be looked into.
- Making sure if a company goes bust the government will be able to cover up the pension requirements.
- Providing immediate council tax relief for pensioners of £500 for those on marginal and low incomes
- Ensuring that the council tax can be reduced by half for all over 65s and under 25s by 2026
- Having a focus on low morgagtages and low interest rates
- No raises in the lower, basic or top rate of income tax
- No raises in National Insurance or VAT
- Re-Nationlisng Rail and Water
- Backing the new EU Constituion but only if it's voted through with a referendum.
- Will still want Britain to join the European Single Currency but only if the 5 economic tests have been met
- There will be a referendum on the Euro should the 5 tests be met
- Putting Britain at the heart of Europe in regards to trade and immigraiton
- Providing universal childcare with 40 hours of free childcare a week
- Expanding Sure Start so that by 2026 so now there would be one in every single constitutnecy
- A 12 month maternity leave paid at £200 a week
- A 9 month paternity leave paid at £180 a week
- Reaching Net Zero on climate emissions by 2040 with a 75% cut by 2030 in carbon emissions
- Creating an 70% tax break for those who wish to use electric cars
- Forcing local councils to collect the bins every 3 days
- Having a £30 billion invrestmnen in the roads to expand them into rural areas
- Ensuring free transport for under 18s and Over 65s
- Construcitng HS2 by 2028
- Making sure that 35% of all homes are built in rural areas
- Making the Bus service far more accessible
- Reforming the Common Agricultural and Common fisheries policy in order to help farmers and swimmers
- Removing all the hereditary peers.
- Making sure there would be a second elected chamber
- Keeping the 650 MPs
- Ensuring Votes at 16
- Having a referendum on Proportional Representation.
| Party | Percent |
| Labour | 41% |
| Conservatives | 32% |
| Lib Dems | 26% |
| Labour 347 (+64) | Conservatives 225 (-111) | Lib Dems 57 (+47) |
Lib Dem Manifesto-Changing Politics for Good-7.04.20
- A £12 billions increase in spending on the National Health Service
- A£7 billions increase In spending on physical care in order to keep driving down waiting lists and enhance quality.
- A £3 billions spending increase on social care in order to effectively preserve the national care service
- Investing £2 billions a year into mental health to reduce waiting times
- Abolishing Eye and Dental Charges through a sugar and salt tax
- Abolishing prescription charges to be abolished for all people.
- Cutting Class Sizes to 10 for primary schools and 20 for secondary schools and to achieve this by 2027
- Hiring 50,000 new teachers and 100,000 new teaching support staff by 2025
- No changes in the principle of examination but to make sure that coursework accumulates for at least 70% of the total proportion of the subject
- Keeping the England Challenge scheme that pays graduate teachers £50,000 if they teach in an inner city school.
- Looking at was to abolish the University Graduate Tax
- 15,000 extra police officers and therefore to ensure that there is a community poilicing.
- The community policing would be creating through the police and crime commissioners scheme
- No Introduction of ID Cards
- Backing the EU common asylum policy to make sure the United Kingdom take in at least 50,000 asylum seekers and then seek to review the asylum seekers.
- Allowing Asylum seekers to work in the UK so therefore reducing their reliance on the welfare state but also making them citizens.
- Allowing a new EU immigration policy to make sure that the total proportion of immigration is relative to the population.
- Increasing the basic state pension to £300 a month by 2026
- Ensuring the triple lock for pensions is maintained for the next decade
- Keeping the investment into the national care service to amen sure that pensioners have free social care
- Reducing the basic state pension age from 66 to 60 by 2027
- A cut in half of the bills of council tax for pensioners above 65
- Abolishing the council tax with a 3% local income tax
- Increasing the Personal Allowance to £15,000
- Expanding the 10% for incomes between £15,001-£35,000
- Making sure the 22% rate is between £35,001-£70,000
- Introducing a new 42% rate at £70,0001 and £150,000
- Introducing the new 50% top rate of income tax for incomes above £150,000
- 1% raise in National Insurance Contributions for incomes above £42,000
- Increasing Corporation Tax from 17% to 27% by 2025
- Brining in a fuel duty desecrator of cutting fuel duty by 5p every year for 6 years
- Would support the EU constitution in Principle but only with a referendum
- Assessing the 5 conditions of the Euro and stating that the Lib Dems are in favour of the Euro as a Principle but only through a referendum.
- Bringing in a £300 per week maternity pay for 12 months
- Ensuring £200 per week paternity leave for 9 months
- Making sure there was at least three sure start centres in ever constituency in the United Kingdom
- Net zero on Carbon emissions by 2035 with a 50% cut in Carbon Emissions over the course of the next 5 years.
- Increasing the targets based on the Kyoto and Paris Climate change summits.
- Investing more into local government and therefore to ensure that they would have the revenue to make sure that bins are collected every 72 hours
- Expanding the Free Transport policy for anybody over 60
- 75% tax subsidies on electric cars
- Reforming the Common Fisheries and Agricultural Policy to help Fisherman and Farmers
- Referendum on the Single Transferable vote by 2023
- Giving all 16 year olds the right to vote
- Making sure that the House of Lords is scrapped and to ensure a democratically elected second chamber
| Party | Percent |
| Labour | 35% |
| Conservatives | 33% |
| Lib Dems | 31% |
| Labour 311 (+38) | Conservative 248 (-88) | Lib Dem 60 (+50) |
Election Debate
The Broadcasting commissioner had decided that there would be two main debates and One Election Question time plus three interviews by Jeremy Paxman.The First Debate would be chaired by David Dimbelby on BBC One and then by Tom Bradby on ITV 1. There would be a question time on the BBC Chaired by David Dimbleby this being Dimbelby's final election coverage it would be his most significant. As the Debate convened in Salford the polls were close it was 33% Labour, 35% conservatives and 32% Lib Dem. It was literally neck and neck between all three parties and therefore as the debate convened it would be interesting to see who would come out on top. The First BBC Debate would be about the Economy, Education, Health and Taxes . So therefore by lots it was done that Tim Farron would open the debate with the Lib Dem point of view, Alan Milburn would go second and then Ken Clarke would go last. The defence off the record would be interesting from the Prime Minister. So therefore First was Tim Farron.
'Thank you David, over the last few years I have tried to change the Liberal Democrats and by making it less right wing and more reasonable now that manifesto defends the valuers of the National Health Service and it allows to understand what needs to be done to reform the public services through considerably more investment in the public services but keeping the reform. but above all we as Lib Daems want to create a fair and more equal society, and the word equality is to make sure we can have equality of opportunity rather than Equality of Outcome and Income let us keep focusing on the modern reforms and let us take society forward not back'
The Opening Statement from Tim Faron was good and was on point he wanted to detail the main reforms to the Lib Dems and to remove the image of the nasty party and to come across as modern socially democratic and just reasonable. So therefore next up was Alan Milburn. Milburn was able to articulate the centre-left position that had come to dominate the Labour Party. Milburn had been startled by the fact that John McDonnell had secured 1/3rd of the vote and therefore was a prominent force within British politics and the fact that he made McDonell the shadow Home Secretary which allowed him to show his socially liberal credentials. Here was Milburn's statement.
'Well Thank you David and thank you, This debate is about you and your future, We need to build a society where people can focus on what they need which is a stable job, a good healthcare system and therefore would allow us to make sure that under all circumstances we would be caring for you from the cradle to the grave, Government as a concept is there to work with you not against you, we need to be behind you not in front of you and therefore if we are able to make sure that we can ensure the current progress built from 18 years of Labour Government and whilst the conservatives have done some good things and we will keep the good things but we will make sure that as a society we can develop what is right about this country, we need to build that strong economy with the low unemployment and the low inflation rates we need to create a society that says to people that ion you strive forward you will not be condemned to be left behind'.
Finally was Ken Clarke. Clarke had been an interesting Prime Minister who had been governing as a moderate and it was known that his credentials as a centrist did help him in winning over a greater quantity of voters. Clarke decided to talk about their greater society the the envisaged and here it went like this:
'This Conservative party has changed and nobody can deny that, the tory party of Kenneth Clarke is substantially more electable than the tory party of Bill Cash and how have we done that by accepting and embracing the welfare state and because we have done that it allows us to become a party that it's true to its values of social justice and opportunity for all but never ever forgets how we have to implement them in the modern world. Now throughout this debate I will explain how the values of the new modern Conservative party will be able to make this country better let us keep reforming and changing so we can make sure that the country keeps reforming and changing'.
The Debate started by talking about education, Alan Milburn opened up the debate with talking about the reforms that were needed, 'In my constituency of Darlington there is one main academy that was created four years ago and it has a capacity of a 1,000 students and it's average class size is 36 now how is that manageable. In England the average class size is 32. How can a teacher teach with a class size of 38 can they no they can't so we have to clearly reform this now it's through genuine investment that this can be done we have identified £6 billions every hear which is giving every school nearly £2.8 million every year that is a huge advance on their cash budgets. So be ensuring the reform through meaningful and genuine investment it will allow us to make sure education is great'. Faron explained his point of view by saying this 'As a new liberal democratic party we have a devout belief In Education and be able to reform the system of schooling now we do that through that through examination but also through investment and reducing the total class sizes and therefore we will be allowing teachers to teach again and surely that is what we need to do and that would be a good thing If we provided schools with the money because it will allow us to cut class sizers and to make sure we could help people'. The Prime Minister came third and decided to focus on the reforms he had made to education by saying 'We believe in autonomy we have a devout belief that schools should be given the freedom to make their decisions on who they hire and who they fire on who they fire because we trust the people and know that there people know best but we will also out the investment in of at least £5 billions every single year and therefore through the constant investment in then requires us to conduct genuine investment in the public services, I want to reform the curriculum but also to make sure that we can reduce the exams, coursework is a far better system and therefore we would seek to reduce the exams but also enhance the quality of teaching but we should also ensure greater levels of school discipline and therefore to make sure that when people are taught they do to have to be worried about a disruptive environment'. The Debate had been successful for Labour as there focus on class sizes had been able to lead the debate on reducing class sizes which had increased under the Conservatives. Milburn had been able to centre the first 20 minutes around the issue of class sizes and the quality of teaching.
Next up came the debate on the NHS. Clarke who had been the health secretary under Mrs Thatcher had stood up and defended the values of the NHS over the Americanisation of the healthcare system as Clarke decided to say 'The NHS is the greatest instuition this country has been so since let me make it clear under the conservatives it will always be protected now how will we do it by investing a substantial more in the health service but then to make sure that we can properly invest in the NHS that will hire 60,000 more nurses and 35,000 more doctors. We have seen plummeting waiting times now that is an achievement but also we have greater levels of hospital cleanliness so therefore we have done so much good for the NHS and we will co0ntinue to do so if we win the next election in 3 weeks time'. Milburn responded by saying this 'Under tory Britain there have been a clear lack in the real terms investment that's the why the waiting list hadn't fallen as much as it did in our first term and now what is the reform we have shown how we will bring in the independent sector in the NHS to enhance the quality of healthcare to make sure that our healthcare system is the best in the world and therefore it shows whilst we will radically invest in the national health service we will reform it in such a way where it will be beneficial'. Tim Faron said in regards to the national health service 'What we need is an effective free tag the point of use NHS that is effectively funded now the way we do it is by yes putting lots of investment quite right that we do but by saying what will we be doing with the money are we going to be wasting it or are we going to be using it to get the effective national health service I want to see an NHS that one day where waiting times are no longer a thing and now if we can see waiting times fall and have good an effective high quality treatment I think that would, be a brilliant achievement'. The plummeting waiting times policy was exceptionally bold as it allowed them to proclaim that they will develop and rebuild the national health service. And It had been fair to say that all three parties had a fair amount of credibility on the issue as whilst labour had founded it and invested heavily in it, the voters trusted Ken Clarke not necessarily the conservatives but they trust4ed Ken Clarke with the NHS and Tim Faron had rebuilt the credibility on public services through the 21089 policy review and the debate was helping that.
Next up was the economy whilst the economy had grown under the conservatives but it was well known that it had followed labour's spending plans then the economy would have become the fastest economy on the planet so therefore it allowed Labour to attack their record in as Milburn put it 'Ken you have decided to throw away the chance of having the strongest economy in the world because you wanted £40 billions of tax reductions which mostly benefited the wealthiest in society, Now I know your a moderate and that's very good but how can we trust you because if you get a majority which nobody thinks is possible but if you do what is to stop you squandering the rates of economic growth to calm down the right wing faction of your Conservative party because if they say, Ken we are going to need some more tax cuts then what are you going to do'. Clarke then shocked the audience, 'I don't think the right wing will ever run the party they only have 20 MPs In their dismal caucus and we are not a right wing party, we are a party who believe in pragmatism and the reason that this is so is because we understand that in being the party of the people you have to make sure that the economy is strong with low inflation and low interest rates and now that is what we have seeking to do as the party of prudence'. Finally Tim Farron decided to talk about the liberal view of the economy which is based on as he put it 'Running a strong economy with strong foundations if we can maintain the good foundations of the strong economy that we have accustomed ourselves to because of the policies under both parties that have given us very good and strong economic growth rates and now what's required is to not squander our hard won efforts on ridiculously large tax cuts used to appease tory backbenchers who do not agree with the direction that Ken Clarke is taking them in or to nationalise industries such as Water which is being used to appease left wing backbenchers, what we need is practical and common sense based reforms that say of course we must invest so much more into our public services because they are essential but also we need common sense in understanding that if we are going to have tax cuts then they must be for keeps, Let us make sure that whilst we increase the surplus and the rates of economic growth we do it with common sense reforms rather than party political gains'. Clarke distancing himself from the right wing off his party well more like disowning his right wing had polled well amongst moderates and with still a booming economy most voters were willing to give Clarke the credit for the increasing economy as it had been attributed to the huge increase in the UK's share of world trade which had increased from 22% to 39% in the last 5 years of the conservative government. So therefore Clarke had won the economic section of the debate.
Next Part was about taxes. The reforms that had been made to taxation under labour there had been no raises of the top rate of income tax or the basic rate of income tax in fact there had been £24 billions of tax cuts that were designed to enhance businesses and the quality of enterprise within Britain as that was the key was to enhance the quality of businesses had been enhanced and under the conservatives there had been a radical tax cutting agenda that had strengthened the economy. Clarke upended the debate by saying 'We had a radical tax cutting package that allowed us to enhance the quality of enterprise and therefore the tax cuts we did in regards to Capital Gains Tax, Corporation tax and Income tax you have to understand these are effective and pragmatic economic policy that has invested nearly £58 billion in the public services and has cut taxes by £40 billions over the last 5 years but because of our huge rates of economic growth it allows us to increase the budget surplus because remember we have no debts so therefore the UK is now the leading manufacturer and the leading trader, we now have 39% of the worlds trade up from 8% 20 years ago and therefore because of our strong economy we can cut taxes' The citing of the strong percentage of trade was exceedingly effective as the fact that the UK was the second biggest trading nation on the planet only behind by 2% with China at 41%. Next up was Tim Faron, the Lib Dems had under David Laws positioned themselves as being a purist party in favour of tax cuts but there had been genuine changes, 'When we talk about taxes let us think about the fact that we have schools in the inner cities that don't have sufficient books and whiteboards that we have hospitals that do not have sufficient equipment and therefore when people say we need to cut taxes let us understand we need good and effective public services if we can manage our public services effectively then it will rebuild this country for the better'. As for Alan Milburn he decided to pitch labour in the middle, if the Lib Dems weer going to be the party of high tax rises and if the conservatives were going to be the party that supported the principle of tax cuts then it was going to be the party off moderation that whilst acknowledged the need for tax reductions was not going to be purist in their desire for it. Or as Milburn put it 'I think the Lib Dems and the conservatives have both got some interesting points in regards to public spending and to tax cuts but also to understand that we don't have an indefinite supply of cash so therefore it is vital that we effectively target our resources and if we can do that then it will allow us to not only grow the economy in a quicker and more sustainable in away that will not only seek to grow the economy but then will allow us to enhance the quality of manufacturing. I want us to become an nation that has the biggest propotion of manufacturing. But on the issue of tax cuts I think we have cut taxes enough to be honest we have insututed over £64 billions of tax cuts now they have been necessary but maybe we should get some of that revenue back'. That had shocked people, Milburn had made the Labour Party against huge tax rises and yet he has just come out in favour of them. The Debate about taxes had been won by Tim Faron as he clearly stated that tax cuts were not the clear economic solution that tin order to pay for good and effective public services then tax rises would have to pay for it.
Finally came the closing statements to this debate, Milburn would go first followed by Tim Faron and then the Prime Minister would go last. Alan Milburn decided to go first and conclude his statement on why he believed the Labour Party would be an effective party for government and therefore he decided to say;
'We are at a crossroads whilst change is doable it requires us to have an understanding of the very simple concept we can become the best nation of the planet and we are on the road to doing that but how do we that it is through fairness and compassion, we are the party of solidarity of social justice and opportunity for all and if we are to remain that party we will need to win a general election so therefore I ask you to vote labour in order to rebuild this great nation for the better thank you'.
Next up was Tim Faron and he decided to make sure that the public had got through the concept that the Lib Dems had fully changed and that they would remain the party of change so therefore he decided to say this:
'The change in our party has decided to make sure that we are in favour of the welfare state and of society but because we are the party of change but allows us to understand the cvlaues and the issues of the People and therefore makes us more prosperous so therefore let us have this common understanding that since we are the party of change and reform we have a simple be.leif that whilst the tories believe that nothing is wrong and Labour believe that everything is wrong we have a more intellectual understanding which is that both parties have done a lot of good but to take britian in this decade it requires bold, honourable and transformative leadership and that is what the Lib Dems can guarantee you'
Finally the Prime Minister Kenneth Clarke made his conclusive statement he wanted to make sure that the people understood that Britain understood that under the last 5 years off conservative govne,mren there had been greater levels of prosperity in that the United Kingdom had expanded under the conservative government and also with the prospect of a Hung Parliament looking very likely he wanted to try and put the first step on sealing the deal by saying.
'We have heard a lot about change mainly from the leader of the Lib Dems about how he will try and take his party back from the brink and now to a competent poison or the Leader off the opposition taking his party further and further away from electability that they once had a grip on. The Conservative party is the peoples party because we have a clear understanding of what society is and this is whereof courser we look after ourselves but we also look after our neighbours, compassion is something that runs through conservatism because we are sensible people who don't believe in making ludicrous spending pledges noir making tax cuts that we can not afford but if you re-elect this majority conservative government we will I assure you keep being sensible and keep changing Britain thank you'
The Debate was over and people did not know what to make of it, clearly Tim Farron's positioning as the sensible social dxemocratic party who would be the heart of the conservatives and the brain to Labour. But Alan Milburn hadn't pulled off the expected stunning prefromancde and had flopped a bit. As for the Prime Minister Kenneth Clarke he pulled off a very formidable debate performance symbolised through his closing remarks as the debate finished here was the poll on who had won the debate.
| Leader | Percent |
| Ken Clarke | 38% |
| Tim Farron | 35% |
| Alan Milburn | 27% |
The Poll had been close Clarke had narrowly won the debate in the public perception because of his cool and calm positioning of the conservatives in the centre ground of politics. Farron scoring 28% higher of what David Laws had scored in 2015 Debates had showed how far the Lib Dems had come in the polls but for Labour though the polls were still neck and neck it had been clear that the debate had don e nothingnesses to help them. Here is the general opinion poll on who the public would vote for.
| Party | Percent |
| Conservatives | 37% |
| Labour | 32% |
| Lib Dems | 31% |
| Conservatives 305 (-26) | Labour 259 (-29) | Lib Dems 57 (+47) |
Paxman Interviews
Jeremy Paxman had become a key interviewer with Newsnight becoming one off the key programs on BBC One so therefore with 12 days till the General Election. Paxman decided to air a special 90 minute episode of Newsnight on BBC 1 at 7.30 pm to be broadcasted with all 3 party leaders being grilled by Paxo for 30 minutes each. It would first start with Tim Farron then Alan Milburn and then the Prime Minister Kenneth Clarke, the interviews would be live and uninterrupted and therefore s he decided to interview Tim Faron which would be focusing on his policies and the change that the Lib Dems would supposedly make. Paxo went straight in with his first question
'We are going to elect MPs to the British Parliament and yet your manifesto supports the European Constitution which sets the foundation for a United States of Europe, you support the Euro in principle and you want to give up our veto on Immigration and aspects monetary policy so what's the point then of putting MPs in the UK Parliament when power will be in Brussels' Paxman's Question had been out of left field and Farron decided to say 'We are the party of Europe who wants Britain to be at the heart of Europe now let's talk about the EU Constution it guarantees several trade and workers rights provisions that will not only make products in the shops cheaper but will also give British workers more rights at work so that's why I support the European Constuition now the reason I support the Euro is because it would reduce exchange rates and interest rates and would therefore cut morgatges'. Paxman continued the European Angle by saying '18 years ago we had a referendum on the Euro and it was soundly rejected why is it now you are trying to overturn the will of 18 million people', Farron said 'Jeremy you have identified it was 18 years ago now I'm not going to stop believing what I believe now if th 5 economic tests are met there will be a referendum in 2022 by then it would have been 20 years ago I think that is suffiencient time to have put the argument to the people and say the Euro will bring stability and opportunity for th epoeple so why don't we do it and if they say No again then I'll shut up about this issue'.
Paxman then talked about the NHS 'You have promised £12 billions for the NHS that is the most being pledged buy any of the three parties in fact 5 years ago when the Lib Dems were fighting the election you were pledging only. £2 billions extra and you were considering privatising the NHS and now you have changed your mind why?'. Farron said 'Because the position was a disgrace so many people depend on the National Health Service and the idea that we then tell the poorest in society we the Liberal Democrats are not on your side is just daft so therefore I have said by linking Natioanl Insurance directly to the NHS it will allow us to increase funding and quite rightly that we do but then look at the reform abolishing prescription charges, abolishing eye and dental charges and making sure people had a clear understanding of what is needed for the reforms in that in this country we have a devout belief which states our commitment to the public services but then states we must reform them and the way we do so is by understanding the reform must to be make sure that we can maintain a system of progress that will reduce the inconvenicie for the British people in think that would be great but let me make it clear the NHS will be properly funded under the Lib Dems'. Paxman asked 'why do you think it is necessary to ensure that the graduate tax which most experts have said is a fair and effective system in funding universities without putting a huge financial and psychological burden on students why do you seek to review it and Likley to abolish it'. Faron said 'Because we believe that Education should be free at the point of use and therefore to introduce a system of graduate contributions does undermine the principle of education do I said we will seek to review it not abolish it as it would understand that as a principle we can not force people to pay more and more of their earnings to the government'.
The Final Portion of the Interview was about tax and this had been an interesting section because this was a key part in defining the change as 5 years ago there had been the promise of £55 billions of tax cuts and instead promised £20 billions of tax rises as this was a mixture of £43 billions of tax rises but also £23 billions of tax cuts. So therefore it was clear that this would be an interesting discussion point so therefore Paxman asked 'You have promised several tax rises including on the basic rate to 22% and then the 42% higher rate and 50% top rate of income tax and the 1% National Insurance rises and a 10% Corporation Tax rise where is all this new money going to be spent on' 'Well we are going to invest £31 billions into the NHS,Education and Defence and the Police and therefore whilst there had been increases in the past it would be more effective and therefore we are going to have tax rises to pay for our huge spending commitments that we will be able to rebuild society because our economy is growing hugely and therefore we have a duty to maintain and develop these vital public services but we must do it with genuine pragmatism'. Paxman then asked 'You mention our commanding rates of economic growth but would you be prepared to reverse the tax cuts should the public services be steadily invested and the economy keeps growing'. Farron said 'Of course I would, I don't want to raise taxes for the fun of it but for a purpose and once the purpose has been fulfilled then I would be able to cut taxes'.
Second up was Alan Milburn the leader of the Labour Party. Paxman decided to ask Milburn 'You say the Labour Party has changed so precisely what has changed' 'Well Jeremy we have made ourselves the party of pragmatism and this is where we show our values of solidarity, social justice and opportunity for all but we say these are the values of the Labour Party which are terrific but then let us Bring these values into the modern world and that's why we have supported greater levels of investment in the public services but we have also promised not to raise the rates of income tax and one of the key ways we have changed is that we have brought in opinions of all people such as John McDonnell and David Miliband we ant to hear all people's views in our party because we are broadchurch'. Paxman then asked 'Do you think the margin of your victory undermines your credibility since it's the shortest margin' Milburn said 'No what it shows is that there were 3 brilliant contenders and therefore I won but what it Also shows is that I brought in people who disagree with me and that is what leadership is about bringing people in who hold different views and not running a Yes man based campaign would help'
Milburn was asked about his plans for the NHS with Paxman asking him 'What kind of Labour leader doesn't top the NHS Spending commitment' 'The Kind of labour leader who understands that we have to be sensible in understanding that we are willing to look at prioties and invest in them all and that is what leadership is about to understand that in order to effectively reform the public services you must provide the investment for the public services and that's what we are doing but we haven't done it based on some nonsense figures that we can't afford we have decided to fully cost out our proposals and that's why we can be the party of public services because we understand how we need to reform them'. Milburn was then asked about his proposals on reforming Education Spending with Paxman saying 'You have for so long talked about re-apropiaitng Education money what does it mean' 'When we talk about reform it is not about cutting or reducing it's about targeting money most effectively in that we have so many issues interns of class sizes the quality of teaching and standards now surely we should be using the money to bring down class sizes and incentivise greater quality of teaching and I think when we are being prudent with money that is what I mean it is to understand that if we are going to invest in the public services quite rightly that we do but then let us clearly show where we are going to invest the money, I think the people would be more than happy for us to invest billions into schools providing that we can show what the money will be used for'. Paxman then moved on to talk about pensions where he said 'you took about the idea of pensions savings accounts now what does that mean to the future of the state pension because surely isn't this just your polite way of saying let us dismantle the Pension system'. Milburn defended the state pension throughly by saying 'Of course we have a devout belief in the state pension and be in no doubt it will be maintained under the next labour government but what we need to do is to continue the agenda for reform in understandig how can we make this pension system more effective for pensioners and I think having Savings accounts of £400 per month to be taken from the age of 21 till the age of 65 will gaurantee for the pensioner £220 per week extra on their state pension. So therefore I think these savings accounts onto of the state pension will help the pensioner substantially'.
Paxman then decided to change the topic of discussion to talking about capitol investmentment into services such as roads and transport and to construction services so therefore Paxman asked 'Just how much are you promising to invest in infrastructure and by that I mean not just your manifesto but also the off the cuff spending pledges' Milburn then decided to acknowledge the full cost of his spending pledges with him saying 'We have pledged £74 billions extra in infrastructure now this over the course of six years but do remember what this spending means it means roads, buildings and technology services the simple fact is that Infrastructure holds this country together and therefore this spending will be able to hold this great country together now that is why I advocate for infrastructure spending because it will help us properly stimulate the economy'. Paxman's Final Question 'You want a referendum on PR, Wholly Elected House of Lords, Votes at 16 and many of your economic policies Eem to be dealing with the Lib Dems Do you honestly think you can have a majority at this election' Milburn replied back 'At the moment the polls are neck and neck and anything is possible so with that in mind absolutely we can win an overall majority do remember we had four pretty healthy majorities in a row for 18 years so yes I think we can'
Finally was the Prime Minister Kenneth Clarke, having led the country for 5 years he was going to articulate the vision that 'a modern compassionate pragmatic form of conservatism' as he called it could bring to this country so therefore he decided to do the Paxman Interview which would be talking about his domestic agenda, Europe and his personal leadership so therefore the first question was about the NHS, With Paxman asking him 'You have committed yourselves to £9 billions of extra investment into the National Health Service now where is this money coming from because there are many people who think that whilst this investment is crucial they don't know where you will find the money so can you live on this programme tell us where it is coming from' Clarke decided to say 'I Intend to make sure that the stronger our economic rates of growth are then they will allow us to have a greater say in how we can spend public money after all we believe in prudence and we are the party of of prudence and Because we believe in prudence we therefore want to therefore enhance society and therefore it its through prudence that we can do this, I know that we as British people understand that we can not spend more than we earn so whilst our output on our economy is string and is growing we have to be shrewd to k ow that unlike Labour and the Lib Dems we understand the very simple principles that prudence will earn us doing term success so now to the question we will use the proceeds of growth to fund our spending pledge on the NHS' Next Question he asked was about Education reform asking Clarke 'When did the conservatives stop subscribing to the logic of making sure that school vouchers as a means of opting out of the state sector into the private sector when did you think this was not a good idea' Clarke said 'When it comes to education this is the way I see it we have a devout belief in choice and competition and that's why I think Grammar Schools are a good idea but I also want to invest in state schools I want to see us live in a nation where state schools are held in the same regard as the private schools because Britain is now the best nation in the world when it comes to Maths and English but do you know also what we have done we have made music, history, drama and geography huge parts of our education system because we have understood that you can not turns schools into exam factories you ahem to make them into fundamentally better people when your best days are ahead surely we have a duty to capture and sieze the moment ao we would seek to expand not only the freedom that schools are entitled but to make the cirriclum better'
Next up was about taxation, the government had brought in tens of billions of tax cuts and these had a singificant impact on not just reducing the commanding rates of ghrwith hut they were undeniably popular because it gave the average family an extra £2,350 a year and therefore boosting the bvaergae incomes on the basis of the tax cuts but also because of the strong rates of manufacturing it allowed there to be a clear case of what society needs so Paxo decided to ask 'In the last election you pledged £15 billions of tax cuts you enacted nearly £45 billions of tax cuts how many more tax cuts will you enact more tax cuts'. Clarke decided to say 'Well we are a tax cutting party we ant to reduce the tax burden but I can not at the moment force any tax cuts that would be required above the ones we have put into the manifesto because we need to invest in the public services. but also to enhance those commanding rates of economic growth that is making our society better now if we are willing to keep these strong rates of economic growth then surely we need to make priories between more tax cuts or becoming the chief lender. I would much prefer to be the chief lender giving other nations money and mnaufacuting more to become the economic superpower we can be'. Next Question was about Crime where Paxman said 'You have managed to cut crime over the last 5 years can you give us a guarantee that crime will be reduced under the next conservative government should there be another conservative government will there be another cut in crime year on year' Clarke said 'Look I don't want to make guarantee's because there could be unforeseen events but remember for the last 25 years crime has fallen and I will do all I can to make sure that under the next conservative government crime We will do all we can to make sure crime wills till keep falling but we have to be pragmatic to know whirls the ecuasses of crime are vital but so is crime and therefore we must seek to reduce the rates of crime as crime does cause utter misery to people so therefore we should reduce crime'
In regards to Europe there had to be a discussion over the Europe and the European Constitution so therefore Paxman decided to ask 'As a Conservative how can you support a constitution that will in effect create a system that will in effect creates a United States of Europe now also you are in favour of the referendum for the Euro in Principle so therefore how are you in the conservatives?' Clarke said 'Oh for heaven sake Jeremy the reason I support the European Constitution is because we are stronger when we work together and therefore surely aren't we entitled to make sure that our European allies are essential to maintain the great public services that have done so much good for the people of this country so why on earth do we keep trying to characterise the conservatives as these people who always want to stick two fingers up to our European allies we don't and we shouldn't surely we should want to create a society of corporation and cohesion and that includes our European allies' The Final Question was about the leadership of Ken Clarke Paxman asked Clarke 'You're 80 years old and you are still a dominating figure you have been on the frontline of British Politics for 33 years do you ever think it's time to call it quits' Clarke said 'No I don't I love doing this job every single day being prime Minister and taking the conservatives back from the depths of despair to power is my legacy now I will serve a second term should I be elected one because I have a great agenda and If we win that Overall Majority it will be put into law'
Those were the interviews as Paxman concluded and finished it was reported the next day that it was watched by 24.3 million people tuned in to watch and that showed something clear about democracy in that people were becoming supportive of democracy again the low turnouts of previous elections did look like to be a thing of the past. The Interview had been interesting, Milburn was very good and preformed better in the interviews than he did in the debates, Tim Faron had effectively sustained the momentum but so did Ken Clarke overall here is how the public opinion view on the interviews were:
| Leader | Percentage |
| Ken Clarke | 38% |
| Alan Millburn | 35% |
| Tim Faron | 27% |
| Party | Percentage |
| Conservatives | 37% |
| Labour | 35% |
| Lib Dems | 28% |
| Conservatives 293 (-38) | Labour 277 (-11) | Lib Dems 59 (+49) |
| Conservative Newspapers | Labour Newspapers | Lib Dem Newspapers |
| Daily Mail Daily Express Daily Telegraph The Times | The Sun The Daily Mirror The Sunday Times | The Guardian The New European The Independent |
Final Day of Polls
As the final day of campaigning began it was clear that there were three polls and here they were
| Polling Company | Labour | Conservatives | Lib Dems |
| YouGov (05-05-20) | 38% (320 MPs +37) | 34% (246 MPs -85) | 28% (56 MPS +46) |
| Survation (04-05-20) | 34% (262 MPs -21) | 37% (301 MPs -30) | 29% 61 MPs +51) |
| Opnium (05-05-20) | 35% (290 MPs +7) | 35% (268 MPs -63) | 30% (64 MPs +54) |
BBC Election Night
DD-David Dimbelby
LK-Laura Kunessberg
JP-Jeremy Paxman
JV-Jeremy Vine
AM-Andrew Marr
DD- Well here we go for an election night it's expected to be closer, will Ken Clarke be the first Conservative Prime Minister to win two successive terms in 37 years, Will Alan Milburn take the ;Labour Party back to Downing Street after a 5 year spell in the Wilderness or Will Tim Farron be able to take the Lib Dem car out of the ditch and back to a position of influence. Laura Kunessberg will be telling us all
LK- David I will be tonight showing what is happening on social media but also what's the country thinking about it, It's going to be a high turnout With reports saying it could be as high as 80%.
DD- Jeremy Paxman will be there interrogating Ministers and Poticians and Grandees throughout the night>
JP- Yes I will be up here throughout the night asking. him ministers grandees and ask them what went right and what went wrong knowing by the time they wake up in the morning they may not have a job
DD- And of course Jeremy vine will be showing us the best Graphics for the 2020s and detailing the swings between the parties
JV- Yes this will be an interesting night where I will be showing you the swing in each seats the details of the change in vote and many other things to.
DD- And Andrew Marr will be giving us the analysis of the election results throughout the night which will be telling us what is happening and now to our exit poll not man option poll but asking 50,000 people in 150 marginal seats How did you vote and here it is 10 o clock and our exit poll says it will be a hung parliament with the conservatives as the largest party.The Conservatives will have 315 Seats, Labour will have 256 Seats and the Lib Dems will have 53 MPs. Andrew?
AM-Well David if that exit poll is true the conservatives will be punching the air for joy out it is much better than. what they hoped for I was speaking to tory strategists and they were thinking they would get about 295 seats but this could and most likely would put them back into power for Labour it is crushing there Lib Lab coalition couldn't happen on these figures and for the lib Daems it is Europhia winning anything over 50 seats would be a clear revival for them.
The Morning After
It was another shock like five years ago. The Conservatives had pulled off just boat the most stunning comeback in British Politics increasing their majority from from 12 to 30 and that was a stunning victory as Ken Clarke came back to CCHQ he called it 'The sweetest victory of them all' the Conservatives knew that his form of conservatism was not unbeatable and all tories said they were ecstatic for their leader and would get behind him. For labour it was a huge blow old safe seats went to the conservatives losing 46 MPs many of them being their safe seats in Yorkshire and the North East. Milburn said he would carefully consider his position. As for the Lib Dems they didn't get into the 50s as they had hoped for but they were still euphoric knowing that they were now the clear third party and also if the Tories were to lose the next election they would take more seats and this was the first step back to being the major party but it was a huge step.
| Party | Seats | Percentage of the Vote | Votes |
| Conservatives | 340 (+9) | 42.1% (-5.2%) | 13,383,561 |
| Labour | 238 (-46) | 33.2% (-9.9%) | 11,235,104 |
| Lib Dems | 44 (+34) | 23.1% (+14%) | 6,583,785 |
Next Up
Clarkes new Cabinet
2020 Queens Speech
Education Reform
Labour Conference
Conservative Conference
US Election 2020
Pre-Budget Report
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Attachments
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The Lib Dems were always going to make a comeback under Tim Farron for two reasons the first is I think he was a good leader in real life who had ht ability to effeectivlery communicate his views to the public and the second is because Farron is a social democrat and therefore would win back a vast proportion of the disaffected Lib Dems who left them for labour or the tories. I was going to give them 58 MPs but then that changed as I wanted the tories to have a second term with a clear overall majority.