One issue that dominated the recent Tory conference was that of tax cuts. Namely, David Cameron and George Osborne's refusal to commit to tax cuts while at the same time spouting out a line about "economic stability". But what I didn't hear them say was that a future Conservative government wouldn't introduce tax cuts (apologies for the double negative there).
For me, this appears to be more an issue of presentation and policy. There is a perception out there amongst the floating voter that Conservatives would introduce tax cuts to benefit their rich friends regardless of the impact that would have on the ordinary voter. This perception needs to be challenged - not by dropping a commitment to tax cuts, but by emphasising that it's not the only issue that concerns the country.
I was pleased to see Norman Tebbit argue that tax cuts should be introduced at the bottom of the range to benefit those on lower incomes. Labour may have been more right than they intended with Dave the Chameleon - "Underneath he's still true blue" - the issue is not that people object to Conservative policies, they object to the Conservatives. And the only way to get Conservative policies is to change the image of the Conservatives.
1 comment:
Hi Thomas! Erynne somehow discovered you here and then I found you on Conservativehome :) Yes, I'm Pete.
I'm personally in favour of a flat tax, ASI style!
The real tragedy of Cameron's approach is that it's necessary to fool the great British public into believing that the Tories wouldn't cut public spending rather than embarking on the long and rather harder task of convincing them of why less government is better.
Hmmm UKIP... 33% over 9k? interesting :P
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