The Prime Minister made a big speech on Monday at the think-tank Policy Exchange. While some of it was quite good, other parts grated and left one wondering. Let’s break down those parts and see what they actually mean — if Sunak could speak the whole truth instead of rhetoric.
‘At some point, in the second half of this year, we will all go to the polls and make a choice. Not just about Conservatives vs Labour. Or Sunak vs Starmer. It will be a choice between the future and the past. I remain confident that my party can prevail.’
Translation: Despite all the opinion polls and defections, I am contractually obliged to say that we can still win. Whether I believe this or not is another matter.
‘So the question we face today is this: Who has the clear plan and bold ideas to deliver a secure future for you and your family?’
Translation: Does anyone know of anyone who does? No one in the House of Commons seems to have a clue.
‘But for all the dangers ahead, few are felt more acutely than people’s sense of financial insecurity. We’ve been pounded by a series of once-in-a-generation shocks. The worst international financial crisis since the great depression in the 1930s. The first global pandemic since the Spanish flu in 1918. The biggest energy shock since the 1970s. Global forces, yet they are hitting our living standards here at home. We must be prepared strategically, economically, with robust plans and greater national resilience, to meet this time of instability with strength.’
Translation: Just reminding you again that inflation and the cost-of-living crisis had nothing to do with us. However, the fact of it coming down is a triumph of our political strategy.
‘And there is an important choice facing the country. Because, despite having fourteen years with nothing to do but think about the future, Labour have almost nothing to say about it. No plans for our border, no plan for our energy security, and no plans for our economy either.’
Translation: Apart from these plans for the border, these on energy security, and these ones for the economy, Labour have no plans for any of these areas.
‘The highest priority of a Conservative government is to keep our country safe. We’ve proudly taken the generational decision to increase defence spending to a new baseline of 2.5% of GDP, by 2030. Yet Labour have refused to match our pledge.’
Translation: Labour are not refusing to raise defence spending to 2.5 per cent. They have only refused to match our pledge until ‘resources allow.’ But if I say that they are, maybe it will become true.
‘Because only we Conservatives have the strength to challenge conventions and do something differently about it. Tinkering just won’t work. That’s why we’re pioneering the Rwanda scheme. And so, when people see that if they come here illegally, they will be swiftly detained and removed, they will be deterred from making that perilous journey, stopping the boats and saving thousands of lives.’
Translation: The Rwanda scheme is working so well that record numbers have crossed the channel in small boats in the first four months of the year. Furthermore, large parts of the Illegal Migration Act have been disapplied in Northern Ireland as they contravene the Good Friday Agreement. So far, not a single person has been deported by force.
‘And under my leadership, ours will be a country where people can disagree in good faith, but where they must do so with respect and decency for others.’
Translation: On this point, saying that Keir Starmer is a ‘terrorist sympathiser’ perfectly upholds the respect and decency prerequisite due to others.
‘The government I lead is creating the conditions for a new British dynamism. By investing in the new infrastructure of the future — not just roads, railways, and buses, but gigabit broadband, research and development, computing power. By helping to create hundreds of thousands of good, secure, well-paid, highly-skilled jobs, that will level up opportunity right across our country. And yes, by taking the necessary decisions to build the right homes in the right places to support those jobs.’
Translation: All this hypothetical stuff is great, so let’s ignore the fact that we haven’t built nearly enough new homes this year and that the housing market remains increasingly inaccessible for many people.
‘So we’re making the tax system simpler, fairer, and more rewarding, cutting National Insurance by £900 for the average worker.’
Translation: Fiscal drag is my new best friend.
So there we have it. A speech that wasn’t all bad, but certainly not that truthful, either.
Tune in next time to find out what Keir Starmer really thinks!
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