Tory manifesto: going for broke

You have to be fair – after 14 years in power it is difficult for a ruling party to say, “we can save £17 billion a year on cracking down on tax avoidance, civil service numbers and benefit payments”. Because the obvious response from anyone with a calculator is: “why didn’t you do that 14 years ago, because if you had, by now you would have saved 14 x £17billion, or £238 billion?”
“Maybe we should elect someone who can count?”

The cynicism doesn’t stop there either. Because the supposed savings are not going to fix the NHS or social care or schools. Instead, they are going to finance tax cuts. The government is proposing to cut wo pence off National Insurance for a start, which is a rather difficult sell, because National Insurance is supposed to pay for the NHS and the state pension, along with quite a few other things.

But apparently, we don’t need that money any more. The NHS is going to get spending increases above the rate of inflation and 92,000 extra nurses and 28,000 more doctors too. All paid for by lower NI contributions, its magic.
We might also be rather cynical about these claims because we have had years of Tory tax rises, are paying more in tax than at any time since the Second World War and yet the nation’s services are falling to pieces.

NHS waiting lists are shocking, schools are crumbling, the roads are full of potholes, the prisons are so full the government is letting criminals out early, food banks are spreading like wildfire, children are hungry, and the court system is near collapse.

Surely, someone should have noticed all this and done something about it already? Or, and let me be generous here, the disastrous state of affairs has only just come to the attention of the Cabinet, but they have decided to do something else with the money they have found down the back of the sofa instead. Really?

It all stretches your faith in the sanity of the Tory party to breaking point. But wait – there is more to come.

Apparently if this manifesto launch does not move the dial, does not shift the polls, and mark the start of the most amazing political fight back in recorded political history, the Tory right is going to rebel and demand more tax cuts.

We face the prospect of the Tory right launching a counter-manifesto with weeks to go until polling day, which they will put forward as if in opposition to their own party and PM. It will no doubt find even more money from somewhere and insist that it be spent immediately on tax cuts for the wealthy.

Yes, Liz Truss and Trussonomics are back and just in time to save the Tory party and the nation. Just like she was about to do last time before the pesky “Woke Blob” stopped her.

Michael Foot’s manifesto was described as the longest suicide note in history, but at least he only wrote one of them. The Tories are planning to leave two such notes.

Let’s be crystal clear, none of this adds up, is in any way achievable, sensible, economically feasible or rational – and yet the Tory party is doubling down and going for broke.

Going for broke being the key words.