OPINION
Kemi Badenoch only needs to change one thing (Image: PA)
It is extraordinarily difficult for an opposition with so few seats to cut through and begin to control the agenda — but it is possible and the Conservatives, in particular Kemi Badenoch, must be prepared to do what is necessary before the UK economy is permanently damaged and both the people of Britain and businesses give up hope. We have seen in recent weeks Ms Badenoch begin to emerge outside Parliament, although not beyond the Westminster bubble, and to start, tentatively, to lay down some principles, some red lines. So far, so good. But as in the Sound of Music, far is a long, long way to go!
We know that she has an aversion to rushing into policy-making so far ahead of an election and wants to develop solid ideas after much thought. Unfortunately neither politics or the world of business is like that and this approach has to change. Decisions have to be made on the hoof, with incomplete information and clear signals sent if the troops are to be rallied and the role of opposition is to be fulfilled. Timing is everything. If Labour’s Marxist agenda is to be arrested it cannot wait for the next election, they have already crashed the economy and there are four more years to go. The last Budget’s catastrophe has not even hit yet, only coming into force in April, and we live in dangerous times. Internal and external security can only be achieved with a strong economy, a wealthy country and healthy economic growth. It may seem that nothing can be done by a rump opposition to resolve this, but this is not so.
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The first thing that the Conservative opposition should do is to make it clear that they will reverse everything that Labour is doing as soon as they come to office and then move on with another agenda. The first effect of this would be to promise to stop the inexorable ratchet to the left which has contributed to the economic decline and impoverishment of Britain.
With the exception of the Thatcher era, each time an administration of the Left comes has come to office we move to the left and the subsequent Conservative administration has done nothing to reverse this. Hence we have a left-leaning mindset amongst the Westminster/Whitehall and mainstream media elite.
The second effect would be to immediately slow down the damaging implementation of Marxist measures. Businesses would be given hope that if they resist Unionisation, delay implementing red tape, fight crazy laws , find ways, at least temporarily, not pay so much tax, there is salvation on the horizon. It would encourage resistance, the sort of resistance the Whitehall Mandarins and Quangocracy operate against Conservative governments.
It would cause investors not to be keen to invest in Net Zero madness which would itself slow down the implementation of measures and make it easier to reverse them when there is a change of government.
It would send a clear signal to the eu that any dirty deals done to reel the UK into its orbit would be reversed and therefore make the EU less keen to do the dirty deal in the first place.
It of course requires an opposition which is not merely liberal/Marxist light, but a real Conservative Party. At least it would then be clear whether people should vote Conservative or Reform.
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Even if detailed policy making is not appropriate at this stage, the second thing an opposition leader should do is lay down clear principles, with practical examples. If there is a determination to remove illegal migrants and to cut the number of none added value migrants this should be crystal clear, anything less will be seen as weasel words. A repeat of Conservative Party double-speak of the past. If that requires an unequivocal, stated determination to leave the ECHR then so be it, even if such a move is as symbolic to the cause as it is practical to its execution. No ifs, no buts to coin a phrase.
A clear statement that a future government will reduce the size of the state would speak volumes. That it will not be drawn into the orbit of the EU. That the Armed Forces will be properly funded. That the NHS will be run for the benefit of its customers not its employees. That businesses will not be forced to take on Trade Unions. Clear statements of principle.
As I have said, timing is everything. President Trump has shown the way. It can be done. He has launched a blitzkrieg against the forces of statist, corporatist, rule. Against the left/liberal elites. Moving constantly onwards, his administration has seen the opposition outflanked, forced to fight one battle after another as his tanks of liberation leave them behind. They are as at sea as was the French army in 1940.
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If the Conservatives want to be in power ever again they cannot allow Reform to get so far ahead that they are unassailable. Therein lies the demise of a once great party. But worse the rout might not be decisive enough, it may split the right and lead to a repeat of the 1970s, continuity Labour government and possibly, horror upon horrors head, a Lib/Lab pact. That really would seal the country's fate as terminal decline and the destruction of British business.
The real tragedy is that it need not be so. If the Conservatives cannot garner the action necessary to create wealth and growth the economy they do not deserve to be in power and then one can only hope for a successor party to gain an absolute majority. It is all to play for.