So we finally have the Tory Manifesto 2017 and it’s a doosie.
Remember Theresa May’s 12 points of inanity (or brexit plan)? Well, the new plan only stretches as far as five points, yet still manages to be late and cobbled together policy flotsam. I don’t doubt that there are some intended policies but the Tories have done their best to shroud them in horse excrement to disguise their intended impact.
- A strong economy that works for everyone
- A strong and united nation in a changing world
- The world’s great meritocracy
- A restored contract between the generations
- .Prosperity and security in a digital age
Let’s get the biggest turd in the turd sandwich out of the way first.
The world’s great meritocracy
‘Meritocracy‘. People who speak positively of meritocracy are lying to you; either they are uninformed and unintentionally lying to you or they are informed and are intentionally lying to you. For a political party to choose meritocracy to sit at the heart of its manifesto is a nice big flag that says:
all that lies within is lies and we are expectant that you are too stupid to realise
They are laughing in your face. ANY political commentator, news presenter, journalist who does not start with the inclusion of ‘meritocracy’ and call out the fallacy and interpret the rest of the Tory Manifesto 2017 through that prism is either an idiot or a liar. The inclusion of ‘meritocracy’ tells us, before we have even read the content, that the Tories are lying to us throughout the document or they are not telling us the truth about policies they mention. Just as the Tories subverted Labour’s Academies program to extend privatisation through education, we can expect policies that appear one thing on the surface but will be underwritten by the foundational Tory goal:
the transfer of tax payer wealth to privateers
But let us continue with the Tories other four horsemen.
A strong economy that works for everyone
The striking thing about this section is the complete lack of meaningful statistics or costings for ANYTHING, which is ironic for a section dealing with the economy.
May has said they will not raise VAT, a claim her predecessor made in 2010:
And, of course, the Tories put VAT up from 17.5% to 20% once in government in 2010.
Conservatives believe that if you value something, you must be prepared to reform it in order to conserve it.
In the modern economy many people choose jobs like driving, delivering and coding, that are highly flexible and can be mixed with other employment.
Our ambition is that the UK should have the lowest energy costs in Europe, both for households and businesses. So as we upgrade our energy infrastructure, we will do it in an affordable way, consistent with that ambition.
Fracking
after we have left the European Union, we will form our energy policy based not on the way energy is generated but on the ends we desire
Northern Powerhouse Rail
A strong and united nation in a changing world
A restored contract between the generations
What this boils down to is that the Tories are not going to pay for social care from tax payer money, they will use that money to give corporations tax cuts and to provide inheritance tax cuts and capital gains tax cuts. If you have a home, the Tories will seize it from your family when you die in exchange for the care you received while you were alive. That’s it. Labour are proposing a Robin Hood Tax against City traders, the Tories are pledging to be grave robbers.
Prosperity and security in a digital age
The Tory Manifesto 2017: A Conclusion
The naked aggression in the manifesto is only matched by the clear shabbiness and shoddiness of it. It is so obvious that it has been cobbled together, with elements thrown in to pad it out and to distract from the stuff of true interest. It is a woeful document. Anyone who defends it is complicit in the joke on the British public and, presumably, the hostility towards us. To read anything by the Tories you must first ask, how does this achieve the Tories’ singular objective ‘transfer of tax payer wealth to privateers‘?
The Tory Manifesto 2017 is a paltry document, lacking in ambition, aspiration and vision. Corporations will get tax cuts, media barons will continue without accountability, the wealth of the wealthiest will be aided to grow and be protected. If you have more now you will have even more five years from now. If you have less now you will have even less five years from now. Or you will be dead and your family will have less.
This is the politics being defended by the Cameron inflicted, Murdoch inspired, coterie within the head of BBC News. Just as they have defended the cruelty of the Tories economic illiteracy with Austerity, they will defend the continued attacks for minority gain proposed in the Tory Manifesto 2017. Eventually history will find them out and it is my very real hope that their shame is a scourge on their families for generations after they have ceased public significance. They have propped up a regime that has inflicted suffering on vulnerable elements of our society and their names should be forever dirt. Smug, glib household names. I single out BBC News because they are a public broadcaster and are meant to report impartially, their bias is more than a betrayal of the British public it is an assault as bad as any benefits sanction that has led to the suicide of too many vulnerable people.
One thought on “Tory Manifesto 2017: If you tolerate this…”