Is the Conservative Party Losing Popularity Amid National Insurance Hikes?
All the furlough and increased NHS usage have to be paid for, mate. Of course, there will be a backlash, but it is absolutely needed. I don't feel any animosity towards the Conservative party. I can only imagine what 'magic grandad' would have done...
Don’t think it’s just the rise in NI. But yes, there seems to be some outrage, which is a little bit late. Maybe some are beginning to see the light!
I do hope so. This is possibly the worst amateur Conservative government since the Second World War. Most governments in the 20th century in Britain have been Conservative, so most of the problems today can be directly placed at their doorstep. They are simply good at reinventing themselves. Leveling up was needed because the Conservative governments of the past failed to do it. Why has defence been cut under every Conservative government? They will tell you that it's not true, but if you look at the history books, it's clear as day. This bunch are simply a populist right-wing propagandist group with slogans and no substance.
Boris Johnson's Social Care Plan
When Boris Johnson became PM, he said he had a plan for social care - obviously one of his numerous lies - because the recent announcement was so short of detail that it is clearly still in early stages of being developed.
Recent polling suggests that the Conservatives are still a few points ahead of Labour despite the national insurance increase. However, time and again surveys have shown that the electorate are willing to pay slightly higher taxation for a more stable and comprehensive health and social care system.
Unfortunately, what hasn’t been as clearly articulated by political leaders, including the Conservatives, is how they would structure the funding and how they would structure the spending. This time round is no different. It doesn’t help that once again the Conservatives were protecting their own traditional supporters by concentrating the tax rise on the young, low-paid, and lower middle-class who don’t normally vote Conservative. After the initial announcement, they realized the hypocrisy and had to concede by including pensioners in the rise.
My fear is that the money will never get to the care sector and will be sucked up by the National Health Service (NHS), which is also cash-strapped. The government has scored an unnecessary own-goal here. They could have raised NI for everybody above a threshold minimum salary to rebuild the NHS with the understanding that it was for five or ten years no more. It wouldn’t be super-popular but it would be acceptable. Then they could have done some other tax rises that were wealth and corporation-tax based, which would involve more effort in enforcement and ring-fence that for social care. Now that would have been popular with nearly everyone except the very highest earners in the Tory heartland and most importantly, Tory donors. That they still won’t do this is essentially an act of cynical self-preservation.
The Politics of the UK
However, regardless of how honest, well-meaning, or competent the Johnson government is, the fundamental problem is that British politics is really up shit creek: since the 2007 economic crisis, we have just not had any good choices for leadership. The Cameron-Clegg coalition stands out as the high point, but the bar is really low when compared to other times.
This means there are no political visionaries, no charismatic leaders, and no well-articulated alternatives. Rishi Sunak looks like he’ll take over the Conservative Party after Johnson possibly becoming PM. But strikes me as an exciting leader with fresh ideas. Politics in the UK has been hollowed out so much that I think the Tories will be left to it until the public mood swings away and Labour comes in by default.
Every problem in the UK comes back to just one thing: electoral reform. Every time a voter puts an 'X' against a Labour or Conservative candidate in a national election, every time voters have to consider tactical voting, every time they are persuaded that a vote for any other party or candidate is a 'wasted' vote, they are perpetuating the corrosion of choice, long-term strategic leadership, and yes, democracy itself.