Op-ed: On April 29 2015 we posted "Cameron unfunded tax lock promise" but the well-funded Tory propaganda machine had already messed with enough minds to win the May general election with a majority. But it means all along most people knew PM Cameron and his Chancellor George Osborne would be unable to live up to election promises. They have tried to fulfil those promises made to tory donors and voters and along the way have wrecked communities and savaged the poor and vulnerable. The tory majority is and was small but it is enough for them to govern and in true Tory style class divisions have been perpetuated and in some cases extended. We now have the working population set against the non-working and the old against the young. For a while that divide and conquer method of operation served them well but we are now at a crossroads. The jig is up. With Iain Duncan Smith resigning Friday and spending the weekend knifing Tory colleagues back, front and sideways the Tory government is in danger of collapsing. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called for Chancellor Osborne to resign and later Monday David Cameron will address the House of Commons. Could the government fall? When the last Labour government lost the 2010 election the incoming Lib Dem Tory coalition government made at least one significant change-they shifted the timeline for elections allowing them five years in office with little chance of removing a government in less time. The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 sets the interval between general elections at five years. At the end of this time a new House of Commons must be elected. Could a general election be called in 2015?
Having stitched up General Elections the Tory government is making boundary changes that will tip the balance of voting in their favour-assuming areas that are Labour or Conservative strongholds run true to form. In my neck of the woods it looks like "Hull West and Hessle will disappear into a constituency that embraces Cottingham, North Ferriby, Swanland and large chunks of the East Riding. The constituencies of Haltemprice and Howden and Brigg and Goole would disappear." England is in danger of becoming a one-party state. But if the Tories are trying to sell these boundary changes on economics their argument is flawed. David Cameron continues to stuff the House of Lords to the rafters to try to get his way in that other chamber and with life expectancy reportedly on the up vacant seats are few and far between. The cost of bureaucracy and administration of various reforms aimed at taking money away from the people illustrates flawed government policies. Less than a year on from the 2015 General Election the Tory party is wrecked by in-fighting and it has little to do with certain MPs suddenly finding a conscience and everything to do with the next Tory leader. Iain Duncan Smith may or may not have been backed into a corner but he has come out fighting. One man touted as next leader of the Conservative party is Boris Johnson widely viewed outside of the tory party and its supporters as a buffoon. He is part of the same BRexit campaign as IDS and his sidekick at the DWP Priti Patel. There seems little doubt that how the country votes in the EU referendum will seal the fate of many high-profile Tory MPs. And the bad news is this. Most budget announcements do not come into force until sometime in the future. That makes them hard to keep track off. While we are all caught up in the row over benefit cuts to people with disabilities other previously announced changes will be coming into force and other new ones sneakily slid into place. David Cameron's government has failed to cut the deficit and he needs billions to make a dent in the country's huge debts. So how will he fill the gaps and who will be made to pay because it sure as hell will not be the 1%? Days ago we asked "Will Osborne dish out cuts post election and EU referendum" but it may not be Gideon George Osborne who is Chancellor. Related: Tory onslaught on welfare is not an austerity agenda Osborne using public money to fund private corporations, more cuts ahead Get set for £12 billion July budget
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Op-Ed: As UK PM David Cameron announced the date of the upcoming 2016 EU referendum, June 23, 2016, it was all 'jolly good show' and ‘all pals together’ but that did not last long. The Tory government boss David Cameron and his senior ministers tried to say the party remained united, best of friends and so much more and would not fall into the trap of publicly arguing over the EU issue but the cracks soon started to show. Tory MPs are allowed a free run in the EU referendum campaign, at least up to a point. There is no whip telling them how they should campaign and which side of the fence to jump. This has led to serious divisions in the Conservative party and to fairly equally matched in and out campaigns by senior figures. If it was a popularity contest and you were a Tory party supporter Cameron’s better in Europe campaign would have to be your choice. The better out campaign has the likes of Boris Johnson, Iain Duncan Smith and Priti Patel trying to persuade the electorate to leave the EU. Of course if you are a Tory fan you may not see that group of individuals as vile; if you are not you may. There seems to be a conspiracy theory for almost each and every action in the 21st Century and there are a few surrounding the UK EU in /out referendum. One claims that the EU out Tory campaign is full of their most hated MPs to encourage the electorate to vote for the country to remain an EU member; another theory hints that the people of Scotland will vote to leave the EU simply to force a second Scottish Independence referendum. But however the Tories try to spin or buy the news there is no Tory party unity over the EU. The referendum is making for strange political affiliations such as George Galloway and Nigel Farage sharing a campaign platform. There are some breakaway Labour groups campaigning to leave the EU but the party has taken a firm stance and is campaigning for the UK to stay an EU member country. As the Tories straddle the fence with two semi-official campaigns running alongside each other unity has left the building. DWP boss Iain Duncan Smith has accused Cameron of being pessimistic over a UK future outside of the EU and having a ‘low opinion of the British people’. Various Tory ministers are making statements to the mainstream media which illustrate that the party is as expected at odds over the EU. Some MPs and voters will not be happy with Cameron’s renegotiated terms as they do not go far enough but others are long time Eurosceptics who simply want the country to leave the EU. Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party have said they will not share a platform with Cameron’s better in campaign and that is a wise move. Cameron promised the referendum to shore up his political party not for any unselfish reasons. He has made his bed and must lie on it. But apart from that Labour are campaigning for the EU to stay as part of the EU on a very different mandate. This time the Tory party must sort its own dirty laundry and in public; the knives are out. More at: Metro - EU referendum: Shadow business secretary Angela Eagle says Labour is not split on EU but the Conservatives are in "meltdown" New Statesman - the Tory split that Labour craved has arrived – but the party can't exploit it |
British political scene
The next General Election in the UK may not be scheduled any time soon but the British political landscape is changing. With that in mind this blog will concentrate on the political scene but with a left wing perspective. Opinion pieces and news will bring you the stories that the MSM prefer to ignore. Archives
September 2018
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