 |
| Boris offers no change, never mind anything transformative. And the promises he does make can't be trusted. Conservative government will most likely continue in the same vein as before - more austerity, more cuts and the cost of it all falling on the most vulnerable. |
This is, plain and simple, an argument for voting against the Tories. Why you would be here looking for an endorsement is beyond me. To be clear: you won't find that here. The Conservative and Unionist Party in government has been a disaster.
Austerity has given rise to the return of Dickensian poverty - working poverty and child poverty prominent. Food bank use is through the roof, schools are taking donations and feeding children going hungry. You only need to check out Channel 4 Dispatches to see how the Tories are comfortable with the poorest subsisting.
How do the Tories reply? A meagre 2% or less rise to working age benefits and the carer's allowance. A continuation of welfare policies that will continue to punish the poorest and hurt their wellbeing most.
And all the while our health and social care system is being mismanaged and underfunded, with waiting times now hitting their worst ever level. All the Tories have for an answer is reannouncing old funding as new, funding previously promised and not delivered - that was predicated upon NHS trusts making slashing cuts to their budgets in the first place.
And if the Conservative commitment to austerity, that is destroying the lives of the most vulnerable people, isn't enough to dissuade you from voting for them, maybe the lies are?
Nevermind the well documented fact that Boris lies (or says something racist or sexist) about as often as he opens his mouth. Nevermind that Boris thinks greed and selfishness are good.
Nevermind the Tories' in general governing-by-media approach of announcing and reannouncing the same spending over and again as new to grab headlines. Nevermind the incompetence of the Tories failing to deliver a single one of their pledged new starter homes because they never bothered to take the necessary initial step of passing the bill in Parliament.
Maybe just consider that (in this election, where Boris lied in an interview by saying he's not a liar) the party under his control decided to deceive viewers (that's you, the voting public) of an election debate by renaming their social media account to "factcheckUK" to attack their opponents - in a debate where Boris himself spoke on how little people trust politicians.
The Conservative Manifesto promises no significant change in policy - not that you could trust it, if it did. It's a do nothing manifesto that lets austerity continue indefinitely. The present disaster is lurching towards catastrophe. It's time (long, long overdue) for people to wake up and kick the Tories out.
References
Richard Partington's 'Four million British workers live in poverty, charity says: Number of workers entering poverty rising faster than employment, says Joseph Rowntree Foundation'; in The Guardian; 4 December 2018.
Patrick Butler's 'Child poverty above 50% in 10 UK constituencies: High rents and benefit cuts blamed amid warnings that entire areas risk being abandoned to rising poverty'; in The Guardian; 15 May 2019.
'Benefits freeze to end in 2020, government confirms'; on the BBC; 3 November 2019.
'8 year old Courtney and her family live off £5 a day - they rely on a food bank to eat and wear coats to bed when there's no money for heating. This is Britain today, where more than 4 million children are growing up in poverty'; from Channel 4 Dispatches, on Twitter; 30 November 2019.
Nick Triggle's 'Hospital waiting times at worst-ever level'; on the BBC; 14 November 2019.
'Boris is already demonstrating how his government will be all tell and no show'; in The Alternative; 22 November 2019.
Ashley Cowburn's 'Ridicule and disbelief as Boris Johnson insists he's never told a single lie in his whole political career'; in The Independent; 29 November 2019.
Peter Stubley's 'Boris Johnson: The most infamous lies and untruths by the Conservative leadership candidate'; in The Independent; 24 May 2019.
Nicholas Watt's 'Boris Johnson invokes Thatcher spirit with greed is good speech'; in The Guardian; 27 November 2013.
'Not one the govt's pledged starter homes for first time buyers has been built. Its been FIVE YEARS since the plan was made and the necessary legislation for the project hasn't even been passed'; from The Alternative, on Twitter; 5 November 2019.
Jim Waterson's 'Tories tweet anti-Labour posts under 'factcheckUK' brand'; in The Guardian; 19 November 2019.
'General election 2019: Boris Johnson vows to 'forge a new Britain''; on the BBC; 24 November 2019.
'Looking for independent analysis of the Conservative Manifesto? "As a blueprint for five years in government the lack of significant policy action is remarkable", says Paul Johnson'; from The Institute of Fiscal Studies, on Twitter; 24 November 2019.
No comments:
Post a Comment