CWaC Conservative Councillors

Andy Burnham wants to take Britain back to the 1970s, a time of more government control, more trade union control and no economic growth. There is a reason our country took a different course after that decade. Nothing Burnham announced today will do anything to fix Britain’s long-term problems. He had no plan to fix our stagnant economy. No plan to fund defence. No plan to sort out the spiralling welfare bill, beyond more government schemes. His proposal to change the triple lock is already falling apart under scrutiny, and it won’t generate enough savings to fund a nationalised care system for another two decades, which means more tax rises are inevitable. Britain does not need to recreate the politics of the 1970s. It needs a government prepared to take the difficult decisions, back those who work and build businesses, and look confidently to the future.

Reform are about to learn the lesson of the law of diminishing returns. In 2020, Michael Bloomberg spent $1 billion employing 2,400 staff and saturating coverage on his Presidential campaign. It came to nothing. Money is an accelerant, not a cure. If the fundamentals are good, it improves things. If they’re bad, things will get a whole lot worse. You can buy staff and advertising, but you can’t buy judgement or integrity. Sometimes a bigger cheque just means you make more of the same mistakes. The Conservatives are up for the fight. We are raising millions, attracting new donors and winning back old ones because people can see what is coming. Britain does not need another protest party. It needs common sense, a serious plan and a party capable of bringing the country together. That is who we are. And it is what Reform will never be.