Why is Rafael Behr being so lenient in his
criticism of the Tory government (Wanted: Tory moderates brave enough to halt
their party`s lurch to the right,27/05/15)? Cutting £12bn out of welfare
spending, "with a disproportionate impact on the low-paid and disabled", will
not "look vindictive", it will be vindictive! This nonsense about "one-nation
conservatism" is simply the product of the Tory propaganda machine, as
is Osborne`s harping on about "northern powerhouses"; after five years of
reducing grants to Labour-held cities and towns north of Watford, and developing
plans for high-speed railways and another runway for London, both designed to
increase the wealth of the capital and its hinterland, can anyone realistically
expect "compassionate conservatism" to suddenly emerge, especially when the
"hard right is calling the shots"?
Just because Michael Gove last March, obviously
in a panic over supposed impending election meltdown, called on fellow
Conservatives to "stand as warriors of the dispossessed", doesn`t mean anyone
will forget his own lack of "true compassion". Within weeks of becoming
Education Secretary in 2010, for example, he curtailed the aspirations of
thousands of would-be sixth form students with his ending of the Educational
Maintenance Allowance.
Tory confidence after the last election, with
a cobbled-together coalition, led them to impose savage cuts whilst reducing
taxes for the very rich; if, with a majority government, their "hubris is now
through the roof", heaven help us after the "emergency" budget in
July!
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