With both the Conservative and Labour Party Annual Conferences wrapped up, we should now take some time to evaluate both parties position before the next election.
Let’s start off by looking at the home team, the Conservative Party:
- HS2 Cut.
After days of speculation, Rishi Sunak finally confirmed that the ever-contested HS2 leg to Manchester would be cut – which was weird to announce whilst in Manchester. Many have praised the decision to cut the loses of HS2, yet the cancelation remains embarrassing, as a long-term – perhaps pig-headed – investment into improving Britain’s infrastructure was cancelled by short-term economic failings (and the fact that HS2 won’t even reach London furthers this).
- Raising the smoking age.
Alongside the HS2 cut, Sunak announced a more positive policy to raise the legal smoking age from 14 by one year, every year – allowing the next generation to ‘grow up smoke-free.’ Alongside this, new legislation would be created concerning vaping amongst children. Sunak unnecessarily tacked it on to the NHS by saying it would reduce wait times, but this is a good health policy by Sunak. Its effectiveness remains to be seen, and although children and teenagers will now find it harder to vape or smoke legally, we wait to see if it will actually reduce proportions of smokers and vapers for younger generations.
- New ‘Advanced British Standards’.
As worries for years lower down grow about a compulsory study of English and Maths at A-Level, Sunak pushes further with his education policies. Now the current primary school years will not be studying the new ‘Advanced British Standards’ (apparently, he didn’t fly it past his marketing team, as hinted at by the anacronym of ‘British Standards’). How will Rishi’s ‘BS’ differ from A-Levels and T-Levels? Hard to say, other than courses will be more ‘rigorous’ and ‘knowledge rich.’ But if Sunak says A-Levels aren’t ‘knowledge rich’ enough whilst subjects like A-Level OCR RS have 30-odd different sections to study, then God knows how vigorous his new ‘Standards’ will be.
- Trans-debate.
Sunak also delved into the gender identity debate: ‘we shouldn’t get bullied into believing that people can be any sex they want to be… a man is a man… a woman is a woman – that’s just common sense!’ It’s a move to cater to those against ‘woke culture’. Despite ‘trans-phobic’ undertones, Sunak’s speech defends itself from backlash by mentioning how same sex marriage was legalised under a Conservative Government (so accusations that policies are ‘Anti-LGBTQ+’ are undermined). It reflects the increasingly reactionary nature of this regeneration of the Tories (if only they could regenerate into David Tennant), especially when remembering Parliament’s blocking of Scotland’s trans-gender bill – and with talks of Cameo Sensation Nigel Farage returning to the Conservative Party, this right-wing rise seems confirmed.
- Rishi is my best friend.
One stranger aspect of Sunak’s speech was that, rather than being introduced by a fellow Conservative, he was introduced by his wife – in a seen that seems akin to American politics. Usually, the Prime Minister is introduced by a member of his party who respects him, but in lieu of any such individual, Rishi resorted to his wife. The speech was like the film Morbius, one of the speeches of all time. Nothing notable came from it – but hearing the words ‘Rishi is MY best friend’ was almost as cringe-inducing as the time Sunak said he told two school boys he was a ‘coke addict’.
Now we have seen what the Conservative’s position, we should look at Labour Party:
- Getting Britain Building Again.
This year’s Labour Party Conference was a chance to layout Labour’s policies and plan going forward into the next election. This is something Kier Starmer clearly did, by showing his focus on economic growth in the country by building ‘a new generation of Labour new towns’ – consisting of 1.5 million new houses to be built. This is a pledge Starmer thoroughly backs, proudly saying he was a YIMBY not a NIMBY, as well that these new houses would be built alongside infrastructure like schools and GPs, and also not disturbed any natural wildlife by being built on ‘grey sites’ – which can also refer to Starmer himself. But this shows Labour’s main focus in policy – it is almost solely economic.
- NHS needs modernising (‘no strikes under 13 years of Labour’).
Another economic Labour policy. Shadow Health-Secretary Wes Streeting took a harsh jab at the Sunak et al. over the NHS – ‘7.7 million people waiting. The longest waiting lists ever. And the audacity of the fifth Conservative Prime Minister in 13 years blaming NHS staff for the Tories’ abysmal failure.’ Speaking as a cancer survivor, Streeting was unapologetically critical of the NHS’ current position. Streeting then pledged that Labour would remedy this with ‘two million more appointments a year to cut waiting lists… [via] the biggest expansion of NHS staff in history.’
- Blocking Asylum Camps in Lincolnshire.
A small yet notable takeaway comes from Labour’s plans for a proposed migrant facility in Lincolnshire. A former RAF base (once home to Red Arrows and Dam Buster squadrons) near Lincoln is planned to house 2,000 migrants. Labour says that, if it were to get into power, it would veto the decision in favour of redeveloping the site into a business area. It is another example of how Labour wants to fight the next election on the economy – but its notoriety comes in that it is one of the few mentions towards issues of migration from Labour, which could make it difficult for Labour to make decisive points on non-economic issues during campaign season.
- Political Jabs (Seven Dustbins of History).
Although Labour was cautious to avoid tradition in referring to their leader as ‘the next Prime Minister’, speakers at the conference did not shy away from mocking the Conservatives. Ed Miliband, former Labour Leader (who somehow couldn’t beat a man like David Cameron), got up to proclaim, ‘let’s recycle them from government to opposition… let’s chuck them into the seven dustbins of history!’ Aside from a historical reference to Trotsky at the All-Russian Conference of Soviets in 1917, but also in Rishi Sunak’s promise to scrap the proposal for households to have ‘seven recycling bins’ – a proposal that has never been proposed anywhere in the UK. Not like a politician to get caught on a lie.
- Glitter attack.
This was the main focus in the media about the conference – mere moments after stepping out on stage, a man supporting the ‘People Demand Democracy’ movement (don’t bother googling it, nobody knows what it is) ran up to Starmer and chucked Strictly Come Dancing levels of glitter over him. Starmer’s handling of the situation has been commended, however. He ignored the protestor’s yells on stage, waited for him to be dragged off, took of his jacket, made a quick joke to flatter his wife and proceeded to give his speech. Starmer faired very well in the scenario – other politicians often failed in similar stunts, like Theresa May being handed a P45 – and it helped give notoriety to the conference in general.
Where do the parties stand then? At this time, it is hard to say. Sunak and the Conservatives can seemingly be more criticised over HS2, but in reality, they have brought nothing new to the table – policies over education were expected, and trends of HS2 and the trans-debate show continuity over the last few months rather than anything ground-breaking. Labour is only in a reasonably better position. Starmer has laid out new policies that will be picked apart within the coming months, as all policies are, but the ideas of a strong economy also reflect Starmer’s continuity – are we really surprised, after two years as leader of the opposition, that Starmer’s main policy is economic? If anything, Starmer has been strengthened by the incident of the glitter attack, whereas Sunak has neither gained nor lost from his conference. However, it is too early to tell. There is still time before the next election and position in government remains all to play for.