The Tories CAN win – but only if party can find sense of purpose

DAILY MAIL COMMENT: The Tories CAN win in 2024 – but only if the party can rediscover a sense of purpose and adopt three True Blue strategies

The temptation to get overexcited about by-election results can be difficult to resist. There is invariably an impulse to see striking victories and defeats and conclude the country’s political landscape is on course for dramatic change.

Experience tells us this is rarely the case. Indeed, if one lesson can be taken from the three polls, when each main party won a seat, it is that the electorate has scarcely been so febrile. Everything is to play for.

It is of course impossible to deny that the Tory losses – to Labour in Selby and the Liberal Democrats in Somerton – were crushing. Seemingly unassailable majorities were destroyed on the back of colossal swings.

People are understandably anxious about the cost of living, mortgage costs, strikes and record NHS waiting lists. After a chaotic year, they fear the Government has few – if any – answers to the nation’s problems.

Yet the party defied rock-bottom expectations to retain Uxbridge and South Ruislip by a whisker – a huge morale boost.

Yet the party defied rock-bottom expectations to retain Uxbridge and South Ruislip by a whisker – a huge morale boost

Labour had crowed about dealing the Tories a humiliating blow by winning in Boris Johnson’s old stomping ground. 

As it dawned that they’d failed, their cheers stuck in their throats – an hubristic echo of Neil Kinnock declaring election victory at a Sheffield rally in 1992, only to then lose.

True, the Conservatives benefited from a revolt against Labour mayor Sadiq Khan’s plan to extend the hated Ulez, a charge which will hammer the poor and business.

But there is a way the Tories can win in 2024 – if they can rediscover a sense of purpose and adopt three True Blue strategies.

First, the PM must cut taxes. For 40 years, the principle of letting people keep more of their own money has underpinned the Conservatives’ reputation for sound economic and financial management.

Ministers should look especially seriously at abolishing inheritance tax. It is manifestly unfair that the Government should snaffle a chunk of anyone’s hard-earned, and already taxed, money when they die.

True, the Conservatives benefited from a revolt against Labour mayor Sadiq Khan’s (pictured) plan to extend the hated Ulez, a charge which will hammer the poor and business

Indeed, when George Osborne as shadow chancellor proposed raising the threshold to £1million in 2007, he sparked a dramatic turnaround of the Tories’ ailing fortunes.

Secondly, ministers must work harder to exploit the massive potential of Brexit. A key factor in the vote to escape the control-freakery of Brussels was the confidence we could and would make a success of it.

This week alone, multi-national Tata Group announced it would build its £4billion electric car battery plant in Somerset and the UK signed a deal to join a major Indo-Pacific trade bloc. Within the EU, neither exciting opportunity would have been possible.

Yet despite these triumphs, we hear barely a peep from Rishi Sunak, nominally a Brexiteer. His reticence is risky. Rightly seen as the architects of Brexit, the Tories should be straining every sinew to make it work. If it flops, they will be blamed.

Thirdly, the Tories must be much more vocal and courageous in the culture wars. Millions would surely be willing to rally around a party that genuinely nails its colours to the mast of common sense.

One that has pragmatic climate change policies, rather than a headlong rush to net zero. One that is on their side against a virtue-signalling elite who demand they kowtow to every pernicious orthodoxy, from trans extremism to critical race theory.

This week alone, multi-national Tata Group announced it would build its £4billion electric car battery plant in Somerset

One that champions free speech – this week’s outrage by Coutts bank only the latest in a long line of threats – and is not ashamed of this country’s rich history.

Sir Keir Starmer, a man so hopelessly befuddled on woke ideology that he believes tens of thousands of women have penises, simply cannot be trusted on any of these issues. Yet he is miles ahead in the polls.

If Mr Sunak is to win in 2024, it will not be enough for him to merely look grown up and sensible. Voters want to see a PM who is bold on taxes, bold on Brexit, bold on the culture wars – and firmly on their side.

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