If the Conservatives win the next election, a majority of the Tory benches will be made up of members of the 2010 intake. We will be, in terms of numbers, the most significant intake for 60 years and will have huge influence on the party in years to come. So, what do I and my colleagues believe? We all share a commitment to people power and we see the potential for a new social covenant establishing that government belongs to the people and is the servant of the people. We want a government that is more transparent and accountable and we want to roll back the ‘surveillance state’.
We subscribe to Lincoln’s vision of ‘government of the people, for the people, by the people’. Government for the people is government the people can afford – the state must strive to spend money wisely.
Government for the people demands that someone be responsible for all decisions taken. When anonymous minor officials can use terrorism laws as a pretext to check bins and spy on mothers on the school run, you know something is wrong. Ordinary people should benefit from due process, not be treated like terrorists by their local council. A warrant is needed to enter my home. So too should a warrant be needed to break into my email account and my data.
Most of all we believe in a government by the people. Less government must happen centrally, more in our communities. Lawmakers and decision makers should, where possible, be accountable to the people and dismissible at the ballot box. This is not just good for democracy, it makes for better services – for example, elected local police commissioners will make the police more responsive.
Every 2010 candidate understands how disillusioned the electorate is with politics. They know that some feel that politicians will never give power away, that they have heard these promises before. But we know that our only chance of repairing the damage that has been done to our democratic fabric is to follow through.
Charlie Elphicke is the prospective Conservative MP for Dover & Deal.
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