Today, it’s the Conservative Party’s turn to release its manifesto. Labour pushed out its own document ‘Britain can do better’ yesterday, so it’s Tories’ turn to try and better it. As with Labour’s manifesto, the big announcement has already been briefed out and has made the front pages of most newspapers: extending right to buy. To help guide you through the melée of stories and spin, here is a summary of today’s main election stories.
1. Thatcherism is back
Unless the Tories have another big surprise in store, the centre piece of their 2015 manifesto is a pledge to extend right-to-buy for 1.3 million families in housing association homes. The Tories hope that 150,000 families will take advantage of the pledge — and boom, thousands of new Conservative voters across Britain. Councils will be urged to sell their most expensive properties and the Conservatives insist that all sold-off properties will be replaced, addressing one of the key concerns about Margaret Thatcher’s original right to buy policy for council houses. At the manifesto launch in Swindon today, David Cameron will say:
‘Conservatives have dreamed of building a property-owning democracy for generations. The next Conservative government will extend the right to buy to all housing association tenants in this country. So this generation of Conservatives can proudly say it: the dream of a property-owning democracy is alive — and we will fulfill it.’
The £18 billion idea was the brainchild of Welfare Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who has generally been seen as an outsider from the current Tory leadership. Now, his policy is front and centre of the campaign. Questions over the funding of the scheme have been raised, with Theresa May declining to answer exactly where all of the money would come from on the Today programme just now.
This is the cover of our manifesto. At its heart is a simple proposition: security at every stage of your life. pic.twitter.com/qOQxJGAndo
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) April 14, 2015
2. The split marginal battleground
Lord Ashcroft has released his latest round of marginal polling, visiting ten competitive Tory-Labour seats. In all of the constituencies, Ashcroft has reported swings to Labour, ranging from 0.5 per cent to seven per cent. In five of the seats, the Conservatives are currently ahead — Cleethorpes, Dover, Dudley South, Harlow and North East Somerset. Some of these leads are considerable: Rob Halfon in Harlow has a ten point lead, while Jacob Rees-Mogg in North East Somerset has a 16 point leads. Labour are currently on track to gain Crewe and Nantwich, Finchley & Golders Green and Milton Keynes South. South Ribble and Rossendale & Darween in Lancashire both currently have five per cent swings from Conservative to Labour but they are currently tied. In his analysis, Ashcroft summaries this research by saying he has found ‘the Tories consolidating in most seats where they had been ahead in previous rounds, while Labour had extended their leads where they had been doing well last year’.
It does appear that Labour’s marginal seat ground operation is more effective. In Cleethorpes for example, 61 per cent of voters said they had been contacted by Labour, compared to 38 per cent for the Tories. In the two tied seats, Labour had contacted 76 per cent of voters in Rossendale, compared to 56 per cent for Tories. In South Ribble, 59 per cent had heard from Labour vs. 45 per cent from the Conservatives. The Tories need to focus on the final few weeks of campaigning if they have any hope of holding onto these seats.
3. This Green and pleasant land
While the Conservatives will be putting on a big show in Wiltshire this morning, the Green Party is also launching its manifesto in Dalston, East London. Natalie Bennett and Caroline Lucas will taking to the stage together, calling for a ‘peaceful political revolution’. Bennett will say the Greens are campaigning for a ‘more equal, more democratic society while healing the planet from the effects of an unstable, unsustainable economy’. Bennett will reportedly focus on the party’s social and economic policies, while Lucas will be throwing fresh quinoa to the party’s faithful by calling for ‘real leadership when it comes to tackling climate change’.
Oddly enough, Ukip is also hosting a media briefing in central London, entitled ‘Protecting our green and pleasant land’. It makes a change from holding rallies in, ahem, an ‘entertainment complex’:
Farage is holding a rally w/ @Tim_Aker in a gentlemen’s club. #Ukip spokesman points it’s an “entertainment complex” pic.twitter.com/v4XKdPdZMi — Sebastian Payne (@SebastianEPayne) April 13, 2015
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