Tonight is about the economy – the most important issue troubling voters. Amazing,
though, your economic mesage has not been particularly clear. Incredible given what the Labour government has done, I know, but true.
George Osborne cannot seem to win over the City; the Lords of Finance never miss an opportunity to tell the FT that they don’t like/trust him.
Your deficit-reduction message is on the other hand clear – but voters don’t seem to like it, believe it is actually necessary and seem worried about the “Sword of Cable”, which, like that of Damocles, is said to hang over the country by a hair and can come plunging down if the deficit-slashing is too great.
So it is time to articulate a simple Reaganesque message to voters, which goes something like this:
“It is your money, not the state’s. You the voter can be trusted, officials less so. There is a key role for the state in times of crisis but a bigger one for you – and our society. When Labour talks about “taking money out of the economy”, they are parsing the truth. This is your money, not the state’s. Giving it to you to spend is not taking it away from anybody – except Gordon Brown.
So I’m asking to vote for you. Not for a party that thinks you’re bigotted and cannot be trusted. Not for a party that thinks the European Central Bank is more reliable than you are.”
Such a message can show what makes the Tories stand apart from Labour and the Lib Dems – and will look good next to what I expect will be Gordon Brown’s numerical bonanza and Nick Clegg’s economic innocence.
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