Matt Hancock has a list of three things the Tories need to do to win again in 2020. At a Westbourne Communications fringe event, the Cabinet Office Minister (one of the few senior Tories to appear at fringes today) said the Tories should use their mandate from the 2015 election to prove they are the party of government and can be trusted to run the country over the next decade. This is how he believes they can do it:
1. Making sure we deliver effectively: Hancock said the government must show in five years time that the country is going in the right direction and some of the ‘deep seated problems’ have been solved. He believes this will be much easier to do, now they are no longer in coalition:
‘It is a real joy to be in government and not have the shackles of the Liberal Democrats – constantly not have to second guess what they are doing.’
2. Be clear we have a long plan: The government’s plans to turn a ‘low pay, high tax economy’ into a ‘high pay, low tax’ is key to showing that the Tories can govern and reform effectively, Hancock said.
3. Making sure we get through hurdles on the way: Hancock said the Tories are as well-placed as possible to win London mayoralty with Zac Goldsmith as the candidate. But along with the EU referendum — which he hopes can ‘keep party united’— he said these challenges need to be surmounted successfully in order to show voters the Tories ‘have governed effectively and for everyone’.
To find new voters and build a greater majority, Hancock also said the Tories should ignore the ‘egg throwers and chanters’ on the streets of Manchester, who he believes are ‘complaint about democracy’, and focus on the Labour voters who are dissatisfied with Jeremy Corbyn:
‘Our job is to remember those people: the 11 million who voted for us and the millions who voted for Ed Miliband but won’t be prepared to vote Labour under Jeremy Corbyn and to govern for them’.
Hancock’s message plays into the notion that the Tories are not smug about their victory and this conference is about showing they are taking the burdens of majority government seriously. When George Osborne took to the stage today, he was obviously delighted to be speaking as the Chancellor of a majority Conservative government. Matt Hancock appears to feel the same away about his role at the Cabinet Office — but the Tories are doing their best to point out they are not complacent about taking on Corbyn’s Labour party.
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