Will George Osborne get away with his conference gamble that hits working families? The Chancellor’s speech would have received a far worse reception on the front pages of today’s newspapers had it not been for the announcement on GPs offering a seven-day service. But it remains a topic of debate in the party.
Today at a lunchtime fringe, the Chancellor tried to defend his two-year freeze on working-age benefits by arguing that he had taken uncomfortable decisions for a Conservative, such as raising corporation tax. He also was careful not to appear to be gleeful about cutting welfare, an impression he has given in the past. Instead, he told the fringe that he was ‘acutely conscious’ of the impact of his policies on low-income families, and that ‘enjoy’ was not a word he’d use to describe how he feels about his job.
He repeatedly told Tom Bradby, who was interviewing him for the Times, that ‘this country faces quite an important choice now between a Labour government that didn’t know how it was going to cut the deficit, and an honest government that was prepared to take the difficult decisions.
But it’s interesting how many MPs seem a little nervous about how big a gamble Osborne is taking on this. ‘I don’t think it’ll work,’ says one minister, pointing like many people to Lord Ashcroft’s polls of marginal constituencies.
Some suspect that Osborne is planning to announce something nice and generous in the Autumn Statement, while others think he was playing bad cop to a good cop David Cameron tomorrow. He’ll be repeatedly pressed on whether or not he really is taking fair difficult decisions over the next few months.
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