From Mr John J. C. Moss Sir: We hear that
elections are won on 'the centre ground', but we hear little of what policies win elections when on this ground. In the 1970s and 1980s, the centre ground was Britain's economic decline, the dominance of unions over management, increasing welfare dependency and punitively high taxes. Margaret Thatcher's first two administrations tackled these 'centre ground' issues with radical policies to give people more control over their own lives and businesses. Her third administration, and Major's own, were less successful as the policies adopted to tackle health and education in particular were less radical and generally confusing, allowing Labour to appeal to the socialist 'them and us' attitude through accusations of 'two-tier' systems.
Because of the economic success of the Thatcher revolution (leave aside the boom and bust caused by the first attempt to join the single European currency), the 'centre ground' has now moved on to healthcare, education, transport and the environment. Yet we still see the Left of the Tory party sticking to centrist policy, almost Blairite in its insistence on funding and delivery through the state and only the state. Ken Clarke clearly shares this approach, even though it saw the Conservatives' majority slashed in 1992 and massively overturned in 1997.
lain Duncan Smith is setting out policies in these areas that are broadly liberal, in the sense that they seek to increase choice for parents and patients; they are economically literate in that they seek to use government funding to support private spending on things that are considered to be good rather than appropriate all such spending within the state's locus, and they are based on evidence from other countries, specifically European countries, where these things have worked.
So lain can rightly claim to be offering effective solutions to the failure of 'public services' to deliver, as well as appealing to the 18 million of the electorate who did not even vote in 2001 and who clearly do not want more of the same as offered by Liberal Democrats, Labour and Ken Clarke.
John Moss
Chairman,
Walthamstow Conservative Association, London E4
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