DAILY MAIL COMMENT: A vital ten days for British democracy
It's not hard to understand why the Tories are staring down the barrel of the worst election drubbing in their party's history.
The failure, over 14 years in power, to transform Britain into a Conservative nation is seen by many of their supporters as an unforgivable betrayal of their promises.
The Tories' priorities could almost have been drawn up by their political foes to bring about their defeat.
Outrageously high taxes, mass immigration to the detriment of public services and housing, an over-zealous focus on Net Zero, and a reluctance to tackle the intolerance and division of wokery.
Too often the party has governed chaotically and irresponsibly, and made glaring unforced errors – ousting Boris Johnson, feared by Labour, being the stupidest of them all.
The Tories' priorities could almost have been drawn up by their political foes to bring about their defeat
Too often the party has governed chaotically and irresponsibly, and made glaring unforced errors – ousting Boris Johnson , feared by Labour , being the stupidest of them all
Sir Keir Starmer is himself deeply unpopular with the electorate and his manifesto is almost farcically vacuous
If the polls are correct, millions have already concluded that the Conservatives are tired and decrepit and need to go.
But have those Tories toying with revenge on July 4 thought carefully about what they might be letting themselves in for?
If Labour enters No 10, the country's problems will not be magically cured; indeed, they're likely to get worse. All the most damning failures of Conservative misgovernance will be intensified.
Sir Keir Starmer is himself deeply unpopular with the electorate and his manifesto is almost farcically vacuous.
Yet the vagaries of our first-past-the-post electoral system mean he is on course to win a huge 'supermajority', while the Tories face being reduced to a few dozen MPs.
A wild imbalance in the next Parliament would neutralise effective opposition, ill serving both democracy and the public interest.
With unconquerable strength on the backbenches, Labour will be able to ram through a slew of catastrophic, ideologically-driven policies that would change our nation profoundly with little scrutiny.
The quickest way to this nightmare is if disaffected Tories risk a protest vote for Reform, splitting the Right. Yet after Nigel Farage laid the blame for Russia's invasion of Ukraine with the West, is his party really a suitable repository for public support?
Today Rishi Sunak will warn there are 'just ten days to save Britain' from the disaster of a Labour landslide. Every patriotic Conservative should heed the PM's words
The voices of scepticism will be drowned out. The only debates of any substance would be within Labour – between the party's centrists and the hard-Left.
The quickest way to this nightmare is if disaffected Tories risk a protest vote for Reform, splitting the Right. Yet after Nigel Farage laid the blame for Russia's invasion of Ukraine with the West, is his party really a suitable repository for public support?
Today Rishi Sunak will warn there are 'just ten days to save Britain' from the disaster of a Labour landslide. Every patriotic Conservative should heed the PM's words.
A danger to Brexit
Yesterday marked eight years since Britain took the historic decision to quit the European Union and reclaim its status as a sovereign nation.
But as Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch warns in these pages, a Labour election victory could spark a clamour to rejoin – potentially sounding Brexit's death knell
Brexit has given us important wins already. We no longer fork out huge payments to the bloc. We can choose our own laws and taxes. We have signed lucrative trade deals and our economy is outgunning the Eurozone.
It has widened the range of things it's possible for our government to do and made it more democratically accountable. The only problem is the Tories have not embraced our hard-won freedoms vigorously enough.
But as Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch warns in these pages, a Labour election victory could spark a clamour to rejoin – potentially sounding Brexit's death knell.
Sir Keir was an ardent Remainer who fought to overturn the referendum result. There are already reports Labour wants to realign with Brussels – dragging us back into its orbit. How long before the customs union and free movement are back on the table?
What a tragedy if Mr Farage, having made Brexit his life's work, helped bring about a Labour landslide that led to its reversal.
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