I’d like to ask the Conservative candidate Flick Drummond how she explains the failure of this government and the extreme haemorrhage of support from your voter base? 

Let's look at the record on the traditional areas of Conservative policy strengths:

The party of defence? We find ourselves in dangerous times with the smallest army in 300 years and a fleet that struggles to leave the Solent. Seemingly we have even forgotten how to run contracts such as Ajax. Of course they did vote to renew Trident. However with the failure of the last two tests in a world with anti-ballistic missiles where we need every nuke to work, this is very bad news still not addressed. Oh and although they voted to renew Trident, being small people they didn't make the case to voters in case it cost them votes by talking about it. Leaving it to Putin to remind us all why we must always retain our independent nuclear deterrent. In fact defense looks like it was in the hands of a Blairite socialist Labour government.

The party of the economy? Surely they are low tax small state. In practice the one nationers gave us the opposite in pursuit of social justice ideals, just like real socialists do. They also brought us net stupid. The cost of energy is at the heart of the whole economy impacting not just heating costs but all goods and services including food prices etc. Our energy costs are the highest in Europe and many times that in the US due to ideological environmental policies. Socialist thinking putting flawed ideology ahead of our economic interests with the poorest paying the price. Making the economy weaker and so restricting our ability to actually adapt to climate change.

Strong on law and order? Well they sacked 20k experienced officers and recruited 20k woke and inexperienced youngsters which was deeply damaging to police effectiveness. They didn't build prisons and are now letting criminals out even earlier and telling police not to prosecute all crimes. So incompetence of socialist proportions from the one nationers.

Take back control of our borders? One nationers are ideologically incapable. They place international law ahead of the wishes of their pesky voters. This isn’t about hating foreigners it is about the government failing to manage and control what is going on. We should be taking the people we choose to take, in the numbers we choose with central government fully funding these choices as refugees need housing, medical care and perhaps training up front to become fully integrated with society. Illegal entrants need locking up until they agree to leave. 

Even Covid was handled like good socialists. The approach should always have been as outlined in the Barrington declaration, focusing on protecting the vulnerable and allowing the rest to continue. It would have cost less, saved the education of so many now blighted, and saved some of the lives now lost due to the NHS becoming a Covid service. This would have ended, like Sweden, with similar levels of excess deaths to everyone else. Instead they silenced practical informed scientific voices for socialist ones whilst bizarrely putting the most vulnerable, in care homes, at greater risk.

The party for individual aspiration and choice? When we needed state intervention on housebuilding ( modern equivalent of post war prefabs) to solve the housing problem all we get is talk of fiddling with stamp duty and help for first time buyers. No we need housing built and lots of it. As to the smoking ban thing, where did that come from? More socialist controlling instinct than individual choice.

The growth of cancel culture and hate speech legislation is deeply authoritarian...I could go on.
So no, voting for a one-nation Conservative party is no more an option for me than voting Labour.

For this reason people like me are now voting Reform.

Martyn Simpson,
Benenden Green,
Alresford

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