The Conservative Manifesto

a review

The Conservative Manifesto starts with the words:

In 2010 we inherited an economy in tatters, with Labour admitting themselves there was ‘no money’. We resolved to do better. And we did! Today the economy is in even more tatters, with food banks everywhere and supermarkets security-tagging butter which is now an expensive luxury people might be tempted to shoplift.

Only joking! It actually says:

In 2010 we inherited an economy in tatters, with Labour admitting themselves there was ‘no money’. We have faced three generational global economic challenges: the aftermath of the financial crisis; a global pandemic; and the biggest energy shock since the 1970s.

I'll be reviewing the Conservative manifesto (and the manifestoes of the other parties) along 4 axes.

Firstly on graphic design including typography, layout etc. After all, a manifesto is an effort to get a message across, and if they can't write a simple document in a way that is well laid out and easy to follow, what chance have they got at the vastly harder job of running a country. Sadly, many parties fail at this first hurdle, before one even has a chance to read and evaluate their policies.

Then I will evaluate 3 policy areas:

• housing, including affordable housing, building new towns, transit-oriented development etc

• constitutional issues including electoral reform and Scottish independence

• foreign and security policy including defence policy and how to challenge the threat that is Russia

Graphic Design

Overall, this is pretty good. I can easily read it on my 1920x1080 monitor using a PDF reader that fits two pages to my screen. The text is high contrast (black or dark colour on white), the fonts are not too small, too thin, or otherwise hard to read, and it uses variations in colour / size / boldness for emphasis. Here's a typical page:

The only things I'd criticise is slightly too much use of white space in the header and footer and the right margin, and the page number (16) at the bottom left being too low-contrast.

It also has a table of contents so you don't have to plough your way through the whole thing to get at what you want. These might seem simple things to get right, but I've read many party manifestoes that fall on this hurdle.

Overall score: 9/10

Housing

The Tories say:

We will deliver 1.6 million homes in England

They want to build houses "in the right places", which excludes green belts:

Retaining our cast-iron commitment to protect the Green Belt from uncontrolled development, while ensuring more homes get built where it makes sense, like in inner cities. Our national planning protections mean there is never any top-down requirement for councils to remove Green Belt protection and these will remain in place.

But if central government refuses to use top-down requirements to force local authorities to allow building, it is not obvious to me that they can build 1.6 million homes.

Instead they want to build on brownfield land:

Delivering a record number of homes each year on brownfield land in urban areas. We will do this by providing a fast- track route through the planning system for new homes on previously developed land in the 20 largest cities.

But what if there's not enough brownfield land? Then the nimbies win, which is what the Tories secretly want but won't say so. They want higher house prices because that helps well-off people and landlords, i.e. people they care about. For example:

We will make permanent the increase to the threshold at which first-time buyers pay Stamp Duty to £425,000 from £300,000

This helps people who can afford to buy a house costing £300k-425k, but no-one else.

Regarding social housing they say:

We will legislate for new ‘Local Connection’ and ‘UK Connection’ tests for social housing in England

This is vague. If they mean you'll have to be a British citizen to get social housing, they should say so. If they don't mean that they should say what they do mean.

Reading between the lines, it seems to me that what the Tories really think is "we'll look after the rich, and fuck anyone else". Obviously they aren't going to say so directly.

Overall score: 2/10

Constitutional Issues

The Tories say:

We remain steadfast in our support for the fundamental principles that underpin the UK’s constitutional settlement. We remain committed to the First Past the Post system for elections, maintaining the direct link with the local voter. We will not change the voting age from 18.

Of course they support FPTP, because FPTP is undemocratic and the Tories are against democracy.

On Scottish independence they say:

Ten years on from the 2014 independence referendum, the SNP remain focused on the constitution while Scotland has moved on. They are distracted from the day job, with falling educational standards, rising drug deaths and long-delayed ferries. The Conservatives and Unionists will continue to oppose this – the 2014 vote was decisive.

If they really believed that Scotland has "moved on" they'd be happy to allow Scotland a constitutional pathway to leave the UK, sure in the certainty that Scotland doesn't want to. But they know perfectly well that many Scots haven't "moved on" and still want to be rid of the Westminster entity ruling them against their will.

Overall score: 0/10

Foreign and Security Policy

The Tories say:

We will hit 2.5% of GDP on defence in 2030 with our fully funded plan. This is the biggest strengthening of our defence since the Cold War, ensuring we remain the largest defence power in Europe. It will protect our security, cement our UK leadership in NATO and create more jobs in the UK.

Planning to increase defence spending by a mere 0.5%, and doing it over 6 years is a leisurely approach given the urgent task of helping Ukraine now. It's as if in 1938 the government said they'd increase defence spending by 0.5 by 1944.

On Ukraine:

We have led the world in support of Ukraine against Putin’s aggression, as the first European country to mobilise lethal aid and to send Western tanks and long- range missiles. Russia’s attempts to destroy Ukraine are an assault on European security.

Fair enough. And:

Guaranteeing Ukraine the support it needs for the long haul, assuring current levels of support for as long as they are required. We will secure additional military supplies for Ukraine and build international agreement to use immobilised Russian assets to support Ukraine.

I agree with that too.

One thing the Tories don't mention was that their Brexit has increased European disunity, on defence issues as well as other issues, and was probably a factor (albeit a small one) in enboldening Putin to believe he could get away with attacking Ukraine.

Overall score: 8/10

Summary

I didn't like the Tories before I read their manifesto, and nothing in it has changed my mind.

They are reasonably sound on defence however (if not on foreign policy, because Brexit).