On the day of the Conservative Party’s Spring Conference a host of Conservative MPs, Lords, journalists and activists call for the dissolution of the Coalition and a return to freedom and democracy in the Conservative Party”
On the need for the coalition to breakup, there are a number of supportive figures within the party calling for the Conservative party to ‘go it alone’ to propose conservative legislation as a minority administration. This would not only go some way to winning back lost core supporters, but would also allow the Conservative party to make the tough decisions necessary to restore our economy back to full health.
Ben Harris-Quinney, Chairman of the Bow Group: “Despite progress on the economy, genuine popular opinion and the sense of being the force behind a national movement have been lost by the Conservative Party, and at the current rate UKIP will overtake the Conservative Party as a membership organisation within 7 years. At least to the country at large, it will be impossible to define our own ideology as a party whilst in coalition with the Liberal Democrats, and if we can’t do that before the next election, it will be impossible to win a clear and Conservative majority. That is why we call for the dissolution of the Coalition Government, to allow the Conservative Party a year to set out its stall to the country as a party of solid conservative ideology. A party of competence and long-term vision as well as short-term pragmatism.”
Lord Tebbit: “The coalition is “beginning to smell past its sell by date, and the sooner it is broken up the better, never to be returned to. What’s more, there really were no excuses for David Cameron’s failure to win enough support from the electorate (in the last election). His attempt to win Lib Dem support by moving across towards the Lib Dems ideologically meant that he reinforced the conviction of Lib Dem voters that the Lib Dems were right, but left many of our own voters feeling lost.”
Priti Patel, MP for Witham: With growth this year predicted to be 2.7%, record numbers of people are in work as unemployment falls, and welfare bills are being capped. The closing of the opinion polls on the back of the Chancellor’s brilliant Budget in March, which included reforms to pensions and savings and cuts to green levies, demonstrates that the public like Conservative policies and want more. Crucially, this means that the reason for the coalition being established – Liberal Democrat support in the House of Commons to ensure that our programme of economic reforms can be implemented – has now effectively expired.
Nick Wood, former Chief Political Correspondent of the Times: “It will be for historians, not today’s commentators, to assess the success or failure of the Coalition. It has proved more stable than many of us expected. But at the same time, it has cast a pall over the land. Politics as we once understood it as a fluid, passionate clash of ideas across a wide canvas has stalled and become a desultory affair. Lassitude fills the air. It is as if the country is frozen in aspic. The Coalition cannot end too soon.”
Don Porter CBE, Chairman of Conservative Voice and former Chairman of the National Conservative Convention: “The number one priority for the next twelve months is for the electorate to have a clear and undiluted view of what a Conservative Government will deliver in order to win back the core support that has been lost. If this means the break-up of the Coalition in order to present such a platform, so be it.”
Alex Deane, Head of Public Affairs at Weber Shandwick: “If we are to successfully present ourselves as real Conservatives in the run up to 2015, then we need to take decisive action to turn around our parlous present situation – for, without change, we will not only lose the next election; we also run the risk that we will look back and think that we allowed the Lib Dem drag anchor in Coalition to prevent us really doing much whilst in government.”
Ryan Bourne, Head of Public Policy at the Institute for Economic Affairs: A key advantage of an early Coalition divorce and a Conservative minority government would be the opportunity for the Conservative party to set out clearly its own agenda, distinct from the Coalition. The party needs to develop and outline what it believes the key challenges facing the country are, and show its priorities by bringing forward legislation and daring Labour and the Lib Dems to oppose it. The chosen current narrative is for a ‘long term plan’ and ‘values’. At the moment, many Conservatives and the public are unclear what the vision is and what it means in policy terms. Time is running out to show them.
Meanwhile, a number of MP’s have and party figures called for a return to more traditional conservative values as a party as a means of winning back the lost vote.
David Nutall, MP for Bury North: Many traditional Conservative voters could be forgiven for being a bit fed up right now. Following the last election, hopes of Conservative-led common sense reforms to get the country back on track after years of socialism were thwarted, to a large extent, by three words -“The Coalition Government”. On many issues important to traditional Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats are not natural bedfellows and Coalition Government has been proof. Conservative principles are timeless. We need to do more to explain them to a sceptical public and redouble our efforts to convince voters we are going to stick to them. The Conservative Party needs to spell out the clear message it stands for a smaller state that spends less and lets hardworking people keep more of what they have earned.”
Nick De Bois, MP for North Enfield: “We’re in coalition now, but we don’t want to be in May 2015 and the Conservative manifesto for 2015 needs to inspire Britain that we can see the way forward- a way forward that includes reforming Stamp Duty so that a young couple’s savings can be invested in higher deposits, providing the security of lower mortgage repayments, one where tax thresholds keep rising – both for the personal allowance and the 40p tax band – so that we reward hard work and aspiration. Combining income tax and national insurance so that citizens can see clearly how much of their money the government takes from them. Cutting or even abolishing Employers’ National Insurance contributions to spark an increase in wages and boost job creation should also be enacted.”
John Hayes, MP for South Holland and Minister without Portfolio: Tradition and social advancement are often characterised as being juxtaposed. It is, however, a liberal myth that progress inevitably means greater individualism. As previous times in our history have demonstrated, it is when we are most confident about our shared values and our common culture that we have been most successful.
Sheila Lawlor, Director of Centre-Right think tank politeia and MEP Candidate for London: “Since the outset, the Lib Dems have made no secret of their wish to tie the hands of their Conservative coalition partners in tackling the fiscal imbalances, having held out for targeted public spending and structural reform or tax cuts to favour certain groups. Britain’s public spending level is still pitched at around 48 percent of GDP -still higher than Germany’s 45 percent, though it is coming down, less slowly than a Conservative administration might want. But it is on structural reform, and the incentives in place for business and people to do well, that the Chancellor has been boxed in both by his Coalition partners and the high public spending levels from which the country must be weaned.”
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