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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 1d

See also: Singapore and mass social housing.

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 1d

You could argue “only”.

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 1d

Even flatlining at 17% in the polls there are quite a few Tories who seems to assume the electorate will sort of come to their senses and beg to be rescued with their offer of fiscal credibility*

*Self-stated. Some voters will recall Truss.

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 1d

It’s striking how many Tory fringe events I’ve been at where people have confidently predicted a major fiscal or markets crisis for the government in the next 12ish months. I have no idea if that has any credibility, but it’s notable how much perhaps misplaced confidence it gives some Conservatives.

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 1d

In the Q&A, Holden is asked if 20mph zones should only be put on roads where there has been a fatality. Holden says he thinks it’s a bit much to expect someone to die before you get a 20 limit - but then complains a lot about their general use.

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 1d

He’s slightly making up for it in the Q&A.

Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 1d

In an audience Q&A for Holden, one of the questions is to ask him if he will end the current “cyclist-first” transport policy. If you were in the hall and heard an inadvertent laugh, apologies.

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 1d

Well, that was a bit of a nothing speech. A few hits at electric cars but not a single mention of 20mph zones, LTNs or 15 minute cities.

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 1d

Labour are pursuing “an ideological war” on drivers, motorcyclists and the freight industry, Holden says. There we are.

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 1d

“Labour are actively punishing motorists,” Holden says, which I think counts.

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 1d

I’m in the main hall of Tory conference to watch new-ish shadow transport secretary Richard Holden give his speech. The title leads me to expect talk about the war on the motorist and 20mph zones.

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 1d

It’s the main day of the three for shadow ministerial speeches at the Tory conference and it’s fair to say that…. the main hall is not packed.

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 1d

“Our welfare system should be a safety net, not a lifestyle choice," says Whately, an MP who colleagues often praise as hardworking, nice and fairly sensible. But if you want to be on the current Tory front bench, it seems nastiness is the currency of choice.

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 1d

On the Tory main stage, shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately is leaning heavily into the "shirkers v strivers" narrative, contrasting hard-working types with "millions" she says are on the sofa with often mild conditions.

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Reposted by Peter Walker

Andrew Sparrow @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social · 2d

Former minister Tom Tugendhat says pension triple lock part of 'Ponzi scheme' economic system biased against the young, @peterwalker99.bsky.social reports - www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 2d

I have asked.

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 2d

Question at this fringe event on Tories and young people, from the chair of the party at Keele University who says that at their just-ended freshers' fair they amassed the biggest membership in over a decade... of 11 people.

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 2d

This favouring of older voters skews the economy, Tugendhat says: "Parties are religious about preventing any building, defending an established asset class against a future asset class."

This is refreshingly blunt stuff for a Tory conference.

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 2d

Tugendhat: Young people are "realising the entire economy is now geared to a bunch of people who are ageing and claiming their retirement

"It is a continuous series of politics in the centre that is defending this gap – the have assets, have jobs, have equity, against the have nots – young people"

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 2d

Punchy opening from Tom Tugendhat, who says the move of young voters from centrist parties is "a logical series of outcomes for an economic system that has effectively become a Ponzi system for the old", eg the pension triple lock.

"Guess what? They have worked it out," Tugendhat says.

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 2d

As a sign of just how bad things are for the Tories and younger voters, this was billed as one of the most positive slides of the polling presentation.

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 2d

I’m at a Tory fringe event about young voters which has been shown a massive (5,000+) poll of voters aged 16-40 - and it’s (not unexpectedly) very bad news for the Conservatives.

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 2d

Yes, now confirmed: apart from pensions, if you are a (non-EU) non-UK citizen you would be barred from receiving any benefits of any kind, irrespective of how long you have been in the country and/or how much tax you have paid.

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 2d

Update: after much asking
I’ve been told that the Conservative plan to deny benefits to non-UK nationals would *not* include the state pension. But it does seem the general exclusion would take place irrespective of how long someone has lived and paid taxes here if they are not citizens.

Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 2d

Denying all benefits to non-UK nationals sounds simple but it would mean excluding people who might have lived and paid tax in the UK for many years. And - as the interview shows - it’s not very clear what they should do under the Tory plan.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Tories say people denied benefits in UK can return to home countries

Mel Stride outlines plans to slash £47bn a year from public spending, including £23bn welfare cut

www.theguardian.com

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 2d

The rally for the countryside in full.

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