Hacks are now poring over the rabbit-less Tory manifesto. The front page has a blue version of the Union Flag. Didn’t Sunak say: “When it comes to our national flags, we shouldn’t mess with them, they’re perfect as they are?” Meanwhile, there are no pictures of Sunak, or indeed of anyone in this document. That contrasts with the 2019 manifesto which was full of pictures of Boris and candidates. A rushed job?
In the speech Sunak changed his tune since Tory conference to praise the Tory record, after which the dominant mood from hacks’ questions was: “This isn’t enough in a do or die manifesto, is it?” As Guido reported first yesterday…
What do MPs have to offer on the doorstep?
The abolition of the main rate of self-employed National Insurance is a gambit to draw in the Reform-minded white van man and a departure from the Tories’ previous attempts to level rates with the employed. Unlike what hacks breathlessly reported on Twitter, the whole of self-employed National Insurance contributions is not being abolished – only the lower main rate of Class 4 contributions will go. The higher rate which kicks in above £50,270 will remain. And a frozen threshold will drag more into payment…
There are 32 mentions of the word “review” in the document which contains policy guff and past achievements rather than new cut-through plans. There is standard fare on trade deals, post-Brexit freedoms, and announced policy. Now the Onward manifesto goes to the voters…
