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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/30/observer-view-on-conservative-party-conference
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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| The Observer view on the Conservative party conference | The Observer view on the Conservative party conference |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| Government exists to serve the people. But as Conservatives gather in Birmingham for their last party conference before Britain is due to leave the European Union, the relationship between our governing party and the country at large has never felt more inverted. | Government exists to serve the people. But as Conservatives gather in Birmingham for their last party conference before Britain is due to leave the European Union, the relationship between our governing party and the country at large has never felt more inverted. |
| The Observer is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper, founded in 1791. It is published by Guardian News & Media and is editorially independent. | The Observer is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper, founded in 1791. It is published by Guardian News & Media and is editorially independent. |
| The Tories have long been racked by divisions over Europe, but those ruptures have never prevented them from doing their job as government or opposition to the extent that they have in the past two years. Since the Brexit referendum, divisions over Europe have wholly consumed the government. Just when it needs to be at its most outward-facing – to address the challenges facing the country, to negotiate in good faith with our European partners – the Conservative party has turned inwards. | The Tories have long been racked by divisions over Europe, but those ruptures have never prevented them from doing their job as government or opposition to the extent that they have in the past two years. Since the Brexit referendum, divisions over Europe have wholly consumed the government. Just when it needs to be at its most outward-facing – to address the challenges facing the country, to negotiate in good faith with our European partners – the Conservative party has turned inwards. |
| And so the prime minister goes into this week a stricken figure. Her most important job was to build consensus within her party around a starting point for negotiations with the EU. She has failed. Just days before the key EU summit on Brexit, discussions in Birmingham will be dominated by plans and counter-plans, none of which will be grounded in reality. | And so the prime minister goes into this week a stricken figure. Her most important job was to build consensus within her party around a starting point for negotiations with the EU. She has failed. Just days before the key EU summit on Brexit, discussions in Birmingham will be dominated by plans and counter-plans, none of which will be grounded in reality. |
| Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson appears willing to throw the Northern Ireland peace settlement under a bus in order to further his personal ambitions to get to Number 10. As leadership contenders jostle for the limelight, the threat of Britain catastrophically crashing out of the EU grows by the day. | Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson appears willing to throw the Northern Ireland peace settlement under a bus in order to further his personal ambitions to get to Number 10. As leadership contenders jostle for the limelight, the threat of Britain catastrophically crashing out of the EU grows by the day. |
| This week’s roster of ministerial speeches will contain no acknowledgement of how the stark divides that paved the way for the vote to leave the EU have got worse under this government. That those parts of the country that have suffered most as a result of decades of deindustrialisation have been further undermined by almost a decade of painful spending cuts. That regional inequality in Britain, some of the worst in western Europe, has grown starker since the financial crisis, with London booming, while many parts of the north and the Midlands are still lagging behind where they were in 2008. | This week’s roster of ministerial speeches will contain no acknowledgement of how the stark divides that paved the way for the vote to leave the EU have got worse under this government. That those parts of the country that have suffered most as a result of decades of deindustrialisation have been further undermined by almost a decade of painful spending cuts. That regional inequality in Britain, some of the worst in western Europe, has grown starker since the financial crisis, with London booming, while many parts of the north and the Midlands are still lagging behind where they were in 2008. |
| No one will admit that the 49% cut in government funding for local councils since 2010 – used to pay for elderly care, services for vulnerable children, youth centres and libraries – has hit the poorest areas the most. They won’t mention that Salford has been forced to cut its spending on local services by 45%, while in Surrey, it’s just 6%. Ministers won’t try to explain how it’s fair that low-income families with children have borne the brunt of austerity through benefit and tax credit cuts, while more affluent families and businesses have enjoyed generous tax cuts. | No one will admit that the 49% cut in government funding for local councils since 2010 – used to pay for elderly care, services for vulnerable children, youth centres and libraries – has hit the poorest areas the most. They won’t mention that Salford has been forced to cut its spending on local services by 45%, while in Surrey, it’s just 6%. Ministers won’t try to explain how it’s fair that low-income families with children have borne the brunt of austerity through benefit and tax credit cuts, while more affluent families and businesses have enjoyed generous tax cuts. |
| The referendum result should have been a wake-up call, an alarm bell that the Tory government urgently needed to change tack. Indeed, that’s what Theresa May appeared to promise on the steps of Downing Street in her first speech as prime minister. Not only did that change of tack never materialise – her chancellor, Philip Hammond, ramped up the pace of spending cuts. | The referendum result should have been a wake-up call, an alarm bell that the Tory government urgently needed to change tack. Indeed, that’s what Theresa May appeared to promise on the steps of Downing Street in her first speech as prime minister. Not only did that change of tack never materialise – her chancellor, Philip Hammond, ramped up the pace of spending cuts. |
| Meanwhile, the government has been rendered incapable of addressing the big challenges we face. Against a backdrop of the crisis in care of the elderly, the social care green paper has been delayed for months. There’s an absence of ideas for how to equip the NHS to cope with the future demands of an ageing society, even as it is consistently undermined through inadequate funding. There’s no plan to close the geographical gap in school quality. Far from gearing up for the reskilling that will be needed as people lose their jobs to automation, funding for adult learning has been cut. | Meanwhile, the government has been rendered incapable of addressing the big challenges we face. Against a backdrop of the crisis in care of the elderly, the social care green paper has been delayed for months. There’s an absence of ideas for how to equip the NHS to cope with the future demands of an ageing society, even as it is consistently undermined through inadequate funding. There’s no plan to close the geographical gap in school quality. Far from gearing up for the reskilling that will be needed as people lose their jobs to automation, funding for adult learning has been cut. |
| And so, as the problems that led to the Brexit vote get worse, the Tory pantomime continues. Never has it felt more like the country was there for the benefit of the Conservative party rather than vice versa. | And so, as the problems that led to the Brexit vote get worse, the Tory pantomime continues. Never has it felt more like the country was there for the benefit of the Conservative party rather than vice versa. |
| Britain deserves better than this. | Britain deserves better than this. |
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