Matt Hancock: I can beat Corbyn by 'turning page on Brexit'

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/12/matt-hancock-i-can-beat-corbyn-by-turning-page-on-brexit

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The health secretary, Matt Hancock, has claimed he could beat Jeremy Corbyn at the next general election by “turning the page” on Brexit, and “putting pounds in people’s pockets”.

The race to be Britain’s next prime minister has been dominated by what happens between now and the 31 October Brexit deadline. Tory MPs will take part in the first of several rounds of voting on Thursday, as they whittle down the 10-strong field to a pair of finalists, who will be put to Conservative members.

But Hancock urged colleagues to ask themselves who could win a general election. “Of course we’ve got to deliver Brexit; but then we’ve got to win a majority by appealing to aspirational people in the centre ground of British politics, where there’s a gaping hole,” he told the Guardian. “I can turn the page from the rancour that we’ve seen in politics in the past few years: because I’ve been concentrating on delivering in government, getting stuff done, rather than the bitter Brexit rows.”

Hancock, who at 40 is the youngest contender in the race, is trailing in sixth place in terms of public declarations of support from MPs.

Matt Hancock: Tories will lose next election if party lurches right

But he claimed that as Britain’s next prime minister, he could win back those voters who had drifted away to the Liberal Democrats or “flirted with voting Labour under Jeremy Corbyn”.

“The Conservative party’s always been a broad church, and I can appeal better than any of the other candidates to the centre ground to unite the country, and to voters who will ultimately deliver a majority so we can really get things moving,” he said.

“There are some candidates who won’t be able to bring the Conservative party with them, and there are others who will find it more difficult to reach into the centre ground. I think I’m best placed to be able to do both.”

Hancock – a former adviser to George Osborne when the Tories were in opposition who was elected as MP for West Suffolk in 2010 – said he had no regrets about the spending cuts of the past nine years.

“I’m incredibly proud of what we did to turn the economy around. I’m incredibly proud of what we did as a party, [in coalition] alongside the Lib Dems, to turn the economy round. The fact we now have record numbers of jobs, record numbers of women in work, record start-ups, an enterprise economy, I’m very proud of that,” he said.

And he hinted that his plan for a general election would be to focus on living standards, as the Conservatives did in 2015 when David Cameron unexpectedly increased his majority.

“I think that the big challenge of the 2020s for the country, and for the Conservative party, is to win the fight for free enterprise and the free society. This is under threat like at no other time in my lifetime. And the way that you do that is by demonstrating the benefits of a free market society,” he said.

“We need to win the case by putting pounds in people’s pockets, and having well-funded public services, which you can only get by creating prosperity and the jobs that people want to see.”

And he dropped a heavy hint that he would not prioritise the tax cuts for higher earners that Boris Johnson has promised.”You’ve got to support working families,” he said. “We should be looking to support those who strive the hardest, and increase the national living wage, to make sure that the lowest paid get the biggest increase in pay.”

Hancock’s plan for Brexit is to attempt to negotiate a time limit to the backstop for the Irish border. He says this is more realistic than those promulgated by contenders who claim they will rip up Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement, or ignore parliament’s concerns and press ahead with no deal.

“There are signals from the EU that they would accept turning what is already legally temporary, which is the backstop, into a defined time limit. And that can be delivered through the House of Commons because of those changes,” he said.

But he declined to say what he would do if his attempt at renegotiation failed. “I’m negotiating to succeed, not to fail. And as soon as you set out a Plan B, then you’ve moved off Plan A.”

Hancock will be hoping to pick up some of those MPs who are currently supporting Rory Stewart, if the development secretary, who has been touring the country chatting to voters, is forced to drop out early.