Fourteen years of Tory rule have left Britain in a lazy, dangerous left-wing mess

At Thursday night's Press Awards, where we both lost, my cartoonist colleague Matt (Pritchett) perfectly summed up the current consensus among conservative voters. Telegraph Readers, he observed, seemed to agree on two things: that the Tories deserve to be kicked out and that Labor will be even worse off.

Faced with the choice between half-baked conservatism or deep-fried socialism (perhaps with a side of haggis), it's no wonder people on the right are retching at the mere thought. idea of ​​the next general election, let alone the next general election. box to cross.

On Wednesday, a survey of more than 5,400 voters by former Conservative treasurer Lord Ashcroft found that although support for the Conservatives is at an all-time low, 45 per cent of voters still do not want a Labor government. A significant number of people agree that Labor will be worse for Britain than the Tories, but voters are still prepared to overwhelmingly reject the Tories. For what?

There are a number of explanations, including a general desire for change and the misconception that it's safe to place a net-zero emissions madman who can't decide whether or not a woman has a penis in issue 10. But perhaps the most compelling reason is a sense of betrayal, the feeling behind the anti-conservative slogan #zeroseats that is gaining momentum on social media.

Those who normally vote Tories understandably feel disappointed that the party has said one thing and done another, and left Britain much less conservative than it was 14 years ago .

Take the sick note culture discussed today by Rishi Sunak at the Center for Social Justice (CSJ) think tank. While it is encouraging that the Prime Minister is looking for ways to tackle unemployment, how is it that a Conservative administration has presided over such an abandonment of personal responsibility in recent years and a destruction of the old culture work ? ? The UK is now the only G7 country where the proportion of working age people outside the labor market is higher than before Covid.

Such is the level of naivety in Downing Street that the Prime Minister still expects to be thanked for his leave. No one wanted anyone to lose their job and business because of the lockdown, that’s true. But Sunak must take responsibility for the fact that his 70 billion plan has not only left us with an economic blight of epic proportions, but has also fostered a culture in which some people still expect to get something for nothing.

The lockdown and the free taxpayers' money that came with it, billions of which were siphoned off by fraudsters, led more and more people to think that the state would subsidize them. Meanwhile, the welfare system fails to encourage people to work, even though it might be good for them.

The number of people who are economically inactive due to long-term illness has increased by 717,000 since the pandemic. Every year, millions of suitability ratings are issued, more than 90 percent of which find someone unfit for work. As a result, the cost of disability benefits is expected to increase over the next five years.

It is completely unaffordable, not only economically but socially. Andy Cook, CEO of CSJ, rightly pointed out that there needs to be more focus on what people can do rather than what they can't do.

Of course, there are desperately unhappy people who are so disabled that they can't work at all. But others will be able to work but will not have the necessary support to do so. Some also face difficulties returning to gainful employment due to endless NHS delays in seeking treatment.

It is strange that the government has allowed this situation to not only fester, but to thrive, since the last lockdown was lifted, especially as Sunak has never hesitated to come forward when it comes to explain to people how to live other aspects of their lives. .

Instead of fighting creeping state control, conservatives are only making the situation worse, with measures like the new smoking ban. Still drunk on the draconian and anti-libertarian vapors of confinement, the conservatives, among others, now intend to tell people what to do with their lives and their children, with a ban on Scottish spanking and even a ban on smartphones for children under 15. The 16 would also be in sight.

Meanwhile, little or no authority appears to be exercised over those who actively seek to undermine British values. People can see the country visibly changing around them, and almost nothing is done to force new migrants to integrate into our culture.

Protesters are allowed to call for an Intifada on the streets of London and the nanny state is nowhere to be found. Where were the Tories when a Batley school teacher was forced into hiding over a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad? They were also conspicuous by their absence when the Tavistock clinic handed out puberty blockers like smarties to children. While the Conservatives sleep in the driver's seat on these issues, it is up to others to fight the battles in our schools, in the NHS and on social media.

This week, Katharine Birbalsingh, Britain's strictest headmistress and Black Beast of the left, won a significant victory in facing a legal challenge to a prayer ban she imposed at the secular Michaela Community School in Wembley, London.

But why did she have to fight this trial alone? It was only after the judgment was delivered that Education Secretary Gillian Keegan really woke up and said: “I hope this judgment will give all school leaders the confidence necessary to make the right decisions for their students. It should not be up to a court to decide whether school leaders are the decision-makers in their schools rather than the students (or their parents). Why was the government not bolder in defending Birbalsingh?

Likewise, why was it left to Father Ted creator Graham Linehan, JK Rowling and a group of feminists, along with a handful of academics, journalists and other whistleblowers , to fight for the rights of women and children in the face of trans extremism? How did we get to the point, under a Conservative government, that teachers are asserting the kinds of confused students behind their parents' backs? We might expect this kind of nonsense from Labor (and we can hope for more if the polls are correct), but this is a nightmare created by the Tories themselves.

The welfare crackdown is a good start, but for Sunak to have any hope of winning back voters he needs to stop coddling the electorate with endless five-point plans and come up with a much more grown-up vision for this country. Voters deserve more than having to choose between bad and worse.