Earlier today, the Conservative 2015 election manifesto was launched.
As expected, delivering a strong and recovering economy features heavily in the manifesto – in line with the party’s ‘long-term economic plan’. More broadly, the manifesto launch sought to inject a positive message into the Conservatives’ campaign, amid criticism that the campaign to date has been too dry and has failed to resonate with voters.
With commitments to expand the Right to Buy scheme to housing association tenants, to legislate to ensure a tax-free minimum wage and to provide parents with 30 hours of free childcare for 3 and 4 year olds, there is a strong pitch to ‘blue collar’ voters on lower and middle incomes.
The Conservatives – and the current leadership in particular – have arguably failed in recent times to successfully reach out to this demographic, who in many marginal seats are turning to UKIP, believing that the mainstream parties no longer represent their views. As such, today’s launch should be viewed as the party aiming to recapture the votes of this demographic. Importantly, by focusing on housing and incomes, the party has been careful not to stray too prominently into the UKIP-friendly territory of immigration – a debate which the Conservatives will not wish to have this close to the election.
Today’s manifesto launch can in part be seen as an attempt to reconnect with the ‘blue collar Tories’ who powered the Thatcher governments to victory. Of course, whether the Conservatives have left it too late or whether they can successfully rebuff UKIP’s advances in key marginals will only be known once the result of the election is clear.
