The Wilted Rose

Did you think the Wilted Rose was extinct?  No, only asleep for the past few rather traumatic and challenging months.  Blogging shall be rather heavier than it has been this year so far; well, at least until the general election on 6th May 2010 that will see the UK’s first Schumpeterian political ”creative destruction” since 1997. 

On that day the Brown regime will fall as surely as the Roman Empire did in 476 AD (yes, 1534 years apart but highly comparable nonetheless).  The imminent fall of the Brownian Empire is signalled by the continuing - and consistent - opinion poll deficit that Labour has, in its political ineptitude (and “incompetence”, as Brown described Hain, and which is acceptable in Brown-speak), created. 

The Daily Telegraph, this blogger’s favourite broadsheet, today presents a mouthwatering graphic showing Con 43%, Lab 29%, LD 17%, an opinion poll lead of 14 points.  No doubt, underlying this lead is a sustained advantage for the Tories amongst older people, the 18-24s, London, the south and Midlands, the ABs, the C1s and C2s and both men and women.  In fact, Labour is still being trounced by the SNP in Scotland whilst the Conservatives are improving in the North. 

Opinion polls come and go, as do elected politicians.  That means when, as is likely, Boris Johnson kicks RedKen Livingstone out of office in London and becomes the most powerful elected Conservative politician in the UK, Labour will get a taste of the imminent fall of the Brownian Empire.  This will shake the political landscape as much as various precursors of Rome’s fall did in the years preceding 476 AD.

The losses of Council seats; for example, with about 6 Conservative gains and one Lib Dem gain, the Labour stronghold of Wolverhampton will fall to No Overall Control. 

Just what is the point of the Labour Party any more?  Blair re-invented it, made it electable, and then dashed it on the rocks with the contradictions of the Third Way.  Brown has appointed his mate Alistair ’not a’ Darling, who has - with the Bank of England’s Governor Merv the Swerv, regrettably an old boy of Wolverhampton Grammar School, and the FSA (the Feckless Services Authority) - mishandled the side effects of the Credit Crisis, interest rates, the “Inflation Lie”, to such an extent to make Black Wednesday look like a minor hiccup.

The ball is now, of course, in the Conservatives’ court.  They must continue to respond in an effective manner to the (acceptable, in Brownian terms) “incompetence” of the Chancellor and various other Ministers.  The biggest issue is taxation, which this blogger has struggled with as a political issue.

Of course, many of us (particularly, the so-called “coping classes”, but also people on low income) are over-taxed, cripplingly so.  Indeed, the “double whammy” of the taxation and benefits régime has the iniquitous effect of making many 100,000s - maybe 1,000,000s - of UK residents choose welfare dependency over employment.  The damage this is doing to UK society over the long term is more serious than the damage Brown, Darling et al are doing to the Labour Party.

Tory politicians would be wrong to rule out tax cuts in the next parliament, just because of some silly London-centric ‘progressive consensus’ over taxation and public expenditure.  The Taxpayers’ Alliance has won the argument.

It is time for further economy-stimulating policies on reducing taxation, and these would not be policies of ‘97, ‘01 and ‘05, but well thought through policies that would cement, nay increase significantly, the Tories’ opinion poll lead.  Starting with making life easier for those on lower incomes, to incentivise them to work, would win votes from the DEs, not just the ABs, C1s and C2s, and eradicate this scourge - this Labour Government - for a generation.

The fall of the Brownian Empire must be a long one, for the sake of the economy and society of the UK.