I did it... I actually read the Tory manifesto... [View All]

[Anarcho-Socialist]

...although by "read" I mean "skim-read".

It was like reading the Daily Mail but with rather more dressed-up language to seem sensible.

The manifesto's wording comes across as "you can keep all the nice fluffy things that Labour's giving you (increased education, NHS funding)" by voting Tory we'll get rid of all those nasty asylum-seekers and yobs and give you a tax-cut to boot.

The section on law and order was particularly interesting if only for 6 still images from a security camera showing a woman's purse being snatched (I couldn't tell if it was 'real' footage or not), but it 's intended effect seems to be scaring the shit out of middle England.

Of course it also whines on about Europe too. It specifically singled out the "Social Chapter" and intention of the Tories to "opt-out". From reading it you get the impression that the E.U. and Tony Blair are each working to "undermine British business", but of course the nice fluffy Tories will do away with all those bureaucratic liberal legislations from Brussels.

On the economy, cutting taxes and reducing legislation on business (what legislation I wonder?) are the solution to everything that is possibly wrong in the economy.

"Getting rid of bureaucracy" is the only costing method used to explain extra spending on defence, law and order, cutting public sector borrowing and of course the mysterious tax cut. The vagueness of this manifesto is what defines it the most.

It harps on about hospital cleanliness, school discipline and being tougher on crime - yet with no real detail of what will be involved to achieve these aims. In parts of the manifesto, language such as "fairness", "opportunity", "dynamism" and "freedom" are used - but of course these terms are objective and mean different things to different people, and in the context of this manifesto they seemed to serve the purpose of window-dressing a thin manifesto.

To conclude: what was interesting? Very little. What was interesting the most for me is what they chose to leave out: what sort of tax cut? And what "bureaucracy" are they going to cut-back on?

If the worst occurred on May 6th and we woke up to a surprise Tory government I am guessing we'll see: a tax-cut of inheritance tax, and/or cutting of the top-rate of income tax (or altering threshold). Brown's redistributionist Tax credits system will probably be washed away too (the Tories make absolutely no mention of Tax credits and what they wish to do with them). It might help to pave the way for a bigger tax cut for the wealthier than expected.

If you're thinking of reading the Tory manifesto? Well, I regret having lost those 20 minutes of my life now. But if you're curious then you can look anyway... but don't say I didn't warn you.