Ryan, there was no honesty as there was no policy to be honest about. No-one really knew what ‘Hard Brexit’ meant. Nothing was costed. She would not appear on TV so as to avoid all the difficult questions. Really, all she had to say for herself when pressed for something, anything, like a policy was ‘Strong and Stable’.
And even that was a lie.
The same uncertainty existed with Brexit with Labour but Corbyn refused to say that he’d walk away from a bad deal and I’ve already costed in this very debate how a corporation tax cut could be used to fight tariffs. Meanwhile, the last 40 years show that Corbyn’s tax rates will not do what he says they’ll do, and will actually lead to less revenue, especially with Brexit and would actually lead to less revenue. A £10/hour minimum wage would cost tens of thousands of jobs. Basically Corbyn’s plans would have added 3% or more to the deficit and saddled future generations with even greater austerity.
She should have attended debates but that’s not really dishonest and she stood there in two sessions and answered difficult questions from voters and TV interviewers.
It was the social care reform that cost the majority, it was only after that that the polls slid. Tell people you’ll take up to £100k from their property to pay for social care and they might not like it but they’ll accept it. Tell people you might be taking £500k, £1m or more and it’s a vote loser.
On hard Brexit, the fall in the £ already counters WTO tariffs but with the following savings you could halve corporation tax too if needed.
£10.8bn saving from not paying net contribution to EU.
£15bn in WTO tariffs on EU imports
£2.5bn saved by not having to subsidise future higher education for EU citizens in the UK.
£1bn saved on not paying JSA for EU migrants who haven’t worked at least 4 years.
£1bn saved on not paying child benefits for EU migrants who haven’t worked at least 4 years.
£0.25bn saved on overseas child benefits.
£0.9bn saved on not providing healthcare for EU migrants who haven’t worked at least 4 years.
£2.5bn from 25% tax on £10bn worth of remittances heading out of UK to other EU home countries.
~£34bn
Except now we might lose this bargaining position, which is all this result has achieved. Conservatives still in but with less ability to drive a hard bargain in our interests as a nation.
The only +ve note is that Corbyn also said he didn’t recognise the EU Brexit bill figure, so hopefully they’ll be able to put aside differences and show some kind of parliamentary solidarity on this in the interests of our nation.
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