After an embarrassment on that scale, a Tory minister deserves a medal for his shameless poker face

Kwasi Kwarteng


Support us and go ad-free

Sky‘s Sophy Ridge caught Conservative business minister Kwasi Kwarteng red-handed on 10 November. Kwarteng almost deserves a medal for ploughing on with his shameless poker face.

They think you’re stupid

According to the corporate media, Conservative HQ has ‘costed’ Labour policies from 2017:

 

Related articles

Read on...

Apparently the opposition’s policies will cost every household £43,000. It’s hard to know where to begin with such wild propaganda. Labour has actually exempted 95% of the UK public from tax rises. Economic inequality is so polarised that you only need to raise taxes from people who earn above £80,000 per year. Under Labour, if you earn £81,000, for instance, you will be taxed just £50 more per year.

Sky‘s Ridge instead pointed out that the Conservatives don’t seem to have any policies, let alone costed ones:

you can’t tell me what the… number is for the Conservatives.

The shameless Conservative minister then decided to talk about the current government budget rather than Tory manifesto plans:

We had a budget last year which set the parliament

Ridge retorted:

No but we’re interested about the next parliament… the election is happening. What are the plans for the next five years?

We have form here. In the 2017 election, Labour’s manifesto was fully costed while the Conservatives didn’t even bother.

Ridge props up the Tory attack

On Sky, while the host rightly challenged the Conservatives to actually come up with one or two ideas and their own costings, she upheld the Tory propaganda against Labour.

Conservative campaign headquarters have spent all this time working out this exact sum for Labour, they’ve gone through all of the spending commitments

But this Tory HQ ‘analysis’ on Labour’s plans is not serious criticism, as Ridge treated it. On Marr’s show, Chancellor Sajid Javid joined in, saying that Labour’s plans, such as renationalisation of water, rail and education, would bring Britain onto the “brink of bankruptcy”.

The bottom line

A simple thought experiment shows how ludicrous that claim is. Can you imagine a situation where we don’t need water or where we don’t need education? Of course not. So if we don’t own these common essentials ourselves, we are left renting them from the private sector at a much higher cost.

In other words, the bottom line is the complete opposite of what the Conservatives allege. The truth is we cannot afford the status quo, where we rent our services, our housing, and our university courses from the corporations. Case in point: the UK’s richest 1,000 families have increased their wealth by over £500bn since the 2008 financial crash, while the majority of us face austerity cuts.

Corbyn’s Labour believes common essentials should be built into society, rather than turned into a cash cow for the rich. And it makes no sense to calculate the ‘cost’ of nationalisation without factoring in the absurd amounts people are currently spending on housing rent, energy bills, and tuition fees.

Removing profit from these industries can only make them cheaper to run. The corporate media won’t point this out, so it’s up to us to strike the conversations that can swing this election.

Featured image via Twitter/ Benjolly9

We know everyone is suffering under the Tories - but the Canary is a vital weapon in our fight back, and we need your support

The Canary Workers’ Co-op knows life is hard. The Tories are waging a class war against us we’re all having to fight. But like trade unions and community organising, truly independent working-class media is a vital weapon in our armoury.

The Canary doesn’t have the budget of the corporate media. In fact, our income is over 1,000 times less than the Guardian’s. What we do have is a radical agenda that disrupts power and amplifies marginalised communities. But we can only do this with our readers’ support.

So please, help us continue to spread messages of resistance and hope. Even the smallest donation would mean the world to us.

Support us
  • Show Comments

    1. Well, it seems to me to be the case that Sophie Ridgeway should have asked this MP why Sajid Javid cancelled the Budget due on 6.11.2019. Why? Because legally, the DBR (Office of Budget Responsibility) has a duty to make 2 budget forecasts a year. A Budget cannot be rolled out without being accompanied by a full economic forecast and statement from the OBR. However, the current economic forecast, after ten years of grossly incompetent, lying, cheating Tory Governments, the state of the Nations economy is so dire the Tories cannot afford to make a Budget statement as the election is now underway.

      Censorship under the Tories has now progressed to Fascist Dictator-Led State levels and escalating.

      Report comment

    2. After an embarrassment on that scale, a Tory minister deserves a medal for his shameless poker face

      This doggy Minister in this article need to stop lying and making things up that make over parties in H.O. Commons or Parliament
      Look bad with false/lies plus untrue information just before a G.E.
      ///
      The Tory Govt needs and should have put the budget out on time fully costed WHY did Sajid Javid cancelled the Budget??
      Because the Tory party spending figure for the Budget would have been untrue and we voter + resident could have sawed the Minister in charge for miss leading the public with untrue figures
      As cooking the books is a criminal act of laws in U.K.
      ///
      Therefore, Conservative Business Minister Kwasi Kwarteng
      Where are the Tory party figure for Dec 12th G.E. how much will you borrow to cover the cost of your party G.E. campaign and, possible or could or maybe put it on our taxpayer money book under a different name from General Election campaign money?
      ///
      Just One Question
      Here for ALL Tory party member Under Boris now about funding the G.E. Could you or maybe or possibly be using the Tory SCAM U-CREDIT Unpaid-payment cash to claimant the money you withheld from them to cover the cost of Dec G.E. 2019?
      I would like a reply from Prime Minister Boris, Tory Minister Kwasi Kwarteng. Tory Minister Sajid Javid, and my local area Tory M.P. Andrew Stephenson now a Minister under Boris.
      On the full funding of Tory G.E. Campaign for Dec 12th, 2019
      Before G.E. date Tory party members
      //////
      ROLL-ON Dec 12th G.E 2019. then we voter can remove this doggy Tory Govt from power fully and put a stop to trashing our country under them on going now with BIGGER cut to local area funding coming our way in 2020-2021-time frame enforced upon, Us U.K. resident By Tory party members living it up in LONDON areas trashing our country for their personal gain for themselves ONLY now.

      Report comment

    3. I would love to be back at work and paying taxes unfortunately I am too ill to get out of bed safely on my own.
      I think I worked damn hard here for nearly 50 years, now I get to pay for my care, have had my pension stolen until I’m 66. I never thought I would get £ 10.095.98 last year to live on. I never thought I would feel persecuted for becoming disabled in my own country. At 62 years old I can’t wait to be dead, under this a Tory government.
      Thanks for stripping my independence, my pride and my dignity. My life and millions like me is no longer in the gutter we are now in the Victorian built sewers

      Report comment

    Leave a Reply

    Join the conversation

    Please read our comment moderation policy here.

Related articles


TAGS: