By GRAHAM BRADY MP, Chairman of the 1922 Back Bench Committee
AS the dust settles, millions of words will be written and spoken about Thursday’s local elections. Whenever voters give a kicking to a party in government, there are two predictable reactions. The first is the “party line” that says mid-term elections are always difficult. Voters like to let off steam and remind governments who is in charge.
It is unfortunate that good councillors and good councils go to the wall but it doesn’t really matter because, come the next General Election, they will come to their senses and make a responsible choice about who will be the best Prime Minister and who will give their family the best chance of a secure future.
The other standard response is panic. Vote shares for each party in local elections are used to predict how people will vote in a General Election. The BBC “swing- ometer” will show an electoral wipe-out and unhappy MPs will pop up on telly to say the Government is going to hell in a handcart because it is too left wing, right wing or obsessed with the “centre ground”. Both these reactions to Thursday’s vote are wrong. The big turnout for UKIP was certainly a protest. I’ve met lots of people who voted UKIP, although I’ve yet to meet anyone who thinks Nigel Farage will be our next Prime Minister. But when that many people want to protest, wise politicians don’t ignore them. The fact is, the British public are getting smarter about how we use our votes. Of course, when it really counts people vote to choose, or sack, a government but in-between times we also use our vote to send a message to politicians who get too distant or take us for granted.
The confusing thing for Tory high command is that opinion polls and doorstep conversations tell us that voters are facing the toughest economic times that many of us have lived through with grit and determination. By and large people think David Cameron is doing a dirty job that needs to be done and they know that he is clearing up someone else’s mess. The public know we have to get back to living within our means. People want a welfare system that helps those in genuine need but doesn’t pay better than work. They want schools with proper discipline and the chance to buy a home. On all of this, British voters are willing the Government to succeed. So why did so many people want to use the local elections to poke the Government in the eye? The answer is that even if people agree with what politicians are saying, they are less and less likely to trust us to deliver.
That’s why even when there are massive choices facing the nation, so many people sit on their hands instead of voting and in large part it’s why a protest party like UKIP can attract so much support.
In Italy, the problem is even worse. People there were so hacked off with having an EU placeman forced on them that a quarter of voters decided to back a party led by a stand-up comedian.
We haven’t reached that point yet but there is a dangerous contempt for politicians, parties and Parliament.
Bemused
People see MPs who always do what the Whips tell them and Ministers who seem too attached to their salaries and government cars.
They are rightly bemused that the government they elect seems powerless to throw out a mad Islamist supporter of terrorism.
They worry that uncontrolled immigration from Bulgaria and Romania might make tough times even harder.
There is too little connection between whom people vote for and what actually happens.
So we don’t just have to persuade people that we have the right policies, we have to prove that we can actually make things change.
We have to be believable. Part of this is about focusing on what’s important. We should be ruthless in scrapping pet projects that get in the way of this agenda. Cameron’s new no-nonsense Aussie adviser Lynton Crosby is right to say we should “clean the barnacles off the boat” and concentrate on things that really matter to people.
The one big challenge for this Government is to turn the economy around while helping people cope in a time of rising prices and stagnant wages.
Again, the Government has started to get it. Budget measures have contained petrol prices, helped people to find mortgages and cut the price of a pint.
Council tax freezes and raising the income tax allowance have helped over-stretched household budgets.
Increasing interference and regulation from Brussels is one of the things holding back British business and slowing recovery.
The amount of British law now being made by the EU is also sapping the strength of our democracy.
If the key decisions are made elsewhere, how much do our elections matter?
The PM’s Bloomberg speech in January promised to tackle both problems.
Bringing powers back from Brussels and then giving us the chance in a referendum to back the new deal or leave the EU altogether will breathe new life into British politics.
One way or the other this promises to settle the decades-old question of Britain and Europe.
But again it depends on people trusting us to deliver.
This is a great opportunity to prove the doubters wrong.
On Thursday, people voted UKIP for many different reasons.
Some were protesting about a system that has let them down. Many were very deliberately telling the Conservative Party to focus, sharpen up its act and do the things we believe in.
We shouldn’t let the Coalition hold us back, we should prove our determination to deliver.
If we want the people’s trust, we should prove that we trust the people.
We should set out clearly what powers we want to bring back from Brussels and we should ask Parliament to vote NOW on legislation to give the people an EU referendum after the next election.
If the other parties think you aren’t smart enough to have a say, we should make them tell you.