It's just an incredibly lazy argument, and I agree it's something that just seemed to be something to please a minority rather than the public at large. They've literally gone down the road of "it worked before, so it'll work again" in trying to disrupt things and pull people to their line of thinking. The problem though, is that the public's perceptions of the most important issues affecting the country has changed substantially since the Brexit vote. The concern over immigration has plummeted after people stopped being absolutely hammered with rhetoric from the likes of UKIP and Vote Leave. Concern over leaving the EU has settled too.
Overwhelmingly, people are now incredibly concerned about the economy - only this time there's not the high concern over immigration which was sued to stir things up last time. Even with some fairly extensive news coverage in recent months, immigration is still only the most important concern for 21% of the country.
Source:
YouGov
Saying that Labour would be the "status quo" versus the Tories is a hard sell to the general public these days. Previously they were just about getting away with blaming the previous labour government and/or their opposition to the eventual EU withdrawal agreement. A leader with the personality of Johnson helped sell it before the scandals helped finish him off. Now though, those scandals coupled with the actual physical issues that've been caused by the decisions of Tory governments are now having a serious impact on people's day to day lives.
There's zero appetite for the sort of rhetoric that's being pedalled at the moment. Right now no one cares about "woke lefty lawyers" stopping flights to Rwanda, no one cares about the European Court of Human Rights "interfering" and no one cares about "cutting EU red tape" when many even in government couldn't even pinpoint a single piece of said tape that's having a major impact on them at present.
Perhaps said rhetoric might work at another time, but right now when people are concerned about how they're going to be able to stay in their home as their fixed term comes to and end and their energy bills jump - not so much. They want reassurance and actual answers to the very real problems they're facing.
Under the Tories we've seen a complete watering down of government oversight in recent years. Ministers skipping committees, refusing to publish independent advice, announcing things away from the Commons and rushing through legislation without proper time for scrutiny. Of course all of this this culminated in their decision to skip OBR forecasts and chuck out their tax cuts, resulting in a massive pension crisis and the spike in interest rates which has severely disrupted the housing market. "A little turbulence" they called it, but for many of the general public it's been completely devastating.
If that is their idea of moving away from the status quo, is that really what we want right now? Does such an approach really get things done or does it just create further problems down the line? Is it not better to have experts to properly scrutinise these decisions, who would be in a much better position to calm what are already jittery markets? Perhaps after years of the populist gung-ho approach we need someone who can be methodical, with an organised approach who can bridge the gap between both sides rather than further widening it?
I completely agree with
@Alsty that there are many in government who are completely out of touch with the public's concerns at present. Take Suella Braverman at a fringe event yesterday:
“I would love to have a front page of The Telegraph with a plane taking off to Rwanda, that’s my dream, it’s my obsession,”
Source: Independent
Is that really an achievement for someone holding a Great Office of State? To me it's more of a ridiculous obsession that's the equivalent of winning a petty argument. Making a real difference to crime statistics, reducing reoffending, that sort of stuff is a real achievement - not a pretty much empty plane taking off which has cost the taxpayer a fortune for very little actual impact to people's lives.
Or then there's Jake Berry, who just suggests everyone who's struggling just
go out and get a better job. A completely pointless argument, when many of those lower paid jobs are essential to a functioning country.
I can honestly see the party splitting at this point, I don't see how the sensible members in the party can even remotely align their views to some of the stuff being said lately.
