Monday 10 October 2016

What centre ground?


Claiming  to occupy the "centre ground" is a popular ploy in British politics and the Tories did  so vociferously in their conference last week.  However, Ian Dent (5th October) and  Simon Wren-Lewis (6th October) have paid more attention to the detail of the conference than I have and between them have enumerated the following proposals:

  • to phase out foreign doctors
  • to cut down on the number of foreign students
  • to jail landlords if they fail to check their tenants' residency papers
  • to "name and shame" companies with a high percentage of foreigners in their workforces
In addition, leading-up to the conference, the government has announced plans to :

  • build a protective wall round Euro-tunnel entrance at Calais 
  • reintroduce educational selection at 11 plus
  • use the status of EU migrants already here as a "bargaining chip" in the forthcoming negotiations.
Happily they have already rowed back on  "name and shame" part of the proposal  regarding companies employing a significant percentage of foreigners - they will now just collect the information - but the intention reveals the true nature of the their  thinking.

If this is the centre ground then one shudders to think what a far-right party would sound like.  With these proposals the Conservatives shame themselves. 

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