Progressive Ideals

Progressive Ideals?

Tory leader David Cameron is claiming his party are the “champions of progressive ideals”. Cameron argues in the Independent that Labour MPs are awakening to a “painful reality”, recognising that in its longest continuous period in office, “Labour has done little to advance progressive ideals”, which he links to the 10p tax issue. Despite promising both social justice and economic efficiency, Cameron claims the government “has in fact delivered neither”.

In the fight against poverty, and in the pursuit of environmental sustainability, Cameron argues that conservative approaches are driving the intellectual agenda. The article ends with a strong message: “If you care about poverty, if you care about inequality, if you care about the environment – forget about the Labour Party. It has forgotten about you”. Cameron concludes, that if one is to count themselves a “true progressive”, voting Conservative is the answer - “only we can achieve real change”.

Given a recent YouGov/The Sun survey, increasing numbers of people are agreeing with such a message – a gap of 26 points now exists between the Conservatives and Labour, with the Conservatives on 49 per cent, Labour 23 per cent, and the Liberal Democrats on 17 per cent. It is now up to Gordon Brown to convince the British public that Cameron’s sentiments are wrong – and given both this poll and the recent electoral results, the Prime Minister is facing an uphill battle.