As commentators continue to press David Cameron for had and fast policies, public affairs consultants Fleishman Hillard have saved his policy groups some work by drawing up a document called THE CAMERON ENVIRONMENT, which lists the policies they think he will implement. You can access the document HERE.Sent to businesses across the UK, the guide reckons a Conservative government would do the following:
*Cap the amount of CO2 emitted by the electricity industry
*Reform air passenger duty – per flight rather than per passenger
*Plan to improve business competitiveness including the removal of regulations, sunset clauses in new regulations and cuts in Corporation Tax
*Amend the implementation of the Human Rights Act
*Target of 100,000 prison places.
FH Managing Director Kevin Bell said: "The documents shows that the Cameron approach will not be revolutionary, instead we expect him to shun upheaval and stand on a manifesto of continuity. This will allow Cameron to canvass public opinion without allowing the Labour Party to scaremonger about his position."
Expect to see a lot of this sort of document appearing over the next couple of years. I remember that between 1995 and 1997 there was a hige appetite among businesses, trade associations and charities for knowledge of what an incoming Labour government would do. The same thing is starting to happen now with the Conservatives.
29 comments:
Not a lot of inside information in this document - just a cobbling together of announcements - and it is inaccurate in places. Pretty standard PR agency fare.
What about Camerons policy on air fares that fell apart after 24 hours.
Has that now been dropped?
Policy winners:- Council housing ( won't happen, this will lead to a slump in house prices); forcibly removing illegal immigrants (without appeals); replacing council tax with a local tax based on 'ability to pay'; referendum on EU membership; forcibly bringing dentists back into the NHS; curbing the misuse of the legal system by lawyers ( legal aid); stopping all non-English MP's voting on English matters; banning Eurovision.
All pretty routine fare which could have been knocked up by an a Level politics student in minutes.
Businesses are not interested in these documents. They are much more concerned about the real world. These documents are used by Pub affairs agencies to gain publicity (usually in trade mags and less esteemed publications). And you have fallen for it!
Wouldn't it be easier to dump the shadow cabinet and appoint Flashman and Hillard?
Cameron should not associate the word "environment" with his name. This word is not popular with Conservative voters.
If he insists on bleating on about "the environment" and "carbon emissions",blah blah blah, it will only serve to demonstrate, for once and for all, that he is tone deaf.
Boredom...
This really is a lame potential administration...
More policy winners:
1. An end to honours for party service
2. Formal rules of procedure for Ministers
3. Set policy parameters and resources and leave decision making on a vast range of technical policies (as with interest rates and competition cases) to real experts who would be made accountable to Ministers, Select Committees and the media so that we get fewer cock-ups followed by cover-ups and lies
4. Limit the power of the Whips to give Parliament a more independent voice
5. Extend the scope of judicial review to give us a right to take Ministers to court if decisions do not follow evidence.
Well I could go for somebody who wants to cut corporation tax & regulations. That is how Ireland achieved success.
Freezing CO2 emissions on power generation begs the question of how. The practical way of doing this would be by going nuclear in a big way in which case we can cut CO2 to Porritt's heart's desire. Alternatively we can keep replacing nuclear as a "last resort" till everything else has been tried, subsidise windmills & look forward to the lights going out.
Why do we need to be given hard and fast policies?
Blair still hasn't announced his.
Flippin eck - this is highly insightful stuff! They'll be telling us the earth isn't flat next.
These guys must be geniuses
No surprise that they think Cameron will *not* deliver his (cough) 'delayed' EPP withdrawal pledge.
Cameron's dreams it should be called ,hasn't he heard of ordinary people ,sometimes they like have some say in this "Democracy" ,teflon tone= teflon dave ,no thanks.
These policies should induce a massive turnout at the next General Election (not).
agree theres not a lot of content here that you couldnt find from a bunch of press releases.
but i am happy to see businesses taking an interest in conservatives again...not least for my future career prospects!!!!
Iain,
The party's not getting a lot of coverage at the moment and Brown's suggested policies are getting a lot of good press.
However, as you know, we can't release any policies yet as they'll be torn to shreds like the air travel one.
So, we've come up with an idea - we've asked Fleishman Hillard to put together some eyecatching initiative stuff that will make us look good, but that we can't be held to - "WE didn't say we'd do that! FLEISHMAN HILLARD said we'd do that". We've give FH the nod to use our logo so it looks more credible. Could to point the blogging community towards it
Cheers
CCHQ
Off topic,but have you noticed how confused Mr Cameron is getting.
Is this man bright enough to be PM?
http://www.webcameron.org.uk/page.php?id=75&off=2
It’s hard to over-emphasise the importance of language. I know it sounds like a side issue, but it isn’t. We are just not getting this right. Every time the BBC or a politician talks about “Islamist terrorists” they are doing immense harm (and yes I am sure I have done this too, despite trying hard to get this right.)
Maybe he needs to speak to Michael Gove.
He really is a lightweight.
I've got to thank 18DS for the Peter Tatchell interview with John McDonnell to remind me how much I f*cking hate socialists.
60% income tax rate, new strike powers for trade unions, higher corporate tax etc etc.
Arrghghghghgh
Based on the number of clear policy commitments and clear alternatives to Labour indicated in this summary anyone would think David Davis was leading the party!
The target of 100,000 prison places?? is that new ones to be created or setting a limit on the number of people to be placed into prison?
Either way its daft. You cannot set an upper ceiling on the number of places - if people are a danger to the public then imprision them. If they are not let them work within the community etc.
I see from its website that "The Fleishman-Hillard Public Affairs team are acclaimed experts in their field." That's a relief, because this bit of work would struggle to get a cut and paste GCSE pass. Who are these "acclaimed experts" - or are they in fact a bunch of typical "public affairs" recent college leavers with the analytical skills of Jade Goody?
Kevin Bell, if I have him right, is a former right wing Tory activist of 1980s vintage - so clearly has a vested interest in getting his clients to think that they need to tap into his Conservative political antennae. Much as lobbyists of Labour Party progeny did in 1994-97. He must have been relying fairly heavily on his Labour-leaning colleagues to have been making a decent living over the last 10 years.
The proof of the pudding is whether business gets interested - if they do, it becomes self-fulfillng and we need not worry about Kevin Bell's motives as all of us who want a Tory Govt will benefit.
I remember going to a Conference, on behalf of the bank I then worked for, put on by Labour in 1996 or 97 about what they would do for business when they got to power, with several Shadow Cabinet heavyweights speaking. Tory HQ should get the programme and hope they are in a strong enough position to attract a similar audience to such an event in early 2009.
You're right a lot of this stuff was put out between 1995 and 1997 - and most of it was absolutely garbage, and I suspect this time will be no differnt. Most of it was the PR industry trying to make money out of nothing (Cameron is of course the first major Party Leader from the PR industry).
Be assured that whenever Dave gets any policies he will be the first to tell everyone - in the mean time he amy indulge in a little kite flying.
Verity
Nice to see you back - didn't you fancy the nice Romanian peasant I found for you?
I love the blue ribbon round the tree, perhaps we should all tie blue ribbons on our fences, door knockers, trees, car ports etc for the General Election campaign?
Save our trees, save our countryside, save our country...vote Conservative
Auntie Flo'
Anonymous, 3.59pm yesterday
Great ideas for restoring trust in politics. I'll bet the Tories aren't brave enough to introduce them, though. That cookie jar is just too tempting...
Wow, what exciting policies.
I can hardly wait.
AND.... What about the State Pension.. not the one that caters for our poorest who have to claim the inequitous, demeaning, Means tested benefit.But the State pension most of us receive which is arguably the worst in Europe. Those of us that have worked hard to buy a property,saved a bit for that rainy day, have a modest pension are therefore not able to source MIG . We have all paid our bit into the same pot. The Grey -Haired vote could probably tilt the balance & win the next GE... hopefully for the Tories?... Why have we ditched our Grammar Schools..the aspiration of those from all classes?
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