The decision of the Prime Minister to jump in ahead of Keir Starmer and make a speech a day earlier may not have been a good one. It allowed a direct comparison between the two, one which I am not sure Rishi Sunak came off better.
Sunak's speech seemed to be basically him saying that things are bad and I hope to make them slightly less bad in the next 12 months, but still worse than we have had things in recent years. Keir Starmer's was a recognition that we have a crisis in the public sector, with a commitment to spend the period after then next general election fixing things.
Sure, Rishi Sunak is slicker, Blair-esque even - and that will help him going forwards, but Keir Starmer was clearer in recognising the whole truth rather than part of it.
What was also clear was that these speeches were both targeted at a specific audience - those people that will decide whether or not the Red Wall gets knocked down at the next General Election. It reinforces a key point that is fundamental to Change from the Centre's philosophy. General Election's are basically fought in a few seats, with political parties doing their best to win over a few swing voters in each. In a country where 45 million people are on the electoral rolls, manifestos are written and campaigns delivered to try and attract 200,000 people. Under PR every seat becomes important and the success or otherwise of any political party is dependent on their success across the whole country. It is one of many reasons why PR is much fairer.
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