Long-termism makes for good policy, if not a catchy slogan
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As election pitches go, the one that Rishi Sunak is going to try out today is a tad unusual.
“You’re all fed up of us, so give us another shot” is not obvious campaigning gold. Yet there may be a nugget in there nonetheless.
Sunak’s contention in his speech will be that the country is tired of short-termist politics; of a Westminster class that fails to take action in the country’s biggest challenges from social care to housing to infrastructure.
The antidote to that is long-term thinking, decisions that benefit the greater good of the nation rather than tomorrow’s headlines, he will argue.
That’s the logic to his mind behind the reversal on net zero targets; it presumably informs the expected call on HS2, a decision which will have less political downside in constituency seats than many think.
Not many would argue that SW1 has become obsessed with immediacy, and has failed to even remotely grapple with the country’s chronic low growth and ageing population.
Sunak’s willingness to say it out loud is probably more a sign of his party’s desperation than anything else, but it does rather put the ball in his opponent’s court.
In essence, Sunak’s pitch is the answer to the question Ed Miliband was once asked: are you tough enough?
Keir Starmer will need to respond next week – not with warm words about fairness but with his own ‘long-term’ policies. The Tories may not win the election with a campaign pitch that focuses on doing stuff people don’t like. But it might force Labour to tell us a bit more about their plans, and that’s all for the good.