Political

Conservatives have learnt what happens when a small, unaccountable clique really does make bad decisions in secret

Eurosceptic Conservatives have for years loved painting the European Union as being all about small, unaccountable cliques making bad decisions in secret. Overlooking, of course, minor matters such as the European Parliament being elected.

But, fair’s fair. It’s quite right to say that a small, unaccountable clique had indeed just made a major policy decision that’s gone badly wrong. They didn’t let elected MPs or even government ministers get a proper say in the policy. And then the policy went off the rails.

Only one problem. That clique wasn’t in Brussels or Strasbourg. It was in Theresa May’s tiny kitchen cabinet where the Dementia Tax was cooked up in secret without letting senior ministers, let alone outside experts, have a role in the policymaking. And hence the fiasco of having to hold a press conference “clarifying” a major policy just days after it was one of their manifesto centrepieces.

Senior Tories kept in dark over dementia tax - Financial Times

And if they can’t even get the details of one policy right, what odds this was of governing will get the thousands of policies involved in Brexit right?

Devastating verdict from Red Box

Here’s how The Times‘s Red Box newsletter summarised the story:

Times Red Box report on the dementia tax

Theresa May’s dementia tax is a cold and calculated

Here is Tim Farron on the subject:

One response to “Conservatives have learnt what happens when a small, unaccountable clique really does make bad decisions in secret”

  1. The EU was a scapegoat for all bad laws in the UK. Blamed for raising the state pension age when really it was forcing gender parity for pensions.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All comments and data you submit with them will be handled in line with the privacy and moderation policies.