Stump Speech Needed

This is a bit stream-of-consciousnessy so don't murder me on the detail. But if I had an opportunity to vote for a leader of our country I would vote for the person who got closest to saying this:

Since 2010 a lot of mistakes have been made.

It was a mistake to force five years of austerity on the UK when record low interest rates offered a unique opportunity to invest in the future.

It was a mistake to tie a future Conservative government to a referendum on EU membership.

It was a mistake (and divisive) to agree to act decisively on a result that was little more than 50/50.

It was a mistake to fly in to an aggressive and hard Brexit, upsetting our international friends and turning the country into a place where people mocked each other for their referendum vote.

It was a mistake to say no deal is better than a bad deal when ‘No Brexit is better than a bad Brexit’ might have made more sense.

It was a mistake to tell people a Brexit deal was oven-ready in 2019 leaving us in a place where the almost-former PM is praised for getting Brexit done whilst a priority for the future is to sort out Brexit.

It was a mistake to suggest that anything other than Brexit could now happen. Even people who had not voted for it felt, at minimum, that we should not go against a democratic decision.

It was a mistake to dismiss all the so-called 'remainers' from the Conservative Party unless they recanted.

So where are we? We are probably, as a country, compelled to be committed to remaining. Remaining, that is, outside the European Union. We should all be that sort of remainer now. And yes, we should mess around with the language. National Living Wage anyone?

We must honour the current solution to the land border with the EU on the island of Ireland until someone has a better idea. Trust must be restored with our friends in the EU that they can be sure signed agreements will be honoured.

It was a mistake that we did not invest in the infrastructure to reduce our country’s reliance on fossil fuels earlier. Climate change should be at the front of all we do from now on.

It was a mistake to make the task of seeking refuge here harder. People who need asylum should be welcome. We have jobs that need doing. People wanting safe refuge could even do them while they wait.

It was a mistake not to put traffickers out of business by making it easier to get here

It was a mistake to confuse going first with leading. Mr Johnson as Prime Minister praised himself for his vaccine roll-out and Ukrainian interventions. Other nations have now got a greater percentage of their population vaccinated. A co-ordinated approach to Ukraine and Russia will have more power. 

It was a mistake to announce a 'war on woke'  whilst, at the same time, committing to uniting people. Since many of us interpret 'woke' as we interpreted 'political correctness'—a desire not to see any discriminated against—we do not feel much unity. 

It was a mistake to campaign against coalitions. Recently we have seen the single transferable vote used to decide a new Conservative leader and Prime Minster. Why can't we use it to choose our MPs? The Conservatives, the right, are a coalition in one party. The left are not. Proportional Representation will fix this. Who can argue that a few more green MPs would not be useful. But even a slightly fairer voting system would help. We are almost the last country in Europe still using FPTP. Leadership, anyone? 

Say that taxes are good. Say that education is good. Say that free health care is good. Say that rules and regulations to protect conditions at work are good. In fact say that you think the job of a government should be to arrange to provide things people acting individually would not pay for, including the armed forces.

You want my vote? Deal with this and I'll listen. And work out how to unite a country that consists of me and my ilk and another Steve who says this on our local town Facebook Forum:

‘It was just a freak wind that blew the heat up from the Sahara. Climate change is just another way of screwing every penny out of people. It’s all a load of rubbish and no I am not a conspiracy theorist just someone with common sense that don’t believe everything the media preaches for the large company owners and governments who control them’
(On the 7/22 high temperatures)

‘If Boris can pull off the Rwanda deportation of the non war torn illegal aliens, and let’s be honest there’s plenty of them, then despite all of his faults he will get my vote at the next general election. France is not a war torn nation’
(6/22)

Go.