Sunak’s manifesto is not credible

Rishi Sunak’s manifesto launch was necessarily defensive: the Prime Minister is trying to stem the losses in this election campaign rather than present an exciting vision of a new Britain. It was striking how much Sunak talked about Labour in his speech at Silverstone. Almost every Tory policy he referred to was immediately contrasted with what Labour would or wouldn’t do. His best line was that ‘if you don’t know what Labour will do, don’t vote for them. If you’re concerned about what Starmer isn’t telling you, don’t vote for them’.

The best Sunak can hope for is that voters walk into their polling stations angry with the Conservatives but with their heads full of so much doubt about what Labour would do that they can’t quite bring themselves to vote for Keir Starmer’s party. That’s not particularly inspiring, and neither is the Conservative manifesto itself, hence talk of a rebel manifesto from figures such as Suella Braverman and Robert Jenrick.