There’s a feeling of despondency among our local Tory lot.

We’ve seen the highs – and the lows. We’ll never forget the sweet victory as Boris smashed through the Labour Red Wall as he promised to deliver on Brexit and to finally give our neck of the woods the attention it deserved. But the rejection of some of our area’s best MPs at the last election still stings badly. We painstakingly watched on as we saw Labour reclaim their heartland – albeit through voter apathy more than anything else.

DON’T MISS

Powered by 

Nigel Farage is creating a nightmare for Rachel Reeves

Comments

Polling guru John Curtice predicts nightmare for Keir Starmer as Reform tops polls

Comments

I was in the room for Keir Starmer’s Farage-bashing speech – PM is taking one massive risk

Comments

New Reform MP blasts ‘rattled’ Keir Starmer after Nigel Farage rant

Comments

Keir Starmer blasts Nigel Farage as PM goes to war on Reform UK

Comments

Nigel Farage to issue huge challenge to Keir Starmer in major speech

Comments

Keir Starmer’s biggest mistake exposed on GB News: ‘Obsessed’

Comments

Keir Starmer under pressure to end winter fuel uncertainty

Comments

Nigel Farage says Reform is now party of ‘working people’ with huge benefits announcement

Comments

Bridget Phillipson skewered in Sky News grilling as winter fuel U-turn detail confirmed

Comments

Keir Starmer is ‘finished’ says BBC star after ‘catastrophic’ on-air moment

Comments

Keir Starmer won’t fool anyone with his claim to be the champion of working people

Comments

Bombshell new poll predicts Nigel Farage on course to win next general election

Comments

Nigel Farage warns ‘it’s over’ as new map shows Tories with just 10 seats in Commons

Comments

Nigel Farage is ready to splash the cash – unfortunately, it’s your money he’ll need

Comments

Rachel Reeves to tear up spending rules amid Labour panic over Reform

Comments

I was in the room for Nigel Farage’s press conference – one thing stuck out

Comments

‘Race to the bottom!’ Kemi Badenoch in fiery attack on Keir Starmer and Nigel Farage

Comments

Labour is the enemy of the working class – and Farage has just exposed that

Comments

Angela Rayner revealed as Nigel Farage’s biggest threat as her new tactic emerges

Comments

Nigel Farage is creating a nightmare for Rachel Reeves

Comments

Polling guru John Curtice predicts nightmare for Keir Starmer as Reform tops polls

Comments

I was in the room for Keir Starmer’s Farage-bashing speech – PM is taking one massive risk

Comments

New Reform MP blasts ‘rattled’ Keir Starmer after Nigel Farage rant

Comments

Keir Starmer blasts Nigel Farage as PM goes to war on Reform UK

Comments

Nigel Farage to issue huge challenge to Keir Starmer in major speech

Comments

Keir Starmer’s biggest mistake exposed on GB News: ‘Obsessed’

Comments

Keir Starmer under pressure to end winter fuel uncertainty

Comments

Nigel Farage says Reform is now party of ‘working people’ with huge benefits announcement

Comments

Bridget Phillipson skewered in Sky News grilling as winter fuel U-turn detail confirmed

Comments

Keir Starmer is ‘finished’ says BBC star after ‘catastrophic’ on-air moment

Comments

Keir Starmer won’t fool anyone with his claim to be the champion of working people

Comments

Bombshell new poll predicts Nigel Farage on course to win next general election

Comments

Nigel Farage warns ‘it’s over’ as new map shows Tories with just 10 seats in Commons

Comments

Nigel Farage is ready to splash the cash – unfortunately, it’s your money he’ll need

Comments

Rachel Reeves to tear up spending rules amid Labour panic over Reform

Comments

I was in the room for Nigel Farage’s press conference – one thing stuck out

Comments

‘Race to the bottom!’ Kemi Badenoch in fiery attack on Keir Starmer and Nigel Farage

Comments

Labour is the enemy of the working class – and Farage has just exposed that

Comments

Angela Rayner revealed as Nigel Farage’s biggest threat as her new tactic emerges

Comments

Nigel Farage is creating a nightmare for Rachel Reeves

Comments

Polling guru John Curtice predicts nightmare for Keir Starmer as Reform tops polls

Comments

I was in the room for Keir Starmer’s Farage-bashing speech – PM is taking one massive risk

Comments

New Reform MP blasts ‘rattled’ Keir Starmer after Nigel Farage rant

Comments

Keir Starmer blasts Nigel Farage as PM goes to war on Reform UK

Comments

Nigel Farage to issue huge challenge to Keir Starmer in major speech

Comments

Keir Starmer’s biggest mistake exposed on GB News: ‘Obsessed’

Comments

And now? Well now, Reform. We can feel the excitement building for the party – many of our number enticed – as they promise to finally sort out migration. I mean, how do you begin to compete with a party that’s more your party than your own?! That was until Tuesday…

Earlier this week Nigel Farage took to the stage to set out some of his big policy moves should he kick Keir Starmer out of Downing Street at the next election. He had all of us nodding too – on small boats, on Net Zero, on daft DEI stuff.

Then came the move that left us all baffled. In a bid to woo Labour voters Farage has decided to channel his inner Corbyn by scrapping the two-child benefit cap, which basically means that parents on Universal Credit don’t get extra money for a third, fourth, fifth – however many – child.

I couldn’t have put it better than former Tory leader candidate Robert Jenrick who asked if he’d “cooked this up after one too many pints at his local” or if a “joint had found its way into his usual pack of Marlboro Golds”. Quite!

It begs the question of what principles his party is actually built on, if any at all. And I’m sure the clanger has left all those who were hoping he was the second coming scratching their heads.

I could talk here about the reasons why I am firmly anti-scrapping the cap. How the emphasis should be on personal responsibility, on making sure you can actually afford to have children before popping them out, on the lack of fairness for making other hardworking families shell out. Note – before the cap in 2017 workless families on state benefits could reportedly claim up to £60k a year. Scrapping it also disproportionately benefits migrant families who have lived in the country for less than five years. Oh – and it will cost £3.5bn.

But rather than that, I’d like to focus on how his miscalculation has proven that he’s totally out of touch with what the majority of the voters that he’s interested in tempting to turn turquoise.

Lifelong Tories in the most leafy Home Counties enclaves will always vote Tory, so he can forget about those. The proper lefty luvvies would rather head off shooting with Jacob Rees-Mogg than put a cross next to his name, so he can strike off those too. The ones he really needs to target are the ones up my end, who really turned that political dial by robbing Labour votes and giving the Conservatives one of the most stonking victories in its history.

Instead he’s made a misguided assumption that those in areas like mine would support scrapping the cap, perhaps because that’s where a large majority of those who claim the benefit live. He’d be wrong.

People in this area need – perhaps more than anywhere else – a solution for the masses trapped in a benefits system, some for generations. We need a policy that will free those people from a thankless and depressing cycle.

What he should have done is offered those who do work or want to work – who are also able to claim benefits – better childcare options. He could have proposed lifting the personal allowance, so that people on low wages can keep more of their own cash – the hairdressers, white van men and cafe owners.

Proper Tories are, in a way, quietly relieved as we can now see a way forward: there’s still a huge opportunity for the Conservative party to speak to the Red Wall. Nigel might have given it big licks on immigration – but what he’s shown with his latest move is that he doesn’t understand what matters to voters in this area: personal responsibility, fairness and aspiration. Farage has made his first major slip-up – and this one could cost him dearly.