Sunak is getting desperate, as his latest policy announcements highlight
Sunak is the continuity Treasury candidate. He was the Treasury’s man in Government, not the Government’s man in the Treasury. The country is crying out for change. Sunak is not the man to deliver it.
Rishi Sunak’s campaign for the leadership of the Conservative Party is one of the most inept I have seen, but as his campaign has been built on hubris, I can’t say that I am surprised.
He thought that he would walk it with Conservative MPs: he didn’t. He thought that he would automatically be the members’ favourite: he isn’t. That was obvious at the hustings in Leeds on 28th July. He thought that all he had to do was go through the motions to become the next Prime Minister: that is seriously in doubt. There is a sense of panic in the ‘Ready for Rishi’ campaign as he scrambles around to find policies which will be popular with members who do not appear to be ready for Rishi Sunak at all.
Sunak has announced, that under his Premiership, he would introduce a £10 fine for missed GP and hospital appointments. This may sound great in principle (missed appointments are irritating and potentially life-threatening for those who can’t get one), but in practice it will not work.
The fine for missed appointments will be impossible to enforce. It relies on people voluntarily agreeing to the new system. If they refuse to pay the fine, it would cost more to recover it. If the sanction for not paying the fine was not being able to book another appointment, politicians would be accused of denying healthcare to the most vulnerable.
The answer could be to charge £10 for an appointment for those who can afford it - those receiving benefits would be exempt. It’s a small, heavily subsided amount to pay to access primary healthcare, but as the country is so wedded to the NHS being free at the point of use, that kite will never fly.
The country wants policies which will ease the cost of living crisis. Inflation needs to be brought under control, but the Government also has to do all that it can to prevent the economy from going into recession. Targeted tax cuts are not inflationary and should be implemented immediately. The green levy currently inflating energy bills should be scrapped.
When he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sunak reminded me of a modern-day Nero: he fiddled here, he fiddled there, but he never really understood the difficulties ordinary people were enduring. Nothing has changed. Sunak is the continuity Treasury candidate. He was the Treasury’s man in Government, not the Government’s man in the Treasury. The country is crying out for change. Sunak is not the man to deliver it.