Skip to main content
The Tory strategy – and how to fight it
Before the election the Tories are going to pretend to break with austerity and offer us a bribe made of our own money. Labour must be ready to call this out, writes DIANE ABBOTT MP
EMPTY PROMISES: Rishi Sunak (left) and Jeremy Hunt might attempt the same trick as David Cameron and George Osborne in 2014

THE Tories got a drubbing in the local elections — but it would be a mistake to believe that the next election is a foregone conclusion.

They can read opinion polls too, and the loss of over 1,000 council seats will still be hurting.

As a result, it would be a mistake to assume that they will carry on just as before in all respects; they will have to offer something to voters.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Karen Shore webpic for Abbott.jpg
Features / 3 May 2025
3 May 2025

DIANE ABBOTT looks at the whys and hows of Labour’s spectacular own goal

Features / 19 April 2025
19 April 2025
British Steel has vindicated what the left has said all along — nationalisation of our key industries is common sense, and it’s the neoliberals who are now clearly the ideologically driven zealots, writes DIANE ABBOTT MP
Features / 5 April 2025
5 April 2025
DIANE ABBOTT MP points out the false premises used by Rachel Reeves in the Spring Statement
PUTTING A GOOD FACE ON IT: Liz Kendall
Features / 22 March 2025
22 March 2025
With young people, the disabled and the elderly in Labour’s sights as ‘easy targets’ for cuts, the labour movement must remember it’s in the vital interests of us all to defend the groups being picked off, writes DIANE ABBOTT MP
Similar stories
Protesters show placards as Chancellor Rachel Reeves is abou
Features / 29 March 2025
29 March 2025
While slashing welfare and public services, Labour’s spring statement delivers a bonanza for death-dealing bomb merchants. We now see the true and terrible face of austerity 2.0, writes MICHAEL BURKE
Features / 3 November 2024
3 November 2024
In the first of two articles, ROBERT GRIFFITHS argues that despite a parliamentary majority, Labour’s timid Budget fails to seize a historic opportunity and lacks the ambition needed to address Britain’s deep social and economic crises
(L to R) Rachel Reeves with the ministerial red box; Songi c
Features / 2 November 2024
2 November 2024
Comparing Budget measures to fictional Tory plans rather than actual spending levels conceals continued austerity, argues DIANE ABBOTT MP, as workers face stealth tax increases to bear the cost of economic stagnation
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves speaks during the
Features / 5 October 2024
5 October 2024
In light of its retreat on green investment, DIANE ABBOTT MP dissects Labour’s economic priorities, questioning whether the promised ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ will materialise amid signs of continued cuts and massive spending on war