2 weeks Ago By The Telegraph
More than half of Tory members believe that Kemi Badenoch is moving too slowly on developing policy, a poll has shown. Some 55 per cent think that the party should be moving faster to develop its policy programme, according to a survey of more than 3,000 party members by ConservativeHome, a news website. Fewer than four in 10 (39.
1 per cent) believe that the party is developing its plans at the right pace, while only 5.9 per cent think the Conservatives should be taking more time. ConservativeHome noted that Mrs Badenoch had initially said during her leadership campaign that she would not rush into policies, suggesting that it could take a couple of years before she had detailed positions on issues.
However, it said that the Tory leader’s hand had been forced by having to respond to Labour’s legislative agenda including unveiling in February a plan to bar migrants on work visas from settling indefinitely in the UK if they claimed benefits. It has been followed by pledges to cap the number of migrants coming to the UK and a declaration that net zero will be impossible to achieve by 2050. ConservativeHome said that support for faster policy development “doesn’t mean having one in place by now”.
But it added: “It isn’t obvious why the current programme for the ‘renewal programme’, with its page for submissions (of top-line views, not detailed prescriptions) could not have been in place months ago.” ‘No answer to the obvious question’ The news website noted that four in 10 recognised the “wisdom in the idea that there is little use coming up with really granular policy so far out from a general election”. It added: “Yet as the Opposition is learning, it is very hard to take the fight to the Government with no answer to the obvious question: ‘Well, what would you do?’ Perhaps that’s why only 6 per cent of panellists thought the party should be taking any more time than it already is.
” ConservativeHome also asked its panel about how Mrs Badenoch should handle the previous Tory government’s record – an issue that has divided even leading figures within the party. About half (50.2 per cent) believed that the party must continue to address its mistakes in office if it wants to win back voters’ trust.
However, almost as many believed either that the Conservatives had done enough or too much in that direction already, and should move on. Some 35.7 per cent said the party had done enough to address the legacy of the previous government and should focus on the future, while 12.
9 per cent said the it should already have drawn a line under the previous government. ConservativeHome said: “Mrs Badenoch was elected in part on a promise to confront hard truths about the Conservatives’ time in office, of which the abject failure to control immigration is merely the standout example. “Yet this has not, to date, happened, and the difficulty of keeping the peace amongst a fractious parliamentary party militate against scrutinising the records of many of its members.
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