Quote of the day 6th May 2022


 












"It's the economy, stupid" was one of three themes coined during the 1992 US Presidential election by Bill Clinton's election strategist James Carville to remind the campaign team of which issues to focus on.

The quote is often wrongly attributed to Clinton himself.

Yesterday and today have not been great days for the Conservatives in Cumbria or many other parts of the country. There were probably multiple causes for this: the so-called "partygate" issue did come up on the doorstep but I don't think it was the biggest problem for the Conservatives.

There is little doubt in my mind that the main cause of the Conservatives' difficulties in these local elections has been the serious hit to living standards caused by the rise in the cost of living, particularly but not only the hikes in energy prices.

These increases are by no means all the fault of the present UK government but we have a responsibility to help people to deal with them. The biggest lesson of this week's elections is that voters want more action to address the cost of living. We ignore this at our peril.


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