JUST a matter of weeks ago, Theresa May called a General Election, saying that Britain needed certainty, stability and strong leadership. Her hope and expectation was that she would be given a thumping majority and so dispense with the trifling matter of worrying about votes in the Commons. In effect, it was an attempt to neuter the opposition.
So how humiliating it must be for the same Prime Minister to be asking the opposition for help. During the election, Mrs May traduced her opponents and attempted to discredit and disempower them, but in a speech which looks like an attempt at a re-launch, Mrs May is now calling for consensus. The message to the other parties is: come forward with your ideas and we can tackle the country’s problems together.
On the face of it, this is a positive development and the Government’s spin on Mrs May’s speech is that consensus is the grown-up way to do politics, although the obvious question is: if this is the grown-up way to do things, why has it only occurred to the PM now? Until recently, Mrs May has chosen the rather more immature approach of denigrating Mr Corbyn – what has changed, of course, is that Mrs May is now weaker and her speech is a public acknowledgement of the fact.
As for the sentiments of the speech, they are heading in the right direction, although the words will have to be followed by actions. Mrs May says that, while the parties might not agree on everything, ideas can be clarified and improved and a better way forward found, but in her first year as PM she has shown no willingness to compromise. On austerity, for example, she still appears to be committed to the policy despite the damage it has done to the economy; she has also shown no willingness to consider raising taxes to pay for better public services, as her opponents have argued.
On Brexit, the prognosis is just as depressing, for different reasons. The PM did not specifically mention co-operation on Brexit in her speech, but when asked about the issue she did say that she was seeking the broadest possible consensus on the issue. However, in reality, despite the disastrous General Election, the PM is still behaving as if she can impose a hard Brexit. The other problem for those who would like to see a soft Brexit is that Labour supports leaving the single market and the customs union so Mrs May’s call for greater co-operation is unlikely to make any difference on the biggest issue of our times.
And anyway, everyone knows what Mrs May’s speech is really about, although no one in her own party is quite saying it in public yet. First, the Prime Minister negotiated a deal with the Democratic Unionists; now she is apparently trying to work more closely with her opponents. But what the Government is really doing is delaying the inevitable. The General Election fatally wounded Mrs May and her government and yet it is still limping on. Far from being the launch pad for a recovery, the PM’s speech is just another sign that is pointing towards the exit.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel