Here's the vicious "secret" of our political system:
- roughly 70% of the electorate vote
- get 40% of the vote and you have a majority
- therefore your policies only have to please 28% of voters (doesn't matter what non voters think because they don't vote therefore don't count)
- roughly 70% of the electorate vote
- get 40% of the vote and you have a majority
- therefore your policies only have to please 28% of voters (doesn't matter what non voters think because they don't vote therefore don't count)
- hence eg dismantling the welfare state (affecting voters who were never going to vote for you anyway)
In other words the Tories don't have to be "evil" to do things perceived as evil, they're just playing the system the way it has to be played if they want to keep winning.
In other words the Tories don't have to be "evil" to do things perceived as evil, they're just playing the system the way it has to be played if they want to keep winning.
That's not to exonerate the Tories! Ethics still comes into it. But there's no need to impune some huge "beat the poor" narrative to understand why they're doing what they're doing. Our stupid outdated broken FPTP electoral system practically *demands* it!
And that's why you can never ever trust Tory promises. They make literally no sense from an election game theory perspective, so they're guaranteed to be broken sooner or later.
