It is all too easy to close ones eyes to how much of a sea-change there has been in the rhetoric, and indeed much of the policy-making, of the Conservative Party in recent times. @halfon4harlowMP
So many significant examples of the latter. I have been struck, in particular, by low caps on state support for those whose earnings have been affected by the pandemic and the exclusion of traditional 'Tory' classes, eg notionally self-employed company directors, from benefit.
Another really significant measure has been the commitment to raising the lower NIC threshold rather than cutting income tax rates. It proceeds from a social philosophy of helping earners - but (like much of the pandemic response) it is well targetted at low earners.
Interesting (read, "difficult") questions arise about what this means for the story Labour chooses to tell voters about what it is for.
