2019 General election

The big picture also rings alarm bells. After their 2015 and 2017 election victories, the Conservatives spent a lot more than promised in their manifestos — in many ways, an odd electoral strategy to under-promise and over-deliver on spending, whilst over-promising and under-delivering on deficit reduction. If I had to guess, I’d bet that if they were to win a majority on Thursday, then something similar would happen this time. There is so little in the manifesto, it seems utterly inconceivable that what’s there is a real blueprint for a five-year term. Whatever you might think of the detail, the big picture doesn’t add up.

Local government funding is rarely a major battleground in election campaigns. This ‘rule’ appears to be holding in the current campaign, despite evident pressures in areas like adults’ and children’s social care services, following a decade of cuts to councils’ funding.  This observation looks at the plans for English local government funding set out in the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat manifestos – which differ vastly.