Grassroot Tories attack economy

Donald Macintyre
Sunday 16 August 1992 00:02 BST
Comments

CLEAR signs of grassroots Tory discontent over the economy, unemployment and the housing market are exposed in the full list of motions for the party conference to be published next month.

A fifth of motions in the economy and taxation section of the still-confidential conference agenda call for various shifts in policy. The biggest single group of these demands changes in interest rate policy and reconsideration of Britain's membership of the European exchange rate mechanism.

Several others seek the abolition of stamp duty on house purchases. The duty is due to be re- imposed this week after being suspended since the Budget.

The Bow and Poplar association, calling for the Government to 'terminate' ERM membership, says it has had 'a devastating impact on employment, business prospects and the prosperity and peace of mind of home owners'. A motion from Thurrock, the Essex marginal which Labour gained in the election, 'urges Her Majesty's Government to slash interest rates and get people back to work'.

A large minority of motions on employment also call for greater government help for training, particularly for the young and long-term unemployed, who have been increasing, proportionately, as a category in London and the South-east.

Sheffield Brightside calls for 'part-time community work for the unemployed' while Bournemouth East warns 'market forces alone will not alleviate the present unacceptable level of unemployment'. Maidstone warns of a potential 'lost generation' of 'well-educated graduates' entering unemployment.

The motions leaked out yesterday as William Waldegrave, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, made it clear that the Government, buoyed up on Friday by the unexpectedly welcome drop in the inflation rate from 3.9 to 3.7 per cent, was determined not to change course.

Mr Waldegrave said that inflation would rise sharply again if Britain left the ERM and stimulated a short-term consumer boom by cutting interest rates. In the wake of Friday's figures, Mr Waldegrave said Britain had the 'inflation serpent' at its mercy.

He told the Government's back-bench critics: 'If you push us back to short-termism now, you will have helped the Government to fail and the country to miss an historic opportunity.'

But Gordon Brown, the Shadow Chancellor, called yesterday for the Government to respond to the 'clamour for action on rising unemployment, business failures and the state of the housing market'.

On Europe, a smaller proportion of Tory motions explicitly criticise or demand a change in policy. The large majority of the 200 motions is anti-federalist in tone but supportive of John Major's achievement in negotiating the Maastricht Treaty. But more than a dozen either call for a referendum on Europe or 'congratulate' the Danish people on voting against Maastricht.

Elsewhere in the agenda there are a series of calls for action to expand the private rented sector in housing; for the introduction of ID cards; for action to eliminate election fraud, and for the Prime Minister to resist Scottish devolution or a move to proportional representation in Westminister elections.

Other motions express concern about ensuring that there will be enough funds to support the Community Care policy for looking after those discharged from mental hospitals; a clutch of others attack the BBC for alleged partiality against the Government, though rather fewer insist that the BBC's high standards of public service broadcasting should be preserved when the Charter is renewed in 1996. There also calls for greater grassroots democracy in the party.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in