There is no arguing that people, and in particular, millennials, have become frustrated with the status quo since austerity started to bite in 2010. It is voters born between 1981-1999 whose prospects have been blighted since the 2008 Recession; leaving university with thousands of pounds of debt with a scarce amount of decent jobs and skyrocketing house prices. It is little wonder many of them flooded to the polling booths to vote Labour, even though the majority of the electorate realise Corbyn's magic money tree cannot grow without increasing levels of debt.
'The Tories need their free market policies to speak to more people.'
The monopoly Labour currently has over millennials needs to be broken. The Conservatives cannot win the sort of impressive majorities Thatcher achieved in the 1980s until it starts to show it is proud of its centre-right policies and intends to enhance them. These achievements range from providing more academies in education, cutting taxes for the lowest paid and growing our economy. Yet for those who do not own their own home, this is where the Tories need their free market policies to speak to more people.
It is encouraging to hear the Government is intent upon building more houses, but this cannot be achieved until the regulations on the housing market are eased.
That way house prices will fall and more millennials have the chance to own their own home.
The same principle applies to the energy market. A lack of competition is driving up household bills. Leaving the EU will enable the Government to scrap the additional VAT charges they apply to bills, but that is still two years away yet.
Part of the reason Mrs May failed to achieve a majority is because her manifesto almost mirrored Labour's. It is disappointing the document contained commitments like capping energy prices, introducing a sugar tax and supporting a National Living Wage. These are not the policies a Conservative government should be espousing.
Mrs May cannot address a Glastonbury crowd like Mr. Corbyn can, but she leads a party traditionally grounded in economic orthodoxy. Millennials cannot remember the 1970s, when many of Labour's current proposals were being implemented. But until the Tories expand upon the Thatcherite measures that have brought considerable wealth to this country, many of them blame these same policies for the mess this country is in. The alternative appears to be better to them, for now. But even as Mr. Blair acknowledged in his memoirs; the free market didn't fail, only a small part of it did i.e. the banks.
