What the Conservatives can learn by reading those comments in the Sun
Friday, May 3, 2013 at 17:15 I hope David Cameron's aides read the Sun online.
If they see the comments posted on this report it should convince the PM it's the right decision to ditch plain packaging.
As my colleague Angela Harbutt writes elsewhere, "Readers are virtually unanimous in their opposition to plain packs - very very interesting!"
UKIP may be getting all the headlines today but here is evidence, if evidence is needed, that David Cameron - or his advisors - are not as out of touch with ordinary people as many would have us believe.
Far from provoking a public backlash, the general public has either welcomed the report or they are completely indifferent. It's certainly not going to cost the Conservatives (or even the Lib Dems) votes.
Unfortunately the Sun's report that Cameron had decided not to pursue yet another nanny state diktat came far too late to influence the local election results.
While immigration and Europe are bigger issues for many people, UKIP's success suggests that the nanny state is also on the agenda.
If the Conservatives want to win back some of the votes they have lost to Nigel Farage's party I suggest they abandon any thought of effectively nationalising a popular consumer product, whether it be tobacco, alcohol or convenience food.
Instead they need to demonstrate - with actions not words - that they reject the nanny/bully state consensus that has gripped Britain over the past decade and offer voters a clear choice.
People aren't stupid. They know UKIP will struggle to win a seat in a general election. They know too that a vote for UKIP could cost the Conservatives any chance of a majority.
But the Tories have to give people a positive reason to vote for them. Relying on the fact that they are 'not Labour' is not enough.
Reader Comments (4)
You are absolutely right Simon - for too long the PH demagogues have had the ear of government to the detriment of the general public who, by the lack of a backlash, clearly think that there are more important issues to hand than tobacco control industry initiatives based on wishful thinking. Is it too much to hope for that the Conservatives might think about amending the smoking ban, which is after all UKIP policy to do so?
If Cameron had any balls he''d cut the Government funding from ASH and thier chums, who if nothing else are feeding themselves off the taxpayers for no real actual benefit at a time of supposed Government austerity.
You need to go on the attack and attack thier easy funding Simon. Now is the time.
Cameron lacks the balls to amend the smoking ban.
However, the fact that there is a party that has it in its manifesto, whose leader is proud to be filmed smoking a fag, a party that has just gained 25% of the popular vote, is promising as it shows that sea-changes in official attitudes can happen overnight. Hopefully, the combination of UKIP's success, the repeated, continuing political embarrassment from Soubry and her ilk, the lack of fallout from ditching plain packs and minimum alcohol pricing (indeed , the obvious support for doing so, despite ASH's claims of it being "popular") could all combine to make even the most bovine MP see that when ASH says one thing, they are probably exaggerating at best and downright lying at worst, leading to a widespread dismissal of what they say. Indeed, hopefully (and I can see this happening already) Public Health will end up hobbling itself with ever more wild claims as they struggle to maintain their influence, which will in turn highlight their true nature as a very tiny group of disseminating extremists even more.
Of course, if UKIP slaughter the main parties in the European Elections, we may see further steps towards sanity. Remember, UKIP's manifesto says that Public Health should be there to deal with genuine public health matters (measles, contaminated water etc). They explicitly say all public health twaddle to do with lifestyle choices will be stopped. Just having that in the political arena is a good thing and challenges the lib-lab-con consensus on such issues and places the "true believers" in each party, like Stephen Williams et al, in a weakened position.
We just have to keep hammering home that vast numbers of us ARE voting UKIP because of Europe, but for many of us, the Bully State is a very close number 2 on our agenda, if not our number one priority. I saw yesterday the Establishment and their puppets in the MSM trying to divert the public's votes by saying what the vote "was really about" i.e. the EU, immigration and "hard working families." We mustn't let them dictate the terms of the argument. The destruction of ASH and Public Health as viable entities is the primary goal (and the Ban, of course) as they are the greatest threats to democracy and freedom that we face today. The fact that they cost us billions is just another mark against them.
I sought out all parties views on the smoking ban in 2007 and found the only one listening was UKIP and I've seen it grow massively since and attract all sorts of people united in mostly two things - a fear of the undemocratic EU (it's not about Europe) and the Nanny State. People don't just want their country back - they want control of their lives back too.
We know ASH pulled a confidence trick on Metropolitan Elite Labour - with a happy Hewitt on £3000 a day as a Big Pharma taxi for hire happy to be conned that the public wanted a blanket smoking ban with no aspect of choice for adult tobacco consumers - but we also know in reality, most people did want choice and no one wanted smokers to be lined up as the first to be bullied out of their communities step by step.
That's why people are turring to UKIP and if Cameron doesn't amend the smoking ban and take off the chains of our everyday lives, then he won't get back lost support and will continue to lose it. Dump ASH win elections - simples.