Too much talk

Time for policies not rhetoric

IF ANYONE thought the general election was going to be conducted in an atmosphere of mutual respect that notion has been quickly dispelled.

We have already seen the Tories targeting Jeremy Corbyn’s fitness for office with the Conservative Party’s chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin saying the Labour leader is “not suitable” to be Prime Minister, and now Mr Corbyn has hit back urging Scottish voters to reject the “vicious” Tories.

We also had SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon warning of the “high price” of voting for the Tories, saying the party has been taken over by hardliners.

What this all amounts to, however, is nothing more than a phoney war of words that so far has been big on rhetoric and soundbites but short on concrete policy proposals.

In just over six weeks the country will go to the polls to elect a government that will be required to extricate Britain from the European Union on the most advantageous terms. On top of this there are crucial issues that need to be addressed such as social care funding, housing, education and the future of our creaking transport network.

Here in Yorkshire it is vitally important that we elect a cohort of MPs on June 8 who will become passionate advocates for the county. To do that, though, voters need to be able to challenge candidates about their policies and actually feel like they have a meaningful role to play in the democratic process.

If not we run the risk of ‘election fatigue’ creeping in. Which is why the sooner we can see each of the party’s manifestos and get down to the nitty gritty the better.