Boris Johnson’s win sends a clear message to Morrison
If there’s one takeaway from the UK election for Scott Morrison, it’s that there’s real power in delivering sensible outcomes that the voting public actually want, writes Peta Credlin.
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The strong win to Boris Johnson and the British conservatives shows that parties of the centre right can readily succeed provided they are prepared to fight for the things they believe in.
Asked to choose between a party that would get Brexit done, sensibly manage the economy, and support the police and the armed forces as well as hospitals and schools; and a party that would drag out the Brexit pain while massively increasing taxing and spending, British voters have delivered a resounding verdict.
With his authority confirmed, PM Johnson can now demand a sensible deal from the EU and make a clean “no deal” break if the EU won’t give Britain the mutual zero tariff and quota access that would minimise disruption on both sides of the channel. And he can proceed with the lower tax and less regulation agenda that has made Britain Europe’s most dynamic economy.
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With the Brexit decision confirmed, all the other issues that have been largely on hold for three years can be tackled and Britain can once more be a world leader on security and economic issues.
Some will say that, with Jeremy Corbyn’s “communism in a cardigan” platform, it was Labour that lost rather than the Conservatives that won. There’s no doubt that Labour’s sharp move to the extreme left was a factor.
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But even against big target opponents, wishy-washy centre right leaders don’t always win.
Take Malcolm Turnbull, who in 2016, squandered a big majority by refusing to campaign on the government’s strengths of strong border protection and not putting climate change ahead of jobs.
For Scott Morrison the lesson is to get on with delivering sensible outcomes for the Australian people so that the “risk of Labor” message will resonate come election time. That means ensuring that we get more baseload power into our system, cracking on with droughtproofing the country as far as possible, and running an immigration program in the interests of existing Australians rather than potential newcomers.
Meanwhile, the world can breathe a sigh of relief that Britain, like here in May, dodged a (Marxist) bullet.