00:00 Hi, I'm John Rental, the Independent's chief political commentator.
00:04 And the Independent asked you for your questions about the recent Conservative and Labour Party
00:08 conferences.
00:09 Here's what you asked.
00:17 Craig Tribe asked, "Why do you think the Tory party is having to concoct false legislation
00:24 which they intend to outlaw?
00:26 I refer to meat taxes and the seven bin rule."
00:30 Well that's a very good question.
00:33 I think those questions, I mean obviously the Labour Party is not proposing a meat tax
00:38 or seven recycling bins, but they are symbolic of an attitude and I think the Conservative
00:46 Party is trying to paint Labour as eco-zealots, as Rishi Sunak calls them.
00:53 Trying to scare voters into thinking that a Labour government, although it doesn't actually
00:58 have those proposals, it does have an instinct to introduce costly climate change policies
01:07 that the voters don't agree with.
01:09 Now you could say it's an underhand tactic and the Labour Party make a huge fuss about
01:13 it and say we're not proposing any such thing, but I think that still gets the message across.
01:18 It's a bit of a Brexit style tactic to put an untrue claim out there which nevertheless
01:29 represents something that the voters care about.
01:32 Real European asks, "How much influence do the National Conservatives have in the ideology
01:38 of the Conservative Party?"
01:39 He's referring to Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, who spoke at a conference called
01:46 National Conservatism, which was a very sort of Trumpian, American style, nationalist agenda,
01:56 very much aimed at controlling immigration.
01:58 Now Suella Braverman has had her issues with immigration.
02:03 She fell out with Liz Truss because Liz Truss realised that we do need immigration in order
02:08 to keep the economy going and Suella Braverman was trying to restrict it.
02:14 So that argument continues in the Conservative Party, but I'm not sure that Suella Braverman's
02:21 thinking has that much purchase.
02:24 I think what you might call nationalist conservatism is only a minority among the party membership.
02:32 I mean it was interesting that Liz Truss won, but she won on a platform of tax cuts rather
02:39 than anti-immigration.
02:41 So I'm not sure that the Conservative Party is actually going to go wholeheartedly in
02:45 that direction.
02:46 Geza asks, "Why are the Tories not talking about housing?
02:49 We're the worst country in the modern world when it comes to finding an affordable home."
02:54 Now that is a very good question.
02:56 It was noticed that Rishi Sunak's conference speech didn't mention housing except in passing
03:04 he talked about how the new Euston end of the high speed two line would be financed
03:11 by property developers and possibly including some housing.
03:16 But presumably he's talking there about luxury flats.
03:19 That's not the issue.
03:21 And Keir Starmer on the other hand was praised to the skies for his proposals to build more
03:30 houses to set a target which is actually the same as the Conservative Party target, but
03:37 Keir Starmer says he means it.
03:40 I'm a bit sceptical about that, but it certainly went down extremely well in the hall and I
03:44 think it'll go down well with the voters.
03:46 Apache asks, "Will the Labour Party abolish leasehold?"
03:51 Now that's a technical question.
03:55 Michael Gove was very serious about trying to abolish leasehold which produces all sorts
03:59 of injustices and problems.
04:02 But it is an incredibly complex legal minefield and in the end the Conservative government
04:09 gave up.
04:10 I suspect a Labour government would not want to get bogged down in that kind of difficulty.
04:17 So I'm afraid I think leasehold tenure of flats is going to stay.
04:24 I think there are more important issues in housing that need to be addressed.
04:28 Dave the Cat says, "Why did I" - that's me, John Rental - "prefer a Tory government in
04:35 2019 rather than a Labour government?"
04:37 It's not strictly a question about the party conferences, but I'm absolutely happy to defend
04:44 my writing at the time.
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