Each issue, a Conservative MP tells us why they’re part of the Bright Blue family. This issue, Laura Sandys , MP for South Thanet, tells us why she’s a Bright Blue parliamentary supporter
Politics is a reflection of the public. As the public are dynamic and innovative our politics must be too. Bright Blue is a movement that is constantly challenging and contesting our thinking, our actions and our ambitions, ensuring that the shadow of complacency can never darken our doors. I am thrilled to be part of the Bright Blue family, looking optimistically at the future of our party and of our country.
While Bright Blue has no corner that it shies away from, my contribution is best focused on three key themes: the ‘low cost economy’ – a retake on the low carbon economy; our role internationally, not least in Europe; and what the consumer should expect from the Conservatives. I believe rebooting consumer policy is imperative. It is an area of policy in which I believe the Conservatives should be leading the debate. It is not an elite or an exclusive agenda – we simply need to be visibly on the side of consumers. That is why I want us to look again at regulators who don’t really ‘get’ the customer. We must also expect ‘truth’ from retailers and manufacturers – not expensive strawberries or dodgy horsemeat. What we need is redress that is simple and straightforward.
We must also grip the fact that replicating our old economy, cast in the 19th century, as we emerge from our financial problems, is not going to be good enough. We need to look at a range of issues, including how we use resources and how we measure the UK’s profitability, putting in place policies that enhance profits without being captured by the obsession with
top line sales – i.e. growth. We need to be competitive and efficient. In the coming months a new Commission I have been working on, The Smarter Consumer Commission, will be
publishing a new set of metrics to help frame these economic policies. And I am keen that we are all ambitious for Britain – ambitious in wanting more markets open to us, like the US, while not leaving one of our largest markets: the EU.
We need to reframe arguments and capture the optimism around our foreign engagements, believing again that we can win abroad. This self-belief is already evident in what our party is doing globally and in Europe. Reform is being proposed in terms to build a confident, competitive Europe with the UK at the heart of its economic vision.
Bright Blue offers an optimistic, ambitious, outward looking, conservative platform for us to stress test our new ideas, share views on long term policy and together build a stronger Conservative proposition for the election in 2015.
