Theresa May urges Tories to submit 1,000 new policy ideas to help win next election
2 min read
Theresa May has urged Conservative members to submit 1,000 new policy ideas in a bid to help the party win the next general election.
MPs, peers and party activists will be asked to submit fresh proposals to a newly established Conservative Policy Commission as it tries to produce a winning manifesto for the 2022 general election.
The Commission, set to be overseen by Conservative vice chair of policy Chris Skidmore MP, marks the biggest shake-up in the party’s policymaking process for a decade.
The aim is to have a raft of new policy ideas ready for members to discuss at next year's Tory party conference.
In an article for The Sunday Telegraph, the Prime Minister said she hopes the Commission will reach out to Leave voting communities, claiming that “the Brexit vote was also a judgement on how our economy and society works for people”.
She added: “The Commission’s task forces will undertake the most extensive exercise of policy renewal ever conducted by a party in government. I want it to produce fresh, innovative thinking. Above all, I want to listen to the communities who voted for change two years ago.”
And in a strong hint that she may try to stay on to fight the next general election as Tory leader, she wrote: “Never for a moment has my belief in that better future for our country wavered, and my determination to help deliver it burns as fiercely today as when I stood outside Downing Street for the very first time as Prime Minister...
“As I enter my third year as Prime Minister I am clear about my mission. To deliver a Brexit deal that sets the UK up to succeed; to press on with a programme of economic and social reform; and to renew my Party in government to turn our vision of a stronger and fairer United Kingdom into a reality for all our citizens.”
In a major boost for the Conservative grassroots, task forces set up to study new policy ideas will be equally balanced by a membership of MPs, Lords and members from the party’s activist base.
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