Evening Standard comment: The Tories move to reassure the faithful

The Conservative party conference has barely started but has already produced a raft of policy promises — a clear indication that the next election is now the main focus of attention. Today’s pledge by the Chancellor to freeze fuel duty for the remainder of this Parliament is an unashamedly populist measure, as is the demand that the long-term unemployed work for their benefits. The commitment to a transferable tax allowance between married couples will please Tory traditionalists, while the Prime Minister’s moving forward of the Help to Buy scheme, whereby government will help homebuyers take 95 per cent mortgages, is a reminder of the urgency for the Government of maintaining the recovery.

These measures are as much about tone as substance. Any scheme to ensure that the unemployed are seen to work for their benefits will be popular, even if measures of this kind have a patchy record in enabling claimants to get jobs. It is an attack on an entitlement culture which is likely to have a resonance inside and outside the party. The transferable tax allowance, though financially modest, is a belated attempt to put flesh on the Tories’ commitment to marriage.

These are all measures which seek to reaffirm the party’s sense of its identity, which has regularly been shaken in Mr Cameron’s premiership and is now under particular attack from Ukip. Likewise George Osborne’s hints today at tax cuts after 2015 will provide some reassurance to those on the Right worried that he is not conservative enough. The return to Tory values comes at a time when Labour appears to be moving to the Left with Ed Miliband’s promise on energy prices.

The Prime Minister’s problem is that his achievements in government are the fruits of coalition; the task of the leadership this week is to affirm what the Conservatives would do alone if they won a majority in 2015, and that it would be sufficiently Tory to satisfy traditional supporters — and Tory backbenchers. Yet they stand most chance of being given that opportunity if the economy comes good — proof that Mr Osborne’s Plan A is working. The Tories of course need distinctive policies for 2015. But it will be the economy that sways voters.

The Mayor, Boris Johnson, has already called for greater financial autonomy for London, and in particular for the capital to retain any increase from rising stamp duty receipts to spend as City Hall chooses. At present only seven per cent of London’s taxes are retained here for our own needs, far less than, say, New York or Paris. Now Mr Johnson has joined forces with the mayors of other English cities including Birmingham and Manchester to reiterate the call for something like urban devolution. London’s case could be strengthened if other English cities join the call.

Giving greater financial autonomy to our cities could indeed be a solution to the political problem that while Scotland and Wales enjoy enormous autonomy, every attempt to give England regional devolution has failed. It is in the English cities, not the regions, that real power lies. Giving cities more clout is the natural consequence — and, as London’s case illustrates, is only fair.

In the most spectacular reader offer ever, this paper is offering readers the chance to win a place on a space trip 60 miles above the Earth. It is a once-in-a-lifetime chance from your soaraway Evening Standard. Give it a try!