The five candidates remaining in the UK Conservative party leadership campaign predictably attacked each other and made promises they truthfully will struggle to keep, in another stilted and awkward televised debate. They talk around but without any real clarity on what the journey looks like or how they will resolve Britain’s departure from the EU, dangled promises of lowering middle class taxes, lifting minimum wage levels, climate change, and protecting the “sacred” NHS.

What I’d like to hear about are their positions on restoring and improving our roads, railways, undergrounds and airports; improving education, particularly in the inner cities, and smarter funding approaches; house building and a programme for affordable living and commuting in our cities; smarter application of technology to deliver higher quality and faster access to public health at lower cost; reducing violent crime and gang-related deaths; better treatment and facilities for the mentally ill and homeless sleeping rough in squalid alleyways; common sense approaches to immigration; defence and security approaches closely aligned to the seriousness and probability of threats (terrorism, cyber etc) and reducing racism, sexism, ageism, and anti-Semitism; and creating more intelligent fiscal policies.

I would think those are cross-party issues, in a political arena where compromise is seen as a dirty word. Let’s focus on health and safety and a society where there is justice for all UK citizens. If there’s a statesman in the remaining candidates he will be intellectually honest about our Brexit alternatives, present a pragmatic set of proposals for all our benefit, not merely default to ideological attacks or idealistic goals, an industrial nation devoid of fossil fuels.

There’s too many political fossils already.

Tags: Conservative leadership vote, priorities, UK