The Conservatives have set out their general election message in their first paid ads of the campaign.
Their overarching message will be “stick with the plan that’s working”.
The justification that their plan is working will be evidenced by three things: (1) falling inflation (2) a reduction in the number of small boat crossings in ‘23 compared to ‘22 (3) NHS waiting lists declining month over month in ‘24.
“Stick with the plan that’s working” is a strong campaign platform. The only strategy that an incumbent can and should run is “it’s not time for a change”. The “Stick with the plan” slogan is a nice articulation of that classic incumbent positioning.
The headwinds the campaign will face is that the justification that the plan is “working” is fairly thin.
There’s media reports that the Tories very well-respected and successful campaign manager Isaac Levido wanted to wait until November. The reason for that will have been to buy time to make these ‘reasons to believe’ stronger.
Sunak’s clear plan will be framed as being in contrast with Keir Starmer’s Labour Party as having “no plan”.
The problem with this framing of the election is that as recently as last week the Labour Party had a very successful launch of Starmer’s “first steps for change”. These very tangible pledges were covered by every media outlet and ran in broadcast media channels in marginal seats.
It may have been vaguely credible two weeks ago to say Labour lacked a plan, but this week that is far less credible.
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