Theresa May's 9 U-turns

Here's the list very briefly - I have an FT subscription via university, and would recommend others to see if they can get it like that as well.

  1. Brexit - April '16 she said "on balance, and given the tests I set earlier in my speech, I believe the case to remain a member of the European Union is strong".

A week after the vote, she based her campaign around Brexit.

  1. British Bill of Rights - during the referendum campaign, May advocated against the European Court of Human Justice, ECHR, because of their rules on evidence gathered from torture, saying it "can bind the hands of parliament, adds nothing to our prosperity, [and] makes us less secure".

Changed her mind during the conservative leadership bid to state Britain will remain a signatory on the ECHR for the duration of parliament.

  1. Hinkley Point - said she'd review the plans for this station citing concerns over China's influence over the British power grid. Caused a diplomatic rift with Beijing, and approved it with only a minor change to the French side of the agreement.

  2. Promised to ensure workers are represented on company boards. This as interpreted as meaning trade union representatives on boards.

The conservative manifesto instead described "listed companies so be required either to nominate a director from the workforce create a formal employee advisory council or sign assign specific responsibilities for employee representations to a designated non-profit executive​ director".

  1. National Insurance - Hammond's March budget called for higher NI contributions from self-employed workers, breaking a promise from the 2015 manifesto to not increase tax.

May made a U-turn a week later.

  1. Early election: "There isn't going to be one. It isn't going to happen. There is not going to be a general election".

A month later, she called an election citing the need to strengthen her Brexit negotiating position.

  1. Energy price caps: Not really a U-turn this one, not sure why the FT are listing it as one.

The Daily mail reported that May was going to unveil an energy price cap, before the manifesto launch. Instead, the manifesto wanted to create independent review to make recommendations as to how to make UK energy cost as more as possible.

  1. Social care - rich people would be obliged to pay for social care unless they had less than £100k assets including the family home, labelled the dementia tax. Announced on Thursday and scrapped on Monday.

  2. Foreign worker lists - Home Secretary Rudd suggested companies would have Tu publish figures on foreign worker numbers, saying "[companies would have to be] clear about the proportion of their workforce which is international". UKIP branded this "a step too far", and the government said this wouldn't happen.

Again, not really a U-turn by May.

/r/unitedkingdom Thread Link - ft.com