Theresa May to make case for a 'new centre ground'

Theresa May will pitch herself as a champion of the working class on the last day of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham today.

Having addressed Brexit plans in a speech on Sunday, the Prime Minister will today lay out her vision of a social and economic pathway to a "new united Britain".

She is expected to take aim at Labour "absurd belief that they have a monopoly on compassion", saying Jeremy Corbyn's party has lost its way and with it, the right to be called the party of the NHS and working people.

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Her own party will not escape unscathed, however. May is to castigate politicians of all stripes who sneered at pro-Brexit voters for their perceived "parochial" views on immigration and "illiberal" concerns over crime.

The PM's comments "mark a change of emphasis from the views of her predecessor", David Cameron, Bloomberg reports. While he made climate change and gay marriage the central platform of his social agenda, May appears to be reaching out to "ordinary working class people".

Rather than become bogged down in stagnant ideological battles, the May administration will represent a "new centre ground" in British politics, focused on action, she will say.

"It's about doing something, not being someone," her address reads. "About identifying injustices, finding solutions, driving change. Taking, not shirking, the big decisions. Having the courage to see things through."

May will also signal a departure from pure Conservative ideology by expressing a willingness to use "more muscular" state intervention in the economy.

"If we act to correct unfairness and injustice and put government at the service of ordinary working people, we can build that new united Britain in which everyone plays by the same rules and in which the powerful and the privileged no longer ignore the interests of the people," she is to say.

May's words echo comments made earlier in the conference by George Freeman, the chair of her policy board, says The Guardian. The MP for Mid Norfolk championed "responsible capitalism" and said irresponsible business owners should be publicly called to account, lamenting the loss of Victorian social pressure that ostracised those who behaved badly.

"We've sort of lost the Victorian thing of the cultural criticism of bad practice," he said. "It might be legal, but it's just wrong."

Theresa May hits back at 'lily-livered' immigration claims

26 September

Theresa May has hit back at claims she was "lily-livered" over plans to curb EU immigration into the UK during her time as home secretary.

The allegations come in new book All Out War, which says May urged then prime minister David Cameron in 2014 not to demand an "emergency brake" on immigration for fear of upsetting other European leaders.

Author Tim Shipman, the political editor of the Sunday Times, says Cameron wanted the measure as part of his EU renegotiation and hoped it would persuade voters he would be able to reduce immigration if the UK remained in the bloc.

Shipman claims the PM was persuaded against making the demand by May and then foreign secretary Philip Hammond, with May reportedly worried the move would upset German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

He adds that a "visibly deflated" Cameron said: "I can't do it without their support. If it wasn't for my lily-livered cabinet colleagues…"

However, May's supporters deny the claim and say she twice wrote to the Tory leader - in November 2014 and May 2015 - arguing in favour of an emergency brake.

In the first letter, she is said to have specifically proposed the measure as part of a series aiming to rebalance the rights of citizens to move within the EU.

Nevertheless, Shipman is sticking by his story and says Downing Street has "not actually disputed" his account.