Theresa May and the Magic Money Tree

Picture the scene... A distraught worker almost begging to be given a living wage on public television, almost on the verge of tears only to be told that they can't have it because there isn't any money available. A tough scene to imagine but we had to actually watch that during the... Well, it wasn't really a debate more of a Q&A session because Mrs May didn't think that the public wanted to see her debating despite hundreds of thousands of people calling for her to do so. It was uncomfortable to watch and Mrs May's response was regrettable to say the least but if there's no money then there's no money. Fast forward almost a month and lo and behold there's a spare £1 billion pounds just begging to be spent on 10 votes because Mrs May and her government (which we still technically don't have because the Queen's Speech is yet to be approved) is so strong and stable that they need those votes to make anything happen. They have also stood by absolutely none of their manifesto because it was unpopular and the DUP opposed making a deal on the basis of it. Surely, Mrs May, that should tell you that you have no mandate? Again. Her government had no mandate before the election because she won party leadership by default and she has no mandate now because she asked for a majority specifically and was given a hung parliament instead. And yet she still won't take the hint! Her cabinet promised £350 million a week to the NHS after the referendum on the EU and failed to deliver that and even going so far as to deny it was ever said (we all saw the bus). Even if you're not outraged by the blatant lies that have been fed to us and the constant back tracks and u-turns of the "government" you can't fail to be annoyed that Mrs May is so desperate to cling to power that she would hand £1 billion over to a party of 10 MPs. She herself said that there was no money so where is this coming from? Will more of the NHS assets be sold off? The Naylor Report recommendations for the sale of NHS land and property were going to keep the treasury breaking even (apparently) so now Mrs May has taken a sledgehammer to the budget and left an absolutely massive hole that has to be filled somehow. Because the Conservatives have slowly but surely been selling off publicly owned assets there isn't much left to sell so unless they're planning to fully privatise the NHS and axe social housing (God/Gods/Goddess/Goddesses help us all if that's the plan!) they can't do that, they pledged to cut corporation tax again by a significant amount so that will leave less in the treasury, an increase in personal tax allowances will drain the funds too... Exactly where is the money coming from to fund all of this? All this for 10 votes. And this isn't £1 billion and that's all, oh no, this is £1 billion to be mostly paid over the next two years and then the deal will be reviewed meaning that the DUP could go back and ask for more. And to be completely honest as much as I disagree with the DUP and their political stance I don't blame them for what they've done. They had a list of demands and instead of a negotiation they steamrollered the Conservatives. This, by the way, being the team of expert negotiators who are supposed to be delivering the best deal for Brexit. They couldn't even handle a deal with 10 MPs and they expect us to believe they can handle the bloc of 27?! They are some of the best negotiators in the world and we're sending a team that doesn't know what it's own stance is. Total and clear break, no, Swiss arrangement, no, special arrangement, no, full access to the single market, no, pull out of the single market. The latest reports from Downing Street suggest that they are now planning to accept each of the four pillars of the EU and if that's the case (and I sincerely hope that it is) then we have to ask why we're even leaving? But I digress.  My point is that we can't afford to pay nurses, doctors, police, firemen etc. a decent wage which reflects the high pressure environment that they work in to keep us safe and healthy but we can find a huge sum of money to keep Theresa May in office and protect herself from being booted out. Perhaps, Mrs May, if you find yourself facing that many problems with staying in office you should ask yourself whether you're staying in office for the public (who largely want you out) or for yourself. You are not the CEO of a corporation you are the Prime Mimister of the country and you cannot stay in office just because you want to. The fact that you've had to take such drastic steps to remain in office should tell you that you don't deserve to be there. You are threatening the fragile peace in Northern Ireland, you are isolating and depriving Scotland and Wales and you are punishing the very people who protect you and your MPs by refusing to lift the Public Sector pay cap, something you could have done easily had you found that £1 billion before the election. Your actions are those of desperation and not made in the interests of the country, they are self serving in the most basic way. You have just spent more on 10 votes than the Labour Party were proposing to spend on reprivatising everything your party has sold off. Here's the issue though; you may have secure do those 10 votes on a few issues but your own party is weak and divided. How confident are you that you can't control your entire party when it counts? How often will you have to rely on the three line whip to make people fall into line? Here's the true test of your leadership and a challenge I know you wouldn't dare to accept; give your MPs a free vote on the Queen's Speech tomorrow. If you truly believe that you are the leader you claim to be, and in your utter lack of solid policies then you don't need to order MPs to vote in a particular way. Government by the three line whip is tantamount to a dictatorship and if that is what you need to resort to in order to remain in power then you do not deserve to be there. If you are truly going to listen to the will of the people as you claim to do (but have shown no evidence of doing so in your entire tenure within the government) then go shake the magic money tree that now seems to exist and give our public services what they need instead of wasting time and money on deals that will die faster than chewing on a cyanide pill. If you really want to stay in power you need to give us (the public) what we're crying out for; an end to austerity and investment in our hard working and hugely deservingly public sector workers.