Polls are a wake-up call for Conservatives

This election ought to be primarily about Brexit. It started out that way, but the agenda has shifted in part because the public has accepted the result of last year’s referendum. And yet Brexit is not just about voting to quit the EU: it is about the kind of country that we become after we have left. Jeremy Corbyn imagines a socialist future. The Tories want free trade and meritocracy. The choice, as the Prime Minister, says is “stark” – and the Conservatives will presumably return to it in these final two weeks. Britain must not hand the negotiating process over to Mr Corbyn. The result would be chaos, and the undoing of everything good the Tories have ever done in office.

The likelihood of this happening no longer seems fantastical. Our poll today shows that the Tory lead has slipped to just six points as Britain returns to two party politics. This has something to do with Brexit, too. After winning the EU referendum, Ukip lost its relevance. The Lib Dems tried to reinvigorate themselves by running on a stop Brexit platform that proved unpopular. As these two parties slumped, so their votes have been redistributed among the Conservatives and Labour. It was inevitable that Labour would do a little better as a result – especially as they decided to accept the principle of Brexit in their manifesto. On this subject, Mr Corbyn is closer to the views of many traditional Labour voters than his Blairite opponents in Parliament.

But Mr Corbyn’s Brexit is the wrong kind of Brexit. For a start, he says that he will not walk away from the table without a deal, which makes a bad deal all the more likely. Mr Corbyn wants to keep all the invidious regulations that will be transferred from the EU to UK statute books – replacing one excessive form of state power with another. Westminster is no better at refereeing the economy than Brussels is. And even though immigration was probably the single biggest issue of the EU referendum, Mr Corbyn refuses to be drawn on whether or not he would place a limit on numbers coming to the UK. Finally, given the sheer chaos that surrounds Mr Corbyn, it seems highly unlikely that he can deliver on much at all. His government would be divided from day one. His economic policies, meanwhile, would raise taxes, spending and borrowing. Labour’s easy promises may sound enticing but would, in reality, bankrupt the country.

The best Brexit, by contrast, will be both visionary and pragmatic – preaching that a bright future is possible not in spite of the Brexit talks but because of the opportunities that will follow them. Here is a chance to create a freer, decentralised, more economically liberal country – a country where Parliament is in full control, and in which governments sign free trade deals overseas. That is the country of Conservatism, which pledges reformed welfare, house building, choice in schooling, better control over immigration and, crucially, to extend opportunity to those who do not normally exercise it.

With two weeks left, the Conservatives still have an opportunity to make this case with passion and an increased sense of urgency. The Manchester attack exposed the nation’s vulnerabilities. Since then, however, the Prime Minister has led the security services with focus and determination, helming a vital and effective operation that yesterday allowed the terror threat level to be reduced; Britain needs this kind of serious leadership. Mr Corbyn simply does not offer it.

It is now more apparent than ever that the only real choice is between Labour and the Conservatives. So the narrowing of the polls is a useful wake-up call. Brexit, done properly, offers freedom and wealth.

Indeed, the true question of this election should not be how Britain manages the outcome of last year’s Brexit referendum but how it exploits it to the full. This is Britain’s moment of liberation from Europe and we need the right leadership to capitalise upon it.