Things May not be so bad

With Andrea Leadsom pulling out of the Tory leadership contest, it looks like Theresa May will be our new prime minister. Not everybody is happy about this. Many Brexiters think that the country needs a leader who campaigned to leave the EU. They could be right, but we don't care about any of that on this blog. Let's look at where Leadsom and May stand on the issues that really matter.

The Rt. Hon. Theresa May MP

• Voted against smoking ban in public places (2006)

• Absent on tobacco displays vote (2009)

• Absent for David Nuttall’s Private Members Bill on exempting pubs and private members clubs from smoking ban, where food is not served. (2010)

• Voted against smoking ban in cars (2014)

• Absent on plain packaging in (2015)


Andrea Leadsom MP

• Voted against David Nuttall’s Private Members Bill on exempting pubs and private members clubs from smoking ban, where food is not served. (2010)

• Voted in favour of smoking ban in cars containing 18 year olds and under (2014)

• Voted in favour of plain packaging (2015)

Advantage May, I think you'll agree. Moreover, Theresa May was one of the cabinet ministers who put pressure on David Cameron to drop minimum pricing for alcohol back in 2013. I'm unable to find any comment from May on the sugar tax but I did find this from Leadsom...

Sugar tax to pay for more school sport. A real double win for our children https://t.co/Z3umeu7U6u

— Andrea Leadsom MP (@andrealeadsom) March 16, 2016

I'm not claiming that May is some sort of libertarian. Clearly, she isn't. Nor am I saying she will necessarily be a good prime minister. Time will tell. I'm just saying that things could, perhaps, be worse.


UPDATE

As the Morning Advertiser points out, May is unsound on the Licensing Act.