http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/06/world/europe/theresa-may-conservative-party-convention.html 2016-10-05 17:13:53 Theresa May, British Premier, Urges Conservatives to Claim ‘New Center Ground’ Mrs. May, speaking at her party’s convention, sought to court disaffected working-class voters and vowed to rein in abuses by big business. === BIRMINGHAM, England — Prime Minister Theresa May of Addressing delegates in Birmingham, England, at a conference that had been dominated by the issue of Britain’s relationship with the European Union, Mrs. May sought to redefine the profile of her party by claiming a “new center ground.” With parties on the left and right in disarray, Mrs. May moved to capture disaffected working-class supporters of the Labour Party, as well as those sympathetic to the populist right-wing U.K. Independence Party, which has long demanded stricter control of immigration — one of the crucial issues in the June vote to Mrs. May’s speech suggested that her government would protect hard-pressed families who have struggled in the globalized economy that her predecessor, David Cameron, embraced enthusiastically. “It wasn’t the wealthy who made the biggest financial sacrifices after the financial crisis,” Mrs. May said, adding that “change is going to come” and pledging to pursue firms that fail to pay their share of tax. “Too many people in positions of power behave as though they have more in common with international elites than the people down the road,” she said. Conservative leaders have sought for years to reduce state intervention, but Mrs. May struck a different tone, saying that her government would tackle injustice and create an economy that benefited ordinary working people. Amid uncertainty from the unexpected decision by voters to leave the European Union, Mrs. May has sought to steady British politics, and she received an enthusiastic reception from delegates on Wednesday. Her speech underscored her determination to differentiate herself from By contrast, Mrs. May, “Just listen to the way a lot of politicians and commentators talk about the public,” Mrs. May said at the convention. “They find your patriotism distasteful, your concerns about immigration parochial, your views about crime illiberal, your attachment to your job security inconvenient.” She continued, “They find the fact that more than 17 million voters decided to leave the European Union simply bewildering.” Mrs. May supported continued membership in the European Union during the referendum campaign, though tepidly, but she has since embraced the cause of withdrawal, known as Brexit. She has given strong indications that she is willing to make a clean break from the bloc, even if that curtails the access of British businesses to Continental markets. In some respects, Mrs. May is unlikely to find a better time to assert herself. Ms. James, who quit after The centrist Liberal Democrats, meanwhile, have just eight lawmakers in Parliament. As part of the Conservatives’ effort to attract working-class voters, the home secretary, Amber Rudd, defended proposals that could require British companies to publish the number of foreign workers they employ. “There is still one in 10 18- to 24-year-olds in the U.K. who are unemployed,” The proposal, which first became known on Tuesday, was criticized by at least one business federation, Mr. Corbyn accused the Conservatives of xenophobia and of blaming foreigners “for their own failures,” adding that “drawing up lists of foreign workers won’t stop unscrupulous employers undercutting wages in Britain.” The measure also appears to be at odds with the views of some of Ms. Rudd’s cabinet colleagues, who have expressed concern about the risks to the economy if access to employees from the Continent is restricted. Despite Mrs. May’s efforts to broaden the discussion, the party’s convention was dominated by In the bars and corridors of the convention center in Birmingham, the debate focused on whether Britain would make compromises in an effort to maintain close economic ties with the European Union. Mrs. May’s comments in the first of two speeches delivered on Sunday suggested that a “hard Brexit,” with fewer concessions, was more likely. The British economy has not suffered the grievous damage many supporters of European Union membership had feared would follow a vote for withdrawal, and the stock market is buoyant. But Britain remains a full member of the bloc, and it will almost certainly continue to be one until the spring of 2019. This means that the effect on many parts of the economy have yet to be felt, and there are ominous signs. Perhaps most significant, the pound has dropped to its lowest level against the dollar in more than three decades, as currency markets continue to express concern that Britain may ultimately find itself outside the European Union’s tariff-free market of around 500 million consumers. When formal negotiations on the British withdrawal begin, expected Unless that process is very carefully managed, investment decisions are likely to be postponed, and British business confidence could erode. That worry was reflected in a speech by Britain’s financial services sector, which accounts for almost 12 percent of economic output and 1.1 million jobs, is particularly worried that it will lose the right to operate freely throughout the bloc, under a system known as “passporting.” Mrs. May has given no indication that she is willing to make trade-offs with European partners to smooth market access for banks. Such concessions could include allowing the free movement of people across European frontiers and paying budget contributions to the bloc. Instead, the comments by Mrs. May and Ms. Rudd suggested that controlling immigration would be a higher priority than placating bankers.