According to the Moderate Party leader, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, it is about making life “really good” for families. In his speech at the party’s Sweden conference in Stockholm, he launched the Moderate Party’s main election promise - that a family will receive 5,000 kronor more to live on during the next term than they do today.
How this would work is still unclear, but continued tax cuts, such as an expanded earned income tax credit, could be part of achieving the goal.
The Moderates are making a big deal out of the fact that already during this term of office they have ensured that a family with two working parents and two children has received 5,000 kronor more to live on compared to 2022. Almost half of that increase comes from tax cuts; the rest comes from reduced food VAT, lower fuel taxes, electricity subsidies and reduced preschool fees.
To be paid
It is also unclear how the new promise of 5,000 kronor to the families will be financed.
The scope for economic reform in the state budget for the next term is considered to be very limited, so election promises may need to be financed with savings. The Moderates, for example, point to the possibility of further reducing foreign aid.
In the long term, the Moderates' vision is that in ten years Sweden will have the EU's highest GDP per capita and that two ordinary full-time salaries will be enough to buy a house. This is not only about strengthening families' finances, but also about getting more single-family homes built, for example by municipalities getting more land ready for construction.
Most people dream of a secure family life in their own house, Kristersson says, adding "a Volvo, a dog and maybe two children."
If the fight against crime, reduced migration and strengthened defense have been this government's major projects, Kristersson believes that the next major project for a possible new Moderate-led government will be to boost the Swedish economy and strengthen household finances.
Should move
In addition to supporting "hard-working" people, the Moderate leader is concerned about growing economic gaps and wants to do something about it. But he has no plans to increase benefits for those who are worst off.
There is a dramatic difference between getting a little better because benefits are increased and getting better through a job and your own income, he says.
Kristersson emphasizes that the Moderates are the main representatives of the labor line in a Tidö government and points out that there are vacant jobs.
There are a lot of people who should move up north for work, he says.
We cannot have a benefit system that in practice allows people to stay and do the opposite.
Who will be the minister?
The party's big names in the election will be, alongside Kristersson, Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer and Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson.
If the Tidö parties, who now prefer to call themselves the "blue-yellow" team, win the election, the Sweden Democrats will be involved and share the ministerial posts.
TT: Can M voters count on the party retaining the post of Minister of Finance?
It's not a bold guess, says Kristersson.
