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The Times: The Conservative Party’s manifesto, released yesterday, is “an impressively coherent” attempt to answer one of the most pressing questions of this general election, “What is government for?” The Times, answering detractors’ charges that David Cameron’s “Big Society” manifesto is tantamount to no government at all, claimed, “Mr Cameron’s Big Society is not a return to rampant individualism but a radical attempt to strengthen communities and civil society.”

The Guardian: Calling the new manifesto a “liberal Tory prospectus from a party which wants to capture the centre ground in an election it believes it can win,” The Guardian was cautiously positive about the Tories’ manifesto. Nevertheless, the paper continued, “It is hard to be generous about the Tory manifesto’s two most glaring failings.” Those two failings? The Conservatives have little coherent to offer in dealing with rebuilding Britain’s economy after the financial collapse and, the paper claimed, “it is unacceptable that Mr Cameron should yesterday have dismissed any thought of reforming the electoral system for the House of Commons or the composition of the House of Lords.”

The Telegraph: Fiercely lauding David Cameron for his “refreshing candour” in admitting that government doesn’t have the answers and his manifesto for its clarity, coherence and radical rethinking of the role of government, The Telegraph nonetheless expressed its frustration that the Tories offered “no new insights” into how the party would reduce Britain’s deficit. Still, “The Tory leader did something rare yesterday in what was the defining moment, so far, in this campaign. He not only set a formidable challenge for an incoming Conservative government. He also set a big challenge to the people of this country.”

The Independent: The “optimistic” Tory manifesto is “convincing only in parts,” The Independent claimed. While an inspiring call to arms for the people of Britain – a bottom-up approach to accountability in public service delivery contrasts positively to Labour’s top-down, statist approach – the paper noted, “The manifesto provides no detail on what safeguards will be put in place in the event that this bold experiment in devolving power goes awry.” The Conservatives’ manifesto does not deal coherently with economic rebuilding, its proposal of an arbitrary cap on immigration from outside the EU is vaguely insulting, and its policy of cutting the inheritance tax for the wealthy stands at a variance to the Tories’ claim of wanting to reduce poverty.

The Sun: As usual, Britain’s favourite breast-baring tabloid boiled down the difference between the Tories’ and Labour’s respective manifestoes to the most simple terms: “On one side are Labour, who stand for massive state control over your life. On the other side are the Tories, who want the state off your back… The Tory manifesto encourages individual responsibility – a concept alien to Labour’s Big Brother mentality.”

The Mirror: With the mostly positive reviews of the Conservatives’ manifesto, it’s perhaps telling, then, that The Mirror – a paper with extreme Labour leanings – didn’t attack the manifesto itself, but rather the accusations of anti-Northern prejudice from within the party. “However much they dress themselves up as compassionate and socially concerned, they have not changed.”

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