Make this the punishment election – damning the Tories for 14 years of cruelty and lies | Jonathan Freedland

Voters want progress, but there must also be accountability. When you pick up a ballot paper, remember all the waste and incompetence

Elections are a choice about the future, they say. We should look forward, not back, they say. And most of the time, that's true. But every now and then we should make an exception - and this is one of those times. Because the coming general election must also be about the past. It must be about holding the Conservatives to account for the colossal damage they have done to this country over the past 14 years. It must be a punishment election.

The Tories need to face the consequences of what they have done, starting with the cold fact that they have made people poorer. People are worse off now than they were at the last general election, a feat with little or no precedent. Every day, thousands of Britons pay hundreds or thousands more on their mortgages, thanks to the wrecking ball a smirking Liz Truss aimed at the UK economy.