In the aftermath of the Chancellor’s pre-budget report some fundamental differences between Cameron’s ineffective opposition and this Labour government have become clear. Whilst our Chancellor has committed to lowering VAT and helping families, business and the environment through this phase, the Conservatives have done nothing but argue amongst themselves and come up with some meagre proposals that would do nothing but harm both the British economy and the British people. This is because, in the end, David Cameron is just another leader of the same old Tory party.
Let’s not get swept up in Cameron’s cunning cries for change – and let’s not forget that this is the same man who voted against flexible working hours and longer maternity pay. This is the same man who voted against paternity leave, and then took it himself. There is nothing new about David Cameron – he’s still the same person who was standing side-by-side with Norman Lamont during the Black Wednesday economic crisis, and has once again shown his true blue credentials by proposing to increase fuel tax now, when this is the last thing the people of this country need. David Cameron, it seems, is little more than the Conservative who cried change.
Whilst the Conservatives are falling over themselves to appear young and refreshed, they are failing to prove this and showing very little action. The same old arguments keep reappearing but are now just glossed over and rebranded in a very patchy way. They are still the party who opposed tax credits for hard working families, still the party who want to take money out of our public services and still the party who will do and say just about anything to claim power just for power’s sake. It was Cameron himself who penned the negative, fear-focused Conservative manifesto of 2005 and this means one of two things – either his views were insincere then, or they are now. Either way, one thing is clear. Here is an uncertain man who is most certainly not fit for government. We deserve better.
People don’t want to vote Tory. If we’ve learnt anything from this year’s by-elections, it’s that a vote for the Tories is usually a reluctant one. Change back to the old Tory ways is not what people want, and we’re not going to let Cameron’s Conservatives tear down eleven years of hard work and progress for all of us without a real fight.
This Labour Chancellor has just announced a reduction in VAT, an increase in Child Tax Benefit, Child Tax Credits, and Pension Credit. Not only that but an increase in the Winter Fuel Allowance, a £145 tax cut for all basic rate taxpayers and has launched the Small Business Guarantee Facility. All this support from our Labour government while David Cameron and George Osborne just sit there, very much out of their depth, with their plans to raise fuel tax, cut our public services and let families and small business face these tough times alone.
Mr. Cameron – ideology and substance is where the real battle lies. Getting their children into good schools and putting food on the table is what people really care about. It is a sad day for politics when people throw away their beliefs, alongside those of whom they represent, just to win votes under the veil of ‘change’. Rhetoric fades, Mr. Cameron, but the political argument for what is right, for what people want and for what people need, carries on. The party of government should be the party with the best awareness of the issues facing us today, the best ideas to tackle them and the best record for doing so. And that party still continues to be this Labour Party.
Like Claire I am also a Labour Parliamentary Candidate.
I agree that the might have pretended to have changed from that out of touch backward party of the Major/Hague/Duncan-Smith/Howard years but really they are the same nasty inward looking party witness today’s comments of Andrew Lansley who thinks a recession is good for public health !
I think this is the most myopic piece of political “journalism” I have ever read in my life. If I wanted to hear the standard Labour party rhetoric I could just listen to Gordon Brown moaning out of touch playground insults every week at PMQs. It disheartens me greatly that such a young person cannot even attempt to view the current political climate from an objective perspective, and is already vehemently pursuing the party line, before she has even left university. Unfortunately for her it seems the Tories will win the next election and make all this positing for a political career through brownie points a complete waste of time.
I personally am angry that Brown is going to condemn my, and my childrens’, future to one of higher taxation and ruined public finances. He can continue to quote stupid debt figures that don’t take into account Northern Rock and PFIs but the public know he is pulling a fast one and he is getting found out.
Please Claire, try and think for yourself and write something sensible and analytical.
Rather someone who was involved in Black Wednesday (which ushered in the 1990s recovery) than anyone who has been run the UK economy into its current situation.
“All this support from our Labour government” – what nonsense. The Labour government is spending taxpayers’ money and building up our children’s debt. You can certainly argue that it’s the right thing to do – but only if you are honest about the costs. Stop implying that the Labour party itself is somehow generous while Tories are mean.
“will do anything to claim power for power’s sake” – a trend initiated by Tony Blair. At least previous Lab PMs stood for something. “Winning votes under the veil of change” – reminds me of 1997. Claire was only 11 so probably won’t remember and, more importantly, seems to lack all sense of history anyway.
Claire, what you have written demonstrates that you are unfit to be an MP. Not specifically because you are young, but because you lack the intellectual maturity, balanced judgement and communication skills that are pre-requisites for the job. Finish your degree, get a job, experience paying some taxes, then take another look in a few years’ time.