At the 2010 General Election David Cameron made a Contract with the British people. He said the Contract was his “side of the bargain: the things I want to do to change Britain”. Two years on, Swindon Labour marks his progress card.
Pledge: No more top-down reorganisations of the NHS
“With the Conservatives there will be no more of the tiresome, meddlesome, top-down restructures that have dominated the last decade of the NHS.” David Cameron, speech at the Royal College of Pathologists, 2 November 2009.
Reality: David Cameron’s Government has launched the biggest top-down reorganisation in the NHS’s history, wasting billions at the same time as cutting over 3,000 nurses. The NHS is being turned into a full-blown commercial market, putting competition before patient care.
Pledge: Get Britain working
“Get Britain working by giving unemployed people support to get work” A contract between the Conservative Party
and you, May 2010.
Reality: Under David Cameron, unemployment is at its highest rate in 16 years, and the economy has only grown by 0.2 per cent since the Spending Review in October 2010. As a result of its failure on growth and jobs, the Government is set to borrow £158 billion more than it planned during this Parliament.
Pledge: More police on the streets
“We will BACK the police by cutting red tape to get more police onto the streets” A contract between the Conservative Party and you, May 2010.
Reality: David Cameron’s Government is cutting the policing budget by 20 per cent, which means over 16,000 police officers ill be cut by the end of the Parliament. Over 4,000 frontline officers were cut in the Tory-led Government’s first year, and last year saw the steepest rise in personal crime in over a decade.
Pledge: Control immigration, reducing it to the levels of the 1990s
“Control immigration, reducing it to the levels of the 1990s – meaning tens of thousands a year, instead of the hundreds of thousands a year under Labour.” A contract between the Conservative Party and you, May 2010
Reality: Under David Cameron, far from being cut, net migration has risen by 15,000 year on year. The Tory-led Government is cutting over 5,000 staff from the UK Border Agency, deporting fewer foreign criminals, stopping fewer people who shouldn’t be in the UK from coming in, and removing fewer people who should not be here.
Pledge: No cuts to child benefit
“I wouldn’t change child benefit, I wouldn’t means test it, I don’t think that is a good idea.” David Cameron, Cameron Direct in Bolton, 5 March 2010.
Reality: David Cameron’s Government is abolishing child benefit for higher-rate taxpayers, meaning that a single earner household with three children earning £43,000 will lose almost £2,500, even though a double-earner household on £84,000 could keep all their child benefit.
Pledge: No cuts to tax credits for low-income families
“On this issue of tax credits we are saying we like tax credits, we will keep tax credits but for families earning over £50,000 we think that we can’t afford the child tax credit. That is one of the savings that we are being up front and frank about but for Gordon Brown to say that actually the changes we are making would hit low income families is simply not true.” David Cameron, Leaders’ TV debate, 29 April 2010.
Reality: David Cameron’s Government is cutting childcare tax credit, costing working families up to £1,500 a year, and from this April some part-time workers on the minimum wage will lose £73 per week – meaning they and their families would be better off on benefits.
