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.

Hello again – last Saturday I was out on the doorsteps with Rochelle Russell – Labour’s excellent candidate in Gorse Hill and Pinehurst.  Some people mentioned the Tories’ plan not to increase National Insurance in April 2011.  While the Tories did get good press coverage for this ploy, they only achieved it by COMPLETELY DESTROYING THEIR CREDIBILITY.

By putting politics before economics, putting their short-term political interests before the longer-term economic interests of the country, they are scoring points rather than sticking to the policies that will secure Britain’s economic recovery!! When things get choppy for Mr. Cameron his first thought is to abandon fiscal discipline and his commitment to tackling the deficit, and instead reach out for crowd pleasing about-turns.  Easy politics does not make for sound economics. And it isn’t leadership.

So my point for voters in Swindon is this:   the headlines achieved by the Tories show that it is really only Labour which has consistent and credible policies to keep the country on the road to recovery.  Nothing must get in the way – no gimmicks and no cheap give-aways to keep wealthy Tory backers happy.

Gordon and Alistair must continue to make the right calls, as they did when we were hit by the global financial crisis. They were the first movers on a plan that averted a Great Depression in the global economy, and their decisions set us on the road to recovery. Through the resilience and sacrifice of the British people, the impact of the recession was blunted and shortened. As a consequence, the rate of unemployment, business failures, and home repossessions has been significantly lower than under the Tory recession of the 1990s (and with lower mortgage rates too).

Cameron-Osborne got all these big economic judgements wrong. They would have let Northern Rock go to the wall. They opposed the fiscal stimulus and the real help we gave businesses and families so we could get through this recession together.  Now they are getting it wrong on the recovery. Cut through George Osborne’s waffle and you will see him confirming that he plans to take £6-7 billion out of the economy this year in his ‘emergency’ budget, even though private demand remains weak.  To take this amount of spending power out of the economy straightaway – when the economy needs support and the road ahead will be bumpy – would pull the rug from under the recovery. This ‘emergency’ budget would put the economy straight back into the crisis room.

The rise in National Insurance – which we propose – is not due this year – but in 2011 once recovery is secured.  It is a necessary measure to enable us to restore the public finances whilst maintaining the public services.   Government is about hard choices and we cannot shy away from them if we want to tackle the deficit and protect schools, hospitals, childcare and the police.

Frontline schools, police numbers and Sure Start will not be protected by the Tories.  That much we know. If you are a parent with children in school, or who use Children’s Centres, you should know before you cast your vote that these budgets will be cut under the Tories, not protected.  The Tories can say what they like. But a promise to cut the deficit further than Labour, cut taxes and sustain public spending doesn’t add up – it is a three card Tory con trick.

Securing recovery and protecting frontline services will be on the ballot paper come election day:  and they are both under threat from a Tory party that is showing itself to be a party little changed from the past.  Look at their platform: immediate cuts that would put jobs and services at risk; unfunded tax cuts; an inheritance tax giveaway for the 3,000 richest estates in the country, whilst middle income mums have their child tax credits and Child Trust funds taken away.

But when it comes down to it, people do not trust the Tories to be on their side. They believe the Tories want to cut public services whether it is necessary or not. Some in the media may wish to obscure this fact but the public’s attitude is deeply felt.

Please let me know what you think.  I’m glad to receive emails on victor4nswindon@googlemail.com

Victor Agarwal, Labour Candidate North Swindon.