Treating us like fools

The Prime Minister and the Labour Party continue to believe they can treat us like fools. We had the cancelled election of autumn 2007, when Gordon Brown said the worsening polls had not been a factor in his decision to cancel the election; last week’s pretence that he never intended to move the Chancellor, the Foreign Secretary or the unelected First Secretary of State in the Cabinet reshuffle; and now more nonsense about public spending with the Prime Minister claiming that spending will rise over the next few years under Labour whereas the Conservatives will make huge cuts to frontline service. This is a desperate attempt to con the electorate.

Let us be absolutely clear; our country’s public finances are in a mess after twelve years of Gordon Brown as Chancellor and Prime Minister. The figures the Prime Minister read out in Parliament last week show real terms spending (taking into account inflation levels, debt repayment of record proportions, and increased benefits payments, resulting from the recession) falling by around 7% a year from 2011. These are the government’s own figures from the budget, analysed by an independent body (the Institute for Fiscal Studies). We Conservatives recognise that we are entering a much-needed period of austerity with tough choices to follow. We are committed to being straight with the British people in describing what we need to do to get us out of this terrible economic hole; Labour’s debt crisis. Labour needs to be honest with the public about the implications of their debt crisis for the public services.

I was disappointed to see Derek Twigg repeat this Labour nonsense at Business Questions in Parliament last week. Surely the people of Halton and Britain deserve to be treated as grown ups and not treated like fools.