News that David Cameron has divorced himself and the Conservative party from Labour spending plans is both welcome and long overdue. As too, is the announcement, that the Conservative party supports a return to responsible public spending. However, once again, David Cameron talks prudence, but fails to provide any tangible suggestions, yet another missed opportunity and evidence of political cowardice. News commentators must be getting as bored as the public are of another soundbite which lacks any detail.
Sorry David, but it doesn’t take a genius to work out that government must live within its means, nor a rocket scientist to determine that anything borrowed today, will inevitably have to be paid back tomorrow. Now I know that Gordon Brown is too inept to gauge this concept, but the public, for the most part are not. As a consequence, David Cameron sounds like a preacher rather than a politician and is getting very close to patronising the public and that could be political suicide. Opposition parties must provide alternatives, not state the obvious. We all know what is wrong, what we need is to know that those people in a position to make a difference if elected, are full of ideas and initiatives, not just truth and consequence. We are adults Mr Cameron, don’t talk at us as if we are children, because it will cost you the opportunity to get into power.
David Cameron is petrified of identifying which areas would be in his sights if the Conservative party was voted in. The problem is, even though we know that Gordon Brown is inept and self-obsessed, he also comes across as strong, self-assured and as a leader. By contrast, David Cameron comes over as weak, scared of his own shadow and patronising. To lead, people must have the courage of their convictions, in life it is important, in politics it is essential. If Cameron does not tell us what areas will be targeted, the people of this country will be suspicious of him and he will leave a void where the Labour party can claim that the reason he is saying nothing is because he has no idea what he would do and/or he intends to cut so called essential services, such as education and health.
If David Cameron wants to dip his toe in the water, he could easily start with agreeing to shelve, or better still cancel many of the unpopular information technology projects this government has announced or are already underway. These include, but is not limited to the Big Brother Britain database estimated to cost the taxpayer some £12bn, this should be cancelled altogether, the NHS database, estimated to cost in the region of £32bn, must be shelved in the short-term and re-considered in the medium term, based on a genuine cost versus return basis. Other database systems, that this government has so badly commissioned, budgeted for and managed should also be shelved until such time as the economy recovers, this would include everything related to ID cards. The public would rather have tax cuts than a Big Brother Britain database, you don’t need a poll to tell you that!
There are also the costs associated with a bloated European Union and an overseas budget of some £5bn. None of these affect education or health, so no real political fallout. The LibDems have also suggested limiting the pension tax allowance for higher wage earners from 40% to 20%, maybe this has some merit. Tough, but perhaps for the greater good. In fact there are a whole raft of areas where this government has wasted and continues to waste taxpayers money and have nothing to do with health or tax.
There are other areas that a tough, conviction politician might also consider and that is the massive costs of the highly lucrative public sector, final salary pension schemes which are paid out of tax revenues rather than a pension fund. The bloated public sector, now home to 1 in 5 employed people, or the thousands of quangos that have been set up a government, drunk on massive tax revenues brought about by a boom and stealth taxes.
If the people of this country are to survive relatively intact from the consequences of this recession, then a fiscal stimulus is necessary, It is no good tinkering around the edges and there is no point in stating that “the cupboard is bare”. People must be able to eat, no-one will ever vote in a party that states that they must starve to death for their own good. A proper stimulus package, that includes a substantial reduction in direct taxation, even if it is short-term (2-3 years), is essential, it is okay to fund this through cuts, but whatever the medium term costs, the people of this country need this stimulus now, as do small business. There is no point in looking back at previous recessions, this one is different. More people are employed by small business than ever before, people have higher levels of debt than ever before, more people own their own homes, there are more people on pensions than ever before and the individual is taxed at a higher rate that ever before.
Small and Medium sized businesses need a stimulus package, thus far, the Conservative policies demonstrate a real ignorance of the needs of this sector, which employs some 12.5m people and accounts for nearly 50% of our GDP. Delays in paying VAT and small NI holidays are too little and will help no-one, it is tinkering, not encouraging. David Cameron needs to get down and dirty with small business if he is to understand their needs, not conduct a whistle stop tour for a TV programme. He needs to accept that he and most of his shadow cabinet know nothing about small businesses and their needs, but he cannot ignore such an essential part of UK Plc.
From an outsiders perspective, David Cameron appears to be hiding in Gordon Browns shadow, because he is so scared of his own. Cameron is intent on substituting rhetoric for policies, but what the public want to hear is, if elected, what will the Conservative party do for our country and the people of this country. Cameron is concerned that the Conservative party failed to win the past two elections because of their tax cutting policy, but that wasn’t the reason. It was because the public could see through the veneer, we could see that it was still a party that was not ready for government. I would not have said this 3 months ago, but today, I believe that in spite of the way Gordon Brown has destroyed this economy, he could still win another election simply because the Conservative party is too scared to tell us how they will get this country back on track and make a commitment to reduce taxes through a reduction is waste.
Gordon Brown has waged a vendetta against traditional Tory voters, so called middle income earners, they have been savagely and disproportionately squeezed for higher taxes. The highest earners have been left alone and the low income earners have benefited enormously. The balance has been lost, middle England has been shafted and Cameron needs to commit to redressing this imbalance. It is middle income earners that have paid for Gordon Brown’s social engineering experiments and it is middle income earners that will revolt against New Labour if there is a viable alternative.
A Conservative Party victory with a healthy majority is assured if David Cameron can commit to, and tell us how or when he will; return power to the people, by repealing the draconian, civil liberty busting, intrusive legislation that has been brought in by this present government., cancel the information technology projects that have been ill-thoughout, are way too costly and with questionable returns, address the thorny issue of public sector, final salary pension plans which this country cannot afford., reduce bureaucracy and the obsession with state control and voyeurism., address the issue of 2.5m people on long term sick benefits, deal with the situation where people are better off living on benefits than they are working and making a contribution, illegal immigration. There are a whole raft of policies that would, for the most part, receive majority support.
The Labour party has created a nanny state, where too many people are now reliant on state aid and support. Many believe it is a fundamental right, even if they haven’t contributed anything. Much is said about “free education” or “free health services”, it is not free, at least not to those that pay for it. Social responsibility is about encouraging people to stand on their own two feet, providing a safety net, not an easy opt out. There must be less state intervention, less nanny state and this will lead to a natural reduction in the level of taxes required to fund it. Cameron, you need to grasp the nettle, have the courage of your convictions and put a package of measures in place that reduces waste, reduces taxes, reduces state aid and above all reduces state control over its citizens.
If David Cameron cannot win an election in this current climate, then he never will, nor does he deserve to. If he is not willing to spell out his policies in detail, stand by them and sell them, then he should not be leading the Conservative party, he must stand aside and allow a real politician to take over. Cameron would not last 5 minutes in a real business, because no CEO would accept rhetoric over substance, ideas but no plan, smooth talk but a lack of backbone. David Cameron needs to learn to become a man, a leader of men and a politician who is willing to announce, stand by and sell his policies.
Unless David Cameron starts to put flesh on the bones, he will reach a point where no-one will be listening, Gordon Brown is shrewd enough to know that, he knows that Cameron will become his own worst enemy. Gordon Brown also knows, that fear drives politics, if the public fear that Cameron doesn’t know what to do, then they won’t elect him. If the public fear that Cameron’s policies are so unpalatable that he cannot outline them, then they won’t elect him and Gordon Brown will fuel that fear, by filling the void and telling us how the Tory party will cut services, such as health and education. David Cameron is being outmaneuvered by Gordon Brown and he can’t even see it, that is shameful, because the public want change, but we have to be able to see what that change is, before we can support it. If the public stops listening to Cameron and an election is called, then he will surely lose it and he would only have himself to blame, whilst the rest of us will have to pay the price.
