Have the Conservatives really changed?
Blink and you'd have missed it.
There was an article in The Times over the weekend (link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6999919.ece) which is, for me, a telling insight into the Conservative Party, and its commitment to a fairer Britain.
Isabel Oakeshott writes that 'David Cameron has launched a controversial attempt to save hereditary peers as the government moves to oust them from the House of Lords.'
It is, in my view, quite extraordinary that a party seeking to persuade the country that it has changed, and is now equipped to deal with the rising level of inequality that is the shaming legacy of 12 years of Labour government, should also throw its weight behind the '90 remaining aristocrats' in the partially reformed House of Lords.
In the last few weeks David Cameron and George Osborne have fought a bit of a rearguard action, trying to deflect criticism about the Conservatives' centrepiece Inheritance Tax policy (not to mention the married couple's allowance).
They seem to want to deny that the Conservative Party has the interests of the best-off in its DNA.
And now the stance on the Hereditaries...
I wonder if my Conservative counterpart was talking about these policies when, as she mentions in her column this week, she was canvassing in Hollington?
I suspect not. She would be pilloried, and rightly so.
By contrast, on Monday, Vince Cable the Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesman, in a lecture to the thinktank Demos, set out why the Lib Dems are the party of fairness, and genuine economic (as well as parliamentary) reform.
Let me give you a snippet:
"In recent weeks, the markets have been jittery about the outcome of the General Election and the uncertain aspect of its outcome on Government spending. They are right to worry: the consequences of failure to bring the deficit under control are serious. This cannot be allowed to happen – what we need is a credible plan to deal with the deficit and to be delivered by whatever Government is formed after the British public have had their say.
"Let me be clear that bringing stability back to the public finances is an unambiguous commitment. For the Liberal Democrats it is the first pillar of our economic policy.
"What is needed is a calm and rational plan, a proactive rather than reactive approach, identifying the priority steps which need to be taken to cut government spending. The Liberal Democrats have for a start put on hold many of our previous spending commitments – to free personal care, to a generous citizens pension, to universal child care – which are undoubtedly popular ideas but are not, now, affordable.
"We have so far identified an additional 10bn in net savings beyond what the government has put forward which is, altogether, about half of what would be needed to meet the government's deficit reduction objective. I do not hide the fact that much more would need to be done...
"... The Liberal Democrats believe that it is simply not possible to address the problem of an unsustainable budget deficit without parallel action to rebalance the tax system and eliminate the unfairness at its core.
"There are painful times ahead but we believe that the measures I have set out to support economic recovery will do much to reduce the pain. We understand the enormity of the challenge ahead and are ready for it."
I'd go for Vince's way over George's – any day!
(To read more about what Nick has been up to, check out his blog – 'Nick Perry for Hastings & Rye' at www.nickperrylibdem.wordpress.com; or reply to him: @nickperrylibdem on Twitter]
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Weather for Hastings
Monday 13 February 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 2 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 4 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North
