Quote:
Originally Posted by claytonender
Just a few points for you to ponder on-
The two faces of the Tory party
- The face David Cameron would like you to see and the ugly reality:
• Cameron makes one of his ‘cast iron guarantees’ that the Tories don’t like the National Insurance increase in 2011.
• So what will his party do? He’s instructed his chum, Tatton MP George Osborne, to ‘look at’ NI very carefully. No commitment, just shallow promises.
• In the meantime the Tories say they would go further than the Chancellor’s PBR deficit reducing measures.
• They would cut the deficit ‘faster’ by immediately scrapping the Child Trust Fund, freezing pay and raising the retirement age.
• At the same time Boris Johnson is standing up for the bankers and complaining that a one off tax on bonuses means his city chums are being 'super penalised’.
• Labour has set clear choices for the future that protect North West schools, the NHS and the Police.
• Drastic cuts are not the way out of the downturn - the North West's front line services must be protected.
Challenge Osborne
• At Tory Conference this year George Osborne announced his plans to get rid of the Child Tax Credit for households on more than £50,000 per year.
• He said it would raise them £400 million. However, it has now emerged that this would actually raise them only £45 million.
• To raise £400 million they would need to cut Child Tax Credit from a couple earning as little as £16,000 each - less than average earnings.
• Click on this link to write to your local newspaper and challenge the Tories for an answer
And here are some Labour acheivements -
Ten Labour achievements to be proud of:
1. 900,000 pensioners lifted out of poverty
2. 500,000 children lifted out of relative poverty and measures already in train will lift around a further 500,000 children out of poverty.
3. Free TV licences for over-75s
4. The New Deal has helped over 2 million people into work
5. Over 3 million Child Trust Funds have been started
6. Nearly 3,000 Sure Start Children’s Centres opened, reaching 2 million children and their families
7. Over 42,400 more teachers and 123,000 more teaching assistants than in 1997
8. There have been approximately 3,700 rebuilt and significantly refurbished schools; including new and improved classrooms, laboratories and kitchens.
9. A free nursery place for every 3 and 4 year old.
10. Doubled the number of registered childcare places to more than 1.5 million, one for every four children under eight years old.
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I'm not sure if copy and pasting from the Labour website is pondering or not. Anyway let me spread a little light onto this post.
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The two faces of the Tory party"
1. This tax on jobs hits 10 million people. I wouldn't think it sensible to tax jobs in a recession when we're heading for 3 million people unemployed under the official figures alone. Contrary to what you write, the Conservative Party will reverse these tax increases and abolish it for startups to help employment rise. Not "shallow promises", instead commitment. Strong leadership. Unlike Gordon Brown who declares rises in pensions only to hide cuts if they win the election.
2. Yes, they would freeze pay. Much of the private sector are struggling with layoffs and pay
cuts. The public sector isn't immune to this, a one year pay freeze will help pay off the massive debt that the current government have burdened the country with. Same with child trust funds, the poorest families will still be entitled to them, but why should the very rich? Labour have created a 13% deficit that has to be dealt with in some way.
3. The tax on bankers was backed by the Conservative Party.
4. Labour haven't even committed to ring fencing NHS spending yet. The Conservatives have and will protect the frontline in other areas. Labour don't have mass reform plans, they have had 12 years to do that, cuts without reform from Labour will affect frontline services.
5. Large scale cuts are the way out of the downturn. Both parties realise this. You can't combat a 13% deficit, that is £180billion deficit, by tinkering at the edges.
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Ten Labour achievements to be proud of"
Quite easy to list some things Labour have done over the last 12 years. Quite easy for Labour to borrow, borrow, borrow, spend, spend, spend. Not so easy when you have to deal with the reality of a 13% deficit, hundreds of billions of pounds of borrowing.
You talk of sure start. £23,000 of debt for every child born in Britain today. What sort of start is that?