Ransom Demand

Today the country heard a ransom demand. It was badly disguised as a plea for help, but it was a ransom none the less. David Cameron told voters to 'vote for him or else'. All other options are doom and destruction apparently. But what he believes would be acceptable is a Conservative party that would cut taxes only for the rich, fail to reform the banking system, leave the broken political system unchanged and threaten the recovery with big cuts this year. A vote for them is not change. It is a vote for the same old party that is even now being told by their own leader of Kent County Council, the man running the biggest education authority in the country, that Tory education policy would see cuts for normal state schools. The change in this election is a vote for the Lib Dems. One of the questions YouGov asked in a poll last week was: "if you thought the Lib Dems could win, how would you vote?" The answer: 49% said Liberal Democrat. Funnily enough The Sun failed to use that figure in its editorial. The Lib Dems are winning in constituencies across the UK. There can be change, with a vote for us.

Tougher Than Thatcher

Chancellor Darling admitted tonight that the cuts Labour would make if they won the election would be tougher than those Margaret Thatcher instigated at the beginning of the eighties. Really that is not a surprise. The public finances are so deep in the red that the money from government is going to be hard to come by for several years. The surprise was that he responded at all to a link to Thatcher. Nobody wants to be associated with her failed economic model do they?

It's a Question of Cuts

We've already heard a lot about cuts in spending in the aftermath of the deep recession we now seem to be tip-toeing out of. We've also heard about budgets that are protected, talk of investment, and priorities. What we need to see now is exactly what the priorities are and where the cuts will come. That is going to be key for people in the coming election. We have spoken already about making the tax system fairer, supporting early years education. We've pledged to cut big ticket expediture like the replacement to Trident, as well as reforming and shrinking Government. I think we will only finally see what each party will cut or support when the manifestos are published, although any party that tries to fudge it will come a cropper at the election.