Leaders clash on public services

Wednesday, 30 June 2004 12:00 AM

Tony Blair and Michael Howard have clashed in the Commons over the state of public services.

With public services now firmly established as the electoral battleground, both leaders sought to stamp their authority on proceedings during Wednesday's Prime Minister's Question Time.

Last week Mr Howard based his attack around the case of a constituent who had reportedly been told she would have to wait 20 months for cancer treatment. Over the week it has emerged that this information was incorrect, and the wait is in fact 20 weeks.

The Prime Minister called on Mr Howard to issue an apology for "running down" the NHS, claiming that in the Opposition Leader's constituency waiting lists have fallen by 81 per cent.

However Mr Howard brushed aside suggestions of an apology, declaiming: "If the Prime Minister and the Government benches think that a five month wait for treatment for someone with a life threatening illness is something to boast about, then they are even more out of touch with opinion in this country then anyone would have thought."

Moving onto education, Mr Blair slated Tory policies as "elitist, divisive and reactionary" and said that the Labour Party was committed to giving opportunities to all children. The Conservative policies he said were based on an ethos that "the best you can get out of public services is to get out of them".

He claimed that the Tories would cut spending per pupil, when it has gone up by £800 per pupil since 1997.

Mr Howard hit back arguing that the public was more concerned with the standards of education, rather than the money being invested. The Tory leader also claimed out that one in three 11 year olds cannot read, write or count properly and that there is an attack on a teacher every seven minutes of every school day.

Mr Blair then poured scorn on the Conservative party's pledge to invest a further £16 billion on education, suggesting the figures are "utterly incoherent".

He countered with a string of statistics showing how schools have improved under the Labour government.

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