Brown, Cameron and Clegg: The speeches
Read what Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg had to say as they kicked off the general election campaign.
Cameron speaks to supporters near City Hall:
“Don’t let anyone say you just have to put up with what you have got.
“We know what Labour will say: ‘Stick with the devil you know. Don’t risk change. The other lot won’t be any better’. Frankly, we couldn’t be any worse. Don’t think like that. Where is it written that we have to put up with more and more taxes and more waste?
“Where is it written that we can’t deal with the problems of anti-social behaviour and crime and violence on our streets on a Friday and Saturday night?
“Where is it written that we can’t have the best state schools in the whole world? We are one of the richest countries in the world and we deserve better.
“We need to say to people: ‘Don’t just put up with what you have got. Don’t just ask for better from your politicians. Demand that you get better’.”
Brown announces the general election outside Downing Street:
“Today I visited Her Majesty the Queen to ask for a dissolution of parliament and a general election on May 6th.
“I come from an ordinary family, in an ordinary town, and I’ve never forgotten where I come from, or the values – hard work, duty, fairness, telling the truth – my parents instilled in me. And that’s why during this world recession the team and I have fought so hard for families on middle and modest incomes. And from now until polling day I will travel the length and breadth of Britain with one clear message: Britain is now on the way to economic recovery and now is not the time to put it at risk.
“Over the next few months we face big challenges and big decisions upon which our future success depend. Get the big decisions right, as we did in the last eighteen months at a time of economic crisis when we led the way for the whole world, and prosperity, jobs and better schools and hospitals will result.
“Get these decisions wrong and the livelihoods of thousands upon thousands of Britain’s families will be damaged. The economy is now starting to grow again but the wrong decisions by withdrawing money from the economy could damage our chances. Unemployment is falling but a party that does not believe in government action would put jobs at risk. Businesses are growing in confidence again and the party who would pull the rug from under the recovery could tip us back into recession.
“So I am asking you the British people for a clear and immediate mandate to continue the urgent work of securing the recovery, building the industries of the future and creating one million new skilled jobs for the British people.
“And as we cut the deficit by half over 4 years, I am asking you the British people for a mandate to protect your hospitals, your schools and your policing. I pledge this guarantee, a personal guarantee for you – that when you need to get in touch with the police, when you need cancer care, when you need access to a GP in the evenings or at weekends, when you need one to one tuition for your child, our public services will be there guaranteed to you and accountable to you and your family.
“I ask also for a mandate to renew our public life and the publics trust. Faith in our democracy has been rightly shaken by recent events. I will set out a comprehensive plan to forge a new contract between those who serve and the people they are sworn to serve.
“I am not a team of one, but one of a team. A team with the energy, the substance and the ideas to lead this amazing country in the second decade of this young century. And I say to the British people: our cause is your cause. The future is ours to win – now let’s get to it.”
Clegg speaks to party workers
“Today is the beginning of the end for Gordon Brown… [After] 13 years of dodging elections, despite being a key player in some of the most disastrous decisions, such as taking the country into an illegal war and a deep recession, [Brown] can’t avoid going to the polls any longer… In Brown’s Britain it is harder than ever to get on. Now is the time for all those people who want real change and real fairness in Britain to choose something different and turn to the Liberal Democrats.”
Clegg speaks to reporters outside his home this morning:
“This is a choice between the old politics and something new, something different. People have a real choice and that’s why this election is wide open. All bets are off. I’m really looking forward to being able to put the case for real change, real fairness, to people up and down the country.”
