Conservatives promise tighter government spending
Conservative leader Michael Howard today pledged to lead a government that lived within its means and rewarded individual enterprise.
Launching his party’s economic manifesto, he also stressed Tory opposition to joining the euro, plans to cut taxes, and action to revive Britain’s savings culture.
Mr Howard said a strong and competitive economy was “the foundation of everything we do in Britain” but would be established only by allowing individuals to create wealth, not through government spending.
“We need a government that rewards people who do the right thing – who work hard, take risks, create jobs, save to buy a home, put money aside for their retirement or invest in the future,” he said.
However, the Government was spending more than it earned, jeopardising the country’s economic prospects, the Conservative leader added.
To that end, he reiterated Tory plans to implement their ‘Value for Money Action Plan’ to cut £12 billion from public spending by 2007/08, £8 billion of which would be used to reduce borrowing and £4 billion for tax cuts.
“Government must once again start to live within its means,” he added.
Mr Howard also stressed pledges to keep Britain out of the euro, thus guaranteeing the Bank of England’s long-term independence and control over interest rates, and giving independence to the Office of National Statistics to ensure national figures were “free from interference”.
But Paul Boateng, Labour’s Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said that the Conservatives had no credibility on the economy.
Mr Boateng, said: “The Conservative Party cannot talk about economic stability with any credibility whatsoever. They are the party of boom and bust.
“The publication today of the economy chapter of their manifesto shows the Tories have learnt nothing from their failed past. They have set out no fiscal rules, no employment policy, and remain committed to cutting £35 billion from public spending, including cutting the key drivers of Britain’s future prosperity – science, education, skills, training and the New Deal.”
He added: “The choice before the British people at the next election could not be clearer. Economic stability and a strong economy with Labour. Or a return to boom and bust and cuts to public services under the Tories.”
