Cameron promises not to ‘go negative’
By Ian Dunt
David Cameron has pledged to not go negative in his response to the Liberal Democrats’ surprising rise in the polls.
Speaking in London to small businesses, Mr Cameron said: “People are asking me ‘how are you going to respond, what are you going to do, are you suddenly going to go negative?’
“I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to redouble the positive. I’m going to make sure everything we do is about the positive future for your country.
“This election is about a really big choice. We need real leadership. This election is now about who can actually deliver the change the country wants,” he added.
“That is what the Conservatives offer, real change, real change to get the job done. It’s leadership we need, not fudge.”
Mr Cameron played on concerns that a boosted Lib Dem vote could see Gordon Brown remain prime minister in the event of a hung parliament.
“If you want change, the only way to be certain of change, the only way to get change which will get the job done, is to vote for a Conservative government that can bring it,” he said.
“In my time in politics I’ve been ahead of the polls, behind in the polls, level, good, bad. That doesn’t matter. What matters is what you believe in, who can get change done.”
Later in the speech, Mr Cameron reiterated his proposals for the ‘big society’, in the context of Britain’s vulnerable public finances.
Labour attacked the plans during a press conference in London.
“This confirms what we have been saying all along,” Gordon Brown said.
“His vision is of DIY, ‘you’re on your own’ public services.
“The big society sounds nice enough, it looks fine, but scratch beneath the surface and it’s the same Tory party of old.
“To govern is to chose, and the Conservatives have their priorities wrong.”
