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Cameron: I will be judged on getting Britain out of debt
21.08.09
David Cameron declared today that lowering Britain's deficit would “make or break my government”.
In a rare move for an opposition leader, Mr Cameron set his own test of success in office as he underlined his pledge to deliver financial responsibility.
Government debt passed £800 billion yesterday and the Treasury was forced to borrow a record £8 billion last month to keep public services going.
Economists were shocked by the deterioration in the national finances after tax revenues collapsed in the recession.
Today the Conservative leader signalled that spending cuts would be at the heart of his administration's aim to get the UK back into the black.
He told the Economist he regretted not abandoning Labour's spending plans sooner but insisted he was determined to find savings to get more value for money for the taxpayer.
“Getting the deficit under control will make or break my government,” he said. “I can't think of an opposition party going into an election promising spending cuts since 1929.”
Mr Cameron also made clear for the first time that more details of his plans would emerge before the election. City experts say spending cuts and tax rises are inevitable whoever wins the election.
Chancellor Alistair Darling yesterday attacked Mr Cameron's “irresponsible” remark earlier this week that Britain risked defaulting on its debts. The Tory leader had reiterated his warning that the level of public debt was so high there was a danger that overseas investors could “cease to lend” to the Government or demand higher premiums.
But he was careful to qualify his statement after being accused earlier this year of talking Britain down when he warned that Mr Brown could be the second Labour prime minister to be forced to go to the IMF.
In his interview today he sought to further distance the Tories from the row sparked by Daniel Hannan's anti-NHS remarks in the US. Mr Cameron said he was personally committed to the service and his own view “is the one that counts”.
He faced more criticism today when former minister Ann Widdecombe attacked his “climate change agenda” and moves to modernise the party.
Miss Widdecombe said women and ethnic candidates were not being selected on merit and that Mr Cameron had shunned older party members. She also accused him of “blindly” following environmentalists' warnings about global warming.
“It so happens that I know that an awful lot of people in our party — and by that I mean a lot — are deeply unhappy with the way that we've signed up apparently quite blindly to the climate change agenda,” she told Total Politics magazine.
“There is a deep unease that we're rushing in virtually to a theology: those who asked questions are deniers.”
Reader views (4)
So what cuts are you going to make Mr Cameron? Last time your lot privatised the railways and created Railtrack an organisation that went under when passengers starting paying with their lives because of cuts in maintenance!
Or will it be the NHS about which we have heard remarks about it from your MPs and MEPs and yet you appear to turn a blind eye to what they say.
Anyway what is wrong with debt after all it was Thatcher who brought in right to buy laws which lead millions into debt to buy their council properties. And now some who bougt flats wish they had'nt as they get bills for tousands of pounds of maintenance costs!!
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex
Cameron is constantly talking down the country, sterling and in essence the British people. He talks about a broken Britain and how he will fix it as if some religious zealot. Last time the Tory government was in power it left the NHS on its knees, our schools in poverty and large swathes of the country on the dole, and there was no global credit crunch to blame. If we end up at the IMF, Mr Cameron will in part be to blame.
- Steve S, London
So he is in government now is he? do not count your chickens call me Dave, after the last few days your weakness in dealing with the baffoons of your party has come shinning through.
- Jackie, England
You´ve got to get into no. 10 first, Mr Cameron and you´ve a way to go yet. So far, we have heard the same old "all spin and no substance" rhetoric. It´s time you put a few positive proposals on the table.
- Graham Rodhouse, Helmond, Netherlands
