Cameron planning to set out "fine print" of spending cuts before election

Ray

So perhaps the Conservatives will ditch their "NHS is sacrosanct" nonsense after all.

Mr Eagle Eye

Cameron is effectively guaranteed electoral victory, so he has considerable leeway to detail the inevitable cuts and tax rises. The more he explains now, the easier the job will be for the Conservative government.

IH

No, I don't think it sounds complacent because it would be his government when they get in!

C Powell

Whatever the parties say, cuts in public spending will have to happen if Britain is going to avoid defaulting on its debt and going bankrupt. That's the reality. There's a better chance of avoiding this nightmare scenario if there is at least one party which makes clear that it understands what has to happen, has a plan to achieve that and gets elected. (And even then it will be a close run thing.) In that context, references to "my government" are trivialities.

Hawkeye

Peter Hoskin said: "Paul Waugh has honed in on the "my government" part of this quote"

I noticed that myself, but what was the context? It is generally accepted that Labour will lose the next election.

stephen maybery

THERE IS NO DIFFICULTY IN CUTTING GOVERNMENT SPENDING, HEALTH, DEFENSE AND EDUCATION ARE TOP HEAVY WITH INCOMPETENT ADMINISTRATORS, AND THE COUNTRY IS AWASH WITH SUPPORT CENTRES FOR ONE LEGGED LESBIANS. AN ORGANISATION NEXT TO WHERE I LIVE IN EAST LONDON (THE DAVENANT CENTRE) HAS WASTED MILLIONS ON SUCH ESSNTIALS TO MODERN LIFE AS HOW TO RIDE A BIKE WEAING A BURKAH. THE SOONER THIS APPALLING WASTAGE IS DESPENSED WITH THE SOONER WE CAN RETURN TO ECONOMIC SANITY, AND IT ABOUT TIME THE TORIES STARTED SCREAMING THIS FROM THE ROOF TOPS.
AS FOR FORIEGN AID AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS ACT, JUST DON'T GET ME STARTED

RobertD

It would be easier for us voters to judge Cameron's proposals if we had a comprehensive spending plan from the current "government" against which we could compare it.

We are being left to judge Brown's bodgers only on the evidence that their fiscal houskeeping is so poor that they have no idea what they are spending or why.

Sufficient evidence to convict Brown but not much idea about how much improvement we can expect from Cameron.

Angela

Peter Hoskin said: "Paul Waugh has honed in on the "my government" part of this quote"

Quite right too. Doesn't the Queen, in her speeches at the Opening of Parliament, refer to "My Government"?

It can't belong to both of them. Is Cameron proposing to take over her role as Head of State?

Probably it was just a slip of the tongue with no forethought, but irritating nonetheless.

Senor Frizby

We hear in the news all the time the media refer to "Mister Brown's cabinet" or "Mister Brown's government". As he very likely going to be the next PM, what is the problem?

Let's talk more about cuts. We need them so let's have them. No more deception of the Brown & Mandelson type. Just plain old fashioned fixing the economy & spending less and applying lethal injections to the quangocracy.

Scary Biscuits

Officially, the government is that of HM Queen, not of the Prime Minister.

It's not the insult to the Queen (sad as that is) that matters as much as the mode of govt is suggests Cameron's planning. It speaks of no return to primus inter pares, cabinet govt or Parliamentary independence and instead a continuation of the sofa govt, politicised Civil Servants and management by diktak and press release. This has got us into such a pickle over everything from the Iraq War to bank regulation. Welcome to the heir to Blair.

Ian C

He is right to do this, but the NHS commitment he has made will bite him.

JONNY

'Is Cameron proposing to take over her role as Head of State?'

No he's not Angela.
And you're being trivial.
Or just plain ridiculous.

Simon Stephenson

As far as the wellbeing of the country is concerned, it will be catastrophic if Brown/Labour's public spending philosophy is allowed to retain a reputation as a viable mainstream alternative. Establishing this as a calamitous mistake is not about rubbishing Brown/Labour, but about creating a broad consensus, and clearing the way for a proper, reasoned all-inclusive debate about how best to implement what needs to be done, which is a radical re-scaling of the size of the public sector to one which we can reasonably afford.

What cannot be allowed to happen is for a significant body of people to retain the belief that Brown's nonsenses are a viable alternative way for the country to proceed.

Verity

What commitment is Cameron going to make on the Lisbon Treaty, which supercedes every other issue as the sovereignty of our country and the continuation of Britain as an independent nation is at stake?

He's got his sticky, inept fingers in everything else, but he is curiously quiet about Lisbon.

What commitment are you going to give the electorate on a referendum the Lisbon Treaty, Dave? Everything else is Blairesque smoke and mirrors.

Irene

Hasn't Cameron's office clarified that in the article he went out of his way to say IF we win the election - this reporting is all a bit picky and unecessary IMO

Kevyn Bodman

Not just Lisbon, important though that is.
What about the loss of liberty over the last 12 years?
Simple, Cameron: A Great Repeal Act.
But I believe Cameron eants the post-Lisbon EU,and our restricted freedoms just the way they are.

Verity

Yes, Kevyn Bodman, agree totally. A Great Repeal Act. Stroke of the pen. Gone. But I, too, intuit from everything he has said, and his evasive attitudes, that things as they are suit Cameron's ambitions just fine. After No 10, next stop, top table in Brussels.

That's the plan.

Anon

Fraser-How trustworthy are you on annonimity?
Should I e-mail or write?