While the nation is on tenterhooks for the 2015 Budget, the Tories have filled the news gap this morning with a new attack video. As you can watch above, Conservative HQ has dug up 18 year old TV footage from the Treasury, featuring Messrs Miliband, Balls and Brown promising to spend money wisely and keep unemployment down. As we now know, this didn’t quite go to plan so the Tories are keen to remind voters: ‘don’t let them do it again.’
This ad has been viewed just under 10,000 times, which is pretty good for a political video. The tone is one of an attack ad, crafted to scare voters away from Labour and the two Eds. The timing is odd, coming days after David Cameron denied the Tories were ‘going negative’. In his interview with BuzzFeed on Monday, the Prime Minister said the Conservatives are running ‘the most positive possible campaign.’
‘We’re saying that what we’ve done in Britain in the last five years has completely turned our economy round…and our election message is: “Keep us on track and we will deliver really positive things for this country.” It is a totally positive campaign about delivering security for individuals, for families, for our country; that’s what it’s about.’
As we’ll hear from the Chancellor later, the Tories do have a positive message (as their YouTube page shows) about the economy and future of Britain but they are clearly intertwining this with attacks on Labour. There is logic behind this. Firstly, 43 per cent currently trust Cameron and Osborne with the economy, compared to 26 per cent for Miliband and Balls according to Lord Ashcroft. Secondly, voters still blame Labour for Britain’s economic woes. According to polling from YouGov at the end of last year, 36 per cent blame Labour for the spending cuts, compared to 27 per cent for the coalition — although the coalition fares worse on living costs and deficit reduction. This means the Tories are doing their upmost to point out the dangers of putting Labour back in charge.
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