The Conservatives ARE LYING. They are claiming that Obama’s situation is fundamentally different, as the Conservatives inherited a mess from Labour. They LIE, LIE and LIE even more, and simply do not care. Unfortunately, the public are not stupid. In 2008, the then Shadow chancellor George Osborne has committed the Tories to matching Labour’s public spending totals for the next three years. Osborne said the 2% increases in the financial years 2008/9 to 2010/11 would also allow “sustainably lower taxes” as the economy is expected to grow faster than public spending. The shadow chancellor said triumphantly in a newspaper article: “I can confirm for the first time that a Conservative government will adopt these spending totals.” He then continued: “Total government spending will rise by 2% a year real terms, from £615 billion next year to £674 billion in the year 2010/11. Like Labour, we will review the final year’s total in a spending review in 2009. Just in case you were in any doubt, “The result of adopting these spending totals is that under a Conservative government there will be real increases in spending on public services, year after year. And why did Labour have to spend so much money to increase the deficit? To stop the banks from imploding, as an emergency measure. The Tories would have done the same had it happened on their watch. Fact.
In contrast to Iain Duncan-Smith and Dr Liam Fox who were actively helping the Romney campaign, it is no secret Labour were helping the Obama campaign. “It matters because America is the last superpower where who wins a leadership election really matters – it affects the whole world,” said Simon Redfern, chair of the Walthamstow Labour Party. Simon just returned from ten days of campaigning for Mr Obama in Cleveland, Ohio, as part of a 30-strong British delegation. He explained: “I was given the opportunity and I just jumped at it. In the Labour Party we’re trying to emulate many of the things the Democrats have been doing with community activism, so it was a real education. Simon added, “Getting people involved and battling cynicism has really been [Walthamstow Labour MP] Stella Creasy’s mission. Things like the pop-up respite centre during the riots last year are an example of that type of community, grass-roots involvement.” That, I think, is precisely it – instead of asking for votes by scaremongering over impending bankruptcy like Greece, losing our gold studded triple A rating, talking about spending sprees with the public finances, Obama uniquely offered hope not hate. It is therefore little wonder then that American President was left rather underwhelmed after a private discussion with Mr Cameron in 2008 and his impressions of the Conservative leader were reported in a confidential cable sent by US officials back to Washington. David Cameron was regarded by Barack Obama as a “lightweight” politician following their first meeting, the leaked documents have disclosed apparently. The embarrassing memo is among more than 1,000 documents from the American embassy in London that have been leaked and been publicly released, consequently. According to the Daily Telegraph, American officials had already warned Downing Street over the contents of the diplomatic cable. It is thought that they have stressed that Mr Obama’s opinion of Mr Cameron has changed as the two men have got to know one another better.
At least Obama was able to say last night that “Our economy is recovering”. Indeed in 2010, George Osborne inherited an economy that was growing at 0.7 per cent. Later that year he ignored the advice of many economists and set out plans to close the deficit within four years rather than eight. He also failed to set out a coherent growth plan, predicated on investment and jobs in the green economy that his party once championed. The result of Osborne’s slasher-nomics has been, as entirely predictable, that borrowing that is rising rather than falling. In this year’s budget, the Chancellor was forced to admit that public sector net borrowing (PSNB) would be 8.3 per cent in 2011-12 rather than 7.9 per cent as he’d predicted a year before. Since then, the situation has deteriorated. The most recent ONS release showed that the PSNB is up nearly 22 per cent in the first five months of the financial year compared to the same period last year. Borrowing is going up even as the departmental spending cuts continue apace.
It is thought that Cameron will seek to “seek change” in 2015 even as the incumbent candidate, but a François Hollande proved, it is possible for one-term oppositions to exist. Obama said last night, “It doesn’t matter whether you’re black or white or Hispanic or Asian or Native American or young or old or rich or poor, able, disabled, gay or straight, you can make it here in America if you’re willing to try.” Meanwhile, here in the UK, ATOS has conducted about 738,000 work capability assessments on benefit claimants in the past financial year. However the assessments have been widely criticised and it has emerged that 40% of people appeal against the decisions – with 38% of those successful. The cost to the taxpayer of the tribunal system alone is £50m, around half of the amount spent on reassessment. In sharp contrast to Miliband’s “One Nation”, charities say jobcentre staff have been shocked “when someone who is clearly unwell turns up having been told that they are fit for work”. In May 2012, GPs called for the assessments to be scrapped. Tom Greatrex, whose investigation into Atos led to the National Audit Office this month calling for an overhaul of the government’s medical testing contract with the company, said the firm “would not fix its reputation by sponsoring the Paralympics”.
“Tonight you voted for action, not politics as usual. You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours. And in the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties to meet the challenges we can only solve together.” We in Labour support him, as we always have done.
Meanwhile, this Twitter exchange from last night sums it up nicely.
