Cameron and Miliband issue last-gasp election attack
By Ian Dunt
Ed Miliband and David Cameron entered into a bitter war of words today, as polling day approached.
PMQs was dominated by local issues, with council performance, spending cuts and frontline services dominating discussion ahead of tomorrow’s elections.
Asked about his pledge to veto any minister whose cuts would affect frontline services, Mr Cameron hit back at the Labour leader with an attack on Labour councillors, who he accused of cutting spending excessively.
“Isn’t it time he talked to local Labour authorities like Manchester city council?” the prime minister said.
“Labour local authorities are playing politics with people’s jobs.”
Mr Miliband hit back by mocking reports of a furious row during yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, in which energy secretary Chris Huhne argued with Mr Cameron and chancellor George Osborne over No to AV’s campaign tactics.
“I know how the energy secretary must have felt at Cabinet yesterday,” the opposition leader said.
“Remember what they said a year ago – two parties working together in the national interest. Now what do we have? Two parties threatening to sue each other in their own interest. That’s what’s changed in the last year.
“What the public are saying – on police cuts, on tuition fees, on the NHS – this is not what we voted for. Having broken so many of their promises a year ago how can the public believe anything they’re saying at these elections tomorrow?”
Mr Cameron responded by defending the coalition’s record in government, citing a freeze on council tax, a cap on immigration and city academies as examples.
“With council elections tomorrow, people should remember the mess Labour left us in,” he said.
“Don’t let Labour do to your council what they did to our country.”
