Opposition parties attack Labour’s pledges
Opposition parties have reacted with scepticism and scorn to Tony Blair’s whistle-stop tour of the country today.
Travelling by helicopter Mr Blair is visiting a number of marginal constituencies and unveiling an election pledge in each one, which when put together will make up Labour’s pledge card.
The pledges revealed so far are: Your family better off; Your family treated better and faster; and Your child achieving more. The final pledges are expected to be unveiled at Labour’s spring conference in Gateshead this afternoon.
But Matthew Taylor, Liberal Democrat party chairman, said the pledges would not restore public trust in Labour.
In previous elections, he said, Labour had dropped a commitment to follow an ethical foreign policy and had introduced university top-up and tuitions fees despite promising not to.
Mr Taylor said: “From tuition fees to the war in Iraq, Labour has failed to be honest and straightforward with the public.
“This sort of stunt might have been believable in 1997, but it just won’t wash with the British public now.”
And Shadow Chancellor Oliver Letwin demanded to know which taxes were going to rise.
Mr Letwin said: “It is striking that Labour’s ‘economic pledge’ doesn’t say a single word about tax. Almost every serious economic commentator says Labour’s plans mean big tax rises after the election if Labour are re-elected. It is not a question of whether Mr Blair will put up taxes if he was re-elected – but which taxes he would put up?”
Party co-chair Liam Fox added that the pledges were like “Groundhog day”. He said: “Tony Blair is at it again. He has had almost eight years in power, and now, just weeks before a general election, he claims that he has the answers to the problems we face. Most people will feel like it is Groundhog Day, as they hear Mr. Blair making the same old promises again and again. He is all talk”
And the Greens slammed the Prime Minister for using a helicopter to travel around in.
Green Party Principal Speaker Keith Taylor said: “It is typical of the Prime Minister to pay lip service to the real issue of climate change one week and then completely blow his cover the next, when he both ignores it in his list of ‘so called’ pledges, and selects one of the most environmentally damaging forms of transport – a helicopter – to travel between his pledge announcements.”
