Posts Tagged ‘gordon brown’
Britain: Billions of pounds in the Red thanks to Labour – Annabel Goldie MSP
Annabel Goldie MSP, Scottish Conservative Leader, says:
“Labour’s mismanagement of Britain’s economy has been catastrophic. Debt interest payments alone will soon reach £60 billion, twice the entire amount spent on Scotland’s health service, schools, police, roads and local services every year.
“Scotland’s share of Labour’s debt mountain is an estimated £72 billion. We need a government with a credible plan and the political resolve to put Britain back in the black. The risk of 5 more years of Labour is more waste, higher tax, a worse credit rating, higher interest rates and higher mortgages. Britain is billions of pounds in the red as a result of Labour’s mismanagement of the economy.
“In Scotland, the Conservatives have helped tens of thousands of businesses weather the worst of Labour’s economic storm by ensuring business rates were cut or abolished, a move which the Federation of Small Businesses says has prevented 1 in 8 small firms from going bust.
“We have to deliver that kind of real help right across the United Kingdom.
“That is why a Conservative Government would scrap Labour’s tax on jobs, get credit flowing again, protect and create jobs to boost the recovery, and get to grips with Labour’s debt. Dither and delay would risk the recovery, not help it. The time has come for action, and for change.”
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Gordon Brown’s record – Conservative “Vote for Me” campaign
Michael Gove has launched a new poster campaign putting Gordon Brown’s record at the heart of the election campaign.
These posters arrive alongside a new analysis of Labour’s time in power, and you can view both by clicking the links below.
Speaking at the launch, Shadow Education Secretary Michael Gove said:
“Gordon Brown is asking people to vote him in for another five years but he and his tired Government will just make things worse.”
“He has doubled our national debt and squandered billions of pounds selling off Britain’s gold at rock bottom prices. He has taken billions out of our pensions system and doubled the tax rate for the poorest workers. He has let down our young people by causing record youth unemployment, and overseen an increase in the gap between the rich and poor. And he has let 80,000 criminals out of prison early, leading to 1,500 crimes being committed by people who should have been behind bars.”
“We can’t go on like this. The choice at this election is five more years of Gordon Brown’s tired government making things worse or David Cameron and the Conservatives with the energy, leadership and values to get the country moving.”
… and here are some other things Gordon Brown did…
Cut the Defence Budget at a time of war – and got caught out denying it!
Gordon Brown misled the Chilcot Inquiry, Parliament and the public when he claimed that ‘the defence budget has been rising every year since 1997’
(Hansard, 10 March 2010, Col. 291).
He was later forced to admit that ‘I do accept that in one or two years defence expenditure did not rise in real terms’
(Hansard, 17 March 2010).
Figures from the Ministry of Defence show that the defence budget actually fell year-on-year in real terms on four occasions since 1997 – in 1998, 1999, 2002 and 2007.
(Channel 4 News Factcheck, 10 March 2010).
Taxed jobs as we were emerging from recession.
Last December, Gordon Brown’s Government announced a tax on jobs – a 0.5 per cent rise in the rate of National Insurance Contributions for both employees and employers. This comes on top of the
rise in NICs announced in the 2008 PBR, meaning a total planned rise of 1 per cent. This is a tax on all businesses and on every person earning over £20,000.
The Federation of Small Businesses has estimated that this could mean up to 57,000 jobs are lost. (FSB,
Press Release, 24 March 2010)
Increased spending on quangos by £10 billion.
The cost of unelected and poorly accountable government bodies has soared by almost £10 billion under Gordon Brown. In his first year as Prime Minister, total expenditure on so-called
“executive non-departmental public bodies” rose from £37.0 billion to £43.0 billion in 2007-08 – a 16 per cent rise
(Cabinet Office, Public Bodies 2007, p.10; Public Bodies 2008, p.10).
Figures for 2008-09 revealed quango expenditure rose by another £3.5 billion to £46.5 billion – a 7 per cent rise
(Cabinet Office, Public Bodies 2009, p.6) making a mockery of his claims to deliver a new politics.
Brought boom and bust to the NHS – which led to NHS cuts.
Despite massively increasing spending, Gordon Brown has been guilty of a ‘boom and bust’ approach to the NHS finances, forcing NHS Trusts into cuts and wasteful short-term spending. Between 2005 and 2007, 14,500 jobs were cut from the NHS as Trusts struggled to recover from deficits
(NHS Information Centre, NHS Staff 1998-2008, 25 March 2009).
And since 2004, the number of beds in the NHS has been cut by 21,500 – the equivalent of 12 per cent
(Department of Health, Bed availability and occupancy 2008-09, 30 September 2009).
Accident and Emergency departments and maternity units up and down the country have faced or are facing cuts and closures. And things are only set to get worse, as one of Gordon Brown’s own health advisers said that ‘the days of the District General Hospital are over’
(Professor Sir Ara Darzi, NHS London, A Framework for Action, 11 July 2007).
Let truancy rise to record levels.
In 1998, Gordon Brown’s Treasury set a target to reduce truancy rates to 0.5 per cent
(HM Treasury, Comprehensive Spending Review, Public Service Agreements 1999-2000, December 1998).
But the figure now stands at 1.05 per cent – up 44 per cent since 1996/7, well in excess of the Government’s target, and at a record high. 67,000 pupils skip school without permission every day
(DCSF, Pupil Absence in Schools in England, Including Pupil Characteristics: 2008/09, 25 March 2010).
Paid couples more to live apart than together.
The tax credit system penalises parents who live together, giving families a financial incentive to split up.
The IFS has highlighted the fact that a couple with children earning £20,000 between them could be more than £5,000 better off in terms of benefits and tax credits if they split up.
(The Sunday Times, 4 March 2007).
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Alan Blackwood, Corus Redcar steel worker – “We are dead, gone, finished. There is absolutely no way it can be saved!”
Corus workers’ anger over government ‘platitudes’
Work to partially mothball the plant could take up to six months
Corus workers on Teesside have accused the government of talking “platitudes” over the future of Redcar’s plant, which is being partially mothballed.
The shutdown of the blast furnace at Teesside Cast Products (TCP) begins later, with up to 1,600 jobs set to go.
Gordon Brown said he was “desperately looking” for investment. Corus has said the closure is temporary, with the firm open to “credible offers”.
Unions say the mothballing is premature and have threatened industrial action.
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 We are dead, gone, finished. There is absolutely no way it can be saved  Alan Blackwood, Corus worker
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TCP has been under threat since last May, when an international consortium pulled out of a 10-year contract.
The mothballing was confirmed earlier this week, despite hopes that a buyer could be found in the meantime.
Alan Blackwood, 57, who has worked at Redcar for 42 years and is now facing voluntary retirement, said: “I am just gobsmacked. It just feels to me that Corus doesn’t want Teesside to exist.
“We are dead, gone, finished. There is absolutely no way it can be saved. I think I am more concerned about the company than the government is.”
Linda Robinson, 50, whose family have been working at the plant for three generations, said her brother had just finished last shift and would never be going back. Three generations of Linda Robinson’s family have worked at the plant.
“They say mothballing, but really it’s closure,” she said.
“It is catastrophic for the community. The future is bleak.”
The mothballing could take up to six months, meaning the job losses will be gradual, but there was a sense of finality among workers.
Geoff Waterfield, multi-union chairman at TCP said: “I think the mood today, as it’s been for quite a while, is quite a sad mood really amongst everybody.
“And today I think will be very emotional on the site, and very emotional in the region for the community – because it affects not just the workers but pretty much everybody in the surrounding area”.
The predicted knock-on effect has been described as “horrendous”, with Redcar and Cleveland Council estimating up to 8,000 further jobs could be lost at local companies.
Speaking on Thursday, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson maintained the plant will be protected by the company, with a view to re-opening once a buyer has been found.
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I’m very proud of the people here because they’ve had to live with this hanging over them John Bolton, TCP managing director
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However, the Community union says it plans to ballot its members on industrial action over the decision to mothball, while the GMB union has announced it is also considering action.
The shutting down of TCP’s blast furnace will start on Friday, followed by the “blow down” process to use up the remaining raw materials.
On Saturday, holes will be drilled in the furnace to take out residual metal – a procedure known as “tapping the salamander”.
Work to preserve the machinery will then begin, in the hope that it can be restarted at a future date.
John Bolton, managing director of TCP told the BBC: “It’s a very sad day today. We’ve known about the potential of this happening since May.
“I’m very proud of the people here because they’ve had to live with this hanging over them.
“Everybody here has done everything they can to keep this plant going.”
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