Britain's Conservative Party today unveiled its general election manifesto in which it pledges to cut the budget deficit, reduce state interference and empower local communities if it wins the May 6th election.
Party leader David Cameron unveiled the proposals during a speech at Battersea power station this morning.
Mr Cameron said today the Conservatives were offering an “ambitious and optimistic” programme to overcome Britain’s economic, social and political problems and told voters: “Together we can do anything.”
Unveiling his party’s manifesto for the May 6th election, Mr Cameron made a direct bid for the support of former Labour and Liberal Democrat backers, and urged voters to choose “a new kind of politics and a new kind of country”.
Joined by his shadow cabinet on stage at Battersea Power Station in south London, Mr Cameron said the election offered a “real choice” between a Labour Party which wants to control society and a Conservative Party which wants to hand power to individuals and communities.
He presented the manifesto as an invitation to voters to “join the Government of Britain” by taking part in the social action needed to transform society, declaring: “We are all in this together.”
However, Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted that there was “a complete hole” in the Tory plans, which contained nothing to help the economy and would put the recovery from recession at risk. “They are saying ‘You are on your own’,” Mr Brown said on a campaign visit to Derby. “They are leaving people on their own to face the recession.”
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg dismissed the Tory document as a triumph of “style over substance” which promised voters “something for nothing”.
The Conservative manifesto, printed as a hardback pamphlet with the title "Invitation To Join The Government Of Britain" on a
sober plain blue cover, was “the biggest call to arms this country has seen in a generation”, said Mr Cameron.
Confirming his intention to reduce public spending by £6 billion over and above Labour plans this year to fund the scrapping of next year’s National Insurance rise, Mr Cameron accepted that Tory plans would involve “cuts”.
But he said voters had a choice between “a jobs tax from Labour that will kill the recovery or action from the Conservatives to boost the recovery”.
Today’s manifesto makes no mention of VAT, which Labour and the Liberal Democrats say will have to be raised to 20 per cent or more to fund Conservative promises. But Mr Cameron insisted that all his plans were “properly costed and fully funded”.
“This is a manifesto for a new kind of politics and a new kind of country,” said Mr Cameron. “If you vote Conservative on May 6, you’re not just voting to change the government, you’re voting to change the whole system.
“People power not State power. Big Society not Big Government. We’re all in this together. Government has an important role to play. But the people’s role is even bigger.
“Together we can get rid of our debts, get the economy moving, mend our broken society - even make politics and politicians work better. And if we can do that, we can do anything. Together, we can do anything," Mr Cameron said.
The launch of the centre-right party's official manifesto comes as a poll for ITV News/The Independent shows its lead over ruling Labour static at 7 points and still pointing to a "hung parliament" in which no party has an overall majority.
The Conservatives will repeat their pledge to safeguard Britain's triple-A credit rating, cut the bulk of the structural deficit and use fiscal policy to keep interest rates lower for longer.
But they, like Labour, remain silent on the detail financial markets want - how to bring down a budget deficit running at over 11 per cent of GDP. Both sides so far refuse to spell out the scale of spending cuts that analysts say are inevitable.
Instead, Mr Cameron is focusing on his vision of a "big society" full of active neighbourhood groups and community initiatives, as opposed to the "big government" he says Labour has created. Both parties are reaching out to middle-class voters who will decide the most unpredictable election in nearly 20 years.
Document pledges include: support for public sector workers to set up cooperatives; establishing elected overseers of police forces, and giving local communities the power to veto tax rises and the right to bid to run services provided by the state.
After 13 years in power, Labour unveiled its own manifesto on Monday with promises not to raise income tax and to be "relentless reformers" of financial markets and public services if they won a record fourth term.
No new spending pledges were made. Labour has said it would halve the deficit over four years, with the bulk of the fiscal tightening only starting next year as anything else could derail the recovery from the worst recession since the second World War.
The Tories have said they would act faster and harder. They seem to have benefited from their promise to partly reverse Labour's planned payroll tax, which was also criticised by business leaders.
They have pledged tax breaks for married couples and exemption from inheritance tax for all but the richest.
Agencies