Tax levels are hurting U.K. households, and the Conservative Party will streamline public services to pay for tax cuts if it wins the next election, leader David Cameron said. Prime Minister Gordon Brown increased spending during his decade as finance minister without making public services more efficient, Cameron said today in a speech in Birmingham, central England. ``After a decade of reckless spending under Labour, Britain needs good housekeeping from the Conservatives,'' Cameron said. ``We need to start living within our means. We have reached the limits of acceptable taxation and borrowing.''
Prime Minister Gordon Brown increased spending during his decade as finance minister without making public services more efficient, Cameron said today in a speech in Birmingham, central England.
``After a decade of reckless spending under Labour, Britain needs good housekeeping from the Conservatives,'' Cameron said. ``We need to start living within our means. We have reached the limits of acceptable taxation and borrowing.''
Independent - Steve Richards - David Cameron has some lofty aspirations, but there is one big problem with them
Magic is not enough. Public services cannot be improved without sustained investment
The debate in Britain about public spending often begins with the assumption that investment is a waste of money. It ends by taking a magical route towards a paradise of low taxes and the best public services in the world free to everyone at the point of use............. The harsh truth about public spending was made very clear in the questions asked of Mr Cameron at the end of his speech in Birmingham. Most of them implied a desire for more spending, not less. To take one example, one business leader despaired of the transport infrastructure in the West Midlands and beyond. The Conservative leader acknowledged the importance of the issue and, in fairness, offered some examples of small policy shifts. What he did not do was promise the investment needed to take Britain up to the transport standards of equivalent countries. Perhaps at some point he will promise to wave his own conjurer's wand. Magic is not enough. Public services cannot be improved without sustained investment. With the investment, the scope for economic growth is greater, as the business leader in Birmingham suggested with his cry for improved transport.
The harsh truth about public spending was made very clear in the questions asked of Mr Cameron at the end of his speech in Birmingham. Most of them implied a desire for more spending, not less. To take one example, one business leader despaired of the transport infrastructure in the West Midlands and beyond. The Conservative leader acknowledged the importance of the issue and, in fairness, offered some examples of small policy shifts. What he did not do was promise the investment needed to take Britain up to the transport standards of equivalent countries. Perhaps at some point he will promise to wave his own conjurer's wand.
Magic is not enough. Public services cannot be improved without sustained investment. With the investment, the scope for economic growth is greater, as the business leader in Birmingham suggested with his cry for improved transport.
The debate in Britain about public spending often begins with the assumption that investment is a waste of money. It ends by taking a magical route towards a paradise of low taxes and the best public services in the world free to everyone at the point of use.............
