29
Corkers
40
U-turns

Energy prices

  • David Cameron at Prime Minister’s Questions – Hansard, 17 Oct 2012
  • Energy bills row: Cameron clarifies his surprise announcement – The Spectator, 18 Oct 2012

At PMQs yesterday, David Cameron said:

“We have encouraged people to switch, which is one of the best ways to get energy bills down. I can announce… that we will be legislating so that energy companies have to give the lowest tariff to their customers.”

However, he quickly had to backtrack on his announcement, today saying:

“I want to be on the side of hard-pressed, hard-working families who often struggle to pay energy bills. That’s what I said in the House of Commons yesterday. We’re going to use the forthcoming legislation, the energy bill, coming up this year so that we make sure, we ensure that customers get the lowest tariffs. That’s what we’re going to do.”

Which is, as The Spectator points out, different to what he said in the Commons yesterday – yet another u-turn from our gaffe-prone, light on detail prime minister.

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The “champions of fighting poverty”

  • David Cameron 2012 Tory Party conference speech – politics.co.uk, 10 Oct 2012
  • Poor families facing a ‘triple whammy’ of benefit, support and service cuts – The Guardian, 13 Dec 2011

In his 2012 Tory Party conference speech, David Cameron said:

“It’s us, the modern compassionate Conservative party, who are the real champions of fighting poverty in Britain today.”

However, looking at child poverty, last December the Child Poverty Action Group warned poor families are facing a “triple whammy” of benefit, support and service cuts. Indeed the Treasury was forced to admit another 100,000 children would be pushed into poverty as a result of the government’s policies, such as freezing the child element of the working tax credit, and research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies forecasts the number of children in poverty would rise by 800,000 by 2020 – despite the government signing up to Labour’s target of ending child poverty by that date.

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Cuts as the “foundation” for growth

  • David Cameron 2012 Tory Party conference speech – politics.co.uk, 10 Oct 2012
  • IMF: Cuts hurt growth more than expected – Left Foot Forward, 9 Oct 2012

In his 2012 Tory Party conference speech, David Cameron said:

“Our deficit reduction plan is not an alternative to a growth plan: it’s the very foundation of our growth plan.”

However, only yesterday, an IMF report found the coalition’s cuts had hurt growth more than expected.

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The phantom veto

  • David Cameron 2012 Tory Party conference speech – politics.co.uk, 10 Oct 2012
  • We’ll soon forget the David Cameron ‘veto’ that never was – The Daily Telegraph, 17 Dec 2011

In his 2012 Tory Party conference speech, David Cameron said:

“I said no – Britain comes first – and I vetoed that EU treaty.”

However, this was the veto that never was, the treaty still went ahead; even the Eurosceptic Daily Telegraph said it “may be the most misrepresented event in recent political history”.

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NHS waiting lists

  • David Cameron 2012 Tory Party conference speech – politics.co.uk, 10 Oct 2012
  • Cam shame over NHS waiting lists: 60,000 more patients hit by NHS cuts and shake-ups – Daily Mirror, 20 Aug 2012
  • Monthly NHS Hospital and Community Health Service (HCHS) Workforce Statistics in England – NHS, 25 Sep 2012

In his 2012 Tory Party conference speech, David Cameron said:

“I’ll tell you what is down. Waiting lists – down. Mixed wards – down. The number of managers – down. Bureaucratic targets – down. Hospital infections – down. And what’s up? The number of doctors, the number of dentists, the number of midwives, the number of operations carried out in our NHS.”

However, the number of people stuck on NHS waiting lists has grown by more than 2,000 every month since David Cameron became PM. Furthermore, 5,500 nurses have been cut since the General Election, that’s 220 nurses a month – that would explain why there was no mention of them.

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The NHS budget

  • David Cameron 2012 Tory Party conference speech – politics.co.uk, 10 Oct 2012
  • Public Spending Statistics, July 2012, Table 1.9 – HM Treasury, Jul 2012

In his 2012 Tory Party conference speech, David Cameron said:

“We made a big decision to protect the NHS from spending cuts.”

However, the NHS budget has been cut two years running. Official Treasury figures confirm that since 2009/10 NHS spending has fallen from £105,073 million to £104,333 million in real terms.

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Britain the “insolvent nation”

  • David Cameron 2012 Tory Party conference speech – politics.co.uk, 10 Oct 2012
  • Con 2012: Cameron’s speech corkers – Left Foot Forward, 10 Oct 2012

In his 2012 Tory Party conference speech, David Cameron began by saying:

“Here was the challenge: To make an insolvent nation solvent again.”

However, the definition of insolvency is “the inability of a debtor to pay their debt” – Britain was not insolvent in 2010.

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Rail fares

  • Commuters face rail fare hikes of at least 6% next year – The Guardian, 24 Jun 2012
  • Rail fares to be capped at lower level, David Cameron announces – The Guardian, 7 Oct 2012

In June, the government confirmed it would reinstate a planned fare rise of 3% above inflation from January – leaving commuters facing fare hikes of 6-11 per cent next year.

The Guardian reported:

Ministers had limited the rise to 1% rate this year to ease the financial strain on commuters but the Department of Transport has now confirmed the return to 3% above inflation, which is currently running at 3%. It means rail fares will increase by 6% on average and up to 11% in the most extreme cases.

The decision to defer the planned higher rates was introduced by the transport secretary Justine Greening in a move calculated to lessen the political impact of fare hikes – the most controversial cost-cutting move by the Department for Transport (DfT) since the coalition began.

Labour claimed the move showed that the coalition is “out of touch” with families struggling with the rising cost of living. The Department for Transport said the long-term ambition was to reduce fares.

However, today, at the start of Tory party conference, David Cameron has indicated a u-turn on rail fares, promising to cap them at 1% above inflation rather than 3%, as The Guardian reports:

David Cameron has promised to cap rail fares at a lower level than planned for two more years as the battle for Britain’s “squeezed middle” heats up.

Kicking off the Conservative party conference in Birmingham, the prime minister said rises in regulated rail fares and London bus and tube tickets would be capped at the RPI rate of inflation plus 1%, rather than the RPI plus 3% formula that had been set out in the 2010 spending review…

The move signifies another u-turn from the coalition government, having indicated in June that fares would rise at 3% above inflation from January. As inflation was running at around 3%, rail fares were due to increase by 6% on average and up to 11% in the most extreme cases. But that was met with almost universal opposition. Even train operators were against it, fearing it would alienate passengers.

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Pensions reform

  • Budget 2012: flat-rate state pension confirmed – The Guardian, 21 Mar 2012
  • Cameron puts brakes on pension reform – Financial Times, 17 Sep 2012

In the 2012 Budget, George Osborne confirmed proposals to introduce an initial flat-rate pension of £140 per week for those with a 30-year national insurance record, starting in 2016.

The Guardian reported:

The government says the long-awaited change, which will see the current basic state pension and second state pension (S2P, formerly known as Serps) replaced by a single scheme, will cost no more than the existing state pension system.

This means that while those on low incomes who have made small or no contributions to S2P will benefit from a higher pension than they could currently expect, people who earn higher salaries will lose out. The current full basic state pension is £102.15 a week (rising to £107.45 from April 2012), but those at the top end of the salary scale can expect up to £180 a week in combined pension payments.

However, David Cameron has now u-turned on this pensions reform policy, as the FT reports:

David Cameron has demanded a rethink of flagship state pension reforms amid fears they could alienate core Conservative supporters, including the electorally crucial “grey” vote.

The Financial Times has learnt the prime minister personally put the brakes on the plan for a flat-rate benefit worth around £140 a week after realising that millions of people would either lose out – or fail to benefit from – the new system.

The policy, confirmed in George Osborne’s controversial March Budget, is the latest to be re-examined after ministers underestimated its potential political fallout. Ministers, already smarting from the row over the “granny tax”, recoiled at the prospect of another backlash from pensioners.

Potential losers include higher earners. They will no longer be able to boost their retirement incomes through the state second pension, which will cease to exist, although amounts already built up will be protected. Existing pensioners will also lose because the flat-rate pension will only be offered to those who retire after its introduction, expected in the next parliament.

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Fuel tax

  • George Osborne gives go-ahead to 3p increase in fuel duty – Mail, 21 Mar 2012
  • Osborne u-turns – The Independent, 26 Jun 2012

In the 2012 Budget, George Osborne confirmed the fair fuel stabiliser. The Mail reported:

A planned rise in the price of petrol will go ahead as George Osborne refused to freeze or reduce the amount of tax motorists pay for fuel.

Despite pressure from hard-pressed motorists and businesses that rely on fuel, such as hauliers, there will be a 3.02p per litre hike in fuel duty from August.

But just three months later, the Government announced another u-turn. The Independent reported:

Petrol prices were due to go up by 3 pence in August and just this weekend the transport secretary Justine Greening insisted that the rise would go ahead.

But in a move underlining just how worried the government is about pressures on the cost of living the chancellor announced in the Commons that the rise would now be delayed until next year.

Mr Osborne said the £500 cost of the freeze would be paid for by larger than expected savings made by government departments.

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