A future for Jack, James and Jill?

Nick,

How did it feel to be heckled by the Labour faithful and mocked by the PM? What does it tell you about Labour's reluctance to have an open debate and account for their past performance?

It is one thing to deride the opposition, but quite another for them to attack the press no?

I find it slightly ironic that the drawing looks like it was done by a 5 year old and Labour are talking about lowering the voting age. Coincidence...

I want an end to political corruption.
And an end to debt slavery for the average Joe & Jane.

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How did you like being booed for daring to ask an 'awkward' question Nick?

The launch was comical... a cartoon ?

We then have Andy Burham (Health Minister) clearly not aware what cancer stats the PM just claim on live TV ... who is briefing the PM on health stats if its not the 3rd class cabinet member

We have Dave on a soap box answering questions from joe public

And PM and lynch-mob heckling questions for the press...

Week2 and its still downhill from the tired new labour

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Those Labour manifesto promises in full:
No rise in income tax rate
New global banks levy
No stamp duty for first time buyers on homes below £250k
Raise minimum wage in line with earnings
Right to recall MPs
Referendums on democratic House of Lords and changing voting system
Pave streets with gold
Feed the world

Do I detect Sarcasm Nick?

Being booed at the conference given you a sharp reality check?

Same old Labour Party then!

So we are expected to trust a proven liar that if we re-elect his party that everything will be ok in the future?

Using cartoons to get his point across pretty much explains the target audience Labour are going for - children to young to fully understand what is going on. Just a shame that they can't vote.

I really do believe this is not the time for sensationalism which David Cameron and his team seem to be using as part of their campaign. The Labour manifesto is exactly right in this respect-- they have handled the banking crisis and recession very well. David Cameron's record in these affairs is not good-- remember he opposed all the actions GB and his team carried out and let's not forget his part in the debacle of the ERM crisis under Nigel Lawson. Also remember that he was part of a government that brought the NHS to its knees by 1997. The latest Kings Fund report confirms this and the massive improvements made under Labour since then.
I sincerely hope this is not all thrown away in a fit of pique by the British electorate.

Firstly, what on earth was that crazy video all about? What a shower of complete muppets to show the electorate as potatoes. Shows what Labour think of us.

Secondly, we see Cameron every day getting on a soapbox and talking with real people in the real world. Brown is so scared of real people that he feels he must surround himself with Labour loyalists at every photoshoot, every interview and every discussion. The rent a mob crowd at todays manifesto unveiling were sickening. Brown, gutless as ever. When will we see him face the public? Never. Unlike Cameron he is scared to address the people and negoitate with them. A coward.

Clueless, Mr Brown thinks we're all clueless - he's as much in control of his own destiny as we are. The future might be bright, but its not bright red

Big Government, Big Egos, Big Mistake

Judging by his latest performance Gordon Brown is sinking to record lows when it comes to insulting the electorate's intelligence - and he's assuming we all have poor memories. Caledonian Comment

Who needs to buy airtime for PPB's when you've got Nick Robinson?

Here's a random thought on how we could help to get the budget deficit down: why don't we abolish the Department for Culture, Media and Sport?

Rather than tinkering around with things trying to save money on efficiency savings by using fewer paper clips, why no just get rid of whole government departments? Seriously, what on earth does sport have to do with the government anyway?

Any other government departments we could do without?

Are Jack, James and Jill part of the Great Ignored? Why two male to one female? And why no ethnic sounding names? Not going to secure my vote, this monkey business.

Still love labour Nick?
Kick them out. Their time will come back but only after the Conservatives sort out the mess first.
Am amazed some people will vote labour out of tradition. Look, your country is bankrupt. Darling said so himself in the televised debates 'how George, when you have absolutely no money in the bank?' Who is to blame for that?

Nick, unless you're doing these "plans" a gross disservice, this new "initiative" looks insulting to the electorate - particularly in the wake of the expenses and lobbying scandals.

This is already becoming one of the most ridiculous campaigns (by all three leading parties) in living memory - against the backdrop of the biggest economic crisis since WWII.

Words fail me - just as integrity, honesty and decency seemed to have deserted our political elite.

If he wants an industrial revolution, does this mean he accepts that in the last 13 years Labour has got it wrong and you need technology and manufacturing to be able to provide wealth to a country?

Does it mean that he now understands that, for businesses to survive they have to compete globally and not just locally?

Then why oh why does he want to increase NI on businesses!?!

Why have we now have to pay for more MPs? Every MPs salary probably needs between 50 and 100 more private sector jobs to be created (and that doesn't include the cost of their support staff). I would rather pay for 3 more nurses than one more MP!

They should be leading from the fron and reducing the MP numbers rather than increasing them!

These are just a couple of items that, ultimately, the private sectors has to pay for. Remember public sector employees are paid by taxes (and then they give some back), it is only the private sector that actually pays taxes!

Even the front cover of the manifesto was borrowed from a record album. This kind of sums up Labour's obsession with borrowing. The whole thing is a tired old copy of every other manifesto Labour has produced over the years, none of it credible all of it garbage.

The dumbed down cartoons have got Ed Balls written all over them!

Anybody else noticed the Conservatives are censoring comments on their Blue Blog?

All I did was to ask, in response to; Empowering people to recall their MP, for them to state:

1. Total number of latest crop of MP's who would have been open to recall under their proposal.

2. A list of the names of those MP's who would have been potential candidates for recall.

Not a very transparent response from the Conservatives. I assume I either exposed the failure of their proposed approach or would have forced them to name some of their own MP's as well as those in other parties.

I'm more, and more, inclined to vote for None Of The Above.

Oh dear Nick, all of that labour bias only to be heckled. Still I suppose hell hath no fury like a journalist scourned. One saving grace though, the total labour support for the UK was in that one building.

Bet if the Tories drew some cartoon figures they'd be a lot better than Labour's.

The future is looking very bleak indeed for Jack Jill and Harry

Out young folks are viewing a future where they are unable to own their own homes and will be taxed up to the eyeballs to pay for huge state controlled enterprises.

Pensions adjusted to rises in wages when they are being squeezed downwards and inflation is rising. Old people worse off than before.

Starting a business will be a no go area. Too much red tape strangling the initiative of enterprise and a police state that will be far in excess of the visions of George Orwell.

This is a vision of another five years of Brown.

You either like it or you don't and we only have a few days to decide.

A new Blog and within seconds it's attack on Sagamix a bit boring really. Anyway........

Anyone watching the Major Launch feel a little bit sick afterwards. It was not what was being said (bad enough) but the background. During GB's speech it was like watching a badly rehearsed Wizard of Oz at the local Church Hall. Dorothy was looking a bit worse fo wear but the Scare Crow, Lion and Tin Man didn't look out of place and played their lines well. Very disappointing ending as DC didn't appear as the Wicked Witch from the West (Margaret Thatcher would have been in her elelent here)and I'm not sure who was meant to be playing the mighty Wizard either.

Oh well theres two productions coming soon along with three live TV debates and then we can vote someone off. Yes folks in the word the the late Hughy Green it's your votes that count.

Brown - truely a spineless coward. Get out and meet the public you snivelling excuse for a man.

A vote for Labour is a vote for the end of the UK as we know it and not in a good way.

BDZ,

"Who needs to buy airtime for PPB's when you've got Nick Robinson?!

Nick is making fun of the Labour manifesto. Tory supporter like you should be delighted.

Jack, Gordon and Jill,
Went up election hill,
The only one to fall,
Was Gordon for his gall

Jack, James and Jill??

Firstly where was Jill in the cartoon? Off making the tea?

Secondly no Rashids, Waynettas or Hermiones?

The great ignored indeed!!

And not showing the full title "The Big Book..."

"...of tractor stats" with pages turned by what looks like a Mandelson ice lolly.

Just had a quick look at the introduction to this I am not sure what to call it... But anyway I am wrong or has Alzheimers hit home but was there not a pledge to bring our troops home from Afghanistan in 2 years? I am sure it was never mentioned that in the next 10 years we would still be bringing stability to Afghanistan. I think we need joined up writing and government not a cartoon stolen from Cbeebies. Please tell me if my recollections are wrong.

You have to admit the more I look at it the cartoon figures are bad but hey what do you want when you only got £4m to run an election campaign and 3 weeks still to go. Drawing was not my forte and I only charged £5. If you wanted a picture of a house with a garden all coloured in I could of done that as well, all for the same £5, GB only needed to ask.

So, the question is if I didn't draw the catoon, who did?

Have just watched the cartoon - I know it is a black and white cartoon but what a howler to have no ethnic faces. They would tear the Tories to shreds if they did that.

What is cross cutting? I thought it was a saw. Or has this been published without proof reading? Is so it shows the contempt they hold the electorate in.

Come on Nick, let's have some reasoned comments. Labour is tired, tories think it's their turn. David Cameron looks for support from 80 business leaders such as Corus. Ask the tories about their message to the 5,000 steel workers who've lost their jobs. We need a hung parliament so that politicians can prove their ability to govern.

Mandelson's spin on R4, post-manifesto launch, was impressive. If only he could spin that well playing cricket the England team would win everything ... !
Labour have been fairly fair to the benefit paid end of the economy but have allowed the top end to have an easy ride for thirteen years with great gains in salaries, bonuses and house values. But in the middle, especially the bottom half of the great middle-paid, fairness went out of the window a long time ago and shows no sign of coming back. Petrol/Diesel taxes up 50% since 1997, Bus fares up 50% or more since 1997. Council tax in low to middle bands - up 50% since 1997. Lowest tax band - up 50%, oops, er, sorry, forgot, its more than 100% since 1997. Low inflation, Gordon? Inflation up, oh good, less than 50%! Not much less at only a 39% increase in RPI since you first became Chancellor.
And you want young people to vote for you? So why keep on talking about families? How traditional Labour people can say they will continue to support and vote Labour mystifies me.

I am amazed at the almost unanimously media's frenzied attacks, especially the BBC on Gordon Brown, the PM. I have been keenly watching elections for over 50 years & never know such nasty sometimes personal attacks by this group, in all that time. He is still there fighting for his political life, his party & the people of this great country of ours. Lets all face it, the country/world has been through the worst financial crisis since the 30's, caused by those very greedy bankers, Gordon & his colleagues we have to admit, have done a damned decent job, keeping unemployment down, & prevented us from sinking, compared to other countries. There have been some very bold policies, some the Tories wouldn't touch with a barge pole, like devolution, minimum wage, 24 hrs drinking, no smoking ban, ban on cruel fox-hunting, low inflation, low mortgages, to name a few. We know what we think about the media, probably less than the government, so sorry to buck the trend, can we therefore reasonably conclude that Gordon Brown is the best PM for 50 years.

Just so sick that it defies any real educational or investigative background.

(Both aspects are normally important in the private sector. Not for their own sake - witness the banking fiasco - but because thinking differently can stimulate and direct change.
Sad that Frank Field was hung out to dry by Blair and Brown. What we got was a lot of Balls.
Even worse - a married couple living in a London house we paid for, while they claimed it was a second home... Despite the fact that both of them were government ministers obliged to go to work locally in Westminster and their children went to London schools. I wish I could persuade a tax-man to accept that sort of garbage.)

Reform? After 13 years of hosing money around and claiming it was all "investment"?

None of these people have ever admitted that the PFI/PPP deals will hang a burden around the necks of Health and Education for decades.

That will mean cutting costs to pay for expensive deals that neither the NHS or schools ever wanted - but they will have to pay for.

Brown as an economic maestro?

Man has been a fool for 15 years. Messed us all up for 13 years. I hate telling my children that they will have to pay for the blatant stupidity of a bloke I once thought had some intellectual substance.

I'd be happy to vote for a cardboard cut-out if it promised to decimate the useless and business inhibiting UK and EU legislation and regulation that makes all of us criminals - even if we don't know what the 3,000 new offences actually are.

If Brown thinks he will make a living from his future books, he should look at the real income from his various oevres.

Blair flimmed and flammed and is obviously delivering great value as the Mid-East ambassador... So things have only got better? I can't see any impact. Any body out there spot some significant change since the previous "Great Leader" got involved?

When Brown quits No 10 (hopefully soon) I wonder where he will go. Maybe to the IMF, where he could begin to work out how to control the financial institutions in a way he never ever managed in the UK.

All that "Made in the USA" stuff just sickens me. Northen Rock was simply out of control. The FSA knew it. Why did the Treasury not act?

Sick. Sick. Sick. We now have a nationalised bank with its name splashed across a major league football club. When will the government controlled Lloyds, Bradford & Bingley and RBS start to support teams in the Premier or other leagues?

If the NHS put its weight behind a commercial organisation, there would be an outcry. So why does this government allow a public company to support a football team?

Bit too cosy? Of course, Newcastle is a Labour heartland. But that can't be a reason for a logical, pan-UK government, can it?

Says a lot for our education system when Labours bright young things come up with juvenile ideas like this. Don`t they know what the voting age is in this country? Its even a bit insulting to our 5 year olds. Says even more about the mind set of Labour supporters if Labour intended it for their core voters.

Watched Gordon`s speech with that dreadful digitalised shimmering background. I thought his performance was very luck lustre and he did not seem to heart and soul in it today. Probably missing nanny who had to sit in the audience and was not clinging onto him.

The manifesto was a complete let down and if this is what Labour are basing their campaign on, they may as well give up now. No wonder the Tories are leading, while other are merely following in their wake.

When the selected ministers came in front of the microphone they virtually all said the same thing word for word; but when pushed on the detail were lost for an answer and merely spoke over in the interviewer with their same old party rhetoric.

If Brown performs like he did today, when he goes in the studio for his head to head with Clegg and Cameron, its going to be truly embarrassing.

Last week was not a good week for Labour and this week has got off to an even worse start.

Cue their 1997 song - "Things can only get better" - They can, can`t they? Perhaps not.

A promise not to increase the rate of income tax but no promise to keep personal allowances against income tax.

Those earning over £100,000 are already having personal allowances taken away on a taper basis.

Nick, you had first-hand experience today of the authoritarian, thuggish nature of this Labour party - why haven't you written about it? Everyone else will, you can bet on that. You were abused by a selected labour audience, and our PM today, for asking a perfectly reasonable question: how do you feel about that? Do you think this is the way a democracy is meant to work?

Brown is borrowing an extra 3 billion every week. Over 2010, Brown will run a budget deficit that is 7,700 pounds per full-time job in the private sector (170 billion pounds divided by 22 million).

On 23 April, GDP figures will say that GDP has grown 0.5%, but do keep in mind that the debt is currently growing at a 12% rate and that the amount in sterling related to the debt increase is bigger than the growth of GDP expressed in pounds (0.5% GDP growth over the previous quarter equals about 7 billion pounds but the debt is growing by 42.5 billion every quarter; 0.5% GDP growth over a year ago equals 7 billion growth and should be contrasted of debt growth of 170 billion).

Now don't throw back at me that the debt increase is wealth-neutral for the UK as long as the buyers of gilts are UK-based, since I think that the debt will cause quite an intruiging set of problems in future ...

"The right to choose a GP in your area open at evenings and weekends, with more services available on the high-street, personal care plans and rights to individual budgets."

This is a lift directly from the manifesto.

I recall having this before Labour renegotiated the terms and conditions for GPs. If I was unwell at the weekend my GP would come and see me. Not anymore.

Do they think we are stupid they took this away and now they pledge to give it back.

Brown's manifesto states that a future Labour government would give the public the right to recall MPs not disciplined in Parliament after being found guilty of gross financial misconduct according to this BBC report..

That is totally unacceptable. Why should it only apply to MPs NOT disciplined by Parliament? If an MP has been found guilty of "gross financial misconduct" he/she should be fired. End of.

Furthermore, this doesn't go nearly far enough.

MPs should also be fired for wilfully breaking a manifesto pledge. This would mean Brown himself and most of the current Labour MPs over their collusion to sign the European constitutional treaty without giving us the promised referendum.

Breaking a manifesto pledge is just as bad as fiddling expenses because it means the MP was elected under false pretences.

So, at last a Labour manifesto promise not to raise income tax and not to increase the zero rate on food, newspapers,travel,etc. Why is Labour so confidently able to pull this trick on the voters?- because there are easier ways to increase the tax burden, even on people on modest incomes. Not indexing personal allowances or higher rate tax thresholds and abolishing or reducing tax relief on savings income and pension contributions are the tricks of the trade for New Labour. Reducing the grant from Central Government to Local Government which results in doubling of Council Tax over 13 years is another way to put up taxes. We pay approximately 20% of the Council Tax to subsidise the pension fund deficit on our local council pension fund. Introducing and increasing parking charges and fines (£1.4 billion) which ends up in the Treasury coffers is another way to steal money from tax payers. The stealth tax list is endless.

What was worrying about today's presentation of the manifesto was that no journalist dared to ask a question about the increasing tax burden which has dominated the 'New Labour' administration over the boom and bust years. The heckling would have been worse if this 'elephant in the room' had been aroused. Are we sleep-walking into period of real difficulty with Labour pretending that it is business as usual?. Any discussion on tax pledges is meaningless without a reference to the total tax burden.

Jack, James and Jill?

More like Vince, Arthur and Tamsin. Or V.A.T. going up under newlabour. More tax. More waste. More spin. No substance.

Taxi for Brown!

I am rather glad that Labour decided to launch its manifesto in an empty hospital, it kind of sums up Labour for me. Big new building with nothing in it, is about as apt for their manifesto launch as one can get. However I am sure the irony will pass Labour by.

I really do not know why they did not just bring Blair out and use him as the the mouth piece for this bit of spin, because he would have delivered it much more convincingly. It is as though the last 13 years never happened if you listen to Labour. The great ignored was there for all to see, anyone who works hard and does well. Appealing for the middle class vote must be the most cynical move by Brown that I have ever seen. He has spent the last 13 years punishing people for being middle class.

However there are little gems in there to appease the Unions as well. There is no more talk of the post Office being privatised. Secondly a Cadbury law. Now one may ask why it would be called a Cadbury law when cadbury's would not be covered by it. This is a law which Labour say would put curbs on hostile takeovers of business deemed to be in the National interest. Of course Cadbury would not fall under this particular law as it is not in the National interest. This law would prevent huge investment coming into Britain which over time has helped with its infrastructure. It sounds like protectionsim and would risk other Countries doing the same in return to Britain. Furthermore I am pretty certain this policy would be illegal under EU law.

Is this the same Government who is so interested in the National interest, that they decided to sell Rover off for peanuts.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Nick, why (apart from your usual pro-Labour party propaganda) are you reporting about the Labour manifesto?

After all, they went to court to argue that their 2005 manifesto was of more use as toilet paper than as a 'commitment' by the Labour party.

I think I'm right in saying that Nick was only booed because his question went on for about 5 minutes.

Until party manifestos (Promises, pledges, call them what you will) are ACCOUNTABLE, then they are utterly pointless. How about a NEW system: a party lays out what it is going to do. Its progress is checked annually, if that party now in government has not moved positively towards over fifty percent of its pledges, then out they go. The whole problem with politics is that politicians are not held to account. Let me be clear, I frimly think they should be.

It's an amazing spectacle when the Beeb's political editor get's jeered at a Labour launch isn't it Nick?

Come in Labour your time is up

Jack, James and Jill

Which one is gay...and which one is black?

Are they allowed to stay in a B&B?

Am I allowed to ask?

What are we to make of the Soviet style image of a happy family looking out over a 'green and pleasant land' (not a wind turbine in sight), facing a bright sun and the words 'A future fair for all'?

Do they think we are stupid?

And why are they now talking about 'rebuilding our economy'? Is this finally an admission that over the last 12 years they have got it wrong?

41. At 4:16pm on 12 Apr 2010, englads2fan wrote:
"Lets all face it, the country/world has been through the worst financial crisis since the 30's, caused by those very greedy bankers, Gordon & his colleagues we have to admit, have done a damned decent job"

Ah - the good old line. It started in America. Bankers = bad. Gordon = good etc etc etc. Total rubbish and you know it.

#41

Amazing - directly from Labour HQ I assume.

We've seen in the manifesto how the unions are manipulating government policy - do you think that the electorate won't notice.

Mind you Bernie Ecclestone's million would be of great benefit to you now.

This idea of being able to get rid of unsatisfactory MPs in between general elections might be really popular if it applied to PMs who had been shown to be lying to the country.

Any chance of that? No, I didn't think so.

40: Middle band Council Tax up by 50% since 1997? Mine has virtually doubled. I bought my house in December 1997 - just after Labour came to power. My Council Tax bill for 1998 worked out at £74 a month over a 10 month period. It is now £144 a month over the same period.

Until last May the Council was Labour controlled. This year, with a Conservative administration, there has been no increase on the basic Council Tax though the amount for services like the police has gone up slighty.

As far as the manifesto is concerned, Brown is promising "no more spending commitments". The Unite Union is shoe-horning its candidates into safe Labour seats. And what will they demand for funding Labour? More spending of course!

41. At 4:16pm on 12 Apr 2010, englads2fan wrote:

We know what we think about the media, probably less than the government, so sorry to buck the trend, can we therefore reasonably conclude that Gordon Brown is the best PM for 50 years.

I'll drink to that (hic!)

But first I need to attend therapy for a slipped disc caused by falling off my chair - funniest post for months, worth the pain

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

#41 Englads2fan

I thought it was a genuine post until the last comment re: Gordon Brown as best Prime Minister for 50 yrs - even going off your list of achievements how many apply to GB's premiership?

Keeping unemployment down? If so, why are the employment figures the lowest on record? Whoever wins the election will find a spike in the unemployment figures when many of those who have registered as students fail to get on courses in September.

The only areas I'll credit this Labour Government over the past 13 yrs are:

1. Making Bank of England independent - but a black mark for not agreeing to BoE's request to supervise banking system.

2. Minimum wage

3. Devolution - but black mark again for failing to give England equal devolved status within the Union.

4. Increasing NHS & Education spending - but big black mark again for failing to deliever value for money. Much of additional money spent on managers etc.


Not exactly a glowing report and more than outweighed by GB's horrendous management of the economy. His belief that he had ended boom and bust squandered the once in a lifetime opportunity the country had to create a sound basis from a global economic boom. Instead we (as a country and many individuals) borrowed and borrowed and now have to slam the brakes on the economy to avoid a death spiral of debt.

Dear Electorate, don't be fooled again. Blair promised not to raise Income Tax and was as good as he word. Instead he introduced a vast number of new stealth taxes which Brown then raised at each Budget or increased existing ones. Remeber the 1% NI increase. What nobody said at the time was that it was a 10% hike, i.e. 1% added to an existing 10%. Remember this is levied on every single penny you earn as well as on every single penny your employer pays you. Please, please, don't be conned again

"can we therefore reasonably conclude that Gordon Brown is the best PM for 50 years."

Looks like the supplies of soma have turned up. Just in the nick of time as well - he nearly had to face an election.

Nick - I hope you will be highlighting that the fact that you were booed. Cheers, Tom

Pledging not to increase income tax, whilst at the same time having a budget planned which will increase national insurance, well, that tells me all I need to know about the lying obfuscating idiot that is Gordon Brown.

"the next government's going to have to do less and spend less"

Actually, the next government, if competent, could in theory do more yet spend less; if you do things like spend 12billion on an NHS IT system which doesn't work and which you never even needed in the first place, then it's self-evident that you can do more with less; you simply stop burning everybody else's money and spend it properly instead.

However, the debt has reached such monumental proportions due to labour's mismanagement, that instead of doing more for less by cutting waste, we're going to be forced into doing a massive amount less, with a massive amount less, and be charged a massive amount more.

What a wonderful legacy from a completely earth-scorching labour government.

We end up with the worst recession in history (it's still ongoing but the official stats hide the true status with false accounting processes), a bigger debt in real terms than 2 world wars put together caused, a destroyed finance sector, plundered (and then destroyed) private sector pensions, a state-dependency culture, democractic powers taken away and moved to a foreign unaccountable quango etc etc etc.

Labour couldn't possibly have done a worse job; it must have been deliberate destruction out of sheer spite; even a chimp could have run the country better than Brown.

I hope the labour party get democratically annihilated at the election, and never ever come back.

Nick, no comment on Labour launching it's manifesto at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Edgbaston, Birmingham, in contravention of strict Cabinet Office rules, forbidding election meetings being held on NHS premises?

NIck can we have a blog on why the 3 MP's are getting legil add to defend them selves over their expenses.

IF ANY of them voted to aboblis it and make it means tested they should take the morral high ground and pay for it them selves. Can you post the voting record for the MP's on the phasing out of the "interests of justice" test.


The "interests of justice" test began to be phased out in January and replaced by a means test for all Crown Court cases in England and Wales but Southwark Crown Court is not yet part of the new scheme, so it did not apply to the MPs.

However, if the MPs are convicted the trial judge could order them to pay back all or some of the costs of the case.

Increasing income tax would actually be better than what they're planning.

They're planning to increase both employee *and* employer national insurance, so it hits both sides; you get less in your wage packet, and your boss/company has less to give you in the first place.

This is why the tories keep going on about a tax on jobs; it's not just people's own pay packets that are effected; labour are actually taking money out of the pot that companies have available to spend on their staff. If you've got a staff of more than 100 people then it doesn't take a genius to work out that just to stand-still financially as a company you have to fire someone. If you've got a staff of 500,000, well, just do the maths, and then decide if you want to be one of those people who gets fired because your boss simply can't afford to keep you on after that gordon's stolen/burnt more of their money.

I beg all the swing/labour voters out there; please don't vote for this labour government; they're intent on destroying the whole country.

I thought the manifesto has hit the right note - measured.

Obviously there are no major spending commitments due to the lack of money after the Global recession and the need to keep the economy on the right road to recovery.

Much better than the knee-jerk populist tax cuts the Tories propose but can't fund.

There were some ambitious ideas about public services, the minimum wage and political reform.

The Tories are offering nothing by comparison to low income people or in terms of genuine political reform.

I think Brown is right to stand on his economic record as the right person, with the right team to lead us through the recovery.

He and the government made the right choices when it mattered and saved our economy from catastrophe when the Banks nearly collapsed.

A fact that contrasts well when compared to the disastrous Tory economic policies of the 80's and 90's.

Gordon Brown had more quarters of continuous economic growth than any Tory chancellor managed in the last 50 years. He is actually the most qualifies person to be in charge of our country and economy at this time.

Oh dear, bullying the press during an election campaign really doesn't seem a very good idea, does it?

Nick - everyone needs to remember that the only conviction Gordon Brown has is as a Socialist. He was willing to go along with the 'Newlab' project just to get his hands on the levers of powers.
Then everything he did was about making sure the Tories could never win another election. Examples -

1) UNLIMITED IMMIGRATION (to mitigate the annoying habit that the white working class have of voting Tory)
2) STATE DEPENDENCY - ( welfare increased and incentives to get off it removed. 6 million adults of working age and counting)
3) PUBLIC SECTOR JOBS - (1 million extra most of which are non-job bureaucrats)

REMEMBER TURKEYS DONT VOTE FOR CHRISTMAS!!

#51 Susan-Croft

The great ignored? Isn't that George Osborne and the rest of the shadow cabinet?

Seems like the Tories are ignoring them and placing all their faith in plastic Cameron.

He always refers to the Tories now as the 'modern Conservative party'. A trick he learnt from New Labour obviously.

Except the Tories haven't really modernised that much. Most of the same right wing xenophobes are there.

All the uber-rich Tory Toffs line the shadow cabinet and half their policies are aimed directly at the wealthy, big business or Cameron and Osbornes media baron chums.

Even a 'Diet-Blair' PR jockey like Cameron can't stop everyone from noticing that William Hague, Thatchers prodigal son, is still there.

'Blair-lite' won't work for Cameron in the end. He's simply not as accomplished a political operator as Blair and the country is sick of having people who aren't genuine as PM.

sc @ 51

"Big new building with nothing in it"

Infrastructure is important, Susan. You can't make a souffle without an oven.

Nick,

Shame you din't ask if Elle had changed her views, it wasn't so long she wall blogging for Go Bro to resign.
Some girls will do anything to get on TV.

If you have to say that you've got a "plan for the future" then it suggests that you haven't.

Arrogant Brown's plan for the future is more of the same.

Spend, spend, spend and hope that the recovery will magically arrive.

distant traveller,

"why are they now talking about 'rebuilding our economy'? Is this finally an admission that over the last 12 years they have got it wrong?"

That would be a reference to the damage wreaked by the all too recent collapse of the western financial system.

I've just watched Labour's little cartoon video.

Hilarious.

I particularly liked the bit about democracy, saying that we'd be listened to other than during elections. I wonder if whoever wrote that bit had remembered the "Just Go" petition and the response to it?

65. cocked dice.
there are many labour mps who work very hard and have done alot for this country. have you let the murdoch press brainwash you?

LABOUR’S ACHIEVEMENTS

Increase diversity and choice in the provision of schooling, ensure fair access, and build on the progress already made to improve educational standards for all. [Education and Inspections Act]
Give more support to working families by extending maternity and adoption pay, paternity leave, and flexible working rights. [Childcare Act]
Make healthcare provision more responsive to the needs of patients, improve hospital hygiene and enable the restriction of smoking in enclosed public places and workplaces. [Health Bill]
Support patients who wish to seek redress should they experience problems with their healthcare. [NHS Redress Act]
Enable an identity cards scheme to be introduced [ID Cards Act]
Give police and local communities new powers to tackle knives, guns and alcohol-related violence. [Violent Crime Act]
Further tighten the immigration and asylum system [Immigration and Asylum Act]
Continue the fight against terrorism in the United Kingdom and elsewhere [Terrorism Bill]
Prevent those deemed unsuitable from gaining access to children or vulnerable adults through their work. [Bichard Bill]
Modernise charity law [Charities Bill]
Establish the Commission for Equality and Human Rights [Equalities Bill]
Ensure the better management and protection of the natural environment and to provide support for rural communities [Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act]
Help reduce casualties on the roads [Road Safety Act]
Streamline regulatory structures and make it simpler to remove outdated or unnecessary legislation [Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act]
Updated consumer credit law to provide greater protection for consumers and create a fairer competitive credit market [Consumer Credit Act]
Reform company law to encourage greater levels of investment and enterprise [Companies Act]
Encourage greater voter participation in elections while introducing further measures to combat fraud and increase security [Electoral Administration Act]
Reform the National Assembly for Wales [Govt of Wales Bill]
Establish the necessary powers to deliver the Olympics [Olympics Act]
Labour used the Presidency of the G8 to secure progress in tackling poverty in Africa and climate change. The UK also held the EU Presidency between July and December 2005, forging an agreement to open negotiations on Turkey’s entry to the EU and agreeing a package for the future financing of the EU.

Other achievements since 1997
Economy
· Nearly 2.5 million more people in work - lowest unemployment since the 70s and inflation amongst lowest in EU
· Nearly 1.5 million people helped into work by the New Deal
· Introduced the NMW - £5.35 an hour since Oct 2006
Health
· Over 85,000 more nurses, over 32,000 more doctors
· 157 new hospitals built or on the way - largest ever hospital building programme
· 662,000 more operations a year compared to 1997. Heart ops up 93%
· Waiting list down by nearly 388,000 since March 1997.
· Virtually nobody waiting over 6 months, compared to 284,000 in 1997
Crime
· Down 35% overall; burglary down 53%; car crime down 46%; and violent crime down 34% (BCS)
· Record police numbers – up by more than 14,000 since 97 – plus 7,800 CSO's
· Over 7,350 ASBOs and nearly 300,000 PNDs issued
Education
· Doubled per pupil spending from £2,500 to well over £5,000
· 36,400 more teachers and over 287,000 more support staff
· Best ever primary, GCSE and A level results
· 46 Academies open with 200 by 2010. Improving at twice national average and are over-subscribed.
Transport:
· The equivalent of £260m per week spent on transport – up 43% since 2003
· More rail journeys than at any time since the 1940s
· Bus use is increasing year on year for the first time in decades
Tory record
· Unemployment doubled, national debt doubled
· Interest rates were at 15% for a whole year
· The number of children growing up in poverty trebled
· 20% of pupils got no GCSEs
· Teacher numbers fell by 50,000
· Waiting lists rose by 400,000
· 60,000 general and acute beds were lost
· Crime doubled and convictions fell by a third
· Violent crime went up by 170%, robbery went up by 400%
· Police numbers fell every year from 1993

Susan 51

I totally agree about the empty hospital. It reminded me about the episode of Yes Minister. I was half expecting GB to tell us how efficiently an empty hospital was being run.

54. Smudger Your Comment was too long boo.........

I did at one point fear for his safety for I remember an elderly gentleman being hand mandled out of a Labour Conference and he was a Labour Member. Just imagine what would happen to an elderly gentleman who is not a member. Anyway just to stop me worrying unduly I managed to ring up the BBC, Lord M answered the telephone and assured me that NR was OK and recoevering well. Apparently, New Labour was aware that a difficuly question may be asked to the PM which is why they had held the launch in a brand new hospital. NR should be let out after a long period of observation.

41 England used to spelt this way before 1997. The best PM for 50 years. I know one thing he will still be remebered for the next 50 when we are still paying for his debts. A bit like the Marshall Plan in 1947. Noone remembers Mr Marshall from good ole USofA only that it took us 50 years to pay it all back all the money lent and just as the last installment was paid back along comes GB and gets the country's credit card out.

and more

· Trebled the Health budget in cash terms 1996/7 to 2007/8

· Over 85,000 more nurses and over 32,000 more doctors since 1997

· Ten years ago half of the NHS estate was built before the NHS itself; it is now down to a quarter. 157 new hospitals built or on the way – the largest sustained hospital building programme since the NHS was founded

· More than 2,800 GP premises improved or refurbished


Waiting


· 1 million people seen by the NHS every 36 hours
· All waiting lists down by nearly 388,600

· Average wait for inpatient treatment is now 7.6 weeks

· Virtually nobody waiting over 6 months – down by nearly 284,000 since 97

· Waits for cataracts down to three months, down from up to 2 years

· Waits for heart operations down to less than three months

· 662,000 more operations a year now compared with 1997

· A&E waits – 19 out of 20 spend less than 4 hours in A&E

· More than 75 NHS walk-in centres open including 4 commuter walk-in centres

· 44 NHS Treatment Centres treating c.304,000 people since 2003. 21 ISTCs operational and centrally procured independent sector schemes delivering over 300,000 treatments and diagnostic tests


Cancer/CVD


· Over 99% of people with suspected cancer seen by a specialist within 2 weeks of being referred (up from 63% in 1997)

· 99.3% of cancer patients are treated within a month of diagnosis.

· 93.8% of cancer patients are treated within two months of an urgent referral.

· Cancer death rates down by 15.7% from 1995-97 baseline saving over 50,000 lives

· Deaths rates from heart disease (cardiovascular disease – CVD) down by 35.9% from 1995-97 baseline saving nearly 150,000 lives

· 226 new CT scanners and 155 new MRI scanners delivered since 2000





EDUCATION – KEY ACHIEVEMENTS


· Doubled per pupil spending from £2,500 to well over £5,000

Results

· Primary: English up from 65% to 79% since 1998 and Maths up from 59% to 76%. 95,000 more 11-year olds now achieving the target level in English and 83,000 more in Maths at KS2 compared to 1997.

•Since 1998 primary schools in the areas of highest poverty have improved at nearly twice the rate of schools in the most affluent areas.
· In 1997 nearly half of primary schools were achieving below 65% in English and mathematics – now four out of five primary schools are achieving above this level.

•Over 58% of pupils achieve 5 good GCSEs compared to 45% in 1997.
•The number of all-ability secondaries with fewer than a quarter of pupils gaining 5 good GCSEs down from 616 in 1997 to 62 in 2006; in 2005 the number of all-ability secondaries where 70% or more pupils gain 5 good GCSEs has risen six-fold to 517, up from 83
· Only 1 London borough now has fewer than 46% of pupils achieving five good GCSEs, whereas in 1997 nearly two thirds (23) of London boroughs were achieving below this level.
· Academies have seen a 4.2%pt improvement in the proportion of 15 year olds gaining 5 good GCSEs (up to 41%) – over twice the national average.


Schools
•Record teacher numbers - 36,400 more since 1997 with 287,100 support staff· As much new school building since 2001 as there was in the preceding 25 years. Renewing or rebuilding every state secondary school.

· 46 Academies open as of Sept 2006; 200 by 2010

· 82% of secondary schools are now specialist with over 2.6 million pupils attending

•More than 1,500 failing schools turned around.

Early Years

•Doubled the number of registered childcare places stood at over 1.26 million (almost double the 1997 level).
•1,000 Children’s Centres open with one in every community by 2010
•£3bn investment in Sure Start

Further/Higher:

· Since 1997/98, the number of young people from low participation neighbourhoods going to University is up by 7,000 (+26%).

· 255,000 young people on Apprenticeship programmes (compared to 75,000 in ‘97)

· Since April 2000 launch, nearly 2.1 million learners have enrolled on nearly 5 million learndirect courses

AND MORE............

CRIME

British Crime Survey Crime Since 1997:


Overall crime down 35%
Domestic Burglary down 55%

Vehicle theft down 51%

Violent crime down 34%


Results


•Record police numbers – up more than 14,000 since 1997
•Over 7,800 CSOs, with 16,000 planned by April 2007
•Over 7,350 ASBO’s and nearly 300,000 Penalty Notices for Disorder issued
•Over 500 crack houses closed
•Nearly 4m fewer victims of crime than in 1997 (6m fewer than in 1995)
· Levels of worry about crime down a third since 2000 (stable compared with 2004/05)

•Over 300,000 more offences brought to justice between March ’02-March ‘06
· Tougher sentencing – e.g. 5 year minimum sentence introduced for unlawful possession of a prohibited firearm.

· DNA database – police matching 3,000 offences a month. Direct links to offenders have tripled; 6,000 in 1998 compared to over 20,000 last year.

•On average close to £1 million crime cash seized every week
•Put in place the biggest ever expansion of CCTV – investing over £150m
•16,000 more prison places since ‘97 with 8,000 extra places planned by 2012
Under the Tories (recorded crime 1979-1997)

· Crime doubled, car crime doubled, burglary doubled

· Violent crime by 170% (recorded) and 51% (BCS), robbery rose by 400%

· The chance of being a victim of violent crime trebled

· Convictions fell by a third

· Police numbers fell every year from 1993

· “For the period as a whole from 1979 to 1997 crime doubled under the Tories. It is an accurate figure - it did. It more than doubled between 1979 and 1993.” (Michael Howard, Hansard, 24/5/00)

yellowbelly - it's not NHS premises yet. It's still owned by the developer.

AND EVEN MORE!


TRANSPORT
•Transport spending up 43% over last 3 years. Over 60% higher than 1997.
· More rail journeys than at any time since the 1940s; rail freight up 46% since 1996 97; and light rail use up 130% in the last 10 years;

· UK’s first high speed rail line (Channel Tunnel Rail Link Section 1) opened on time and budget;

•More trains in England and Wales arriving on time in 2006 compared to 2001
•Network Rail cut train delays by 2.3m minutes last year (17%)
•Train Protection and Warning System installed across the entire national network.
· £7.6bn being spent on West Coast Main Line upgrade and is delivering faster journey times - 30 mins quicker between Glasgow-London.

· Over 100 road schemes have been completed. The M25 around Heathrow has been and M1 is being, widened;

•Child road deaths and serious injuries are 49% below the baseline.
•Bus use is increasing year on year for the first time in decades;
· Free off-peak local bus travel for older and disabled people since April 2006; and free off-peak travel by bus in any part of the country from April 2008.


More to come


•Tube PPP delivering £16bn investment;
•CTRL Section 2 into St Pancras due 2007;
· Crossrail

· Provided the Mayor of London with the funding needed to deliver transport for the 2012 games – including the East London Line (Phase 1);

· Terminal 5 at Heathrow now under construction allowing the airport to eventually handle up to 30m more passengers a year.


Tory record


· Bungled rail privatisation – breaking the railway network up into 100 pieces and selling it off at a bargain basement price, wasting billions of taxpayers money. After privatisation no new trains came into service for 2 years. By May 1997 Railtrack was £700 million behind on its rail investment and maintenance programme.

· By 1997 there was a funding backlog on London Underground requiring £16 billion of investment over the first 15 years of the PPP to reverse;

· Highway maintenance spending cut by 21% between 93/94 and 96/97 - roads were in their worst condition for 20 years by 1997.

Quite right that Mr.Robinson was heckled at this morning`s launch because he was interrupting a sacred ritual.

The manifesto,whether it is four pages or forty,is what anthropologists call a "charter", where the tribe reposes its myths and lays to set it upon a righteous path.

Several pharisees among our colleagues have called for legally binding commitments,an idea Osborne the invisible entertained until called to book by YoungCam,the pretender.

The problem with this superficially attractive idea is that it no statute,law,troth or other commitment can override the sovereignty of parliament.When Wooster and his chums consider being hauled up,arraigned,traduced or otherwise truncated by this majestic bar they quietly dropped the idea while preserving it for bar room chat among the less enlightened.

The Labour party meanwhile,draped in the mantle of righteousness and wielding the sword of Albion has no such inhibition.It draws its skein of words mightily, but sadly aware they will stay unread until the clocks run backwards and Gordon the Mighty comes into his own again.

In truth,manifesto`s are more cargo cult than charter.That strange social phenomenon native to Pacific islands where the tribe ceases to dig,delve,weave or fish while awaiting the magical summoning which will produce a ship of plenty so no-one needs work again.

Several of our colleagues here are prone to this kind of narcolepsy.To name two,there is one Bryhers who occupies the left side of the island,the other is Croft found on the right.Both sadly deluded and worth an anthropologists study in their own right.

Is there a video anywhere of Nick getting jeered at the manifesto launch? I've had a quick hunt round the BBC website and YouTube, but haven't found anything.

More help for failing public services?!!!!!!!!

WHY?

Surely we have already been told - many times - that our public services are perfect as a result of the £squillions 'invested' by Labour.

82 83 85 86
so from 1997 -2006 (before world recession) labour achieved many good things

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