A catalogue of broken Tory promises – is this the worst UK government ever?

First topic message reminder :

When Labour came to power in 1997, their manifesto contained 229 promises. A BBC analysis five years later found that 181 of the promises, 80%, had been kept. As to the remaining 48 promises, the BBC decided that they were “either too difficult to judge or have not been met.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1961522.stm

Those people who make negative remarks such as “all politicians and parties are the same” would do well to compare Labour’s record on keeping promises with that of the Tories in the past two years. Dr Eoin Clarke has analysed the 2010 Tory manifesto and exposed some of its biggest lies:-

- The Tories said they would offer personalised tailored help to the long term unemployed (p.15), but they hid their plans to force disabled young people and others to work, unpaid, for profit-making companies like Tesco.

- The Tories said they would create 400,000 work-pairing college-based apprenticeship schemes over two years (p.17), but there are fewer than 10,000 apprenticeship places UK-wide.

- The Tories promised to reduce youth unemployment (p.5), but it has risen to an all-time high.

- The Tories said they'd cut child benefit for families earning more than £50,000, but they actually cut it for families where one person earns £44,000.

- The Tories said they'd raise the state pension age to 66, but then raised it to 67.

- The Tories promised to protect Child Trust Funds for the 33% poorest children, but instead axed them for all children.

- The Tories said they would give power to the Bank of England to crack down on bonuses (p.29), but nothing was done and bank bonuses have topped £6 billion in the past year.

- The Tories said they would protect the Winter Fuel Payment to pensioners (p.42), then cut it by £50 for some and £100 for others.

- The Tories said they would provide 4,200 extra Sure Start personnel (p.43). Instead they have cut £812 million in funding, which has resulted in the closing of more than 300 Sure Start Centres.

- The Tories claimed they would reduce unemployment and improve economic growth (p.3), but the opposite has occurred.

- The Tories concealed their plans to cut the Education Maintenance Allowance and raise VAT to 20%. They were also deliberately vague on their support for trebling tuition fees.

- The Tories promised to protect funding for Disability Living Allowance (p.42), which Cameron claimed for his own son, but then cut it for children receiving chemotherapy after they came to power. Now they’ve scrapped it altogether.

http://eoin-clarke.blogspot.com/2011/12/exposing-10-biggest-lies-in-tory.html

For more on the on the human cost of Tory disability cuts:-
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/may/16/human-cost-disability-cuts?newsfeed=true

Other broken promises have been listed by 'Twitter' member @GracieSamuels:-

No cuts to public spending in 2010-11 (just 'efficiency savings').

No bonuses over £2,000 for bankers.

3,000 more police officers.

Keeping the Future Jobs Fund.

Pupil Premium to be additional to the schools budget.

‘Bonfire of the quangos’ (4,500 more bureaucrats have been recruited).

A Post Office Bank.

No cuts to the navy.

Three more army battalions.

Reduce immigration (it’s risen by 21% in one year).

Automatic prison sentence for carrying a knife.

Cutting rail fares each year.

NHS budget to be protected.

No cuts to frontline services.

3,000 more midwives.

No A&E and maternity unit closures.

And of course, the worst and most disgusting broken Tory promise, hidden from the voters but planned for years and rewarded by private healthcare firms:-

No top-down reorganisation of the NHS.

Is this the worst UK government ever? Have you ever read about or lived through two years of more malevolence towards the weakest in society, and more lies from a Prime Minister so mired in sleaze and corruption?

Ivan, that's just genius. I've tweeted it.

bobby wrote:As I said some time ago, the same way the tories rid themselves of nationalised industry.
First they put in tame management, starve the company of funds by removing any subsidy, then sit back and watch the company flounder. The most cynical part of their plan is to then blame the workers for the failure before making redundancies then closing it down.

Bobby going back to the thread the answer to the question is a loud and resounding YES

Regrettably, there will still be Voters who like the smack of firm Government and we may all get the Government they deserve.

oftenwrong wrote:Regrettably, there will still be Voters who like the smack of firm Government and we may all get the Government they deserve.

I hope your not saying what I think your saying OW, another 5 years of a Tory gov't and the UK will be on its back DEAD

Maybe not dead, but very different - and not in a good way

The stark economic fact is that the Tory-led Coalition never had a chance of recovering from the 2008 Credit Crunch, which Alastair Darling at least MIGHT HAVE achieved if an impatient voting public had not declared "A plague on all your houses!"

Whoever claims victory in the next General Election will be obliged to sack even more Public-sector employees AND borrow an extra £Billion in the first year - just to keep from Bankruptcy.

I wouldn't wish that on an enemy, let alone the Labour Party.

Let UKIP f*** it up and then let's all get down to facing Reality by electing a truly POPULAR Government..

oftenwrong wrote:The stark economic fact is that the Tory-led Coalition never had a chance of recovering from the 2008 Credit Crunch, which Alastair Darling at least MIGHT HAVE achieved if an impatient voting public had not declared "A plague on all your houses!"

Whoever claims victory in the next General Election will be obliged to sack even more Public-sector employees AND borrow an extra £Billion in the first year - just to keep from Bankruptcy.

I wouldn't wish that on an enemy, let alone the Labour Party.

Let UKIP f*** it up and then let's all get down to facing Reality by electing a truly POPULAR Government..

One of the Tories' many Big Lies is that it's a straight choice between either cutting or borrowing - backed by their crowing mantra, 'You can't reduce your debts by borrowing more!'.

But it's bollocks. The other option is to tax more effectively, by introducing new taxes or, preferably, by enforcing the ones we already have effectively.

I've been privileged to spend the last couple of evenings in Parliament, hosted by some Labour MPs. One of them told me that avoided (i.e. legally dodged) tax represents some £16-20 bn - but evaded (ILlegally dodged) tax amounts to some £200 billion. Solve that, and not only is there no public spending deficit, but we're in a fiscal surplus.

If that enforcement is backed by some US-style draconian penalties for evasion, so much the better. One thing we could learn from the other side of the pond..

skwalker1964 wrote:

oftenwrong wrote:The stark economic fact is that the Tory-led Coalition never had a chance of recovering from the 2008 Credit Crunch, which Alastair Darling at least MIGHT HAVE achieved if an impatient voting public had not declared "A plague on all your houses!"

Whoever claims victory in the next General Election will be obliged to sack even more Public-sector employees AND borrow an extra £Billion in the first year - just to keep from Bankruptcy.

I wouldn't wish that on an enemy, let alone the Labour Party.

Let UKIP f*** it up and then let's all get down to facing Reality by electing a truly POPULAR Government..

One of the Tories' many Big Lies is that it's a straight choice between either cutting or borrowing - backed by their crowing mantra, 'You can't reduce your debts by borrowing more!'.

But it's bollocks. The other option is to tax more effectively, by introducing new taxes or, preferably, by enforcing the ones we already have effectively.

I've been privileged to spend the last couple of evenings in Parliament, hosted by some Labour MPs. One of them told me that avoided (i.e. legally dodged) tax represents some £16-20 bn - but evaded (ILlegally dodged) tax amounts to some £200 billion. Solve that, and not only is there no public spending deficit, but we're in a fiscal surplus.

If that enforcement is backed by some US-style draconian penalties for evasion, so much the better. One thing we could learn from the other side of the pond..

The Illegally dodged tax the majority of them will be Tory Donors, and what the Tories take off them in tax means less for them to pour into Tory party funds, I put something on twitter last night about Cameron being given tickets to raise money for the Arts & culture he did auction them money went straight into Tory party funds.

So, Steve, I wonder why there's never been the poitical will to tackle tax evasion - it's not by any means a new phenomenon, and surely it should be possible to give HMRC the resources for this - a saving in the long run

boatlady wrote:So, Steve, I wonder why there's never been the poitical will to tackle tax evasion - it's not by any means a new phenomenon, and surely it should be possible to give HMRC the resources for this - a saving in the long run

Indeed. I got to sit in on the Public Accounts Committee yesterday and listened to Margaret Hodge giving various people a hard time. I think there's a public groundswell for it that is shared and even led by some politicians (like MH), but the risk is that the Tories will bluster and take some ineffectual steps until it subsides. Their financial backing comes from the same people who are doing most of the dodging, so they'll want to look 'tough on tax', but without actually changing much.

Remember Cameron's interview after the Jimmy Carr incident? He said Carr's tax avoidance was morally wrong - then, in the next breath, when the interviewer raised Tory-supporting Gary Barlow's similar scheme:

I'm not going to give a running commentary on people's tax affairs.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18535642

boatlady wrote:So, Steve, I wonder why there's never been the poitical will to tackle tax evasion - it's not by any means a new phenomenon, and surely it should be possible to give HMRC the resources for this - a saving in the long run

HMRC now has significantly FEWER staff than it had prior to the creation of a Coalition government.

Do you ever wonder whether we might perhaps be better-off without a Government at all?

Surrey woman left without Care dies in Hospital.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-21340238#TWEET584492

and .....

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/10201604.UPDATED__Body_found_in_Bournemouth_church_doorway/?ref=mc

I certainly think we'd be heaps better off without the short termism that dominates political thinking - on both sides of the divide - you know, the thinking that says 'let's cut costs to make this year's budget look good, otherwise we might not get voted back in'.
Social development, the building of a fair state, takes TIME and MONEY - if those resources are provided, there are long term savings - Bobby's point about HMRC is a case in point.
Similarly, well educated people with secure civil and human rights, safe housing and enough to eat, usually don't need to be claiming benefits, but providing that environment is probably a 2-3 generation endeavour, if not longer.
Under the present system of parliamentary democracy the parties are all under pressure to provide short answers to long problems, so worthwhile measures never get the time they need to produce results.
The example of the poor woman who died after being left neglected in her home to me is an example of the sheer folly of outsourcing essential care and support services into the private sector- I can't believe any old-style home care manager would have let such a thing happen.

"The example of the poor woman who died after being left neglected in her home to me is an example of the sheer folly of outsourcing essential care and support services into the private sector ...."

Many people would find it hard to argue. But our Tory Leaders can say without blushing that such things should not be the direct responsibility of Government.

Out! Out! Out!

I will join you OW

"GET TOO F**K GET TOO F**K GET TOO F**K"

The safety and care of citizens is the business of government, or there is no need for government

The Tory party died when the Social Democrat Tony Blair clone, David Cameron took over. Cameron is an admirier of Blair, and whatever the papers say, had no problem coming to agreement with Clegg, his fellow social democrat, on coalition policy - Pro-EU, anti working class, anti english.

Single Sex marriage was nowhere in the Tory manifesto, but the gusto and enthusiasm that Cameron has pursued this showed his true socialist colours.

True labour party left wing socialism is dead. True blue Thacherite toryism is also dead. All we have is 3 versions of yellow backed libdem cowardice and treachery, all determined to enslave us to the EU.

Posts discussing the EU have been moved to here:-

https://cuttingedge2.forumotion.co.uk/t768-cameron-s-speech-on-the-eu-230113

Internetcynic wrote:The Tory party died when the Social Democrat Tony Blair clone, David Cameron took over. Cameron is an admirier of Blair, and whatever the papers say, had no problem coming to agreement with Clegg, his fellow social democrat, on coalition policy - Pro-EU, anti working class, anti english.

Single Sex marriage was nowhere in the Tory manifesto, but the gusto and enthusiasm that Cameron has pursued this showed his true socialist colours.

True labour party left wing socialism is dead. True blue Thacherite toryism is also dead. All we have is 3 versions of yellow backed libdem cowardice and treachery, all determined to enslave us to the EU.

The current Tory frontbenchers are the most economically right-wing in living memory - more so even than Thatcher, they are determined to eradicate the state on ideological grounds. Measures like the gay marriage bill are a sop to modernity, a cynical attempt to pose as something that they are not and to court some kind of favour with the wider public at the expense of keeping the 'colonels' happy.

The EU is a non-issue to most people - and most consider that we'd be worse off and less influential if we left. Just because you're obsessed with it doesn't make it a decisive political issue, mate.

skwalker

mmm.....I still think Thatcher cutting the upper tax rate from 83% to 40% over an 8yr period takes some beating. A disgustingly bias policy that instantly exacerbated levels of inequality, amplified social divisions, and gave a minority far too much power, control, and influence. A policy that has led to the 'working poor' needing benefit top-ups whilst boardrooms gorge on a frenzy of ill- deserved bonuses. She instigated the present perilous economic state we're in.

I didn't say she was good! But even she quailed at dismantling the NHS and the scope of the destruction the current lot have in mind is wider.

skwalker1964 wrote:I didn't say she was good! But even she quailed at dismantling the NHS and the scope of the destruction the current lot have in mind is wider.

When Labour came to power in 1997 the waiting list for operations was 18 Months long, people where dying before they could get there operations that is why the private health sector was brought in by Tony Blair to save lives not not what Thatcher done KILL THEM off.

It seems that she laid the foundation for the current government's raid on the rest of our national institutions - by eradicating the bulk of the country's industrial base and creating the possiblity for the few of amassing quite obscene wealth, she was responsible for engineering a social situation within which the current crop of Tories have the instruction leaflets and the wealthy backers to continue the dismantling of the welfare state.
Don't know if that was the intention, but it seems to me that's how it worked on the ground - interesting topic for a blog post

Internetcynic wrote:The Tory party died when the Social Democrat Tony Blair clone, David Cameron took over. Cameron is an admirier of Blair, and whatever the papers say, had no problem coming to agreement with Clegg, his fellow social democrat, on coalition policy - Pro-EU, anti working class, anti english.

Single Sex marriage was nowhere in the Tory manifesto, but the gusto and enthusiasm that Cameron has pursued this showed his true socialist colours.

True labour party left wing socialism is dead. True blue Thacherite toryism is also dead. All we have is 3 versions of yellow backed libdem cowardice and treachery, all determined to enslave us to the EU.

Well said I.C., and lets not forget that the Labour Party has destroyed this country.

First they Nationalise the best industry in the world and their trade unions cause it to collapse.

Then they create a welfare system so perverse that people walk barefoot from Africa to get at it.

Then they try to single handedly give away our nuclear deterent.

Then Tony Liar comes along and thinks I must win this election so he offers Scotland a parliament, Wales and assembly and N.I. a parliament, it gets him the votes and fracutres the Union, England get sweet FA.

Then they make 1:4 a civil servant to buy their votes, they increase benefits and disability and create a class of young girls who get pregnant just to sponge a nice house and clear 2 grand a month to sit on thei backsides.

When Iraq blows up they form one of the worst lies they have ever done that results in the state murder of Dr David Kelly, Robin Cook and Chief Constable Mike Todd.

When Boring Gord takes over he actually writes to the relatives of deceased mothers and familiy in a felt tip pen......call the Tories but this takes some beating.

boatlady wrote:It seems that she laid the foundation for the current government's raid on the rest of our national institutions - by eradicating the bulk of the country's industrial base and creating the possiblity for the few of amassing quite obscene wealth, she was responsible for engineering a social situation within which the current crop of Tories have the instruction leaflets and the wealthy backers to continue the dismantling of the welfare state.
Don't know if that was the intention, but it seems to me that's how it worked on the ground - interesting topic for a blog post

I agree boatlady, your quite right Thatcher started it and Cameron is finishing it off, when she sold off OUR Gas Electric Phone & Railways they where sold to friends of the Tory party tory donors plus family of Tory MPs, if you take a good look at the tory MPs in the House of Commons there is some from her gov't or back benches or they are the sons of the Maggots gov't Ministers. That is where Cameron is getting all his ideas from the Maggots papers but they will do for him as they done for her.

Longbow - interesting post - are you in a position to post any links to back up your comments?

Longbow64 wrote:First they Nationalise the best industry in the world and their trade unions cause it to collapse.

Which one would that be?

Then they create a welfare system so perverse that people walk barefoot from Africa to get at it.

Unlike you (I suspect) I've actually spent a lot of time in those countries people 'walk barefoot' to escape. They're escaping a situation I hope you and yours never even have to dream of, let alone experience. They come here because we have a reputation for being a decent society - which is what you put yourself in the position of arguing against.

Then Tony Liar comes along and thinks I must win this election so he offers Scotland a parliament, Wales and assembly and N.I. a parliament, it gets him the votes and fracutres the Union, England get sweet FA.

Perversely, separating Scotland from the UK is the Tories' only realistic hope of gaining a majority in the foreseeable future. Some of your co-ideologues have perceived that and are - in complete hypocrisy - making noises designed to nudge Scots toward an 'out' vote. Desperate times and desperate measures.

Then they make 1:4 a civil servant to buy their votes, they increase benefits and disability and create a class of young girls who get pregnant just to sponge a nice house and clear 2 grand a month to sit on thei backsides.

Hardly a Labour fault. I grew up under Thatcher, and then Major, and it was as common then as it is now - which is really not very common unless you're stupid enough to believe what the Daily Mail says.

Longbow64 wrote:

Internetcynic wrote:The Tory party died when the Social Democrat Tony Blair clone, David Cameron took over. Cameron is an admirier of Blair, and whatever the papers say, had no problem coming to agreement with Clegg, his fellow social democrat, on coalition policy - Pro-EU, anti working class, anti english.

Single Sex marriage was nowhere in the Tory manifesto, but the gusto and enthusiasm that Cameron has pursued this showed his true socialist colours.

True labour party left wing socialism is dead. True blue Thacherite toryism is also dead. All we have is 3 versions of yellow backed libdem cowardice and treachery, all determined to enslave us to the EU.

Well said I.C., and lets not forget that the Labour Party has destroyed this country.

First they Nationalise the best industry in the world and their trade unions cause it to collapse.

Then they create a welfare system so perverse that people walk barefoot from Africa to get at it.

Then they try to single handedly give away our nuclear deterent.

Then Tony Liar comes along and thinks I must win this election so he offers Scotland a parliament, Wales and assembly and N.I. a parliament, it gets him the votes and fracutres the Union, England get sweet FA.

Then they make 1:4 a civil servant to buy their votes, they increase benefits and disability and create a class of young girls who get pregnant just to sponge a nice house and clear 2 grand a month to sit on thei backsides.

When Iraq blows up they form one of the worst lies they have ever done that results in the state murder of Dr David Kelly, Robin Cook and Chief Constable Mike Todd.

When Boring Gord takes over he actually writes to the relatives of deceased mothers and familiy in a felt tip pen......call the Tories but this takes some beating.

What industry are are you talking about Longbow ? are you talking about the ship building and steel works the ones Thatcher let go to the wall along with the mines we now have to pay a fortune for coal when we have plenty of our own just need the miners to dig it out, OH I forgot we have no miners Thatcher DEMONIZED them because they wanted decent wages and safe conditions to work in you should try working down mines for 8 hours and see exactly what the miners had to go through or you could just go see one I believe they have made them into MUSEUMS then she sells OUR that means belonging to us GAS ELECTRIC Railways and Phone to tory donors tory family & friends and I believe some Tory MPs.

As for Tony Blair being a LIAR Scam..ert..on could gave Tony LESSONS on "How to Lie with a Straight Face" as Cam the Bam has being telling the UK public lies since he got into power in May 2010, the deficit is one this has been proved by economists its going UP NOT DOWN the other lie is the rich & wealthy are paying there share that is a bloody laugh Diddy Giddy has given them a 5p tax cut and he said they would take there money from there off shore accounts and bring it back to the UK that was the BIGGEST LIE EVER people that live in Glass houses should never throw stones.

From: Woe to Cameron, Osborne, Smith http://wp.me/p2sftc-7GC

I don’t think I’ve ever quoted a bible verse on this blog before, but I came across these passages today, having spent much of it reading about unjust decisions, people deprived of even the most meagre subsistence for months and even years for no sane reason. In the context of the things I’ve had to read, and to write about, lately they seem so apposite, so utterly appropriate, so evocative of melancholy, of weary grief and justified anger, that whatever your faith or if you have none at all, I think you’ll see their rightness. The first is from the book of Isaiah, chapter 10:

Woe to those who enact evil statutes, and to those who continually record unjust decisions, so as to deprive the needy of justice, and rob the poor of their rights… Now what will you do in the day of punishment, and in the devastation which will come from afar?

The second from the book of Job, chapter 22:

Is not your wickedness great?
Are not your sins endless?
You stripped people of their clothing, leaving them naked.
You gave no water to the weary
and you withheld food from the hungry,
though you were a powerful man, owning land—
an honored man, living on it.
And you sent widows away empty-handed
and broke the strength of the fatherless.

Could anything fit the triumvirate of obscenity with which we’re currently burdened better than these words? I’m tired, very tired – but I’m more angry than I am tired. A lot more.

Shame on them.

How difficult it is for us Plebs to understand the problems of Leadership.

Need a good laugh? Please read & share: Today we are in Biblical Mode http://wp.me/p2sftc-7GU

Source: Scarlet Monahan (via YouTube)

The pre-election pledges that the Tories are trying to wipe from the internet
 
Adapted from an article by George Eaton:-
 
The Tories have been trying to erase all pre-May 2010 press releases and speeches from the internet, but what have they got to hide? Here are some possibilities:-
 
1. No cuts to front-line services
Cameron told Andrew Marr just before the election that a Tory government would not cut any front-line services. Since then, 5,870 NHS nurses, 7,968 hospital beds, a third of ambulance stations, 5,362 firefighters and 6,800 frontline police officers have been cut.
 
2. "We have absolutely no plans to raise VAT"
That's what Cameron said during an interview with Jeremy Paxman on 23 April 2010. VAT was raised from 17.5% to a record high of 20% in Osborne's first Budget.
 
3. Cameron on child benefit: "I wouldn't means test it"
He went on to abolish the benefit for higher earners in the Spending Review and froze it for three years.
 
4. NHS: "no more top-down re-organisations"
This government went on to launch the biggest top-down reorganisation of the service in its history.
 
5. On Education Maintenance Allowances: "we don't have any plans to get rid of them"
In October 2010, the government announced the abolition of EMA.
 
6. Cameron on Sure Start: "Yes, we back Sure Start. It's a disgrace that Gordon Brown has been trying to frighten people about this."
Since then, 566 of the centres have been closed, with over half of those still open no longer providing any onsite childcare.
 
7. On the Future Jobs Fund: "no plans to change"
Less than two weeks after coming to power, this government announced its abolition.
 
8. Cameron on green taxes: "they need to go up"
Cameron has recently pledged to "roll back" green taxes.
 
9. Osborne on bank bonuses: "totally unacceptable"
Not only did Osborne fail to keep his pledge to ban bonuses at state-owned banks, he's now taking legal action against the EU Commission over its plan to cap payments.
 
10. And finally...Cameron on transparency in 2007
"It's clear to me that political leaders will have to learn to let go. Let go of the information that we've guarded so jealously."
 
For the full article:-
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/11/pre-election-pledges-tories-are-trying-wipe-internet

"The Tories have been trying to erase all pre-May 2010 press releases and speeches from the internet."

Well, they would do that, wouldn't they?

(For how much longer will we have Newspaper Archives to maintain the record?)

There is one thing he cannot erase OW and that is our memories, does he really think come May 2015 we will forget what he has done to OUR NHS or our entire Welfare state that is lying in ruins thanks to one of his NASTY VILE minister I.B.S. :yeahthat:

Come May 2015 it'll be all about how much money people have in their pockets. It's all very well unemployment and inflation being down and the economy picking up but if that's not reflected in people's actual spending power than the Tories will be cattled. The NHS is a side issue for most people and always has been (despite what they might like people to think). If this wasn't the case, any party saying they'd raise income tax and use it for things like health and education would win elections. When did that last happen? Even Labour raised public spending on the back of increased borrowing last time round (in a booming economy as well).