"Savage cuts" - did Jamie mix up Clegg and DC?
In the November issue of "Egremont Today", the Labour MP for Copeland accused David Cameron and George Osborne of pledging "savage cuts."
I took exception to this in my post on this blog dated 1st November and wrote
"Jamie, if you can produce a date, place, and precise quote in which either David Cameron or George Osborne have ever used the words "savage cuts" to describe a policy they want to implement, or suggested that they would enjoy making savage cuts, I will donate a fiver to a charity or cause of your choice. If you cannot produce such a quote, you should apologise for that statement."
I've had quite a bit of comeback from the Labour party on some of the other things I wrote in the same blogpost, but nothing whatever on this point, so it looks like I get to keep my fiver.
However, one of my colleagues has reminded me that another national politician did indeed use the word "savage" to describe the kind of cuts which he thinks Britain needs.
Step forward Lib/Dem leader Nick Clegg who expressed precisely that opinion to the Guardian newspaper in September. Here is a link to the resulting Guardian article, "Britain needs 'savage' cuts, says Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg", which begins with the words
"Bold and even 'savage' cuts in government spending will be necessary to bring the public deficit down after the next election, Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, says today."
Did Jamie get David Cameron and Nick Clegg mixed up? If so, here is the difference:
David Cameron leads a party which supports New Nuclear Build and got more votes in the Copeland constituency last year than Labour did.
Nick Clegg wants to scrap nuclear power, which would wreck the economy of West Cumbria in the process, and leads a party which couldn't even manage third place in Copeland last year - they came fourth in the county elections and fifth in the Euros.
Let me be clear why I disagree with the expression "savage cuts."
All honest politicians recognise that Britain's current deficit is unsustainable, that whoever wins the next election will be forced to take strong measures to reduce it, and that some of those measures will be painful. Anyone who denies that their party will have to make cuts if they win the election is a liar or a fool.
But neither I or David Cameron would use the word "savage" to describe the measures we want to take because any responsible politician would want to minimise the pain: we do not enjoy cutting things for the sake of it, and we will start with cutting bureaucracy and form filling, not front line services.
And in particular, Conservatives will cut the deficit, not the NHS.
I took exception to this in my post on this blog dated 1st November and wrote
"Jamie, if you can produce a date, place, and precise quote in which either David Cameron or George Osborne have ever used the words "savage cuts" to describe a policy they want to implement, or suggested that they would enjoy making savage cuts, I will donate a fiver to a charity or cause of your choice. If you cannot produce such a quote, you should apologise for that statement."
I've had quite a bit of comeback from the Labour party on some of the other things I wrote in the same blogpost, but nothing whatever on this point, so it looks like I get to keep my fiver.
However, one of my colleagues has reminded me that another national politician did indeed use the word "savage" to describe the kind of cuts which he thinks Britain needs.
Step forward Lib/Dem leader Nick Clegg who expressed precisely that opinion to the Guardian newspaper in September. Here is a link to the resulting Guardian article, "Britain needs 'savage' cuts, says Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg", which begins with the words
"Bold and even 'savage' cuts in government spending will be necessary to bring the public deficit down after the next election, Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, says today."
Did Jamie get David Cameron and Nick Clegg mixed up? If so, here is the difference:
David Cameron leads a party which supports New Nuclear Build and got more votes in the Copeland constituency last year than Labour did.
Nick Clegg wants to scrap nuclear power, which would wreck the economy of West Cumbria in the process, and leads a party which couldn't even manage third place in Copeland last year - they came fourth in the county elections and fifth in the Euros.
Let me be clear why I disagree with the expression "savage cuts."
All honest politicians recognise that Britain's current deficit is unsustainable, that whoever wins the next election will be forced to take strong measures to reduce it, and that some of those measures will be painful. Anyone who denies that their party will have to make cuts if they win the election is a liar or a fool.
But neither I or David Cameron would use the word "savage" to describe the measures we want to take because any responsible politician would want to minimise the pain: we do not enjoy cutting things for the sake of it, and we will start with cutting bureaucracy and form filling, not front line services.
And in particular, Conservatives will cut the deficit, not the NHS.
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