Cameron attacks “relaunch without a price tag”

David Cameron has criticised Gordon Brown’s attempted relaunch for its “lack of honesty on spending” and “lack of real reform of our public services”.

David pointed to Peter Mandelson’s statement that there will not be a Government spending review before the next election, and stressed that it was a “relaunch without a price tag”.

He said that many of the initiatives announced by the Prime Minister – including the Constitutional Renewal Bill and the simplification of immigration rules – were “rehashed”, and others – including the future fund – were taken from us.

David warned that other proposals amounted to “timid and bureaucratic top-down tinkering” rather than real reform, and stressed:

“The truth about today’s statement is it only serves to highlight the decline of this Government. Their money has run out. Their political capital has run out. And now their time is running out.” 

David also attacked Gordon Brown for delaying the second reading of the Royal Mail bill, and offered to give up the Conservatives’ Opposition Day Debate to allow it to be heard.

Ken Clarke, the Shadow Business Secretary, stressed the delay to this “urgent” bill showed that Britain has “a dying government, past its sell-by date and needing to be replaced.”

He said, “I do not believe that this delay is anything to do with a lack of parliamentary time, but if it is we would gladly give up an Opposition Day to make way for the second reading of the bill.”