CONSERVATIVE PARTY leader David Cameron will today warn the British public that billions worth of public spending cutbacks will have to be made after the next general election.
Mr Cameron will issue the warning when he delivers the leader’s address to the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, but he will also seek to offer optimism about the years ahead.
“None of this will be easy. We will be tested. I will be tested. I’m ready for that. And so I believe are the British people. So, yes, there is a steep climb ahead. But I tell you this: the view from the summit will be worth it,” he will say, according to excerpts released last night.
On Tuesday, the Conservative shadow chancellor George Osborne outlined a £5 billion a year list of cutbacks, including a pay freeze for public sector workers in 2011, and pension curbs for top state employees.
A YouGov/Sky News poll taken after Mr Osborne’s speech showed a 2 percentage point rise in Conservative support – which is within the poll’s margin of error, but which, at least, shows that his speech has not been roundly rejected by voters.
According to it, the Conservatives are now at 43 per cent; compared with Labour, up 1 point; and the Liberal Democrats down 1 point at 17. The Conservatives’ lead over Labour rises one point to 14.
Defending his proposals, Mr Osborne said: “I would rather be honest about these choices, confront the British people with the situation this economy finds itself in and this country finds itself in than try to get elected on a false prospectus.”
Later, he said that any party elected without a clear mandate would become “incredibly unpopular” soon after taking office because cuts were inevitable: “I would rather people knew that before the election than after the election,” he said. However, the leader of one of the UK’s biggest unions, Dave Prentis of Unison, said: “George Osborne has revealed the Tories’ real agenda.
“They are trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes by pretending they care about low-paid workers.
“But millions of public sector workers will be left out in the cold by this pay freeze. Other staff will have to pay with job and service cuts, while bankers and tax cheats escape with a slapped wrist.”
But the influential economic think tank, the Institute of Fiscal Studies, said Mr Osborne’s proposals would not go anywhere near far enough, and tougher actions would have to be taken to cope with the UK’s deficit, which could hit £200 billion this year alone.
Meanwhile, the former head of the British army, Gen Sir Richard Dannatt, would become a party adviser on defence and a Tory peer in the House of Lords after the election if the party wins.
He clashed repeatedly with the prime minister Gordon Brown over the Government’s support for British forces in Afghanistan, and earlier this week he accused No 10 of ignoring military advice.
However, the Conservatives’ shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, suffered some embarrassment after he criticised the general’s entry into politics – then believing that he was going to play a role for Labour.
When asked to comment, Mr Grayling said he hoped that it was “not another gimmick by Gordon Brown”, though he subsequently issued a clarification when he realised that he had made a mistake.
Later, Mr Grayling delivered a traditional law-and-order Tory speech to the conference, promising action to deal with anti-social behaviour, including "grounding" orders to keep unruly teenagers at home. Meanwhile, the government's culture secretary, Ben Bradshaw, sharply criticised the BBC Radio Four Todayprogramme for a "wholly feeble and biased" interview with Mr Osborne.