PM attacks Tory plans to cut spending

Published on Wednesday 10 June 2009 22:02

THE battle lines between the Conservatives and Labour over future spending plans were revealed yesterday as party leaders clashed over spending cuts.

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley gave ammunition to Prime Minister Gordon Brown's charge of "Tory cuts" after he admitted a Conservative government would have to slash budgets by 10 per cent.

Mr Lansley had been attempting to set out his party's plans for investing in the NHS.

He said: "We have made it clear where our priorities lie: we are going to increase the resources for the NHS, we are going to increase resources for international development aid, we are going to increase resources for schools. But that does mean, over three years after 2011, a 10 per cent reduction in the departmental expenditure limits for other departments. It is a very tough spending requirement indeed."

His admission was immediately seized on by Mr Brown, allowing him to score a rare political point after weeks of leadership trouble.

Mr Brown said: "Let us have a debate about the choice that really does exist in the country between a Conservative Party that now wants to cut, even at a time of recession, into our basic public services and a Labour Party that wants to invest in them."

But Mr Cameron retaliated that the Prime Minister planned his own 7 per cent cuts across the board. The Tory leader told Mr Brown: "The next election, when you have the guts to call it, won't be about Labour investment versus Tory cuts, it is going to be an election about the mismanagement of the public finances, the appalling deficit you have left and your plan for cuts."

The argument sets the stage for the debate ahead of the next general election. Labour has been concerned that the focus on MPs' expenses and the party's bitter infighting has deflected attention from the Conservatives' policy agenda.