Tories are the champions of public services, not Labour, insists Osborne

Published on Tuesday 11 August 2009 21:59

THE Conservatives have attempted to pitch themselves as the "progressive party" as shadow chancellor George Osborne warned that Labour would be forced to slash public services because it had no coherent plans for reform.

Mr Osborne tried to wrest the mantle of championing public services from the centre-left yesterday, arguing that Labour had left the public finances in too big a mess to deliver services properly.

In a speech in London, Mr Osborne said: "The modern Conservative Party is now the dominant progressive force in British politics.

"Whether it is pioneering open primaries to select our parliamentary candidates, or using new technology to give the public power through access to government information, or our commitment to a radical localisation of power, we are the ones setting the progressive pace in politics."

Only the Conservatives could deliver better public services, he said, because they understood the need for reform.

Mr Osborne added: "Without fundamentally improving the productivity of public services, the quality of those services will deteriorate as budgets are squeezed. Since the Prime Minister has made himself a roadblock to reform, and refuses even to acknowledge the budget constraints, the only path he offers is one that will lead to deep cuts in front-line services."

But Mr Osborne's speech was dismissed as a piece of "political cross-dressing" by Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, who said his claims were "laughable".

In his speech to the Blairite think tank Demos, Mr Osborne refused to say where the axe would fall under Tory spending plans. He promised payment by results in the NHS and "diversity of provision" – code for more use of the private sector.

Those ideas were greeted with concern by unions, who warned there was no public appetite for more private-sector involvement in public services.

Mr Osborne said Labour had "abandoned the field of progressive politics" and the "torch of progressive politics" had been passed to the Conservatives.

"Front-line cuts, not progressive reform – that is the course that the current Labour leadership offer," he warned.

This autumn, Mr Brown would have to admit spending would have to be cut, Mr Osborne said.

A "mini baby boom" in the UK, which brought a 14 per cent increase in the number of births between 2003 and 2008, would mean cuts of up to 800 in spending per school pupil under Labour's current system.

A spokesman for Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said: "It's not clear if George Osborne developed his understanding of 'progressive' with his chums in the Bullingdon Club or on the deck of Oleg Deripaska's yacht, but it seems he has misunderstood the concept.

"A progressive party would not cut taxes for multi-millionaires, stand in the way of reforming parliament or side with bigots, homophobes and climate change deniers in Europe."