UK's new saviour, David Cameron

It's hardly Obama-style, but the media hype behind the almost inevitable Conservative election win in 2010 is already gearing up. We're all going to be rescued!


Telegraph - David Cameron to crack down on public sector pay

In the speech he named several public-sector employees who he indicated are overpaid. Ed Richards, the chief executive of Ofcom earns £400,000 and British Waterways Board bosses Robin Evans, Nigel Johnson, James Froomberg and Phillip Ridal, have combined salaries of £900,000 - enough to employ 30 nurses.

He said a Conservative Government will "out" quangocrats and mandarins who have been "getting rich at the taxpayer's expense" by publishing details of all public sector salaries over £150,000.

Mr Cameron said that means-tested tax credits for people earning over £50,000 would be scrapped to save taxpayers' money.

"It is not easy, or popular, for governments to take money away from people," the Conservative leader said. "With a Conservative government, tax credits will be there to help make society fairer, not the state bigger.

"And we must apply the same discipline throughout government. That means making sure that public sector pay and pensions reflect the realities of the economic situation.

"Let me make it clear to everyone who works in the public sector: we will honour existing pay deals, including any three year pay deals. But many of them end next year.

"And this is the deal we'll be offering you then: We will help you by getting rid of the central direction and bureaucracy that undermines your professional autonomy and morale. And in exchange we will ask for your help in solving Labour's Debt Crisis by keeping the cost of public sector pay only as high as the country can responsibly afford."

The Conservative leader also indicated that the Conservatives may freeze public spending in future. He has previously only said that the party would undercut Labour's spending plans.
"We said they [Labour] should reduce their spending plans back in 2008," he said. "And now we're saying they should abandon their irresponsible plan to spend more in 2010. Controlling public spending and delivering more for less must start right now.

"We've made it clear that a Conservative government would spend less than Labour. We're not frightened of their idiotic ritual chants about 'cuts'. Everybody knows that Labour's debt crisis means public spending cuts. And instead of putting them off, Labour should be making them today."

Philip Hammond, a shadow Treasury minister, indicated that a Conservative Government would seek to reintroduce Gordon Brown's "golden rule" – to keep Government borrowing below 40 percent of national economic output. Under Labour's plans, borrowing is forecast to rise to 79 percent of output and is not forecast to fall below the 40 percent level until 2032.

Mr Cameron called for a "massive culture change at every level of government". He said he wanted to replace "Labour's spendaholic government with a new government of thrift."

"With a Conservative government, if ministers want to impress the boss, they'll have to make their budgets smaller, not bigger," he said. "On my watch it will be simple: if you do more for less you get promoted. If you do less for more, you get sacked.

"If we'd had this approach over the last twelve years, I don't suppose there'd be a single Labour minister left."

The Conservative leader also warned that he was likely to have to increase taxes to pay-off soaring levels of Government debt.

"Fifteen years ago, I was in the Treasury as we had to deal with public finances that had got out of control; debt that had got too high," he said. "We had to put up taxes, and I hate it. But it was the right thing to do and that lesson has stayed with me. That's why I'm a fiscal conservative."

The tone is familiar. Here are these great well-meaning people going up against the establishment...only problem is that, like the Obama phenomenon, the very people expected to fight the establishment are owned by the establishment! I would recommend voting outside of the big three parties, don't let the "BNP are going to get in" fearmongering keep you voting Labour or whoever - it's a ploy to discredit those who vote for smaller parties.