Tory and Lib Dem partners trade blows in the pre-election battle
BOTH sides of the Coalition have defended their cross-government trade in putdowns, suggesting voters will understand the sniping given the General Election is just five months away.
After receiving a broadside from Danny Alexander, the Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury, who accused the Conservatives of being prepared to “inflict unnecessary pain” on the UK public because of their ideologically driven policy of “austerity forever”, David Cameron hit back.
He claimed the Lib Dems were “all over the place” and would “prop up a failing Labour government” after the General Election, putting the “hopes, dreams, and livelihoods” of millions of Britons at stake.
George Osborne then intervened and defended the Tory policy of trying to balance the books through spending cuts alone, saying: “We are going to have to cut certain welfare bills like benefits that go to working-age people.
“But the prize is economic stabil- ity, growth, jobs in the future, brighter future; that’s a price that works for our country.”
It was, insisted the Chancellor, the Lib Dems, who were “offering... a chaotic alternative of higher taxes, higher borrowing and a return to economic chaos” that would take Britain “back to square one”.
Mr Alexander set off the latest war of words after saying the Tories were “pandering to Ukip” in a pre-election panic, which followed criticism from his leader Nick Clegg, who accused the Conservatives of “kidding” voters over the cuts they would impose and demanded they “come clean” to the public. The Highland MP said that the Coalition sniping was “totally unsurprising” with the election less than five months away but he also stressed that it would not mean the power-sharing arrangement was in danger.
Mr Osborne also denied that the cross-government comments were damaging, saying: “I know there’s an election in a few months’ time and there’s going to be a real choice for the country.”
Elsewhere, there were reports that some Tory backbenchers wanted their leader to jettison the Lib-Con partnership and for the Conservatives to govern as a minority administration until the election on May 7.
One Conservative MP, described as a “Tory member of the Government”, which could mean a Minister or an aide, was also said to share this view, declaring: “New Year, new start.”
But given that Mr Cameron might, if the numbers work out in a certain way, need to go back into coalition with Mr Clegg’s Lib Dems, a total uncoupling of the parties before polling day is unlikely.