Jacket is off as PM fights to keep grip on power
DAVID CAMERON has sought to fire up a lacklustre Conservative General Election campaign, telling business leaders he is “pumped up” because Britain is on the brink of something special that could be all thrown away if Labour won power aided by the SNP.
“If I’m getting lively about it, it’s because I feel bloody lively about it,” the crimson-faced Prime Minister declared. “It’s decision time – that’s what pumps me up about this,” he said to applause.
Speaking to a supportive group of business chiefs in the City of London, the Tory leader – jacket off and fists clenched – launched himself into the last full week of campaigning, insisting: “I want this so badly” and promising to work the “hardest I have ever worked” in the final stretch of the campaign.
Noting how there was just over a week to save Britain’s “hardfought recovery”, he said to cheers: “If you think I’m going to roll over and let Ed Miliband and Alex Salmond wreck that, you have another thing coming. We have a fight on our hands and I’m going to win that fight.”
Earlier, he hit back at claims the Tory campaign lacked energy. “It’s the most maddening thing,” he told IT V’s Lorraine Kelly, “because I’m so passionate about what I do and about what we have done for the last five years.”
Mr Cameron referred to remarks from Len McCluskey, the Unite leader, who urged the Labour leadership to work with progressive parties, admitting it would be wrong for him to attack the SNP, given the Nationalist manifesto was anti-austerity, “which,” explained the union leader, “is Unite’s policy”.
Responding, the PM said: “Len McCluskey said if Labour get in, they should do an alliance with the SNP; more taxes, more borrowing, more unlimited welfare, all of the things that got us into the mess in the first place.”
The Tory leader stressed how the election came down to a “binary choice” between him and Mr Miliband and he urged people to think hard when they had “that stubby pencil in your hand in the polling booth”; asking themselves, given how the country had come so far, did they trust Labour with the economy?
Launching his party’s small business manifesto, he told his audience it was they who were Britain’s wealth-makers – the “magic ingredient” to the creation of 2.2 million jobs since 2010.
“You are responsible for that turnaround; the small businesses, the start-ups, the entrepreneurs, the people who work and graft.
“You are responsible for something else; the inspiration that we all draw from the values you hold to; the values of hard work, enterprise, of graft, of putting in and believing that reward follows effort. So a really big thank you.”
The Tories’ small business manifesto says the party will aim to increase the number of business start-ups to 600,000 a year by 2020, cut another £10bn of red tape, keep the Employment Allowance until 2020, instigate a business rates review and set up a new conciliation service to mediate in disputes, especially over late payments.
The manifesto launch came after the leaders of 5,000 small businesses signed a letter to the Daily Telegraph backing the Conservatives’ approach.
Referring to how this was the most important election for a generation and a battle for the “backbone of Britain”, Mr Cameron insisted if people wanted “the excitement of risk, vote for the other guy”, but if they wanted economic security and stability, then they should vote Conservative.
“The economy comes first. There’s nothing without a strong economy. You can have all the plans and all the dreams in the world.
“They don’t amount to a row of beans unless you’ve got a strong economy. That’s what we’ve got in Britain. That’s what you’ve built in the last five years. Don’t put it at risk.”
But Chuka Umunna for Labour claimed the Tories had spent five years letting down Britain’s small businesses.
“Government scheme after government scheme designed to boost finance for small firms has failed and small business lending has fallen by £500m in the last three months,” the Shadow Business Secretary said.
“With Labour, the tax burden on small firms will be lower than under the Tories.”
He added his party would address late payments and “unfair treatment of small suppliers” and set up a British Investment Bank to back small businesses.
All the plans and dreams in the world don’t amount to a row of beans unless you’ve got a strong economy