Read my lips, No tax cuts
David Cameron today did what perhaps no other Tory has done over the last twenty years, warned the public that tax cuts were not a formality if he was to win the next general election. However, he did promise to make savings on public spending, restrain price rises in the cost of living and try to help the public where they were struggling.
While tax cuts would be an eventual formality under any Tory government it looks as though the UK accounts will be in such a mess if he did win the next election that his hands would be tied for some time. Is this what the public wanted to hear or has Cameron let Brown off the hook?
The cries from the opposition over the last few weeks have been aimed at the lack of experience Cameron is perceived to have, even though he has served in the Treasury and studied economics. He has also been accused of promising tax cuts as soon as he gets into office (if that ever happens) although today he dispelled that myth by suggesting that the public books were so weak that tax cuts would have to wait.
On balance this speech could be the making of Cameron, it was balanced, informative and ultimately what the UK public wanted to hear.
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