By David Williams
1 October 2009
Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Communities Secretary John Denham have spearheaded an attack on the Conservatives’ record on services, aimed at positioning Labour as the natural party of the public sector.
Denham’s speech at Labour’s conference took aim at Tory local authorities, saying they gave an indication of what a David Cameron-led government might look like.
Speaking on September 29, he singled out Hammersmith & Fulham, criticising leader Stephen Greenhalgh for ‘moaning’ that council tenants were ‘hard to get rid of ’. Denham also described Barnet’s proposal for ‘no-frills’ services as forcing residents to pay twice.
‘These people are different to us – they have different values, different priorities, a different view of what makes the world tick,’ he said.
Denham told delegates that ‘people like that’ would never have created flagship Labour schemes such as SureStart.
Denham also pledged to make councils fairer, contrasting the £6,000 average pay rise for local government workers over the past seven years with the £40,000 increase enjoyed by chief executives. He said: ‘These are not bad people, but we all know it’s got out of hand, and it’s got to stop.’
Denham vowed to limit the pension entitlements of the highest earners to protect the pay and pensions of lower-earning public servants.
Brown framed the next general election as a ‘choice between two directions for our country’.
He said: ‘There are only two options on tax and spending. One is reducing the deficit by cutting frontline services – the Conservative approach. The other is getting the deficit down while maintaining and indeed improving frontline services – the Labour approach.’
He contrasted the government’s fiscal stimulus to fight the recession with the ‘wasted generation’ and ‘cardboard cities’ that he said resulted from Conservative inaction following the recession of the 1980s.
Chancellor Alistair Darling told a fringe meeting that Brown’s speech had set out Labour’s bid to use public spending to bring the UK out of recession.
‘He set out pretty clearly the difference between us and the Tories,’ he said. ‘We believe government action can make a difference... we’ve shown that over the past year or so.
‘We need to make sure that even in a time when public spending is tighter, that choices are made and that they are the right choices to safeguard the future.’
See Tighten your belts
1 October 2009
Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Communities Secretary John Denham have spearheaded an attack on the Conservatives’ record on services, aimed at positioning Labour as the natural party of the public sector.
Denham’s speech at Labour’s conference took aim at Tory local authorities, saying they gave an indication of what a David Cameron-led government might look like.
Speaking on September 29, he singled out Hammersmith & Fulham, criticising leader Stephen Greenhalgh for ‘moaning’ that council tenants were ‘hard to get rid of ’. Denham also described Barnet’s proposal for ‘no-frills’ services as forcing residents to pay twice.
‘These people are different to us – they have different values, different priorities, a different view of what makes the world tick,’ he said.
Denham told delegates that ‘people like that’ would never have created flagship Labour schemes such as SureStart.
Denham also pledged to make councils fairer, contrasting the £6,000 average pay rise for local government workers over the past seven years with the £40,000 increase enjoyed by chief executives. He said: ‘These are not bad people, but we all know it’s got out of hand, and it’s got to stop.’
Denham vowed to limit the pension entitlements of the highest earners to protect the pay and pensions of lower-earning public servants.
Brown framed the next general election as a ‘choice between two directions for our country’.
He said: ‘There are only two options on tax and spending. One is reducing the deficit by cutting frontline services – the Conservative approach. The other is getting the deficit down while maintaining and indeed improving frontline services – the Labour approach.’
He contrasted the government’s fiscal stimulus to fight the recession with the ‘wasted generation’ and ‘cardboard cities’ that he said resulted from Conservative inaction following the recession of the 1980s.
Chancellor Alistair Darling told a fringe meeting that Brown’s speech had set out Labour’s bid to use public spending to bring the UK out of recession.
‘He set out pretty clearly the difference between us and the Tories,’ he said. ‘We believe government action can make a difference... we’ve shown that over the past year or so.
‘We need to make sure that even in a time when public spending is tighter, that choices are made and that they are the right choices to safeguard the future.’
See Tighten your belts
