Press Ahead

Jonathan Ashworth writes:

Conservative Conference is now over and what have we learned?

Authority is draining away from David Cameron, with seemingly every Tory Minister positioning for life after Dave.

We are all used to the jockeying from George Osborne, Theresa May and Boris Johnson, but now Nicky Morgan and even Jeremy Hunt are joining the fray. 

We’ve seen Tories fall out over Europe, again. And a shabby speech from Theresa May confirming what we all knew – the Nasty Party is back.  

While top Tory politicians turn inwards what was the message for Daily Mirror readers? 

David Cameron and George Osborne confirmed they will press ahead with their unfair cuts to tax credits.

These cuts – which take effect next April – will cost three million working families £1,300 a year on average.

Meanwhile George Osborne will introduce inheritance tax cuts for the wealthiest estates. 

The Tories, stung by our criticism, try to tell us families will be compensated by the Government’s so-called ‘National Living Wage’.

But these claims have already been rubbished by the independent experts at the Institute for Fiscal Studies who say that’s “arithmetically impossible”. 

Even worse, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt seemed to claim this week that cutting people’s tax credits would make them work harder. Or at least work as hard as the Chinese and the Americans. 

Why is it that the Tories seem to think the best way to persuade the wealthiest to work harder is to give them more money, but at the same time believe the only way to make ordinary people work harder is to take more money away?

This isn’t ‘common ground’ politics, its actually penalising thousands of hardworking people across the land. 

Nor is it ‘common ground’ politics for a Chancellor of the Exchequer to spend half an hour preening himself for the Tory leadership but fail to mention the 1700 steel workers on Teesside who desperately need help.

What an insult. 

This week also saw David Cameron again refuse to come clean about when he knew of Lord Ashcroft’s controversial ‘non-dom’ tax status.

This isn’t an issue that will go away – and I’ll continue to press the Prime Minister on it.