Tomorrow morning David Cameron will deliver a big speech on the economy. The very fact of it was subject to an embargo but Iain Martin has now reported it and so, now, can we.
Iain Martin predicts that there’ll be a big attack on Labour’s record and an indication that the bipartisanship on the banks’ bailout will not characterise other economic policy issues. That’s good but it isn’t enough.
David Cameron’s Plan for a Responsible Economy speech needs to do two other things:
"It’s time for David Cameron to tell the British people that Britain is going in the wrong direction. He needs to say that we’re living beyond our means. We’re spending too much and borrowing too much. We have surrendered our streets to yobbery and incivility. Britain’s schools are failing the poorest members of society. He needs to promise a government that will put things right and he should tell the British people that it won’t be easy or painless. We need to forget the focus groups and the polling for just one minute and tell the truth about a nation that is in trouble. Mr Cameron might be surprised at voters’ reaction. Our hunch is that the first politician to tell the British people ‘how it really is’ will form a bond with many millions of them. It doesn’t need to be a message that is soaked in gloom. Mr Cameron can be optimistic about the future but only, he should say, if Britain has the courage to elect a new government with a different agenda."