Cameron: Conservatives offer strong, united government (Roundup)

Sep 28, 2008, 15:11 GMT

David Cameron, leader of the British Conservative party. EPA/ANDY RAIN

London - Britain's Conservative Party leader David Cameron launched a strong attack on the Labour government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown and its performance in the current economic crisis at his party's conference Sunday.

'We have to ask the question who brought us and our economy to this position? Who was it that spent and spent and borrowed and borrowed and gave us that massive budget deficit?' Cameron asked the Tory conference in Birmingham.

'The answer is our prime minister, the then chancellor, Gordon Brown - and my message to Gordon Brown is this: You have had your boom and your reputation is now bust.'

Cameron said his party would handle the economy differently if in government and he contrasted the unity of his party with Labour where there have been moves to oust Brown.

'I want us to show that, at a time when the government has completely lost its way, that there is a very clear, a very strong, a very united and a very positive alternative - the modern Conservative Party.'

There should be 'no knee-jerk reactions' to the current economic crisis, the Conservative leader said. He said that in the short term savers should be given a 'sense of security and safety' while in the long term it would be necessary to tackle Britain's high level of indebtedness.

'We have had 14 years of economic growth and yet we have got the biggest budget deficit in the industrialized world, apart from Egypt, Pakistan and Hungary. That is a disgrace and that must never, ever be allowed to happen again.'

In an interview with the BBC Cameron didn't rule out tax rises if the Conservatives are elected but he said his government would strive to reduce the growth in public spending under Labour.

The Conservative leader also promised that, if elected, his party would hold a referendum on the European Union's Lisbon Treaty in 2010 if it has not been ratified by all 27 member states by then. The treaty was rejected by the Irish electorate in June.

'If it has been ratified and implemented by everyone, we wouldn't let matters stand and we will set out very clearly what we will do,' he added.

The Tory conference comes amid indications that the Conservatives' lead over Labour is declining in the wake of last week's Labour parley in which Brown gave a strong speech to shore up his party's fortunes.

The Sunday Telegraph published a survey by the BPIX polling institute which showed the Conservatives now with a 12-point lead over Labour. In August, the lead had been 23 points.

The BPIX poll showed the Conservatives with 43 per cent backing, to 31 per cent for Labour and 17 per cent for the Liberal Democrats. The latest data indicated that Labour had received a boost since its party conference.

On a personal level, the BPIX poll showed that voters narrowly preferred Brown and Labour chancellor Alistair Darling over their Conservative counterparts, Cameron and George Osborne, by 36 to 35 per cent, respectively.

The BPIX poll took place between September 24 and 26, with 2,020 adults questioned.