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Cameron to launch election campaign with controversial deficit claim Cameron launches election campaign with controversial deficit claim
(about 3 hours later)
David Cameron is to launch a controversial Conservative advertisement claiming the party has halved the deficit while in government. David Cameron unveiled the Conservatives’ first poster for the 2015 election campaign on Friday with the slogan: “Let’s stay on the road to a stronger economy,” but faced criticism over its claims about his government’s economic record.
In a sign that a long election campaign has now begun, the prime minister will launch the poster at an event in Yorkshire on Friday, with billboards due to go up across the country. The prime minister, visiting Halifax, West Yorkshire, said it was crucial his party won “the most important election in a generation” to safeguard the economy, saying: “Yes, we have cut the deficit in half as a share of our economy but, in the next parliament – the next five years – I want that deficit eradicated completely.”
The headline slogan of the poster, “Let’s Stay on the Road to a Stronger Economy”, is superimposed over an image of a long straight road running through countryside, which is blended into a union flag. It goes on to list the government’s achievements as being “1.75 million more people in work”, “760,000 more businesses” and “the deficit halved”. Alternatives to the Conservatives’ plans would be disastrous, Cameron added.
The deficit claim had already been questioned, as this is only true if measured as a proportion of national income. In cash terms, it has only been reduced by about a third. Critics of the Tory advertisement included Fraser Nelson, editor of the right-leaning Spectator magazine, who said the party should not have started the election battle telling a “porkie” about having halved the deficit.
The Labour MP Chris Bryant accused the Conservatives of skewing the truth, saying it was a “bit troubling when [the] first Tory campaign poster has a fib”. The shadow minister Chris Bryant, meanwhile, said it was a “bit troubling when the first Tory campaign poster has a fib”.
George Osborne, the chancellor, will be promoting the campaign launch on Friday as he visits a business in the West Midlands. The poster, due to be on billboards around the country, has slogans superimposed over a long straight road running through countryside, which is blended into a union flag. It lists the party’s achievements as being “1.75 million more people in work”, “760,000 more businesses” and “the deficit halved”.
The image of the straight road through gently rolling countryside was described as looking “a bit French” by one advertising expert. The last of these claims has caused controversy, because the deficit will only have fallen from its peak of around £153bn to an estimated £91bn by the end of 2014-15.
Philip Hesketh told the Daily Mail: “The irony is, when you look at it a bit closer, the scene looks a bit French. It’s very unusual to have a road that wide with no lines down the middle and stretching so far with no lampposts.” Despite being challenged about their slogan, Cameron and George Osborne, the chancellor, argue the most natural measure is the reduction of deficit as a proportion of GDP. By this metric, the deficit has fallen from around 10% of GDP to 5% of GDP – as national income has risen.
A Tory source said the image was manipulated on a computer rather than being a photograph of a single road. “It’s a composite of various images of UK roads,” the source said. In a speech launching the campaign, the prime minister was defiant about the poster’s claim, saying his party has “already cut the deficit in half and we have set out clear steps to finish the job by 2018”.
With just over four months to go before the election, the leaders of the two main parties are already expected to start spending more time talking to voters instead of working at Westminster. Some voters also mocked the poster for presenting an unreal picture of the countryside and a road with no markings. It is understood the image is actually a computer-generated composite of photographs and not a real place.
Both parties have established their “narratives” for the election, with the Conservatives planning to focus on their economic record, and Labour promising to address the cost of living and reduce inequality. One advertising expert, Philip Hesketh, told the Daily Mail: “The irony is, when you look at it a bit closer, the scene looks a bit French. It’s very unusual to have a road that wide with no lines down the middle and stretching so far with no lamp-posts.”
Ed Miliband is likely to give a major speech early next week. The Labour leader’s new year message had a strongly positive tone, as he sought to present the party as one of hope and change. Osborne was also out promoting the poster on Friday in Shropshire and campaigning in Twickenham in south-west London – the seat of the Lib Dem business secretary, Vince Cable. Despite their party political nature, Osborne’s visits were promoted by Treasury press releases boasting of the government’s “long-term economic plan” – a Conservative slogan.
“As this New Year dawns, we have the chance to change direction; a chance to build a recovery for all of Britain … This year, we have the power to bring about the change working families all over Britain need. This isn’t about idle dreams or empty promises. It’s about a real, concrete plan: a plan for a recovery which reaches your kitchen table.” With just over four months to go before the election, the leaders of the two main parties are expected to start spending more time talking to voters instead of working at Westminster. Both parties have established their “narratives” for the election, with the Conservatives focusing on their economic record, and Labour promising to address the cost of living and reduce inequality. Cameron will also have to navigate the issues of immigration and Europe in the face of the threat from Ukip. He will hold talks this week with Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, who is visiting London, and he will be expected to raise the issue of tighter curbs on EU immigration.
With the polls continuing to show a stubborn lead for Miliband, the Conservatives are expected to start bombarding the public with their political messages over the coming weeks. But in a further bad start to the year for the prime minister, the former Tory cabinet minister Lord Tebbit warned Cameron he would struggle to win the election unless Ukip somehow “implode”.
Cameron’s new year message and opinion piece in the Daily Telegraph warned of chaos if Labour returned to power. It also made the claim that the Conservatives were not just improving the economy but “changing British values” in favour of hard work.
Material from the Press Association was used in this report