| David Cameron's speech: the verdict of Michael Heseltine and others | The panel Our panellists give their verdict on David Cameron's speech at the Conservative conference in BirminghamMichael Heseltine: A sense of faith in the individual burned throughDavid Cameron had to combine two central themes: first, the urgency and inevitability of the cuts, which involve making clear the responsibility of the Labour party in the buildup to the crisis; and second, the improvements and opportunities that flow from resolute early decisive action. He achieved both.He spent a lot of time on his vision of society. What burns through is the sense of faith in the individual: the bigger the contribution people make to their own lives and the community, the more fulfilment they will feel and the greater satisfaction they will derive from the way they live. This conflicts with the traditional view that the state has limitless obligations to the individual. I think that instinctively people know this, and there is a broad acceptance therefore that the cuts are not only necessary but will open many doors that present restraints keep firmly closed.Chris Rennard: Cameron copied Clinton's decontamination strategyThe strategy of "triangulation" as practised most successfully by politicians such as Bill Clinton was much in evidence this afternoon. It is based upon decontaminating your own brand. Clear distinctions are made between where you stand – and the stance of both your principal opponents and your own party's traditional positions.David Cameron's defence of removing child benefit payments from higher-rate taxpayers by arguing that the "broadest shoulders should bear a greater load" shows how he is using this issue as the political equivalent of Tony Blair removing clause IV from the Labour party's constitution. He managed a difficult balancing act in wishing Margaret Thatcher a happy birthday next week, while replacing her approach that "there is no such thing as society" with a speech talking about fairness in "a civilised society".His speech only just began to explain the "big society". Some in his party blame the big society message for his party's failure to win an outright majority in May. But he didn't waste much time on his rightwing critics. He simply reminded them of his achievement in ending over 4,000 days in opposition while three previous Conservative leaders offering more traditionally Tory messages had failed.Frances O'Grady: Nerves were steadied, but voters are the real testDavid Cameron needed to steady Conservative nerves after the child benefit debacle earlier in the week. His confident performance certainly achieved that inside the conference hall. Even those in his party who dislike his love of coalition know that they have a leader who is significantly more popular than they are.But the real test is whether voters accept his arguments on the cuts. A 7% reduction in spending every year may sound modest, but will be eye-watering in practice. Margaret Thatcher came nowhere near this and, unlike this government, split deficit reduction equally between tax and cuts.Cameron's claims that the cuts will be fair will be chipped away by the kind of hardship stories that housing benefit cuts are already generating. Even the child benefit cut surgically targets women and families among the better off. And as the bankers' bonus season approaches, the public will question whether those with the broadest shoulders really are taking the biggest hit.The alternative to public services is his "big society". It would be wrong to be entirely cynical about boosting community activism. After all, unions were the pioneers of this – a product of the same period that produced the self-help and co-ops that modern Conservatives celebrate. But what we – and the many voluntary groups already facing cuts – know is that there is a limit to what you can do without state support and public institutions. That is why we have the NHS, not charity hospitals.The weakest part of the speech was on growth. The Conservative belief that spending cuts will stimulate economic growth in time for tax cuts at the next election is a real gamble. If unemployment is not to get worse, we need phenomenal levels of job creation in the private sector to make up for 1.3m job losses projected on the basis of the emergency budget alone. He may reject laissez-faire, but a retreat from industrial policy, watering down the green investment bank and mere exhortations for banks to lend again does not suggest success.Fraser Nelson: 'A good speech disguised as a bad one'This was the perhaps the lowest-octane speech David Cameron has ever given to the Tory conference. He didn't need to give the speech of his life, for once, so didn't. He dutifully ran through all the various points of government policies, but there were too many of what Art Laffer calls MEGO figures (my eyes glaze over).It's odd, because Cameron can speak so well when he needs to. Compared with the speeches we heard yesterday – from Michael Gove and IDS – it was oddly uninspiring. He spoke about his government's "beating, radical heart" with no real enthusiasm – as if he received the speech only recently, and didn't rehearse too much. It was too long, and repetitious in places.The best part was when he talked about the shift in power from state to society and asked his audience (in a roundabout way) what they could do for their country: demand a new school, take interest in a police beat, etc.The problem is that he's trying to resuscitate the big society agenda (or BS, as it's derisively known by activists). The latest effort: his "it takes two" riff at the end (as soon as I heard him say that, I knew what the closing song would be). The problem with the BS is that it disguises a good idea as a bad one - and Cameron's speech did likewise. It made a radical, energising agenda sound a bit average and dull. The reverse midas touch of the big society has struck again. Just as well for Cameron that his government's actions are speaking louder than his words.David CameronConservative conferenceConservativesChris RennardMichael HeseltineFrances O'GradyFraser Nelsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
NHS 'bonuses for life' attacked Critics are calling on the government to abolish a scheme that gives more than half of all NHS consultants lucrative bonuses - even if their performance has deteriorated. bbc.co.uk |
Defence review: David Cameron says 42,000 jobs to go The Prime Minister has laid out the conclusions of the Strategic Defence and Security Review, to Parliament. telegraph.co.uk |
Cameron reassures business over immigration Prime minister tells CBI government will adopt a flexible approach that will not impede them from attracting the 'best talent from around the world'David Cameron today sought to reassure Britain's business leaders that the coalition will not block them from recruiting highly skilled staff from around the world when a permanent cap on non-EU immigration is introduced next year.Amid fears among leading British businesses that the cap will put them at a competitive disadvantage, the prime minister told the Confederation of British Industry that he would adopt a flexible approach.In a speech to the CBI annual conference, Cameron said: "Let me give you this assurance. As we control our borders and bring immigration to a manageable level, we will not impede you from attracting the best talent from around the world."The prime minister's remarks were his strongest hint to date that the government will heed the concerns of business as ministers finalise plans for a permanent cap on non-EU immigration that is due to be introduced next April. The government, which introduced a temporary limit of 24,000 skilled non-EU workers in July, wants to reduce net immigration to the tens of thousands.The CBI, which has warned that the temporary cap is already harming British business and is restricting the supply of skilled science researchers, welcomed the prime minister's remarks.Richard Lambert, the director general of the CBI, said: "The prime minister demonstrated a real passion for business and an understanding that only business will create growth ... He also made clear that access to finance and immigration would not be barriers to future growth."Downing Street said after the prime minister's speech: "We all know business have been talking about this issue. That is precisely why we wanted to have this period of consultation – to get the policy right. We were always very clear that we would try to implement that cap in a way that does not impede businesses from attracting the best talent to the UK. The objective is to bring net immigration down to the levels seen in the past – so tens of thousands. But we have not said anything more detailed about precisely how this is going to operate. We will do so in due course."The prime minister's remarks about immigration came as he set out a series of initiatives to boost economic growth less than a week after George Osborne outlined the most drastic fiscal retrenchment in a generation with £81bn of spending cuts by 2015. Cameron, who assured his audience that he had protected the science budget in cash terms, announced:• The first ever UK national plan to "update and modernise" Britain's infrastructure by unlocking £200bn of public and private investment. Cameron, who told his audience that the chancellor had announced an additional £8.6bn in capital spending over the next four years, outlined a series of projects. These include the new high-speed rail link from London to Birmingham, Crossrail in the capital, the Thames Gateway bridge and the Mersey Gateway bridge.• A £200m investment over the next four years in "technology and innovation centres". Based on the German Fraunhofer Institutes, which have been instrumental in developing the MP3 licence, these are designed to improve links between universities and business.• A boost to competition by merging the competition functions of the Office of Fair Trading and the Competition Commission to create a "much tougher and streamlined competition regime".• A £69m investment to encourage private sector investment in offshore wind projects. Cameron said: "We need thousands of offshore turbines in the next decade and beyond – each one as tall as the Gherkin [the Swiss Re skyscraper in London]. Manufacturing these needs large factories which have to be on the coast. Yet neither the factories nor these large port sites currently exist. And that, understandably, is putting off private investors. So we're stepping in."The prime minister dismissed criticisms from Labour that his government had adopted a hands-off approach to boosting growth. "I won't engage in some sterile debate between laissez faire and hands-on government. The question isn't 'Should government be involved?' because it is involved. It taxes. It regulates. It invests."The real question is: what is the right kind of involvement? ... My approach is clear: British business should have no more vocal champion than the British government and that's why I have put the promotion of British commerce and international trade at the heart of our foreign and economic policy."Vince Cable, the business secretary, used his own speech to the CBI this afternoon to warn bankers against awarding themselves generous bonuses. "Of course, there is no point in engaging in a sterile public exchange of insults," he said. "But no one listening to the chancellor's statement last week will be under any doubt of the government's collective determination to ensure that banks act in the interests of the wider economy – and that in the new year they don't engage in another self-indulgent bonus round."He added that it was time for those who ran big companies and took home enormous salaries to "return to planet Earth".Cable said the economy was still in intensive care: "Death was averted by speedy intervention to shore up the banking system to prevent an economic slump. The patient is now being nursed out of intensive care and off steroids. But serious damage has been done and we are only now at the stage of planning rehabilitation."Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, warned that the coalition was risking growth by cutting the deficit so quickly. The coalition plans to eliminate the structural deficit by 2015, in contrast to Labour, which would have halved the deficit over four years."I do fear that the path the government is pursuing is a gamble with growth and jobs," Miliband told the CBI. "They have a programme which will lead to the disappearance of a million private and public sector jobs but no credible plan to replace them."And their refusal to accept that a deficit reduction plan has to be sensitive to changing economic circumstances needlessly makes the British economy a hostage to fortune. Time will tell whether they turn out to be right."Economic policyImmigration and asylumConfederation of British Industry (CBI)David CameronVince CableNicholas Wattguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Animal rights activists jailed for campaign against Huntingdon Life Sciences Activists intimidated companies linked to Huntingdon Life Sciences in an attempt to close down the animal testing lab. telegraph.co.uk |