Cameron launches Tories ‘Doughnut Manifesto’

David Cameron this morning launched the Tories election manifesto and it had a dirty great hole in the middle of it, hence its nickname, the Doughnut Manifesto.

We cannot do anything we want for public services unless we first secure the economic recovery. This is Labour's priority. It's the great big hole at the centre of the Tories' manifesto.

Cameron used the dreaded phrase, “we’re all in this together”. When a multi-millionaire, old-Etonian leader of the Conservative Party says "we're all in this together", what he really means is "you're on your own".

Do-it-yourself public services of the sort the Conservatives are describing won't work unless the frontline is properly protected and properly funded and the Tories will have to cut spending very sharply to make all their promises and all their figures add up.

Everything we want to do in public services depends on a strong economy. Labour has led Britain from recession to recovery and has set out a credible, coherent plan to secure the recovery this year. You cannot build a strong society without a strong economy. There is a big hole in the Tory manifesto. It's called economic credibility.

A combination of their black hole and a sink-or-swim approach to public services shows that for all the PR blitz, David Cameron has not changed the Tory Party. This is not an agenda for empowerment - it's an agenda for abandonment.

Cameron poster courtesy of the brilliant http://www.mydavidcameron.com/

Out in sunny Wyke and Woodside

Another fantastic sunny day in Bradford South and I’ve been out and about in the constituency with some of the team enjoying the sun and talking to voters.

First stop was Sandale Community Centre in Woodside, where I was chatting to people at their Luncheon Club. The Centre is undergoing some improvement work, with a new Play Pod and a new secure play area. The Centre provides a valuable community resource and meeting place and is the base for the Woodside Neighbourhood Police Team (NPT), who hold One Stop Shops there on the second Tuesday of every month between 1.30pm and 2.30pm. As well as members of the NPT there are representatives from Housing to offer advice.

In the afternoon I was out with our fantastic Wyke campaign team, including Wyke’s 3 Labour Councillors, David Robinson, Sarah Ferriby and David Warburton, Labour’s candidate in the local election on May 6th. This picture of the 4 of us was taken at the Oakenshaw Fun Day last year.

This evening we’re back to Woodside for a bit of door knocking. For all the talk of the internet changing how politicians campaign, you can’t beat good old fashioned face-to-face contact on people’s doorsteps. Hope the weather holds for the rest of the campaign.

On the doorstep and the Grand National

I'm just heading out with the campaign team to Queensbury for a couple of hours knocking on doors. Obvioulsy we'll be finished in time to watch the Grand National later this afternoon.

I suspect that everything is going to become an election issue over the next 4 weeks and Britain's biggest horse race is no exception. Labour has launched a petition to keep the Grand National on free to watch TV. The Tories have confirmed that they would cut the list of sporting events, like the Grand National, which are reserved for free-to-air TV. By doing so they would give Pay TV operators like Sky Sports the opportunity to buy the rights to screen these important national events. Only those paying sports subscriptions would be able to watch them.

You can sign the petition by going to www.labour.org.uk/grandnational

UPDATE: I forgot to give you my tip for the big race. I'm backing Comply or Die, although I'm not overly confident!

Update on free laptops for kids

More than 130,000 families have applied for free laptops and broadband internet access for their kids - just three weeks after the Government launched its giveaway scheme.
Gerry is urging Bradford families who qualify for the scheme to get signed up as soon as possible.
To date 131,938 application packs have been requested and 14,671 filled in and returned, with 5,309 applications approved so far.
Each low-income family whose application is given the green light gets a Barclaycard, which can be used for a one-off transaction worth £528 specifically to buy the equipment at an approved supplier.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Schools Secretary Ed Balls launched the Home Access programme last month, and pledged that 270,000 laptops would be distributed by the March 2011 deadline on a first-come-first served basis.
For more information on how parents can apply for a Home Access Grant call 0333 200 1004 or visit the Home Access website to get more information and request an application form.

Cold weather help for pensioners

This winter our Labour Government has paid out more than £200 million in cold weather payments to help pensioners on Pension Credit and vulnerable people cope with the extra cost of heating their homes during the bitter weather.
Each cold weather payment this year is £25 per week, almost three times what it was previously, for every seven day period where the temperature drops below freezing (0°C). So far this winter four cold weather payments have been triggered in this area providing an extra £100 towards the fuel bills of those who need it most. This is in addition to the winter fuel payment of £250 (or £400 for the over 80s) for pensioners.
Labour now spends around 45 times more helping pensioners keep warm than the last Tory government spent. In the 1980s, Tory Minister Edwina Currie told pensioners to wear woolly hats and long johns in cold weather. Do you really want to go back to that?