Conservatives kick off election campaign with controversial boast
The Conservative Party has fired the starting gun on its election campaign but has already been criticised by some observers over its “inaccurate” claim about the state of the economy.
A poster for the party boasts that the Government has halved the deficit and stabilised the economy in the wake of the recession. It leads with the proclamation “Let’s stay on the road to a stronger economy” before highlighting the “175 million people. 760,000 more businesses. The Deficit halved” since coming into power in 2010.
The Prime Minister David Cameron introduced the campaign with a tweet that read: “Launching our poster in Halifax. The destination is clear: a stronger economy – and a brighter future for everyone.”
Economic stability is expected to be a key part of the Conservative's bid to sway voters to the right come election time. However, the negative reaction to the initial claims from members of the public and political commentators suggest the strategy may need to be tweaked. Some people have mocked the ad on twitter, joking that it promises a ‘road to nowhere’.
Observers including Fraser Nelson, editor of right-leaning magazine The Spectator, have slammed the campaign for what they perceive to be untrue claims. The annual gap between the Government’s spending and income has slashed from a peak of £153bn at the time election five years ago to £91bn this year, a drop of just over 40 per cent.
Nelson voiced his anger at the campaign in a post on The Spectator’s site. “It’s a relatively small deception,” he said. “But this poster makes a more important and more depressing point: The Tory leadership is prepared to use dishonesty as a weapon in this election campaign."
Other critics have also reminded voters that the Government had originally promised to resolve the entire £135bn deficit amassed by Labour.
Labour politician Chris Bryant labelled the campaign as a “fib”. “It’s troubling when the first Tory campaign poster contains a fib,” he warned. “ They haven’t halved the deficit – it’s yet another broken promise.”
Despite the controversy, the Conservatives have defended the campaign’s claim and assured that it is in no way misleading.
Conservative party chairman Grant Shapps argued: “No one is trying to hide the numbers. We have been absolutely upfront with the size of the challenge facing the British economy. One thing no one can accuse us of doing at the last election or during this parliament is sugar coating the economic pill.”
The row between parties over the state of the deficit is set to grow louder in the run up to the election with contenders set to make it a key part of their campaigns.