Jon Ashworth slams Cameron’s 20 conference claims

Shadow Cabinet minister Jon Ashworth has accused David Cameron of making “20 false claims” during his speech at Conservative Party Conference.

Speaking at the Yorkshire and the Humber Labour regional local government conference, Ashworth said that “the chasm between the rhetoric and reality of the Tories has never been greater”. He highlighted 20 times the Prime Minister made claims that did not match up with his record, and said that it was up to Labour to expose “Tory lies and broken promises”.

Ashworth told delegates:

“There has never been a bigger gap between the rhetoric and reality of the Tory Party, and it’s the Labour Party’s job to expose that gap.

“David Cameron’s conference speech two weeks ago tried to paint the Tories as the party of the common ground and the party of the workers. Labour will not let them get away with that.

“I’m exposing the 20 false claims made by David Cameron in his Conference speech. The truth is the chasm between the rhetoric and reality of the Tories has never been greater. It has always been Labour that has stood up for the many, and by exposing Tory lies and broken promises we will continue to do so.”

You can see Cameron’s 20 claims Ashworth says are false, and why, here:

• He said: The Tories were “the party of working people, the party for working people – today, tomorrow, always”

The truth: The Tories claim to back working people but their cuts to tax credits will hit more than 3 million working families, leaving them on average £1,300 worse off next year.

• He said: “the NHS safe because of us”

The truth: The Tories are taking the NHS backwards. Under them it’s harder to see a GP, waiting lists are at record levels and hospitals have been pushed in to financial crisis.

• He said: He would “fight hard in this [EU] renegotiation”

The truth: David Cameron’s approach risks sleepwalking Britain out of Europe. Rather than fighting for reform, hamstrung by his backbenchers, he has left the UK isolated in Europe – too often seen by our European allies not as a leader and contributor, but as a potential problem and adversary

• He said: He would “build the Northern Powerhouse”

The truth: For all their talk on a ‘Northern Powerhouse’ progress on their infrastructure pipeline has stalled, with just nine per cent of their promised projects started

• He said: He would provide “a decent home” for British people

The truth: The Tories’ failure on housing has meant five years of higher rents, more homelessness, home-ownership falling every year, and the lowest rate of house-building since the 1920s.

• He said: He would provide “good jobs” for British people

The truth: For too many people, work doesn’t pay. There are almost 6 million jobs paying below the living wage – an increase of more than 16 per cent in just two years.

• He said: He would provide “better childcare” for families

The truth: Working families who were promised tax free childcare two and a half years ago are still waiting for help after the Tories broke their promise.

• He said: Infrastructure was one of the “stepping stones on the path to greatness for our country”

The truth: Progress on the Government’s infrastructure pipeline has stalled with just 9 per cent of their promised projects started.

• He said: He had put tackling climate change “at the centre of the Conservative Party’s mission”

The truth: David Cameron once promised to lead the greenest government ever but his Government’s actions suggest the UK is also abandoning its historic leadership role on climate change. In recent weeks three solar energy companies have gone into administration because of Government cuts- a devastating blow to the UK’s solar industry. Al Gore, the CBI, and now the UN’s Chief Environment scientist have all condemned the recklessness of this Government’s clean energy cuts.

• He said: The economy “need[s] to become more competitive”

The truth: The UK has slipped down into 10th place in the latest World Economic Forum global competitiveness report.

• He said: The party was committed to “7 day services” in the NHS

The truth: David Cameron has now made exactly the same announcement at the last three Conservative Party conferences, and at the last two general elections. Each time he’s promised it, he’s failed to deliver, so why on earth should we believe him now?

• He said: That “an all-out assault on poverty” was central to his plans

The truth: For all their talk of tacking poverty, the Tories’ cuts to tax credits are set to push 200,000 children into poverty next year. And they’ve scrapped Labour’s child poverty targets.

• He said: His plans would give tenants “the Right to Buy their home”

The truth: The Tories’ ‘Right to Buy’ policy is unworkable and wrong. It will mean fewer genuinely affordable homes when the need has never been greater so it fails the test of sound social policy.

• He said: “We need a national crusade to get homes built”

The truth: The Tories’ failure on housing has led to the lowest rate of house-building since the 1920s.

• He said: His so-called ‘National Living Wage’ would mean “work paying for millions of people”

The truth: The independent Institute of Fiscal Studies has said that it is “arithmetically impossible’ that the Tories’ so-called ‘National Living Wage’ will compensate for the cuts to tax credit set to hit working families next year.

• He said: He would “transform” prisons

The truth: Under the Tories there has been chaos in the prison system, including the first Category A prisoner escape in 17 years. Prisons have deteriorated, with self-harm, suicides and assaults all up and the amount of drugs and mobile phones within prisons having sky-rocketed

• He said: His ambition is for “500 new free schools”

The truth: The Tories seem to be focusing their energies on free schools in areas where there’s no shortage. The Tories have spent at least £241 million on Free Schools in areas that already have enough school places.

• He said: His ambition is to “make every school an academy”

The truth: The Tories are ducking the big challenges in education. There is a chronic shortage of teachers in our schools. Applications are falling and the country now has the highest number of teachings quitting in a decade. 

• He said: It was unfair for girls to “grow up in a country where they get paid less because of their gender rather than how good they are at their work.”

The truth: Under the Tories, progress on tackling the gender pay gap has stalled. Women earn just 81p for every pound a man earns.

• He said: “Opportunity doesn’t mean much to a black person constantly stopped and searched by the police because of the colour of their skin”

The truth: Racial inequality has been neglected under the Tories. Under them, the number of young BAME people out of work for more than a year rose by 49 per cent.