Labour: ‘Rattled’ Cameron can’t claim centre ground

David Cameron cannot claim to be in the centre ground of British politics after today’s speech – and his attacks on Jeremy Corbyn show he is “rattled” by the election of the new Labour leader. That is the message from the Labour Party today.

While Cameron hoped that his speech to Tory conference would be seen as a claim to the political centre – with focus on poverty, social mobility and housing – Shadow minister Jon Ashworth has hit back, saying that the PM is “failing working people”.

“The Tories are failing working people. For all the talk of making life better for people, the truth is David Cameron is doing the opposite,” he said. “You can’t claim to be in the common ground of British politics when you’re cutting the tax credits working families rely on, leaving 3 million of them on average £1,300 a year worse off.”

Jeremy Corbyn’s team also responded to the speech, after Cameron accused the Labour leader of having a “security-threatening, terrorist-sympathising, Britain-hating ideology”. A spokesperson for Corbyn said it showed Cameron was “rattled”. They said:

“The fact that David Cameron used his speech to make personal attacks on Jeremy Corbyn are a sure sign that he is rattled by the re-energisation of the Labour Party.

“With cuts to tax credits and a continued failure on housing, his claim that the Conservatives are the party of working people is being exposed.”