Cameron takes fight to Labour

THE 2015 General Election will be won by the party with the most credible plan for improving living standards. Labour and the Conservatives each have one – and they could not be more different.

Where the strategy set out by Ed Miliband last week amounts to a flight of fancy, the vision outlined yesterday by David Cameron is rooted firmly in reality.

The Prime Minister’s conference speech gave the country a straight choice – a return to the economic chaos that was the legacy of the last Labour government, or a focus on building long-term stability in a “land of opportunity” that rewards those who are willing to put in the effort.

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If Mr Miliband signalled a lurch back to the doomed socialism of the 1970s, then Mr Cameron was intent on invoking the spirit of Thatcher’s Britain.

And just as Margaret Thatcher galvanised a nation reeling from the catastrophic failure of Labour fiscal policy, so Mr Cameron appealed directly to voters with the sense to realise that Mr Miliband’s hollow promises are a recipe for fresh disaster.

He rightly declined to offer any such pie in the sky pledges yesterday, instead recognising that putting the economy back on an even keel must remain the priority and reasserting key Conservative values that have been lost during the years of the scramble for the centre ground.

Mr Cameron presented a compelling vision of a Britain in which people are rewarded for their efforts and given the tools they need to get on in life, a Britain in which it’s “not your background, but the hard work you put in that brings opportunities”.

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These are worthy aspirations that the public can believe in – a marked contrast to the muddled policies offered by a Labour leadership that has failed to learn from past mistakes.

Yet there are caveats. Mr Cameron’s unashamed championing of big business as an instrument for jobs and growth must translate into benefits that can be shared by hard-working individuals and families at every level of society.

Ordinary people must feel a tangible improvement in their living standards – sooner rather than later – if they are to be convinced that a vote for the Conservatives in 2015 will deliver a land of opportunity for all and not just the privileged few.

Value for money?

IN some respects, David Cameron’s “land of opportunity” speech justifies the decision to pay marketing agency Leeds and Partners around £2m to deliver at least 1,500 new jobs over the next three years.

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The economic recovery has still to permeate from London to Yorkshire and, at a cost of just over £1,300 per post, it appears a sound investment when comparable city regions like Manchester and Birmingham are attracting far more inward investment than Leeds.

Yet taxpayers will need reassuring that the approach taken by Leeds City Council, and the fledgling Leeds Local Enterprise Partnership, is in the best interests of taxpayers. After all, it is only a matter of weeks since this newspaper revealed a series of loopholes in the corporate governance of Leeds and Partners.

The concerns do not end here. Given how councils normally put all key contracts out to tender in order to guarantee value for money for residents, why did this not happen in this instance? A report to councillors reveals that this exercise was circumvented by the placing of a “voluntary transparency notice” on the “European Union’s OJEU system” last month. Why was this opportunity more widely publicised at the time? And are there not other marketing firms with proven records who could have fulfilled this brief? If Leeds and Partners had the best plan, it should have been confident of winning any tender competition.

A final point needs to be made. How will this venture’s effectiveness be measured – and what steps will Leeds Council and the LEP take so there is not a repeat of the embarrassing expenses claims of the past? If councillors agree to this approach, they would be advised to ask external auditors to monitor progress so money is not squandered on courting those firms 
with existing plans to move to Leeds.

The race for life

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KATHRYN Harrop, and her response to her mother and father both being struck down with cancer, is indicative of the notion that it can take adversity to bring out the best in people.

Rather than wallowing in self-pity, the 21-year-old provided her parents with the emotional and practical support that they needed in their hour of need.

She’s now one of the first people to sign up for Cancer Research UK’s new Race for Life Twilight runs that come under starter’s orders in Leeds and York later this month. The world-class treatment that sufferers expect from hospitals across Yorkshire would not be possible without the enduring work of such charities, whether it be complementing existing care arrangements or funding vital new research.

If this is to be possible, it will only be because of the endeavour of all those well-meaning individuals who continue go the extra mile so the less fortunate, like Kathryn’s parents Alison and Geoff, can receive even better treatment in future.

They have our admiration – and thanks.