Cameron and Darling's election head-to-head
Updated on 04 January 2010
David Cameron launches the first part of the Conservative manifesto by focusing on the NHS, while Chancellor Alistair Darling attacks the £34bn Tory "credibility gap".
The Conservative leader insisted his party was "the party of the NHS" and claimed Labour would not protect the NHS budget.
At a Westminster event the Tory leader said: "We cannot go on, we cannot afford, another five years of Gordon Brown."
"Talk is cheap," Mr Cameron said. "You've got to back that with action, and we have."
"We are the only party committed to protecting NHS spending. "It's there in black and white behind me. I'll cut the deficit, not the NHS.
"And don't for one minute buy the Labour claim that they'll do the same. They won't - and their own figures show they won't."
The Tory leader said he would be publishing his draft manifesto for the general election, chapter by chapter, over the weeks ahead.
The launch of the first chapter was accompanied by the release of a national Conservative poster campaign denying Labour allegations of Tory cuts.
Interviewed on Channel 4 News, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne said: “What we were trying to do today was something very simple. David Cameron has been trying to be all things to all people for a year or two now, and no-one has been keeping a running total of how much those promises have cost.”
“What we did today is just put together publicly available information, a lot of it published in the House of Commons, about how much these things cost… £34bn was the gap that emerged in these policies.”
He went on: “Alongside that, we are offering something which, I think, looks very different. We’ve said that we need to halve the deficit over the next four years, and we’ve said that unfortunately that’s going to mean some difficult decisions over tax – about £19bn worth of tax increases – and also some difficult decisions on spending.
And he responded to Conservative criticism about a lack of clarity about spending plans in the medium term by saying: "Until we can be clear about what unemployment is going to look like, we don’t know how much needs to be reserved for unemployment benefits, versus how much is going to be available for other departments.
“The point we’re making today is that even before the Conservatives get to plans for deficit reduction, they’ve got to explain their way through another £34bn worth of credibility gap.”
Replying to Labour criticism of Conservative plans to recognise marriage in the tax system, Philip Hammond, the shadow work and pensions secretary, told Channel 4 News: “What we have said, and we’ve clarified that this afternoon just so there shouldn’t be any confusion, we are absolutely committed to introducing a recognition of marriage in the tax system during the course of the next parliament, if we win the election.”
Earlier, Chancellor Alistair Darling accused the Conservatives of a "credibility gap" of £35bn.
"The Tories have made over £45bn of promises, but can barely explain how they can pay for a quarter of this. This leaves them with a credibility gap of £34bn," he said at the launch of a Labour document on the Tory pledges.
"You can't fight an election on a nod and a wink; sometimes claiming you are committed to these promises, and when challenged claiming you are not," the chancellor added.
