Cameron prescribes economic hair of the dog
01 October 2008
David Cameron's response to the financial crisis is a 'hair of the dog' remedy that expects more pro-corporate deregulation to mend the failures of underregulated markets, the Green Party leader has said. Caroline Lucas MEP condemned David Cameron's proposals to hand control over government finances to two separate outside bodies, and to cut corporation tax while refusing to promise cuts in personal tax.Dr Lucas also hit out at Cameron's attacks public services, after he pledged to pit doctors against each other in an NHS internal market, and repeated Michael Gove's promise of 1000 new academies, making schools whose governance is controlled by the private sector, in shadow education secretary Michael Gove's words, "the norm".
Dr Lucas said:
"David Cameron's proposals are nothing more than a hair of the dog. He claims that the way to solve a financial crisis brought on by irresponsible corporations in underregulated markets is to reduce regulation and hand more power to the corporations.
"He wants to remove power over government finances from parliament, and hand it to the City. Under the Tories, he says, two separate bodies will decide on public borrowing, and neither are elected: the governors of the Bank of Enland, and George Osbourne's shadowy Office of Budget Responsibility.
"Cameron is using the economic situation to try to dismantle the NHS and comprehensive education, promising an even more cutthroat internal market in health, pitting individual doctors against one another, and making it the norm for the curriculum of your local school to be controlled by one business or wealthy individual.
"No wonder Cameron got so excited he proclaimed "thank God for Margaret Thatcher"; the Tories are like vultures waiting to feast on the carcass of the British economy.
"We don't need a government of asset-strippers. We need a Green New Deal: a financial system in which banks are a manageable, sustainable size and responsibly run; and a government that invests in our public services and in rebuilding our economy to get us through the tough times.
"David Cameron says it is 'arrogant' to want government to be on the side of the people; I think most people would rather have government on their side than turning its back.
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