Tories call for change as lead slips to two points
By Ian Dunt
The Conservatives have unveiled their campaign slogan of “vote for change” as one opinion poll reduced their lead to just two points.
The party, which is meeting for its spring conference in Brighton, needs a barnstorming keynote speech from leader David Cameron later today to rejuvenate it before it heads into a tougher than expected election campaign.
“It is an election we have a patriotic duty to win because this country is in a complete and utter mess, and we have to sort it out,” Mr Cameron is expected to say.
The speech comes as poll results from a YouGov survey conducted for the Sunday Times put the party just two points ahead of Labour, a massive disintegration of their previous lead throughout most of Gordon Brown’s administration.
The Tories sat on 37%, Labour on 35% and the Lib Dems on 17%.
Yesterday, the party revealed its six key areas of campaigning in the run-up to the general election: the national debt, the economy, family, the NHS, schools and reform in Westminster.
“I defy anyone to look at our plans and call them timid – because the truth is they cannot be timid if we’re to confront and defeat these problems,” Mr Cameron wrote in his blog.
A speech by shadow chancellor George Osborne said Britain faced a choice between decline and recovery.
“Our country stands at one of those forks we come across as we travel the roads of our history,” he said.
“Britain can either continue down a path of decline and fall, a path with rising debts, higher mortgage rates, ever rising taxes and high unemployment.
“That is Labour’s path. It always has been. We know where it leads and we must never allow this country to be dragged there once again.
“Or we can change direction – tell the difficult truths, put debt and taxes back on a downwards trajectory, and create the solid economic foundations of a Britain that works for all. That is the Conservative path.”
Liam Byrne, chief secretary to the Treasury, branded the speech a “retreat to the right”.
He added: “We were promised a 12 point plan but I’m afraid we got just one idea. The Tories would slam on the brakes just as Britain is starting to recover.
“This man is a chancer not a chancellor.”
Senior Tory officials are reported to have met in Notting Hill last week to discuss their recent poll results. Some activists are concerned the party does not have a simple, easily comprehensible message to take to voters for the general election campaign.
