Today
Local MP Stephen Metcalfe rose to the floor of the House of Commons to ask the
Prime Minister if he agreed that Labour should apologise to the people of South
Basildon and East Thurrock for the mess they left the country in.
In a
heated Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Metcalfe managed to get the last word
when he asked David Cameron: “Does the Prime Minister
agree that one does not solve a debt crisis by borrowing more, and that for the
Opposition to have any credibility they need to acknowledge the mess they made,
apologise to my constituents, and just say sorry?”
To which
the Prime Minister, in full agreement, responded: “My
hon. Friend is absolutely right. On the Government Benches, we know we have to
get borrowing down. Frankly, in the past week what we have seen is the right
hon. Member for Doncaster North (Edward Miliband) in his true colours: too weak
to stand up to the shadow Chancellor on the deficit, too weak to stand up to
his Back Benchers on welfare, and too weak to stand up to the trade unions on
just about anything.”
“It was a week in which he said goodbye to David Miliband and
hello to George Galloway. No wonder Tony Blair said that they are fellow
travellers, not leaders. He was absolutely right.”
Mr Metcalfe has long been campaigning for an apology from Labour
for their actions in Government which left this country with the highest budget
deficit of any major economy in the world and the highest deficit in our
peacetime history. Despite this, Labour still refuse to admit they spent and
borrowed too much.
The
Conservative Government have had to take swift, decisive action to combat the
problems imposed by Labour involving sweeping cuts to public spending. As a
result, the deficit has been cut by a third, the private sector has created
more than a 1.25 million new jobs since the election and 250,000 small businesses
have been created since the election.
Mr Metcalfe later commented: “It is outrageous that Labour Ministers think it is ok to run our country into the ground and not have the decency to apologise. Until they do, they cannot speak with any credibility on the economy. The people of South Basildon and East Thurrock deserve better and whilst it is taking longer than anticipated, I have full confidence that this Conservative Government can deliver.”
Mr Metcalfe later commented: “It is outrageous that Labour Ministers think it is ok to run our country into the ground and not have the decency to apologise. Until they do, they cannot speak with any credibility on the economy. The people of South Basildon and East Thurrock deserve better and whilst it is taking longer than anticipated, I have full confidence that this Conservative Government can deliver.”
