Half term report

This week marks the halfway point of this Parliament. That means that we’re now closer to the next election than we are to the last one. It's a good time to take stock of what David Cameron has achieved so far. Has he done what he promised? Did you get what you voted for?

In 2010, many people voted for change. That’s what David Cameron promised. But on too many measures, he has simply failed to deliver. He’s failed to do the things he promised – and he’s done things he never told you about. You can see some of the things he’s done, but forgot to tell you about before the election, at www.stuffdavidcameronforgottosay.com

He inherited an economy that had been through a big shock, but was growing again. Two and a half years later, Britain has only just emerged from the longest double-dip recession since the Second World War, and unemployment is still higher than it was when David Cameron took office. George Osborne has already had to announce that he will fail to meet his target of eliminating the deficit in this Parliament, and he is borrowing £150 billion more than he planned.

After promising that "we’re all in this together", David Cameron has given 8,000 millionaires a tax cut worth at least £40,000 each, while families lose an average of £511 a year. He promised no top-down reorganisations of the NHS, but he’s wasting billions on a massive NHS restructure while over 6,000 nurses have been cut. He said there would be no cuts at the frontline, but 6,800 frontline police officers have been cut already, and at least 15,000 are set to be cut by the time of the next election.

And at the same time, David Cameron hasn’t even managed to pass the test of basic competence. We’ve had a shambolic Budget, with u-turn after u-turn on the pasty tax, the charity tax, the church tax, the caravan tax and the petrol tax. We’ve had policies announced before they were properly thought through and then withdrawn again. We’ve had Tory donors having private dinners at 10 Downing Street. We’ve even had a month-long attempt to hold on to a Cabinet Minister who insulted a police officer who was just doing his job. He may think he was born to rule, but it turns out he’s not very good at it.

The Conservatives have failed to live up to the trust that so many people placed in them. Labour has to be different. Under Ed Miliband’s leadership, One Nation Labour stands for a Britain where everyone has a stake and prosperity is fairly shared. That’s why we’ve set out plans for gold standard vocational qualifications and apprenticeships, to support the 50% of young people who don’t go to university. For making sure that banks and businesses are working together to help our economy grow. For taking on vested interests, from energy companies to the Murdochs. For reforming our economy so that it works for working people, not just a privileged few.

David Cameron has lost trust because the reality of his out of touch Government has been so different from what he promised. He can’t be the One Nation Prime Minister Britain needs. That’s why, as we move into the second half of the Parliament and get closer to the next election, more and more people are looking to Ed Miliband and Labour.