I accept my hon. Friend's point. The Bill is near to worthless, but it is a valid point that the Conservatives have just spent a lot of money on a poster campaign across the country that does two things: says that they will try to tackle the deficit and identifies one measure that does nothing to tackle the deficit. That is the point that the right hon. Member for Birkenhead was making. If anything, the deficit would be even greater were the Conservatives' proposal to be implemented. This is the new, cool Steve Hilton-aroma Conservatism, pointing in different directions at the same time. It is what Tony Blair called triangulation and the third way, what fashionable Cameroons call red Toryism and the rest of us call an abdication of leadership. I do not doubt that the Conservative leader's greatest priority is the NHS, but he does not mean the national health service; he means the Notting Hill set.
Fiscal Responsibility Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Jeremy Browne
(Liberal Democrat)
in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 5 January 2010.
It occurred during Debate on bills on Fiscal Responsibility Bill.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
503 c88 
Session
2009-10
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
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Timestamp
2023-12-11 10:02:36 +0000
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