Election Result 'Sends Mr Cameron a Message'

By Ben Aulakh

The Labour leader Ed Miliband has heralded the party’s local election victory as “sending Mr Cameron a message that a government who promised change have made things worse not better.”  

Appearing outside Birmingham Town Hall after his party took complete control of the city’s council Mr Miliband criticised the Coalition for failing to deliver on the change it had promised.

“David Cameron has been sent a message by the people of this country, not just in Birmingham, but from Carlisle to Southampton, people have said, we don’t like what this government is doing.

“People are hurting from this recession. People are suffering from a government that raises taxes for millions of families but cuts taxes for millionaires.”

“In short this government promised change and they have made things worse, not better”

The leader of the opposition also stressed he and his party had been listening hard to voters they had lost two years ago, while acknowledging that the job of rebuilding the countries trust in Labour was not yet done.

However the Prime Minister continued to blame “difficult economic times for his party’s poor electoral showing.

The Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said he was “sad” about what had been a “very difficult and disappointing night” after his party suffered its worst ever Local Election result since it was formed in 1988.

However the party’s Deputy Leader Simon Hughes, appearing on the BBC’s Newsnight programme on Friday blamed a number of differing factors for the poor Lib Dem result.

He said, “In this election we lost 4 out of 10 or 40 per cent of all candidates that were standing, which is a big problem.

“However we are paying the price of being in government for the first time, something we have never been before.”

“I think voters also blame us for not being able deliver on our pledge for tuition fees because we didn’t have the majority.”

Mr Hughes also blamed the Conservative policy of reducing the top rate of tax from 50p to 45p for “bluntly ruining” the Lib Dem policy “which took a million people out of tax altogether.”


Photograph from www.guardian.co.uk.