Sollitt says "Can you Really Trust the Tories Spending Plans Now?"

9.03.03pm GMT Sat 26th Mar 2005

Can you Trust the Tory Spending Plans?

The sacking of senior Conservative Howard Flight MP from the front bench showed how seriously split the Conservatives still are about key issues like public services, according to Steve Sollitt, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesperson for Southampton Test.

"Mr Flight's remarks to a group of Thatcherite Tory supporters confirmed that a substantial part of the Conservative party would press for bigger public spending cuts than the £35 billion already earmarked by Michael Howard. The remarks show that the Tories say one thing in public and another in private and that their plans just don't add up" Steve said

Mr Flight said that the potential for spending cuts went "a good deal further" than the James review conducted by the Conservatives, which had been "sieved" for what was politically acceptable. Mr Flight said that it was only when the Tories had won the election that they could "actually get on with what needs to be done"

Mr Flight's remarks follow those of fellow right-winger John Redwood, who said that the Tories' proposed tax cuts were merely a "downpayment".

Steve Sollitt said that the Tories' spending and tax arithmetic did not add up, because they tried to pretend that everything could be done by cutting waste. "Thanks to Mr Flight, we now know what their real agenda is if they were to be elected: massive spending cuts. "

The Tory programme was riddled with inconsistencies such as the commitment to toughen immigration control while cutting the immigration service budget by half.

Simply the Tories cant be trusted over their spending plans