David Cameron today urged people to sign a petition calling on Gordon Brown to dissolve Parliament and hold a poll. He says that trust in politics was in pieces and that people should not have to wait another year to pass judgement on Westminster. Cameron said that he will use the Tory campaign for Euro and council elections on June 4th to call for a general election. Cameron calls for a general election.
The expenses scandal keeps on rolling. Today we have heard from David Cameron, who is apparently appalled over some of the Conservative MPs expenses claims, and promised that he will lead senior Conservatives in repaying excessive expenses, warning that he will boot any MP who refuse out of the party. Will Blears be the first sacrifice?
Gordon Brown’s leadership skills are under even more pressure today, as the new unemployment figures were made official yesterday. The figures saw the highest increase in February since records began in 1971. 138,400 people lost their jobs in February, taking the total number of people out of work to 2.03 million people. Under pressure.
In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, Gordon Brown finally admits some responsibility over the financial crisis. After David Cameron’s apology and subsequent double digit lead in the polls, this was only to be expected. Although it is doubtful whether this is enough to diffuse the calls for an apology from his political opponents. Brown finally accepts some responsibility.
David Cameron today apologised for mistakes his party has made on the economy. Among the errors mentioned was not warning about the extent of the UK’s debt crisis. Cameron says ‘sorry’ while Brown is silent.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, is not impressed by Gordon Brown’s measures to tackle the UK financial crisis. Mr. Sarkozy told a domestic television audience Thursday that he will not follow the British Prime Minister in cutting VAT, claiming that it had ‘absolutely no impact.’ Sarkozy not impressed by Brown.
The IMF said today that Britain will be the hardest hit country in the developed world in what is now forecast to be the ‘deepest recession since WWII’. The IMF now expects e the British GDP to fall by 2.8 % this year, not the 1.3% that was previously thought in November. Furthermore, a UN report expects 50 million jobs to be cut worldwide. A bleak outlook for the UK.