"News of the World" Backs Cameron

Another newspaper has tonight come out to support the Conservatives - a direct switch from the paper that urged us to vote Labour in 2005. But I thought it was the reasoning that was interesting and (for a tabloid!!) very well written;

THE General Election is almost upon us. If, as predicted, the date remains May 6, we have just 40 days, including today, to make the most momentous decision about Government in a generation.

Over the coming weeks we'll be bombarded with information, propaganda and, no doubt, downright lies. So let us take stock.

When Labour came to power in 1997, with Tony Blair at the helm and Gordon Brown holding the purse strings, we were all told that things could only get better. We are now entitled to judge that pledge against results.

David Cameron and the Tory Party must be given a chance

Mr Blair himself famously chanted 'Education, education, education!' so let's start with that.
In just the last six years, the education budget has tripled from £21.7bn to £66.7bn of our money. As we report today, there are brilliant individual successes like young maths genius Yasha Ayari Asley. But 225,000 pupils left primary school last year unable to read, write and add up properly.

Tesco's Sir Terry Leahy and Sir Stuart Rose of M&S rightly complain this scandalous state of affairs follows many of them right through their education.

Last year, around 100,000 parents were refused a first choice of secondary school. And around 959,000 16-24s were not in any form of education, employment or training.

What about health? Since 1997 Labour have almost tripled spending on the NHS from £35bn to £104bn (again, our money), and we applaud many separate instances of life saving. But the fact remains that, under Labour, the number of NHS managers is increasing almost three times as fast as nurses.

After a decade of Labour rule, only 49% of cancer patients were surviving for five years after diagnosis - lower than virtually all Europe. MRSA and C-difficile have killed almost 44,000 people since 1997.

So where else does our money go? In 2007-08, Labour spent £23bn on the criminal justice system - a third more than 1997. Our policemen and women are among the world's bravest.
Yet in 2008-09, for example, there were over 100 serious knife crimes a day, almost a million victims of alcohol-fuelled attacks, and 10,000 incidents of anti-social behaviour every day.

And what of Defence? Labour says it has increased spending from £27.5bn in 97-98 to £36.2bn last year. But since they came to power, the number of regular troops have been cut by 21,000. We also have 12 fewer warships and 217 fewer planes. As the death toll in Afghanistan mounts daily bereaved families tell story after story of lack of proper equipment and support.

And as we revealed two weeks ago, despite Mr Brown's assurances to the Chilcot inquiry, defence spending WAS cut and not increased, as the Prime Minister later acknowledged.
Immigration too is an issue that has divided many under this government. Let us be clear, this country owes much of its richness to a great many law-abiding immigrants. But as recently as Friday of this week, Gordon Brown saw fit to release statistics that claim to show a decrease in arrivals.

Those figures have been attacked as misleading, but there is little doubt that total net immigration increased from 48,000 in 1997 to 163,000 in 2008. And after 10 years of Labour there were up to 700,000 illegal immigrants here.

Then we have the economy. In fairness, Britain and the world has been hit with such a cataclysm of disaster by useless bankers that neither Labour nor the Tories could have emerged unscathed.

Nevertheless, our budget deficit now stands at £167bn, the highest since World War II. Companies are still going to the wall, breadwinners are losing their jobs and homes.

The Prime Minister will be as concerned about all this as we are. He is a decent man, sincere in his beliefs. Yet despite his commitment to 'recovery' yesterday, many believe Mr Brown's earlier reckless spending got us into this position in the first place.

And at a time when the whole nation needs to pull together, his failure to rein in his Party's union paymasters threatens to tear apart any slim chance we have of securing a recovery.

They share an unholy alliance which is not healthy for Labour, and certainly not healthy for Britain.

And against this backdrop of national peril on all fronts we are saddled with a Commons of spivs and expenses chancers. Where the honest MPs are a glittering exception rather than the norm.
True, this shower of time- wasters spans all parties. But as the team in charge, Labour and Mr Brown must shoulder much responsibility.

Overwhelmingly, on all fronts, this country is crying out for change.

Which is why, after much soul-searching, the News of the World believes that David Cameron and the Tory Party must now be given the chance to run the country.

Right now, they are our best hope for a brighter, saner, safer, more honourable future.

We do not make this recommendation lightly. There is much that Mr Cameron still needs to spell out, much he has yet to prove. Many accuse him of inexperience. They said the same of Tony Blair.

And just as Blair arrived with Brown, so George Osborne will have a huge job ahead of him as the next Chancellor of the Exchequer.

His task is both to spend and cut with a sustained assurance that will deliver stability both to families and to the money markets that govern our savings and mortgages.

And it is the job of every Tory MP, new and old, to repay our trust.

To restore dignity to our Parliament, safety to our Forces, comfort to the sick, hope to our children, peace to our streets, confidence to our businesses and pride to our nation.

After the nightmare we have all suffered, Britain deserves better.

We certainly do not deserve a headlong return to the days of Old Labour, of division, strikes and lost opportunity.

This paper backed New Labour to rid the nation of such a blight.

Now, confronted with a renewed threat from old ways, the modernised Tories can be a force for good.

It is time to give change a chance and move forward with fresh vigour and hope.