NEWSNIGHT MUSICAL MANIFESTO 3 - THE ECONOMY


Labour:
Think back to Britain just eight years ago
When the Tories would follow each boom with a bust
Now interest rates and inflation are low
We’ve a stable economy that you can trust
There’s been 50 consecutive quarters of growth
The longest the country has ever enjoyed
And since we’ve created 2 million new jobs
Of the G7 states we’re the least unemployed

Liberal Democrats:
The chancellor’s record is not without flaws
As we’ll find when the housing price boom is over
Our industry’s still in a steady decline
And they were too slow to deal with the crisis at Rover
Labour’s raised council tax 10 per cent
The system’s unjust, confusing and dated
The Lib Democrats will replace Council Tax
With a scheme that is fairer, and income related

Conservatives:
Since Labour took office in ’97
Taxes have risen 66 times
They’ve raised them by stealth, eroding our wealth
As their spending on bloated bureaucracy climbs
The Conservative party will cut out the waste
That the James efficiency audit has found
168 quangos will be scrapped or replaced
Saving 35 billion pounds

Labour:
We are enhancing efficiency too
With the recommendations of the Gershon review

Liberal Democrats:
And we’ll save 9 billion by binning proposed
ID cards and having the DTI closed

Labour:
The cuts that the Tories are suggesting equate
To sacking every teacher, every doctor and nurse
And as Howard Flight began to relate
Their secret agenda is decidely worse

Conservatives:
There are no hidden spending cuts to uncover
We won’t promise one thing and give you another
But it just shows the depths to which Labour will stoop
That they planted a mole in a Thatcherite group

Liberal Democrats:
Let’s abandon this unconstructive mud-slinging
Free personal care for the elderly is something we’ll bring in
Tuition and top-up fees will be scrapped
And did we forget to mention we’ll increase the state pension?

Conservatives:
Last year average pay fell by £1 a week
According to a report the IFS has released

Labour:
Those figures are skewed – if you exclude
The self employed then incomes actually increased

Conservatives:
With the other two parties you’ll see taxes rising

Liberal Democrats:
For fairer taxation vote for us

Labour:
Beware of the cuts that the Tories are disguising

All:
When it comes to the economy, who do you trust?

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© david schweitzer for the BBC 2005