51³Ô¹ÏÍø

Liberal Democrats conference: Chris Huhne speech; And if the Liberal Democrats did not exist, who would stand up for fairness? Not Labour, who thought it was a good idea to increase income tax on the worst off to give better-off taxpayers a cut. And not the Conservatives either, whatever they now pretend. David Cameron and George Osborne both abstained on Labour's budget. Remember their first tax cut promise? Abolishing stamp duty on share dealing for their friends in the City. And their second was a cut in inheritance tax for households with £2 million.We are now told that David Cameron and George Osborne were idealistic young people who cared about fairness. Perhaps they agonised over their options as they adjusted their fancy tailcoats - mirror, mirror on the wall, which party is the fairest of them all? Tory, Lib Dem or Labour?Well, when young David and young George were wondering which party to join, we had a Conservative government. For eighteen years. And during that period the poor got poorer and the rich got richer, and the gap got wider. And the reason was not some force of nature, but Tory policy decisions that were hard-nosed, sharp-eyed and mean-minded.A Tory decision to scrap the link between pensions and earnings. Result? More pensioner poverty.A Tory decision to scrap the uprating of out of work and in work benefits. Result? More working poverty.A Tory decision to scrap the uprating of child benefit. Result? More child poverty.These chaps are not stupid, so why do they think we were born yesterday?George Osborne will go fair when George Bush goes green. Fairness will be a Tory value when hell freezes over, Notting Hill becomes a workers' republic, and the Bullingdon club affiliates to the Socialist International.