Cameron: I’ll give the power back to you

Do you remember the excitement felt by so many after the election of Tony Blair? The cheering crowds, the flags, the balloons, the banners, as the grinning new team moved into Whitehall. Every day there seemed to be a new announcement — government being “whiter than white” here, an “ethical foreign policy” there — it felt like there was a real aura of change.

Reality soon dawned. It was just a veneer of change, designed to give the impression that everything was up for grabs when, in fact, many of the toughest decisions were being ducked. After 13 years of this sort of cynicism, is it any wonder that so many voters are so disillusioned by politics?
 
David Cameron challenges Gordon Brown to call general electionYes, they are angry at the behaviour of MPs over the sleaze revealed by the expenses scandal. Yes, they are angry at the sight of former Labour ministers saying they are like cabs for hire as they try to cash in on their contacts. But even before these scandals, they were angry at being persistently duped by politicians who promised to sort out all their problems, then failed to deliver.

Travelling up and down the country these past few weeks, the mood is overwhelmingly one of scepticism. Many people desperately want change, but are deeply wary about the promises of politicians.

This leaves me dismayed. Like many people on all sides of the political divide, I entered politics to try to help improve people’s lives. I set out as an idealistic young man, fired up by the legacy of the Cold War and the failures of communism, determined to make our nation more successful, more united, more just and fair, with opportunity more equal.

I still have those aims, but now I know that in addition we need to heal the breach that has opened up between voters and their elected representatives.

This is why when we set out on the campaign trail a few weeks ago, we invited people to join us in the government of Britain.

The point of our manifesto was to underline my belief that we will never solve our problems — whether it is the debt crisis, our broken society or lack of faith in the political system — if we leave it all to the politicians. We are all in this together.

So if elected, we will take power from the politicians and put it in the hands of people. It makes sense, for example, for local communities to have a say in policing their streets, since they know better than distant politicians in Westminster where the street lighting is dangerously poor, the pubs serve under-age drinkers and the gangs congregate. So they can meet local police to determine local priorities, and elect police commissioners. It makes sense also that charities, social enterprises and community groups are allowed to set up new schools.

I am fortunate that my daughter attends a terrific local state school. But as shadow education secretary, I was struck by the poverty of ambition that fails so many children.

Why can’t all parents in the state sector be able to send their children to a great school with good discipline and high standards? Their choice should not be limited by the diktats of bureaucrats or by whether they can afford houses in the right catchment area.

This vision of people power is not some pipe dream. Nor is it about rolling back the state for ideological reasons. It is because I believe that an overbearing government is crushing the sense of personal and social responsibility that is the essential element of a strong and successful society.

But responsibility comes from the top. So having set out in this campaign our vision of the Big Society and the part that people can play in making Britain a better place, at the end of the campaign we are setting out our side of the bargain. Our contract with the voters is a no-frills,

no-nonsense commitment to do certain specific things in exchange for people’s vote. With trust in politics at an all-time low, we are saying clearly in this contract: “If we don’t do these things, if we don’t deliver our side of the bargain: vote us out in five years’ time.”

On politics, it includes the right to sack your MP, with a promise to cut the number of MPs, cut the pay of ministers and cut the cost of politics.

On the economy, we will stop Labour’s jobs tax, reduce immigration levels and reform welfare.

On society, we will raise standards in schools, support families — including our promise to recognise marriage and civil partnerships in the tax system — and introduce National Citizen Service for 16 year-olds.

There is more. Much more. And if we do not deliver on any of it, we will have broken our contract. The contract underlines that, if elected prime minister this week, I intend to do things very differently from my immediate predecessors.

There will be no more government by press release, no more endless initiatives, no more senseless summits. Government should not be like some demented branch of the entertainment industry. I want it to concentrate on changing Britain for the better, not focused on winning good headlines and clinging to power for the sake of power. And look at how Labour is ending its time in office as it began: lying, twisting, spinning. In this election campaign it has had nothing positive to say, instead resorting to scaremongering about its opponents.

Gordon Brown has already admitted that Labour was wrong to say we would abolish pensioners’ winter fuel payments and free bus passes. Now he must admit to what is Labour’s last lie: that a Conservative government would cut tax credits for the very poor.

I can be totally categorical on this: we would not cut tax credits for the poorest people in this country. A Conservative government would stop tax credits for families with incomes over £50,000. This is a fair response to the terrible legacy bequeathed by Mr Brown.

Please do not be fooled. These are the desperate, last-ditch throes of a government that has demeaned Downing Street. And what a shrunken figure Gordon Brown now cuts. Once hailed as an economic colossus and political genius, he resorts to desperate smears and hysterical scares as he tries to cling on to the keys of Number 10.

If I am passed those hallowed keys, I will have a more honest relationship with the electorate.

When I saw the scale of the economic crisis, I said that we would have to rein in spending, despite the barrage of attacks from Labour and the Liberal Democrats. When I said that there should be televised debates, I went ahead, despite the risks and the flak that I received in some quarters. When I said that the state should recognise marriage, I went ahead with the policy, despite criticism from some reactionaries.

My contract with the voters is an honest response to the crisis in British politics, a step towards bringing voters and politicians back together, and a step towards getting Britain moving once again in the right direction.

Government has become too big for its boots in this country. Ministers, officials, all the powers-that-be: they need to know their place, which is to serve the people, not to control them.

A Conservative vote on Thursday is a vote for a new government on Friday that will immediately start the urgent work of getting our economy moving and resetting the relationship between government and the people.

We face immense challenges as a nation, but we have defeated greater threats in our history. If we all pull together, if we leave no one behind, we can do amazing things together — just as we have in the past. Telegraph