In the interests of fairness and balance, there is currently a Westminster-wide search to uncover a single promise that the coalition has kept. It is an uphill struggle.
Betrayals of component party manifesto pledges – such as the Liberal Democrats on tuition fees and the Tories on VAT – are high on the political agenda, but in a sordid power-sharing deal, that is a price to be paid for the ministerial car.
Less well-documented are the breaches of promises made after five days of drama last May which produced the coalition agreement, a document perceived at the time as showing that David Cameron had through the generosity of his heart conceded more than he received from Nick Clegg. Some hope.
The agreement commitment to the National Health Service looked hollow this week when it fully emerged how close their “reforms” boosting market forces will come to wrecking one of Britain’s most cherished – and globally admired – institutions. Ministers have boasted that 140 GP consortia have signed up to opt out of primary care trust management, a move which will undermine future contingency plans nationwide to tackle such crises as the current swine flu epidemic. The key word in the acronym “NHS” is “National” and rowing back on that will lead to a fragmented, demoralised service with patients enduring postcode lotteries.
This week also saw growing protests over the abolition of educational maintenance allowances aimed at helping disadvantaged teenagers stay on in education. Cameron declared that the payments of up to £30 a week were safe and in September thousands of students signed up for sixth forms or colleges as a result, only to see the benefit scrapped. And now we have seen the outcome of the pledge to end obscene bankers’ bonuses.
The nine-month history of the coalition is littered with either broken promises or the delivery of pledges so watered down as to be changed beyond recognition. They promised to end the booze loss-leaders on supermarket shelves, only to unveil a minimum pricing policy which health academics reckon will have virtually no effect on the binge drinking culture.
Cameron and George Osborne reneged on their commitment to leave child benefit alone and unveiled tax breaks which will benefit most couples jointly earning £60,000 a year. The pledge to grant anonymity to men charged with rape – abandoned. The vow to increase the number of midwives – ditched. Flexible working for all employees – sidelined. The third-party right to appeal against major planning developments – missing from the localism bill published this week. The list is endless.
Local councils up and down the country were told that deficit-busting cuts would be imposed fairly and evenly spread. Instead the most disadvantaged areas, such as Merseyside, are being hit the hardest and the earliest. Front-loading frontline cuts over the next two years is clear political manipulation as, ministers hope, it will allow them to boost spending in the run-up to the next general election. The only real consistency the Con-Dems have shown is to blame Labour for everything, as if the credit crunch, a global recession and the greed of bankers was some mirage. It is a line that will look increasingly pathetic in the months to come.
