David Cameron today performed yet another u-turn, this time over justice policy - here Left Foot Forward catalogues the Tory-led government's litany of flip-flops.
“Yet another example of this government not being in touch with people and making proposals which they then have to abandon” – that was Ed Miliband’s verdict on reports the government are dropping plans to halve sentences in return for early guilty pleas, including for crimes such as rape. This, of course, is ‘the latest government u-turn’ – what has become the biggest cliché, or should that be truism, of the last year.
Free school milk, free books scheme, recycling slop buckets, cuts to school sports, England’s forests, Cameron’s personal photographer, control orders, NHS reforms, housing benefit, removal of responsibilities for National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE), sentencing plans, anonymity for rape suspects, can and bottle deposits, VAT rise, plans to scrap NHS direct, child benefits, abolition of the 1922 Committee, automatic jail term for knife crime, weekly bin collections, debt advice cuts.
One could also add: no cuts to front line services and no top down reorganisations of the NHS, although pedants may call these broken promises, not official U-turns… well it’s nice to have some variety.
One could say this is simply a pattern of incompetence, but David Cameron and Nick Clegg boasted of setting out a radical policy base without the necessary mandate. This looked like arrogance at the time, now it looks like reckless arrogance. In trying to push forward such policies, some of which were not in the coalition agreement, it was inevitable that the Tory-led coalition would be forced to u-turn.
Have we missed any out? If you think we have, please contact us and we are happy to correct the record.
UPDATE
Many thanks to all our readers for their contributions. We can now add the following to the list: Ministerial cars (which ministers are still ‘swanning around’ in), PFI contracts, the ‘bonfire of the quangos’ (that fizzled out), and repeated ‘Pickling’ of the Audit Commission seems to have resulted in its preservation up till now. Please keep them coming.
UPDATE
Another day another… this time with the added benefit of a foreign office wag announcing the change in policy over the BBC World Service funding as a “massive U-turn” on the department website. The headline has been taken down and apparently disciplinary action could be taken. Don’t mention the U-turn.
38 Responses to “Cameron’s government has a plan B for everything but the economy”
matthew fox
Cameron used to accuse Brown of dithering every time there was a U-turn in policy, now the line is Cameron is ” Listening ”
Anon E Ratface wants to explain why Osborne borrowed £17.4 Billion in May 11, I thought a deficit plan was suppose to cut deficits, not increase them.
Sallie Caufield
RT @leftfootfwd: Cameron's government has a plan B for everything but the economy: http://t.co/8GFb6Yx writes @dbr1981
Anon E Mouse
matthew cocks – I don’t need to explain anything I absolutely agree with you – this government is spending more than the last one. There is no deficit reduction any more than Thatcher cut public spending – it’s a scam and people bought it. Although in fairness obviously not you.
Mind you we know you voted for the least popular Prime Minister in history and actually thought he could get elected (even though he didn’t by the Labour Party even) – the terminally pathetic Gordon Brown so I think that cancels that out. Nice try though matthew cocks…
Leon Wolfson – The lead is hopeless and you know it. Blair was 21 points ahead within the first year. Over the weekend the polls had the Tories only 1% behind Labour WITH all these cuts.
Miliband’s personal rating is hopeless and we both know he’ll never be a Prime Minister so I suppose it doesn’t matter….
Leon Wolfson
Mouse – I don’t “know” anything except you’d be better off posting on a blog where you didn’t come across as a rabid troll. Although telling people that they “know” things is just that regardless where they do it.
There are massive cuts underway, and they’re going to fund Tory pet projects. You’re backing them up.
mr. Sensible
Duncan, the problem is that if there are too many it may look like a Prime Minister is not in control. This is a shambles.