The Conservatives can make things better without spending any more money, David Cameron said today.
The party showcased a series of shadow Cabinet ministers asking people to "join the government of Britain," the theme of their campaign, at their manifesto launch.
David Cameron spoke last at the event in Battersea Power Station in south London – the party perhaps countering accusations they are fighting a "presidential" election campaign.
He set out a radical plan to regenerate the country and get to grips with the deficit in a way that "brings the country together".
Cameron said his plan will change Britain for the better but not in a traditional way, a change from one political philosophy to another".
Instead he invited voters to be the change, taking control of local services and scrutinising government spending.
He said for the last 13 years the Labour government talks about what it has done and how much it has spent.
"It is time to say to Labour it is not about you the government it is about we the people. It is not about me the individual either but we the people."
Cameron also quoted US President John F Kennedy's inaugural speech: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."
He added: "We stand for society, that is the right idea for a better future for our country."
Cameron said that no government can solve problems on its own.
"We say we are all in this together.
"We will build a better country together."
He said if elected he would send an invitation to "the whole nation in the biggest call to arms this country has seen in a generation".
"We will give you the power so you can take control," he said.
Cameron said those who ask "the central question of this election campaign – how can you afford to make things better when everyone knows there is no money" are thinking "the wrong way, the old way, the Labour way".
He said effective government focusing on what needs to be done.
"The partner of the big society and not its boss," he said.
Cameron said the best way to gain trust in politicians is to hand power back to the people.
Article Comments
My call to arms came in WW2. Since then successive governments have denied me and my peers a pension, studied with reasons telling us why it cannot be raised in line each year with the cost of living. They care not a tinkers cuss how we manage to live on a pension as little as 7 pounds a week. This after paying NI contributions totaling 49 years. Our sin? We retired to join our families in such diverse countries like Canada and Australia where pensions get frozen as a penalty for doing so. We risked our lives in WW2 for our country and ask now what can the country do for us?
14th Apr 2010 at 2:02 am by Derrick Prance
