23 January 2005
Greenway must come clean over cuts plan for Ryedale
Paul Blanchard, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Ryedale is today challenging his Tory opponent to “be honest with the people of Ryedale and spell out how the Tory £35 billion cuts plan will affect jobs and services here”.
The Labour hopeful has written to the local Tory MP after Tory leader Michael Howard this month confirmed his party want to cut £35 billion from public spending across Britain.
Paul said:
“Michael Howard has now committed the Tories to a £35 billion cut in public spending – including scrapping the New Deal, which has helped 940 people right here in Ryedale back into work.
“The Tories cannot make their cuts without axing jobs and cutting vital frontline public services. Today I am writing to John Greenway MP to challenge him to spell out how the Tory £35 billion would hit hard working families in Ryedale.
“Mr Greenway must answer the following questions:
· Will he confirm that the Conservative Party is committed to cut £35 billion from public spending?
· Does he support the Conservatives’ vouchers policy, which takes at least £1 billion each from the education and health budgets to subsidise private healthcare and private education?
· Does he back the plans unveiled by the Conservatives this week to scrap the New Deal, which has helped 940 people here in Ryedale into work?
· Which local business support programmes face the axe under the plans outlined by the Conservatives this week?
“Even the Tory shadow chancellor admits that the £35 billion Tory cuts plan is ‘not painless’. Mr Greenway needs to be honest about just how much pain his party’s cuts will cause in Ryedale.”
