Thatcher and Major on Tory election trail
The Tories turned their fire on Labour over tax and Europe again today - with two former Conservative premiers due to speak out.
Shadow Chancellor Michael Portillo repeated his demand that Tony Blair should spell out to voters what the question in any euro referendum should be.
And he was later using his party’s election news conference to highlight Tory plans for £8bn of tax cuts, especially those for young families with children.
John Major and Baroness Thatcher were also set to join the campaign trail, with Mr Major appearing alongside William Hague at a rally in Brighton and Lady Thatcher on the hustings in Northampton.
Mr Blair meanwhile was launching his party’s business manifesto buoyed by private party polling showing him heading back to No 10 after a second landslide victory on June 7.
Mr Portillo led the Tory charge this morning. He said Labour were ‘‘not creating a level playing field’’ over what the euro referendum question would be.
‘‘We in Britain have come to believe over centuries of democratic experience, evolving democratic experience, that when we go to the polls things will be fair - that there will be in the modern jargon a level playing field,’’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
‘‘For the first time this Labour Government is proposing that in elections in this country, vital matters for the future of this country should not be done on a level playing field.
‘‘They will not accept an obligation that the (referendum) question should be fair. They specifically say they are not creating a level playing field.
‘‘They specifically legislate in order that those people voting the abolition of the pound should be allowed to spend more than those voting the retention of the pound.’’
The Liberal Democrats were bringing out Baroness Williams, former party president Baroness Maddock and international development spokeswoman Jenny Tonge to launch their manifesto for women.
