Thoughts from an active pensioner who is now somewhat past his Biblical "Use-by date"

"Why just be difficult, when with a little more effort you can be bloody impossible?"



Thursday 31 January 2013

Cameron's Promises

A week or so ago, Cameron "promised" that if the Tories won the next General Election, he would renegotiate the basis of our membership with the EU, following which we would have an IN/OUT referendum on the EU.
Now today we have another "promise", that if the Tories win the next General Election, he will ensure that Defence spending is increased each year.
Apart from the fact that UKIP has already said the same, both promises, when they come from Cameron are totally meaningless as far as I am concerned.
With the first one, what happens if the EU won't renegotiate? The referendum seems conditional upon renegotiation, so no renegotiation, no referendum.
Then with defence spending, most departmental budgets increase on an annual basis, if only to allow for inflation. But there was no indication as by how much the defence budget might increase and whilst an amount of less than inflation could still technically be called an increase, it would in fact be a reduction in real terms.
The moral in the case of Cameron's promises is to look at them very carefully, because, like his "cast iron guarantee" of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, he always leaves himself a way out.
More worrying are the things he doesn't promise, such as "Gay Marriage" where he distinctly said before the election that it was not under consideration.
Do you get the impression that I don't trust Cameron? If so, you're quite right!

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