GORDON BROWN set the scene for the general election yesterday with a programme of legislation intended as a last-ditch bid to wrong-foot the Conservatives.
With only six months to go before polling day, Mr Brown unveiled 14 Bills ranging from a crackdown on bankers’ bonuses to plans for universal high-speed internet access.
But he faced criticism for failing to propose any parliamentary reforms despite the damage caused by the expenses scandal.
Labour’s campaign strategy is based around a new slogan – that Government can be a force for good – and the hope that the Conservatives will oppose many of the measures and thus give ministers the space to attack.
“The dividing line is pretty clear, it’s optimism versus pessimism,” Wales Office Minister Wayne David said last night.
Other Bills put forward include a law committing the Government to halve its deficit over the next four years, and a series of “guarantees” for the delivery of public services.
Conservative leader David Cameron said the Labour strategy amounted to “saying virtue is good and then try and dare his opponents to vote against them. Well, we’re not falling for that one.”
Some unfinished Bills from the previous parliamentary session have been retained, including the Equality Bill, which would force firms with more than 250 employees to report on gender differences in pay.
But a widely expected draft Immigration Bill was not announced, despite a high-profile speech on the issue from Mr Brown last week.
Mr David said: “I wouldn’t call it an outline manifesto, it’s a serious and realistic programme for Government...[but] it’s important to recognise that many of the concepts are concepts which will loom large during the election campaign and beyond.”
The Conservatives also complained that there was no Bill on the NHS, and that elements of the Kelly review of MPs’ expenses needed primary legislation – but no plans for doing so were put forward yesterday.
This was the “biggest omission of all” and would leave the public baffled, Mr Cameron told MPs in the post-speech debate.
Sir Christopher Kelly, who recommended radical changes to the expenses system in a report published earlier this month, said he was “disappointed” there was no mention of his proposals yesterday.
Plaid Cymru’s leader at Westminster, Elfyn Llwyd, said: “Three of these Bills have already been published before. To that extent we are told that this is a manifesto for the election – if that is the case, then it is a rather tired one.
“In several parts, this speech contains warm words, but as we know warm words do not butter any parsnips.”
Roger Williams, the Liberal Democrats’ spokesman on Wales, said the speech was a “dress rehearsal for the general election”.
He added: “Labour are abusing their position in Government by introducing gimmicky, inconsequential and unnecessary Bills in a bid to gain some column inches.”
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “We are now in an excitable pre-election period with limited parliamentary time, but there are crucial issues that need to be decided, particularly the completion of the Equality Bill.”
Separate plans to give agency workers the same employment rights as permanent staff could provoke a clash with small businesses, ministers were warned last night.
Elin Pinnell, head of employment law at Cardiff-based Capital Law, said: “Agency workers are attractive to employers because they offer complete flexibility. They are paid less than permanent employees and they don’t have unfair dismissal rights.
“Financially, the changes will mean that agency workers will have the same rights to pay as any other employee. Rather than bear the costs of engaging agency staff, without the benefit of total flexibility, many businesses will choose not to engage them at all.”
John Cridland, the deputy director-general of the CBI, said: “The Government is right to address the UK’s budget deficit, but needs to be more ambitious. We have called for all the major political parties to commit to balancing the budget by 2015, and set out a clear and credible path to achieving this aim.
“Current plans to halve the deficit over four years are too little, too late. The UK’s AAA credit rating must be put beyond doubt. The emphasis must be on adjusting government expenditure, rather than tax increases.”
