Cameron’s CBI Measures are too little, too late
Ed Miliband today visited Solarcentury - a solar power firm in London. Speaking there, he dismissed measures in David Cameron's CBI speech as too little, too late.
Ed Miliband said:
"David Cameron’s speech shows he is out of touch with economic reality and does not understand the scale of the economic crisis facing the country.
"These measures are too little, too late from the man who was responsible for choking off growth in the British economy when he came to power.
"Putting back just 10% of the £4 billion he cut from housing investment last year will convince no-one he is serious about getting growth back into the economy.
"Labour has produced a five-point plan to create jobs and growth. Mr Cameron and his Conservative-led Government look increasingly out of touch and bewildered in the face of this economic crisis."
On a visit to Solarcentury in London with Caroline Flint, the Shadow Energy Secretary, he seized upon the decision to slash back the incentives for people to produce their own green energy as the latest example of "short-sighted policies from a short term Tory-led government".
The feed-in tariff system, introduced by Mr Miliband when he was Climate Change Secretary in 2010, has created tens of thousands of new jobs and businesses.
Mr Cameron, who made one of his first speeches on the environment at Solarcentury when he was Leader of the Opposition, had once been a strong advocate of the scheme and talked of it creating up to 200,000 jobs.
Since the decision to cut the scheme, Solarcentury has launched legal action against the Government and Mr Cameron has been strongly criticized by business groups including the CBI.
Labour will table an Opposition Day motion in the House of Commons for Wednesday to save the feed-in tariff scheme.
Ed Miliband said:
"Solarcentury is a company doing the right thing. It has invested, innovated, researched, exported, manufactured, and created jobs. Now this productive job–creating and wealth-creating business is being strangled at birth because of the rank hypocrisy of this Government.
"For all our other differences it appeared there was genuine cross-party consensus on the need to green our economy and create new industries and jobs. That consensus has now been broken.
"David Cameron’s decision to cut the feed-in tariff scheme shows the claims he made during his husky-hugging phase were about nothing more than re-branding the Conservative Party. Those who ‘voted blue to go green’ are rightly angry that we have a Tory government that is breaking more of its promises by the day."
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