More hot air

Well according to Gordon Brown.....

Gordon Brown has committed Labour to holding a referendum on voting reform should it win the next election.

In his conference speech, Mr Brown said Labour would hold a referendum "early" in the next Parliament on proposals for an alternative vote system.

Under this, voters rank candidates in order with the bottom candidate's second preferences transferred in each round until someone gets 50% of votes.

Reform campaigners said the public should decide which options to vote on.

They have also queried the timing of a referendum, pointing out that Labour never followed through on a commitment to a referendum on electoral reform in its 1997 manifesto.

Several senior ministers, including Home Secretary Alan Johnson, have backed a referendum in recent months to restore faith in politics after the Westminster expenses scandal.

Considering Labours track record on referendum promises, why on earth does Gordon Brown think anyone will believe him?

In other highlights.

There was something about markets needing morals, as opposed to politicians? People in glass houses etc. springs to mind over that one.
Free personal care for the elderly? Free for whom, someone's going to have to pay for it.
He claims the government will be on the people's side, this must be why they interfere in people's lives so much.
He indicated he will raise tax and National insurance knowing the NI raise will screw everyone.

The most grating part though was at the beginning where his Mrs did the introduction god did that set alarm bells ringing.

I know he loves his country and I know he will always, always put you first

Brown signed the Scottish claim of right.

We, gathered as the Scottish Constitutional Convention, do hereby acknowledge the sovereign right of the Scottish people to determine the form of Government best suited to their needs, and do hereby declare and pledge that in all our actions and deliberations their interests shall be paramount.

So we know which country Mrs Brown is talking about and it isn't England.

Mr Brown announced a string of new policies, including:

• Ten hours of free childcare a week for 250,000 two-year-olds from families "on modest or middle incomes" - paid for by scrapping tax relief for better-off families
• A plan to house 16 and 17-year-old single parents in state-run shared houses rather than council flats
• A £1bn "innovation fund" to boost industry
• A new National Care Service to "provide security for pensioners for generations to come"
• A commitment, enshrined in law, to allocate 0.7% of GDP to international aid

The PM also announced that minimum wage, child tax credits and child benefit would continue to go up every year.

Who's going to pay for this? Where's the money going to come from? Why international aid? Do we really want to be subsidising countries like India who have their own space programs?

Do these people on the left live in the same world as the rest of us?