Cameron promises to invite other main party leaders into war cabinet if he becomes Prime Minister
COMMENT: "David Cameron's first speech of the election year did not contain much new but was interesting for its emphasis on bipartisanship and the commitment to invite other party leaders into the war cabinet of any Cameron administration:
"I can announce today that if we win this year's election, I will invite leaders of the main opposition parties to attend the war cabinet on a regular basis so they can offer their advice and insights. When a nation is at war, it needs to pull together. I am determined that with a Conservative government, it will."
This will appeal to the great many swing voters who like the idea of parties working together in the national interest."
Download a PDF of "We Cannot Go On Like This".
Highglights not verbatim of Mr Cameron's speech:
11.42am: (Big announcement): Cameron says that he will establish a National Security Council on day one of a Tory government and will invite the leaders of the other two main parties to sit in the war cabinet on a regular basis when the country is in conflict.
11.39am: You can trust Conservatives to deliver on promises because you can see we have changed ourselves. We have opened up candidate selection and have many more women and candidates from ethnic minorities. Not only that, candidates are undertaking social action projects in their constituencies. Throughout the last four years we've worked with other parties - with Labour on education reform and the Liberal Democrats on fairness for the Gurkhas. We have called for election debates whatever our opinion poll position because they are the right thing for democracy.
11.38am: We will undertake the most dramatic decentralisation of power in Britain for a generation.
11.37am: We will also rebuild society. We are progressive conservatives who will protect NHS funding. Through a pupil premium we'll get extra resources to poor children. Through welfare reform we'll give people independence and dignity. We'll strengthen families. We'll increase Britain's commitment to the poorest people of the world.
11.34am: Conservatives have been honest about the need to cut spending but much more than that we need a complete overhaul of the economy. There'll be a cut in the main corporation tax, a new high speed rail network and 100,000 more apprenticeships as we build a new dynamic and enterprising economy.
11.33am: Britain can't go on with a divided government. The campaign to win the General Election starts today. On Monday we'll publish first chapter of our manifesto.
Tim Montgomerie
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