100 BIGGEST

FAILURES OF
DAVID
CAMERONS
GOVERNMENT
[Document subtitle]

5 JANUARY 2015
Eoin Barry Clarke
PhD

Housing
1. In 2013, David Cameron brought in an Under-Occupancy Charge
averaging 720 known as the Bedroom Tax which hurts 660,000
families, 63% of whom have a disabled member of the household
(evidence)
2. Private Rents have soared under the Tories. The average UK private
rent home is now 768 a month and 1,260 higher per year than it
was on 30 April 2010 (evidence & evidence)
3. Tories are causing a homes affordability crisis by refusing to build.
The number of affordable homes completed this year was 34% lower
than last year (evidence). When Grant Shapps was Housing Minister,
affordable housing supply fell 97% (evidence)
4. Despite Tory claims that the New Homes Bonus delivered 400,000
new homes, the National Audit Office say the true figure is just
14,000 a year which is very poor value for the 1.3bn spent
(evidence)
5. Homelessness is up at least 26% under David Cameron, this is despite
Labour having cut it by 41% (evidence)
6. Despite nearly half of homes being deemed Sub-Standard, Iain
Duncan-Smiths Universal Credit Bill forces the poor to move into the
lowest 33% of accommodation (Page 19 & Annex 3.3)

Children
7. In April 2010, there were 3,632 Sure Start Centres. Today, there are
2,816 Sure Start Centres. That is a difference of 866. The Tories have
cut childrens services by 20%. 92 Sure Start Centres have also been
privatised (evidence, evidence & evidence).
8. The Tories have also presided over a 30% increase in childcare costs.
In 2011-12 the government cut the funding for Childcare by 10%
(amounting to a 4bn cut over 5 years) (Page 44)
9. The government have failed to tackle, in fact worsened the Childhood
Obesity crisis that is a future peril to the nation. The government sold
off dozens of school playing fields (evidence & evidence). Michael
Goves Constituency Association accepted funding from Fast Food
Businessmen (evidence). 1 year before the Olympics, Michael Gove
scrapped the 160m Schools Sports Partnership (evidence). Hospital
Admission for children where the primary or secondary diagnosis is
obesity is up 16% since 2010 (Table 7.5 evidence). Free Swimming for
under 16s was scrapped in a 40m cost savings exercise (evidence)
10.The Government have deliberately withdrawn support from Children.
The government cut the Child Maintenance Enforcement budget by
116m & charged parents to apply for Child Enforcement Assistance
(evidence). George Osborne cut Child Tax Credits for middle-income
households

earning

collectively

40,000-50,000

year

(evidence). In June 2010 the Tories froze Child Benefit Payments for
3 years, axed Sure Start Maternity Grants and abolished Child Trust
Fund payments (Page 48). From January 2013, the Tories axed Child

Benefit for middle income households with a pre-tax income of

50,000 (Page 64).

Privatisation
11.The Tories privatised Royal Mail and claimed it was loss-making
despite it making 287m profit the year previous. People with a
personal connection to Ministers who signed off on a decision to
privatise Royal Mail actually ended up financially benefiting from the
sale of Royal Mail (evidence)
12.The government privatised the East Coast Mainline against the
wishes of commuters. The rail had previous been profitable for the
state have 200m+ in taxes back to the exchequer per year
(evidence).
13.Postal collections have been slashed since to just once a day for over
14,000 post boxes and Stamp Prices have also been hiked 50% since
2010 (evidence & evidence)

Education
14.In 2010, The Tories scrapped the Educational Maintenance Allowance
which the IFS said was value for money (evidence).
15.In 2010, the Tories, aided by the Lid Dems, tripled Tuition Fees to
9,000 (evidence)

16.From 2010-14, the Tories have closed 410+ Schools, and overspent
1bn on an academies programme (evidence).
17.According to the IFS, the Tories have delivered the worst real terms
cut in Education Funding since the 1950s. UK Education Spending as a
percentage

of

GDP

has

now

fallen

behind

the

USA

(evidence & evidence)

18.The percentage of pupils achieving A*/A in A-Level English has fallen
13% under David Cameron. The fall for Mathematics is 6% (evidence
& evidence)
19.Government Funding for Universities was cut by almost half
(evidence & evidence)
20.The Tories scrapped the Building Schools for Future Programme that
was set to renovate or build 715 schools (evidence & evidence). They
replaced it with a school improvements programme that is nearly
6 billion short of what is required and is only improving 169 schools
(evidence)
21.Career advisory services have declined steeply under this
government. Cameron removed funding from Connexions Careers
Advice Service (evidence & evidence). A report found that 4 in 5
schools are failing to provide adequate careers advice to pupils at
KS3 & KS4 (evidence).
22.The government have cut the number of teachers by 10,000
(evidence). The number of trainee teachers has declined by 13,000
since 2009 (evidence & evidence).
23.The number of over-crowded classrooms have trebled since 2010,
and now stands at 2,985 (evidence).

24.The average Free School has 142 pupils, research by the Department
of Education shows. The cost of opening those Free Schools has
turned out to be double what was expected (evidence & evidence).

NHS
25.In 2012, David Cameron forced through a Top-Down reorganisation
of the NHS that accelerated Privatisation (evidence)
26.The Tories have presided over the Closing or downgrading of 33% of
NHS Walk Ins, 66% A&E/Maternity Wards and 16% of A&Es (all types)
(evidence & evidence)
27.There are 477 fewer GP Surgeries, and a 4 fold increase in unfilled GP
vacancies since 2010, partly caused by the 987m real terms funding
cut in GP funding (evidence & evidence)
28.The Tories have invited Private Firms to bid for 18bn of NHS
Contracts. Of contracts decided upon, private health have won 33%,
56% or 70% of those contracts depending on which statistic you place
most stock in (evidence, evidence & evidence).
29.According to the UK Statistics Authority the Tories broke page 45 of
their 2010 Manifesto to increase NHS Spending in real terms every
year. According to the IFS, NHS Spending is falling 9.1% per patient
from 2010 until 2018. The Kings Fund says the NHS is facing its
tightest budget squeeze since 1979. And the Nuffield Trust say that
NHS spending is falling steeply as a proportion of UK GDP
(evidence, evidence, evidence and evidence)

30.Despite inheriting an NHS that enjoyed record satisfaction ratings,

the Tories by 2012 had delivered the largest every fall in patient
satisfaction with the NHS. To be fair to them, it has since stabilised a
little

but

is

still

below

its

2012

Tory

NHS

Act

peak

(evidence & evidence)

31.The Tories have overseen the worst A&E crisis in 11 years. Not since
January 2004 have breaches of the A&E 4 hour target been as bad
(evidence & evidence)
32.The Tories have failed Ambulance Services. Ambulance Response
Times for Category A (8 minute) calls has dropped from 75% to 69%
in just 3 years (evidence). Ambulance Trusts have made large cuts to
their staff and fleet since April 2010. For example, EMAS has cut staff
by 13% and its fleet size by 100 (evidence).
33.The

Tories

have

(here, here, here, here,

oversaw

the

axing

of

60+

stations

here, here, here, here, here & here).

Expenditure on Private Ambulances for use in the NHS has doubled in

3 years an investigation revealed (evidence)
34.The Tories have wasted 11 billion of taxpayers cash on NHS Agency
Staff & NHS Redundancies, despite then rehiring of the staff made
redundant (evidence, evidence, evidence)
35.The Tories shut down a highly efficient NHS Direct and replaced by a
for-profit NHS111 service that botched its initial launch (evidence).
78% of the NHS111 staff who process 111 calls have no clinical
expertise. This has caused all sorts of pressures, including additional
admissions at A&E (evidence). It has been reported that there have
been 22 deaths or serious injuries which were caused by failures in
the launch of NHS 111 (evidence).

36.S75 regs, TTIP, and force closures of A&Es take power away from the
people and place it in the hands of unelected corporations. The
Tories have insisted that healthcare will not be exempt from TTIP.
They have passed clauses to allow Jeremy Hunt to force NHS closures
against the say of the local public, and diminish the courts role in
holding him accountable. He has also passed regulations to push
commercial competition in the NHS much more forcefully. All of this
is anti-democratic (evidence, evidence & evidence)
37. of NHS Trusts are now in deficit. 44 new trusts moved into deficit in
2013-14. The total deficit for NHS Trust more than doubled from
297m to 743m in 2013-4 (evidence p.6)
38.Englands GP to Patient ratio has worsened by 3-4% as population
increases (evidence). Of 27 EU Countries, the UK is ranked 24th for
the number of working doctors it has per head of population (just
2.71 per 1,000 people) (evidence & evidence).
39.3.2million people are now on NHS waiting lists awaiting operations.
This figure is at a 6 year high (evidence). The average patient now
waits 1 week longer for treatment after referral (evidence).
40.The Tories have cut 1,876 Mental Health NHS Beds. Up to 4,000
Psychiatric Nurses have lost their job, and overall mental health
provision has been cut by 25% (evidence)
41.9,746 Hospital Beds have been axed under the Tories. The UK now
has one of the worst hospital bed to patient ratios in the world
(evidence).
42.Up to 20 treatments are now being rationed on the NHS, and denied
to patients in 60+ parts of England. This shows that an NHS free at
the point of use, is under threat (NAO, Dr Foster, and Labour Check)

Austerity
43.Tory austerity shifted cash from the poorest 30% of society, and
children under the age of 14 and instead diverted it to the richer
households (evidence)
44.Tory austerity also hits women hardest, a catalogue of reports
revealed (evidence, evidence, evidence). For example, Statutory
Maternity Pay was cut 2% (evidence).
45.From 2010-15, 200+ UK Libraries have been shut and 400-800 more
are under threat (evidence)
46.There are 8,000 fewer Fire Personnel UK-wide since Cameron
became PM, and 39 fewer Fire Stations in England (evidence &
evidence).
47.The UK Public Sector has saw a reduction in 865,000 staff since June
2010 (evidence & evidence)
48.The government admit they have shut 10 Prisons & turned 4 more
into Profit Making Prisons (evidence &evidence). They are also racing
ahead with the privatisation of probation services.
49.UK Legal Practices have fallen into steep decline under the Tories.
400+ legal practices have closed, and up to 2,000 are facing closure
(evidence & evidence)

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Tax
50.From 2010-15, the Tories are cutting profit tax by 25% from a rate of
28% to 21%, prioritising big business over struggling smaller
businesses struggling to make a profit (evidence)
51.Uncollected tax has shot up by 10% (3b) since 2010 and Osborne
has cut the HMRC budget by 577m (evidence & evidence)
52.In 2012, the Tories cut top rate of tax for the very richest earners by
10% from 50p to 45p in the pound (evidence)
53.In January 2011, the Tories hiked VAT to 20% hitting the poorest
hardest. VAT added 0.7% to inflation for every month of 2011. VAT
taxes are 33bn higher in 2014/15s Budget than they were in the
2010/11 Budget published on the 24th March. Cumulatively, the
average family has lost out 1,800 extra since 2011 (evidence)
54.The number of millionaire bankers has climbed 11% since 2010 to
2,714. Bonuses to the financial sector since 2010 already total 55bn.
David Cameron has failed to discourage the risk culture among
bankers that caused the 2008 Global Financial Crash. Bankers pay
still grows 6 times faster than that of NHS Nurses (evidence,
evidence, evidence)

11

Poverty & Inequality

55.As of 2014, 1,080+ Food Banks are now operating in the UK, and 1m
people accessed Trussell Trust food banks which account for 38% of
the Food Bank Network (evidence)
56.In 2013, David Camerons government also oversaw the axing of the
collection of Food Bank Statistics and he turned down millions of EU
cash to help Food Banks Directly (evidence & evidence)
57.Camerons government redefined fuel poverty and have not
published any fuel poverty statistics on data after 2012. This makes it
impossible for me to say with authority what impact the 30%
increase in Gas Prices has had on fuel poverty levels in the UK
(evidence & evidence)
58.The number of children in Absolute Child Poverty has climbed by 13%
under David Cameron, this was despite Labour having cut it in half
(evidence p.24)
59.The number of UK Citizens at risk of poverty or social exclusion has
climbed 1.52 million in 5 years (evidence).

Jobs & Wages

60.Middle-Class Household Income fell 5,300 from 2008-2012 says the
ONS (evidence)
61.The number of workers saying they are on Zero Hours Contracts has
increased by 270% under David Cameron, this is despite it being 13%

12

lower in 2010 than it was in 2010. Other research shows there are
now 1.4m Zero Hour Contracts in operation in the UK (evidence &
evidence)
62.For over 90% of this entire parliament, Prices have risen considerably
more than Wages. This has led to a real term cut in wages
approaching 8-10% since 2010 (evidence & evidence)
63.The UK Minimum Wage was worth more to workers in 2010 than it is
today. In effect, workers have suffered a real terms cut in the NMW
for 3 years, only partially alleviated by a belated rise this year that
still fails to bring it above 2010 levels (evidence)
64.There are 2m UK Workers who are either working unpaid, cannot find
full time or permanent work in the UK, an increase of 289,000 since
May 2010 (evidence)
65.Long Term Youth Unemployment (18-24) is up 6% since May 2010,
from 192,000 to 203,000 (evidence)
66.Wage Growth has suffered its most sustained real terms cut since
records began in 1855. Average Households are 1,600 worse off
today than 2010 (evidence)
67.David Cameron cut redundancy notice requirements for big business
from 90 days to 45 days (evidence).
68.Tories make it harder for folk to find a job. Jobcentre Plus budget cut
by 160m. 44 Job Centres shut. 1,000 of Jobcentre plus staff sacked
(evidence, evidence, evidence & evidence)
69.6.4m UK workers earn below a living wage. There has been a 15%
increase the workers being paid less than the National Minimum
Wage since 2010 (evidence).

13

Immigration
70.The Tories have lowered the tone of the immigration debate falsely
claiming that Health Tourism cost the NHS 2bn, and for piloting
racist Go Home vans on the streets of London (evidence &
evidence)
71.Despite all their rhetoric, immigration is actually up 20% since 2010.
Tory lies on immigration became a matter for the UK Statistics
Authority when he reprimanded them for falsely claiming they had
cut it by 25% (evidence)

Welfare
72.The Tories ignored NAO warnings that the Work Programme would
fail (here) and it failed to deliver jobs for 85%-91%% of participants
says UK Stats Authority (evidence). The Governments 200 million
Back to Work Scheme helps just 3% of the people it targeted says
National Audit Office (evidence).
73.The Work Programme was twice declared unlawful in a court of
law (evidence & evidence).
74.After the Tories ordered private firms to toughen up the Work
Capability Assessments, 158,000 were wrongly found fit to work
(evidence), and had their decision overturned on appeal. 1,300
claimants died (evidence) whilst being placed in the category to ready
themselves for work. 68 claimants died (evidence) while their appeal
against the assessment finding them fit to work was still ongoing.

14

75.The government introduced forced (or face sanctions) & unpaid Work
Programme (workfare) and have obliged 1.6m+ unemployed folk to
participate in it, including half a million people who describe
themselves as having a disability (evidence)
76.The government tripled sanctions on people in receipt of Job Seekers
Allowance to the extent that over 90,000 a month were being
sanctioned. Almost half of those unemployed but seeking work are
not in receipt of unemployment benefit (evidence).
77.The Disabled have suffered real term cuts of 1.7% this year in
benefits says the Institute of Fiscal Studies (evidence). The Tories
have also frozen benefits to a maximum uprating of 1% which is in
effect a real terms cut, for more than 3 years (evidence).
78.David Cameron withdrew the subsidy from Remploy the organisation
that helped disabled persons find work. This resulted in the closing of
34 Remploy Factories (evidence).
79.The governments flagship welfare policy has been an unmitigated
disaster that has already wasted the taxpayer 241m in defunct
equipment and botched roll out (evidence, evidence & evidence).

15

Business & Economic Growth

80.George Osborne is borrowing 219bn more than he said he would at
the General Election. He has grown National Debt by more Labour
Chancellors added together ever did.
81.David Cameron inherited an economy that was growing at +1% of
GDP. It has never grown at that speed since. Indeed, most recently, 5
quarters of past growth statements were lowered by the ONS.
82.The UK Current Account Deficit has exploded to 27bn and the pound
has weakened against the dollar (evidence)
83.On 19th April 2012, Ratings Agency Fitch downgraded the UKs Credit
Ratings from AAA to AA+ for the first time since the 1970s (evidence)
84.The Tories are asset stripping the UKs crown jewels. Royal Mail,
Northern Rock & 4G and Lloyds Shares were sold 3bn less than they
were worth (evidence, evidence, evidence, evidence)
85.George Osborne has failed to rebalance the regional economy. The
National Audit Office concluded that George Osborne botched the
scrapping of Regional Development Agencies and this cause a
reduction in regional investment (evidence). Local Enterprise
Partnerships were supposed to create 54,000 jobs but in truth theyll
be lucky to create 1/3 of that (evidence).
86.UK production is lower today than it was in 2010. Production
Industries had a higher output in 2010 than they do today (B+C+D+E).
Infrastructure output is 10 indexed points lower today than May
2010 (evidence).

16

87.Tories continually boast about the number of new businesses opened

under them. It is worth remembering that 968,000 business have
died since 2010.
88.500,000+ individuals have been declared insolvent under David
Cameron, so far. 70,000+ businesses have also been liquidated
(evidence)

Cost of Living Crisis

89.Average Rail and Bus Fares are up 20% from January 2010 to January
2014 rises ( evidence & evidence, evidence, evidence, evidence)
90.Water Charges are up 20% since 1 Apr 2010 show Ofwat & the
BBC (here, here, here)
91.OBR predict Household Debt will grow more than 500bn this
parliament (here).

Elderly
92.The Tories have accelerated a Social Care crisis by cutting funding by
2.8bn. This has led to a cut of 311,000 in the number of elderly
receiving care (evidence & evidence)
93.The costs of Social Care have climbed at least 558-2,400 per person
and this has coincided with a 36% increase in the number of elderly
self-financing their care (evidence & evidence)

17

94.David Cameron made life harder for pensioners. He increased the age
of retirement to 68 (and said it will rise further) (evidence) The
National Audit Office says the outcomes of the new auto-enrolment
pensions are uncertain and that ultimately the taxpayer may end
up footing the bill (evidence). Cameron also oversaw 500m cuts in
Winter Fuel Payments. He also scrapped the Warm Homes Healthy
People fund even though it was deemed a success (evidence).

Environment
95.David Cameron tricked voters by saying that to vote blue was to go
green. He then ushered in the least environmentally friendly
government since 1979, and mocked environmental issues as Green
Crap. For example, Eric Pickles turned down applications to build 50
onshore wind farms. The government also cut 1.2bn of funding to
develop clean coal (evidence & evidence)
96.In May 2014, the government snuck out proposals that would ban a
landowner from attempting to prevent fracking under his own land
(evidence)

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Ethics & Transparency

97.The Tories have accepted 60m in donations from sources linked to
hedge funds or private health. Many of these firms stand to benefit
from the increase in out-sourcing and privatisation that has occurred
under Cameron (evidence & evidence)
98.David Cameron has demeaned the Office of Prime Minister by
deploying bullying jokes that attacked women, elderly & the disabled
(evidence). Other Tory politicians followed his example, and
stigmatised the poor for relying on Food Banks (evidence).
99.The UK Statistics Authority has repeatedly warned the Tory
government to stop lying over Immigration (evidence), Debt
(evidence), Unemployment (evidence), Benefit Cap (evidence), NHS
Spending (evidence) and A&E Performance (evidence).
100. 100 government MPs earn additional income to their MPs
Salaries totalling 3m+ a year. In addition, 50+ government MPs
voted for the Tory NHS Act, while having varying degrees and types of
financial links to private health companies (evidence)