Labour leadership hopeful Andy Burnham has launched a scathing attack on the Conservatives, claiming they have ‘got away with murder’ during their time in power.
The Leigh MP, who is also Shadow Secretary of State for Health, accused the Tories of plunging the country back into recession despite inheriting a growing economy.
Burnham, who is currently the bookies favourite to succeed Ed Miliband, highlighted exactly what he felt needed to be done if Labour were to oust the Tories in the next General Election.
“Today’s the day for Labour to get up off the floor, to hold the Tories to account and not repeat the big mistake of 2010,” Burnham wrote in his column in the Daily Mirror this morning.
“Back then, we were so busy licking our wounds that we allowed the Tories, aided by their little yellow helpers, to get away with murder.
“They decided there and then to blame everything on ‘Labour’s mess’ and, sadly, it stuck.
“They inherited a growing economy and plunged it back into recession, but people just heard ‘Labour’s mess’. It was an outrageous triumph of self-serving Tory spin over the facts.”
Burnham accused the Tories of ‘trashing’ a well-performing NHS by leaving hospital waiting lists at a six-year high and A&E servies in permanent crisis.
He also spoke of his opposition to scrapping the Human Rights Act.
“It is time to remind people this Act enforces in our law a convention Britain helped draw up after the Second World War,” he wrote.
“Its aim was to ensure that no person could ever again be treated as a second-class citizen as had happened in Nazi Germany.
“Of course, there have been occasions when the Act has been misused, but there are many other examples where it has helped vulnerable people stand up for themselves against government agencies, public bodies and large corporations.
“For instance, if the Human Rights Act had been in force at the time of the Hillsborough Disaster, it might have given the families more ability to fight the appalling abuse of power they have suffered for 26 years.
“The Labour Party I lead will always stand up for the underdog, for the weak against the powerful.”
Image courtesy of the NHS Confederation, with thanks.
