Conservative Pledges

Just under two weeks to go and all the parties are promising us the moon to 'bribe' us to vote for them but we know what happens, they get into power and suddenly the promises are kicked into the long grass or forgotten altogether.
At the last election David Cameron made some very clear promises so maybe we can get a view on how well the Conservatives kept their promises to the electorate last time to get an idea of what we can expect from them this time.

1. No cuts to front-line services
David Cameron told Andrew Marr the weekend before the general election that a Conservative government would not cut any front-line services.
'What I can tell you is, any cabinet minister, if I win the election, who comes to me and says: "Here are my plans," and they involve front-line reductions, they'll be sent straight back to their department to go away and think again'.
Since then, 5,870 NHS nurses, 7,968 hospital beds, a third of ambulance stations, 5,362 firefighters and 6,800 front-line police officers have been cut.

2. No plans to raise VAT
In an interview with Jeremy Paxman on 23 April 2010, Cameron said: 'We have absolutely no plans to raise VAT'. 
VAT was subsequently raised from 17.5% to 20% in George Osborne's emergency Budget.

3. I wouldn't means test child benefit
At a pre-election Cameron Direct event, the Tory leader pledged: 'I'm not going to flannel you, I'm going to give it to you straight. I like the child benefit, I wouldn't change child benefit, I wouldn't means-test it, I don't think that is a good idea'.
The coalition went on to abolish the benefit for higher earners in the Spending Review and froze it for three years.

4. No reorganisation of NHS
The Conservatives repeatedly promised before the general election that there would be no more 'top-down reorganisations of the NHS. In a speech at the Royal College of Pathologists on 2 November 2009, Cameron said: 'With the Conservatives there will be no more of the tiresome, meddlesome, top-down re-structures that have dominated the last decade of the NHS'.
In his Conservative conference speech, he said: 'I make this commitment to the NHS and all who work in it. No more pointless reorganisations'.
The coalition went on to launch the biggest top-down reorganisation of the NHS in its history.

5. No plans to get rid of Education Maintenance Allowances.
At a Cameron Direct event in January 2010, Cameron said: 'We've looked at educational maintenance allowances and we haven't announced any plan to get rid of them'. Challenged to firm up his pledge, he added: 'I said we don't have any plans to get rid of them,. it's one of those things the Labour Party keep putting out that we are but we're not."
Nine months later, the coalition announced the abolition of EMA.

With this track record maybe instead of giving the Conservatives and David Cameron the keys to 10 Downing Street,it might be better to change the locks.