Ed Miliband unveils stone carved with Labour pledges to be placed at Downing St if he wins
|
Version 0 of 1. Ed Miliband has unveiled a giant stone slab inscribed with Labour’s six election pledges – and vowed to have it installed at Downing Street if his party wins the general election. Speaking in front of the 8ft 6ins-high piece of limestone, the Labour leader said he would keep the stone “in a place where we can see it every day as a reminder of our duty to keep Labour’s promises”. Labour said the stone came as part of an effort to rebuild the public’s trust in politics, after the issue was highlighted by a series of pointed questions from the audience during last week’s final TV debate on BBC Question Time. But the stone was widely mocked on social media on Sunday morning as being like something out of political satire The Thick Of It, and said it could be interpreted as Labour’s “tombstone” if it lost. The pledges on the stone read: “A strong economic foundation”, “higher living standards for working families”, “an NHS with the time to care”, “controls on immigration”, “a country where the next generation can do better than the last” and “homes to buy and action on rents”. “Our six pledges form the basis of our plan for working people,” Mr Miliband said. “These six pledges are now carved in stone, and they are carved in stone because they won’t be abandoned after the general election. “I want the British people to remember these pledges, to remind us of these pledges, to insist on these pledges, because I want the British people to be in no doubt – we will deliver them. We will restore faith in politics by delivering what we promised at this general election.” There was a mixed response on Twitter, however: Ed Miliband builds a policy cenotaph. And you wonder why we stopped doing The Thick Of It. pic.twitter.com/hknBAKiJtP Who does he think he is? Moses? Future archaeologists will gaze with bafflement at this waste of good stone. pic.twitter.com/DKwDs5Kz4b Writing your policies on what looks like a tombstone possibly not smart politics ahead of make or break election. Labour sources fingering Torsten Bell for Moses Miliband wheeze. Press team caught "between a rock and a stone slab", I'm told #EdStone Labour insiders saying Torsten Bell "has really held the campaign together". Unfair if the stone is a defining moment. I didn't know Ed Miliband was a Mason. that pic of miliband with the stone is gonna be an absolute gold standard historical document Can understand Miliband trying to say his promises are ones he'll keep. But inscriptions on stone in a garden are so naff. Like windchimes. Is this Miliband getting the Labour pledges inscribed on stone thing real?! Just to be clear to those not appreciate my sense of humour, I have rarely heard of a political idea so risible. http://t.co/c0dd0FTm6z Who is going to pay for Ed Miliband's eight foot tablet of stone? Most leaders go mad when they are PM not before That Ed Miliband stone slab getting lots of twitter real...More than most I've tweeted this Elex-most not positive pic.twitter.com/tPwluK7Yt2 No, I had no idea what Twitter was on about this morning. Stone monument: most absurd election gimmick ever http://t.co/h2lhYv6lm2 Wait a second, am I still a sleep or is that Ed Miliband stone tablet story actually happened? Because I am still in bed and very confused. If Miliband becomes PM, this stone slab, or something very similar, will be erected in the Downing St garden. Blimey. pic.twitter.com/uEPh44ZoNa This is definitely swaying me towards Labour... http://t.co/LhT3lfbJtV Mr Miliband accused David Cameron and Nick Clegg of “helping to erode trust in political leaders by the way they broke promises on issues like tuition fees and immigration after the last election”. Writing in this newspaper, he accused the Tories of running the country “for the richest and most powerful”, and said: “We have five days to choose a different direction.” |