Road to growth, or hell: Tories kick off UK election fight
London (AFP) - British Prime Minister David Cameron kicked off his Conservative party's election campaign Friday with a new poster promising a road to a stronger economy, swiftly denounced as a "road to hell" by his coalition partners.
Indicating the tone of the Tories' message for the general election in May, the poster shows a computer-generated road heading into the distance through green fields, with the slogan "Let's Stay on the Road to a Stronger Economy".
It lists the government's achievements since it came to power in 2010 and claims there are "1.75 million more people in work", "760,000 more businesses" and "the deficit (has been) halved".
Cameron has been criticised over the last claim, as the deficit has only been halved if measured as a percentage of GDP. In cash terms, it has been reduced by about a third.
Unveiling the poster, Cameron said the vote was "the most important election in a generation", and insisted that only his centre-right party could deliver a stronger economy.
But the image, which will appear on billboards across Britain, was swiftly denounced as a "road to hell" by the Tories' junior coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats. ...