Gordon Brown's year in power - Howarth

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 17th Jun 2008

Commenting on Gordon Brown's first year in power, Lib Dem MP for Cambridge David Howarth said:

"Things have gone so horribly wrong for Gordon Brown that I'm starting to feel sorry for him. But he has only himself to blame.

"His feebleness on climate change is infuriating. Climate change is the most dangerous challenge we're facing today but Gordon Brown constantly falls short of making the commitments we need.

"His record on civil liberties is appalling - he fails to understand that giving away freedom eventually means less security, not more. His obsession with widening the power of the surveillance state will haunt us for decades.

"He was supposed to usher in an era of probity and competence in government, but all we have had is more of the same. The handling of the BAE scandal was the final straw.

"His record on decentralization is feeble. It's all talk and no action. No progress has been made in allocating more powers to local government and we are repeatedly stuck with central government's inability to grasp local issues. It is a disgrace that 40% of the rents of Cambridge council tenants end up in the pockets of people somewhere else in the country.

"I'm annoyed at his dishonesty about taxation and government spending - which started when he took office as chancellor and has not stopped. The 10p tax band fiasco was entirely his doing, and he is also ultimately responsible for episodes such as the announcement that science funding was increasing when in fact so much money was being creamed off the budget that physics research is being cut."

ENDS