Yesterday Oliver Letwin accused Gordon Brown of engaging in "terminological inexactitude" over claims that a Conservative government would scrap the Sure Start programme.
"The Sure Start programme is a programme that would continue under the Conservatives," said Letwin. And as the man who chairs the party's policy review, he should know.
Sure start, introduced by Labour in its first term, brings together early education, childcare, health and family support in a network of centres up and down the country.
Letwin told a fringe meeting organised by Politeia, that the Tories would attach more health visitors to the centres "provide a better service for mothers".
Letwin also extemporised on the Tories' plan to set councils free from Whitehall to inject more democracy at the local level. The particular example he gave was the cap imposed by the Labour government on town halls who set the council tax above a certain threshold, currently 5%.
Letwin said local authorities who didn't want to sign up to the Tory offer, made by George Osborne, to freeze the council tax by setting their rate below 2.5%, would be left to do their own thing.
The only condition was that they would have to hold a referendum on a higher levy to make sure they had council taxpayers' backing, in a move akin to turkeys voting for Christmas. I'm still struggling to see how a command to councils to hold a referendum can be reconciled with the pledge to leave them well alone.
