Cambridge Union's resounding 'no confidence' in the Government

2.25.41pm GMT Mon 10th Nov 2008

Cambridge Union Society has given a resounding 'no confidence' vote to the Labour Government - and backed the city's MP

Members voted almost three to one against Labour when Mr Howarth attended the society and launched a fierce attack on the Government.

He accused it of encouraging massive personal debt and a house price bubble.

"Labour has spent 10 years copying the Tories' approach of letting the City of London do whatever it wants and relying on encouraging massive personal debt and a house price bubble," Mr Howarth told society members.

"The consequence of this is the present economic crisis, a crisis that Vince Cable and the Liberal Democrats have long warned about."

He went on to attack Labour on climate change, saying that the party claims to take the issue seriously while coming out in favour of coal-fired power stations and expanding airports.

And Mr Howarth accused the Government of "politics of fear". "They rely on panics to get through proposals, such as ID cards and spying on everyone's email and phone calls that threaten our basic freedoms," he said.