That Leaflet

I have a suspicion quite a few of the Tories ranting about Labour's "sick" leaflet (David Cameron's terminology) about cancer haven't actually seen it or read it.

You can judge it for yourself here: http://www.thestraightchoice.org/leaflet.php?q=940

To my mind it's entirely fair and factual, pointing out Labour's cancer guarantee and that the Tories are committed to scrapping it.

Is Labour supposed not to mention policy differences between the parties if they are connected to people's health?

And surely the exact people that need to know about the policy choice on cancer are people of the age and demographic profile most at risk of it.

I've had cancer - I'm due a PET scan in June to see if my tumour is still there. I want to know what the parties' policies are for diagnosing and treating the group of diseases I've had.

This isn't scare-mongering - the parties have a duty of care to voters to tell them the negative consequences of electing their opponents. No where could that be more profoundly important than if one of the parties' policies reduces your chances of surviving a potentially fatal disease.

I'm reminded of the 2006 Camden elections. At least one ward Labour Party refused to deliver a leaflet warning old people that a Tory/Lib Dem council would cut their services. They thought this was scare-mongering. Without the warning, we narrowly lost a seat in that ward. The Council went hung. And guess what? The Tories and Lib Dems did make the cuts to services that the squeamish Labour activists had refused to warn voters about.

The "sick" people in this case are not Labour for warning voters about Tory policy and the political choice about cancer care but the Tories for having such a policy.