The Tories' position on high-speed rail doesn't add up

And I am sure that many enjoyed it. To be sure, Cameron is a skilled speaker - his jokes sound more natural than Brown's, and he seems at ease on stage.

But he didn't seem to take many real political positions at all in his speech. No mention of today's minimum wage rise (at a time when people most need it). No mention of the successful response of the government to HBOS's near-collapse. And, despite long monologues on the state of the NHS, no mention of the reduced waiting times, free vaccines for children, or extra doctors and nurses that a Labour government has brought.

One policy announcement he did make was that the Conservatives oppose a third runway at Heathrow, instead favour high-speed rail links across the country. But there are two holes in his argument.

First, opposition to a third runway at Heathrow is not the same as opposing an extra runway for London - I suspect that the Tories would still support another runway, but would just opt to have this at Gatwick or Stansted.

Second, if Cameron is so strongly in favour of high-speed rail links, why did he stay quiet on Eurostar's closure of the high-speed rail link between Ashford and Brussels last year? More to the point, why was Greg Barker completely silent on this? He must realise that many Bexhill and Battle residents were affected by this - the Eurostar was an affordable, environmentally-friendly alternative to short-haul flights. Now, local residents must either fly or add two hours to their journey by travelling to North London to take the train.

It is only thanks to the hard work of Hastings' Labour MP Michael Foster and South-East MEP Peter Skinner that Eurostar has announced it will be reinstating the service - yet another example of how Labour has benefited our community, while Greg Barker has sat by and stayed quiet. Labour has seen the need for high-speed rail and chosen to act on it, long before Cameron tried to pass it off as his own idea.