Sweden’s new Conservative-led government has broken another campaign promise. Swedish Radio News reports the government now plans to continue weakening unemployment compensation.

The government’s original legislation can be criticised for being rushed into law without the usual period for agencies to respond, and because it hurts the unemployed, but at least it what part of the right wing’s campaign promises. But now, having rushed its package into law, it emerges that Conservative Labor Market Minister Sven Otto Littorin wants to go farther, shortening what period is left for collecting the reduced unemployment, and removing incentives for taking part in job retraining programs.

If anyone thought the government’s plan would reduce unemployment, the latest promise breaking ought to disabuse them. The right wing attracted voters by giving the impression they would maintain the welfare state, rather than dismantle it, and in fact maintain it better than the Social Democrats.

If anyone believes that now, there’s a bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you.

However, some elements of the new government seem to be having second thoughts about another broken promise, to make household services affordable.

During the campaign the four right wing parties promised to lower taxes on housecleaners, carpenters, and other home services. This against the background of many Swedes already breaking the law and hiring untaxed workers. Many of the new ministers turned out to have been among those with illegal help.

But shortly after taking power the government first announced it was delaying the legislation, then said when it it introduced it would not lower the taxes levies on home services, instead consumers would get tax deductions. While the former scheme would immediately lower prices, making the services affordable to all, the latter would only mean that those wealthy enough to pay the current high fees upfront would get back a lot of money in a year or two.

In other words, only the rich friends of the government could take advantage of the new proposal.

Now Swedish Television News reports that the government is having second thoughts, and is once again returning to the first plan. The comment comes not from the Conservatives, however, but from Center Party Commerce Minister Maud Olofsson.

The excuse is that the EU has now given the go-ahead (as if they ever would have blocked it!)

It would seem the betrayal from the Conservatives was just too blatant, and their Center Party is moving to honor the promise. But the reform will not be introduced until January 1, 2008, one year after the government would have kept its promise.

Meanwhile, the leaderless Social Democrats have taken the initiative today. In an op-ed article in today’s “Dagens Nyheter” former Health Minister Morgan Johansson denounces the Conservative government for ripping up the 1994 cross-party agreement on the new pension system. In what was also not part of the election campaign, the right is taking hundreds of thousands of kronor from people forced by illness to retire early, greatly increasing the gaps among pensioners, Johansson writes.

He serves notice that the Social Democrats no longer feel bound by the abandoned agreement, and will use their time in opposition to create an alternative pension system to the right wing’s.

At the same time as that declaration of political war, the government has also lost one of its key allies in the media. In its most prominent editorial today the Liberal newspaper “Dagens  Nyheter”  calls on the government to “Stop Playing” with public broadcasting. Public broadcasting was also not part of the right’s election campaign, but even before they took office they were calling for the cancellation of the cross-party Broadcasting Act adopted only a few months ago.

“Dagens Nyheter” says “Itchy-fingered politicians want to reorganize Swedish Television and Swedish Radio”, and “the Reinfeldt government is more and more showing itself to be an enemy of public broadcasting.”