If Labour are not bashing the bankers they are criticising the classes.
Today's intervention by John Denham (Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government) is anachronistic and an admission of failure.
If wealth inequalities pose a barrier to the progression of individuals why is that? After 12 years of a Labour government it is not good enough to flag the problem. Solutions are needed.
But ministerial monologues such as the one to be delivered later are not, and will never be a solution.
For the full story see:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8458298.stm
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
Brown Ballot
Former Ministers, Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon have called on all Labour MP’s to march into the voting lobby of the Labour Party HQ and by means of a secret ballot hopefully give Brown the boot.
Ignore the fact that removing a Labour leader is technically difficult (hence why a Labour leader has never been ousted by their own party). Ignore the fact that this is the latest attempt amidst Labour ranks to say bye bye to Brown.
What would the benefits of having a Brown ballot now be (other than to settle old scores)?
Would it mean Labour would be able to postpone the local elections in May? Would the general election be able to be put on ice until any new Labour leader had got their feet properly under the desk? Would the deficit suddenly disappear under a new Chancellor, or a Prime Minister who had the grit and determination to take the decisive action required? Would the chronic challenges being faced by Britain be waved away?
Of course not.
Labour had their chance to change the leadership and they blew it. Labour had their chance to change the country and they blew it. Now their fate and the fate of the opposition parties is in the hands of the electorate. Hewitt and Hoon should therefore go home and focus on being their people's representatives rather than their own.
Ignore the fact that removing a Labour leader is technically difficult (hence why a Labour leader has never been ousted by their own party). Ignore the fact that this is the latest attempt amidst Labour ranks to say bye bye to Brown.
What would the benefits of having a Brown ballot now be (other than to settle old scores)?
Would it mean Labour would be able to postpone the local elections in May? Would the general election be able to be put on ice until any new Labour leader had got their feet properly under the desk? Would the deficit suddenly disappear under a new Chancellor, or a Prime Minister who had the grit and determination to take the decisive action required? Would the chronic challenges being faced by Britain be waved away?
Of course not.
Labour had their chance to change the leadership and they blew it. Labour had their chance to change the country and they blew it. Now their fate and the fate of the opposition parties is in the hands of the electorate. Hewitt and Hoon should therefore go home and focus on being their people's representatives rather than their own.
Saturday, 2 January 2010
Calamity Clarke?
Do today's comments in the Sunday Telegraph, by the Shadow Business Secretary, Ken Clarke about tax rises not being inconceivable if the Conservatives win the next election, undermine the Party?
On the one hand, the answer would seem to be yes. As Conservatives the last thing we want to be told is that we may have to pay more tax. Conservatives are the party of lower taxes....................aren't we?
Historically speaking, not in every year of a Conservative government. As two prominent examples there was Howe's budget tax rise in the April 1981 budget and then the upping of VAT under Lamont in 1993.
When Cameron talks of collective pain for collective gain, this is not a party political necessity. Conservatives will have to swallow the bitter pill of the June/July 2010 budget for the tax burden to come down over the course of a first term Conservative government.
To this end, Clarke has confirmed what senior Tories are considering and what senior economists believe is crucial to Britain's economic recovery.
On the one hand, the answer would seem to be yes. As Conservatives the last thing we want to be told is that we may have to pay more tax. Conservatives are the party of lower taxes....................aren't we?
Historically speaking, not in every year of a Conservative government. As two prominent examples there was Howe's budget tax rise in the April 1981 budget and then the upping of VAT under Lamont in 1993.
When Cameron talks of collective pain for collective gain, this is not a party political necessity. Conservatives will have to swallow the bitter pill of the June/July 2010 budget for the tax burden to come down over the course of a first term Conservative government.
To this end, Clarke has confirmed what senior Tories are considering and what senior economists believe is crucial to Britain's economic recovery.
Cameron's Charge Commences Conservative Change Campaign
Before posting the full text of today's speech by David Cameron at the Oxford School of Drama in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, there are four aspects of it which demand further dissecting.
First and foremost this is going to be one of the longest election campaigns in British political history. There were some (including at today's news conference itself) who were suggesting that Cameron's long campaign strategy could turn voters off rather than on. Cameron was right to say that providing there is variety in the campaign this will not occur. However what we must avoid, is the soundbite swamping the substance and cosmetics crowding out the convictions.
Secondly the speech signalled that for all the hype over the Obama 08 campaign, Team Cameron has recognised that there were flaws in the campaign. The clearest sign of this recognition came with Cameron emphasising over and over again this was change with a purpose, and not just change for change's sake.
Thirdly Cameron emphasised the progressive and modern nature of the Conservative Party. This rightly takes the fight to an arrogant Labour Party and government who believe there are certain words that only appear in their political dictionary.
Fourth and finally Cameron's speech reaffirmed the mission statement for any future Conservative government: to support aspiration and reward responsiblity. Of course if you reward responsiblity do you penalise the irresponsible? This is an issue which Cameron, the Shadow Cabinet and all our candidates need to lay out clearly and confidently.
David's Speech
It's a brand new year.
A new decade is fresh before us.
This time always comes with a sense of hope.
Hope that successes can be built upon; failures can be learned from...
...new ideas started; a new course charted.
But in 2010, we can do more than just hope.
The next general election is no more than 153 days away and I don't think it can come soon enough.
Let's make this the year for change – the year when the positive defeats the negative.
Because we can't go on like this. We need change to get the country back on its feet
And that change must be based on the values of responsibility and aspiration.
We can’t go on with the same irresponsible economic policies that gave us the biggest boom, the biggest bust…
…and now threatens our recovery with higher debts, higher instability, higher taxes, higher interest rates and higher unemployment.
We can’t go on with an old-fashioned left-wing class war on aspiration from a government that has seen the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
We can’t go on with the old style of politics that divides our country instead of uniting it.
We can’t go on with Labour's bureaucracy, running everything from Whitehall, denying people control over their lives and undermining the professionals in our public services.
We can’t go on in these difficult times with a weak Prime Minister and a divided government.
We can’t go on with another five years of Gordon Brown.
We can't go on like this.
This is no time for more of the same.
We need change to get our country back on its feet.
And it’s the modern Conservative party that has the plans, the ideas, the energy, the people, the unity and the leadership to bring that change…
…we are starting our campaign to win the general election today…
…and we’ll be spelling out exactly what that will mean every day from now until polling day.
On Monday, we will be publishing the first chapter of our draft manifesto and announcing new plans.
ECONOMIC CHANGE
We need change in our economy, because we can't go on like this.
Britain needs responsible economic policies that deal with our debts, so we have stability to create jobs and keep mortgage rates and taxes lower.
Since I started speaking today, more than half a million pounds has been added to our national debt.
Left alone this is the greatest single risk to sustained economic recovery.
That’s why we’ve been clear about our intention to cut public spending, and clear about where some of those cuts will come – from a one-year freeze on public sector pay to bringing forward the planned increase in the state pension age.
But it’s not enough just to deal with the deficit.
To have a hope of competing in the decades to come, our economy needs a complete overhaul.
We need to build an enterprise economy.
We need to create opportunity through green growth and new skills.
We need change right across the board: tax, regulation, banking, infrastructure.
And that’s exactly what we're planning – from a cut in the main rate of corporation tax…
…to a new high-speed rail network…
…to the creation of 100,000 apprenticeships.
If we win this year's election Britain will be under new economic management.
We will send out the loudest signal that this country is back open for business and ready for investment.
Decline is not inevitable. Confidence can return.
If we take action now – to get a grip on the public finances and unleash enterprise – Britain can have a bright economic future.
SOCIAL CHANGE
A strong economy gives us the foundation for a better life.
But the mission that drives this party is building a stronger society.
We are progressive Conservatives.
Our goal is to create a fairer, safer, greener country where opportunity is more equal.
It’s because we are progressives that we will protect the NHS.
In its bricks and mortars, care and compassion, it is the embodiment of fairness in our society.
We recognise its special place in our society so we will not cut the NHS; we will improve it for everyone.
It’s because we are progressives that we will support aspiration so that people from every background, not just the rich, have the chance to get on in life.
A pupil premium that gives the poorest children the chance to go to the best state schools.
Welfare reform that helps those in long-term poverty move into long-term employment.
Strengthening families with practical and financial help to give parents time with their children and keep couples together.
We will fight back against the root causes of deprivation – drug addiction, alcoholism, indebtedness, failing prisons.
It’s because we are progressives that we will support responsibility and strong families so we help mend our broken society and tackle the crime and misery it brings.
A decade of big government and blunt, bureaucratic control has undermined responsibility and made our social problems worse, not better.
We are determined to forge a new direction.
We will use the state to help remake society by encouraging people to take responsibility for themselves and for one another.
We will provide new opportunities for community groups, neighbourhood organisations, charities, social enterprises to help rebuild our civil society.
We will create incentives and use the best technology to encourage and enable people to come together, solve their problems together, make this society stronger together.
As we do this we will redistribute power from the political elite to the man and woman in the street.
Within months of a Conservative victory there would start the most radical decentralisation of power this country has seen for generations.
Government will enter a new era of transparency.
And a strong, unbroken line of democratic accountability will be restored between the people and those that make the decisions that affect their lives.
It is a future barely recognisable from the present, but this party is determined to take us there.
A Conservative Government will send the clearest possible signal to everyone in Britain...
...if you take responsibility, we will back you; if you aspire to a better life for you and your family, we will support you; if you play your part in building the big society, we will reward you.
POLITICAL CHANGE
These are the changes our country needs.
These are the changes that will help get Britain back on its feet.
But I know people have heard this sort of talk before.
Yet nothing ever happens and nothing ever changes.
So why now?
Why should people trust this change?
It’s because of the changes we have already made…
…because of the leadership the Conservative Party has shown.
We have shown over the past four years that we can make change happen.
We are showing today the leadership the country needs to get the change it so clearly wants…
…leadership that is modern, strong, decisive, united.
We have opened up our party and have more women candidates and candidates from ethnic minorities ready to bring their expertise to help change this country.
Up and down the country today, Conservative candidates aren’t just talking, they’re doing, setting up social action projects, helping the communities they hope to serve.
We have argued for fiscal responsibility from day one of my leadership.
We have argued for social responsibility from day one of my leadership.
We have campaigned consistently to put the environment and civil liberties on the political agenda.
We have argued that difficult economic times are not an excuse to drop our commitment to the poorest in the world, but to reaffirm that commitment.
When the expenses scandal broke, we were the first to pay money back, first to publish our expenses online and first to commit to cutting the cost of politics.
And over the past four years, we have always tried to work with other parties rather than looking for political dividing lines where none exist.
We backed Tony Blair’s school reforms and renewing Trident even though on both occasions we could have inflicted a damaging defeat on the Government.
And we worked with the Liberal Democrats to get justice for the Gurkhas.
We called for TV debates more than four years ago…and have stuck to that whether ahead in the polls or behind in the polls. It is our consistency on this issue that has made it happen.
In that spirit of unity, of a greater purpose than the simple pursuit of politics, I have an announcement to make.
We have said that from day one of a future Conservative Government, a national security council, with the key ministers and defence chiefs, will sit as a war cabinet.
And I can announce today that if we win this year's election, I will invite leaders of the main opposition parties to attend the war cabinet on a regular basis so they can offer their advice and insights.
When a nation is at war, it needs to pull together.
I am determined that with a Conservative government, it will.
CONCLUSION
Our plans are not timid – but the truth is they can’t be.
The problems of today demand more.
They demand real change – and that can’t come soon enough.
We can't go on like this. We need change to get the country back on its feet.
A better NHS; an aspirational economy; a big society; a new politics.
We have a four year track record of delivering change in our party.
Now we are impatient to change our country.
We are determined to make a difference.
We are all in this together, and we know that if we all pull together then this country can have great hope for the future.
So let's face this new year with confidence, optimism and hope.
And let's make 2010 the year for change.
First and foremost this is going to be one of the longest election campaigns in British political history. There were some (including at today's news conference itself) who were suggesting that Cameron's long campaign strategy could turn voters off rather than on. Cameron was right to say that providing there is variety in the campaign this will not occur. However what we must avoid, is the soundbite swamping the substance and cosmetics crowding out the convictions.
Secondly the speech signalled that for all the hype over the Obama 08 campaign, Team Cameron has recognised that there were flaws in the campaign. The clearest sign of this recognition came with Cameron emphasising over and over again this was change with a purpose, and not just change for change's sake.
Thirdly Cameron emphasised the progressive and modern nature of the Conservative Party. This rightly takes the fight to an arrogant Labour Party and government who believe there are certain words that only appear in their political dictionary.
Fourth and finally Cameron's speech reaffirmed the mission statement for any future Conservative government: to support aspiration and reward responsiblity. Of course if you reward responsiblity do you penalise the irresponsible? This is an issue which Cameron, the Shadow Cabinet and all our candidates need to lay out clearly and confidently.
David's Speech
It's a brand new year.
A new decade is fresh before us.
This time always comes with a sense of hope.
Hope that successes can be built upon; failures can be learned from...
...new ideas started; a new course charted.
But in 2010, we can do more than just hope.
The next general election is no more than 153 days away and I don't think it can come soon enough.
Let's make this the year for change – the year when the positive defeats the negative.
Because we can't go on like this. We need change to get the country back on its feet
And that change must be based on the values of responsibility and aspiration.
We can’t go on with the same irresponsible economic policies that gave us the biggest boom, the biggest bust…
…and now threatens our recovery with higher debts, higher instability, higher taxes, higher interest rates and higher unemployment.
We can’t go on with an old-fashioned left-wing class war on aspiration from a government that has seen the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
We can’t go on with the old style of politics that divides our country instead of uniting it.
We can’t go on with Labour's bureaucracy, running everything from Whitehall, denying people control over their lives and undermining the professionals in our public services.
We can’t go on in these difficult times with a weak Prime Minister and a divided government.
We can’t go on with another five years of Gordon Brown.
We can't go on like this.
This is no time for more of the same.
We need change to get our country back on its feet.
And it’s the modern Conservative party that has the plans, the ideas, the energy, the people, the unity and the leadership to bring that change…
…we are starting our campaign to win the general election today…
…and we’ll be spelling out exactly what that will mean every day from now until polling day.
On Monday, we will be publishing the first chapter of our draft manifesto and announcing new plans.
ECONOMIC CHANGE
We need change in our economy, because we can't go on like this.
Britain needs responsible economic policies that deal with our debts, so we have stability to create jobs and keep mortgage rates and taxes lower.
Since I started speaking today, more than half a million pounds has been added to our national debt.
Left alone this is the greatest single risk to sustained economic recovery.
That’s why we’ve been clear about our intention to cut public spending, and clear about where some of those cuts will come – from a one-year freeze on public sector pay to bringing forward the planned increase in the state pension age.
But it’s not enough just to deal with the deficit.
To have a hope of competing in the decades to come, our economy needs a complete overhaul.
We need to build an enterprise economy.
We need to create opportunity through green growth and new skills.
We need change right across the board: tax, regulation, banking, infrastructure.
And that’s exactly what we're planning – from a cut in the main rate of corporation tax…
…to a new high-speed rail network…
…to the creation of 100,000 apprenticeships.
If we win this year's election Britain will be under new economic management.
We will send out the loudest signal that this country is back open for business and ready for investment.
Decline is not inevitable. Confidence can return.
If we take action now – to get a grip on the public finances and unleash enterprise – Britain can have a bright economic future.
SOCIAL CHANGE
A strong economy gives us the foundation for a better life.
But the mission that drives this party is building a stronger society.
We are progressive Conservatives.
Our goal is to create a fairer, safer, greener country where opportunity is more equal.
It’s because we are progressives that we will protect the NHS.
In its bricks and mortars, care and compassion, it is the embodiment of fairness in our society.
We recognise its special place in our society so we will not cut the NHS; we will improve it for everyone.
It’s because we are progressives that we will support aspiration so that people from every background, not just the rich, have the chance to get on in life.
A pupil premium that gives the poorest children the chance to go to the best state schools.
Welfare reform that helps those in long-term poverty move into long-term employment.
Strengthening families with practical and financial help to give parents time with their children and keep couples together.
We will fight back against the root causes of deprivation – drug addiction, alcoholism, indebtedness, failing prisons.
It’s because we are progressives that we will support responsibility and strong families so we help mend our broken society and tackle the crime and misery it brings.
A decade of big government and blunt, bureaucratic control has undermined responsibility and made our social problems worse, not better.
We are determined to forge a new direction.
We will use the state to help remake society by encouraging people to take responsibility for themselves and for one another.
We will provide new opportunities for community groups, neighbourhood organisations, charities, social enterprises to help rebuild our civil society.
We will create incentives and use the best technology to encourage and enable people to come together, solve their problems together, make this society stronger together.
As we do this we will redistribute power from the political elite to the man and woman in the street.
Within months of a Conservative victory there would start the most radical decentralisation of power this country has seen for generations.
Government will enter a new era of transparency.
And a strong, unbroken line of democratic accountability will be restored between the people and those that make the decisions that affect their lives.
It is a future barely recognisable from the present, but this party is determined to take us there.
A Conservative Government will send the clearest possible signal to everyone in Britain...
...if you take responsibility, we will back you; if you aspire to a better life for you and your family, we will support you; if you play your part in building the big society, we will reward you.
POLITICAL CHANGE
These are the changes our country needs.
These are the changes that will help get Britain back on its feet.
But I know people have heard this sort of talk before.
Yet nothing ever happens and nothing ever changes.
So why now?
Why should people trust this change?
It’s because of the changes we have already made…
…because of the leadership the Conservative Party has shown.
We have shown over the past four years that we can make change happen.
We are showing today the leadership the country needs to get the change it so clearly wants…
…leadership that is modern, strong, decisive, united.
We have opened up our party and have more women candidates and candidates from ethnic minorities ready to bring their expertise to help change this country.
Up and down the country today, Conservative candidates aren’t just talking, they’re doing, setting up social action projects, helping the communities they hope to serve.
We have argued for fiscal responsibility from day one of my leadership.
We have argued for social responsibility from day one of my leadership.
We have campaigned consistently to put the environment and civil liberties on the political agenda.
We have argued that difficult economic times are not an excuse to drop our commitment to the poorest in the world, but to reaffirm that commitment.
When the expenses scandal broke, we were the first to pay money back, first to publish our expenses online and first to commit to cutting the cost of politics.
And over the past four years, we have always tried to work with other parties rather than looking for political dividing lines where none exist.
We backed Tony Blair’s school reforms and renewing Trident even though on both occasions we could have inflicted a damaging defeat on the Government.
And we worked with the Liberal Democrats to get justice for the Gurkhas.
We called for TV debates more than four years ago…and have stuck to that whether ahead in the polls or behind in the polls. It is our consistency on this issue that has made it happen.
In that spirit of unity, of a greater purpose than the simple pursuit of politics, I have an announcement to make.
We have said that from day one of a future Conservative Government, a national security council, with the key ministers and defence chiefs, will sit as a war cabinet.
And I can announce today that if we win this year's election, I will invite leaders of the main opposition parties to attend the war cabinet on a regular basis so they can offer their advice and insights.
When a nation is at war, it needs to pull together.
I am determined that with a Conservative government, it will.
CONCLUSION
Our plans are not timid – but the truth is they can’t be.
The problems of today demand more.
They demand real change – and that can’t come soon enough.
We can't go on like this. We need change to get the country back on its feet.
A better NHS; an aspirational economy; a big society; a new politics.
We have a four year track record of delivering change in our party.
Now we are impatient to change our country.
We are determined to make a difference.
We are all in this together, and we know that if we all pull together then this country can have great hope for the future.
So let's face this new year with confidence, optimism and hope.
And let's make 2010 the year for change.
Friday, 1 January 2010
The Year for Change!!
Happy New Year!!
The next five months will be the most exciting (and no doubt exhausting!) for decades! 2010 will see the Labour nightmare continue or the Conservative dream begin.
We must be the change we wish to see!
The next five months will be the most exciting (and no doubt exhausting!) for decades! 2010 will see the Labour nightmare continue or the Conservative dream begin.
We must be the change we wish to see!
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Music to the ears?
What is remarkable about this year’s Queen’s Speech are the omissions and the repeated admissions of failure.
Let’s take the omissions first. Labour’s legislative agenda is woefully inadequate in terms of its remedial measures for the economic and social situation we are currently in. Labour seem intent to remain a passenger on the bash the banker’s bandwagon (as their Financial Services Bill shows) and not switch to the construction cart. This is not opinion. Excluding the Jobs Bill from the Queen’s speech means Labour are once more talking a good talk about preventing the emergence of a lost generation but not walking the walk.
In the same vein, it was only a few weeks ago that Brown stood up at Labour’s annual conference and announced a whole raft of health measures. With the sidelining of the Health Bill, once again we see a government that seems to be all talk.
The exclusion of the Housing Bill for consideration in the forthcoming Parliamentary session is further proof that this government has no real solutions to the real issues facing this country.
What do the Child Poverty Bill, Children, Schools and Families Bill, Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill, Crime and Security Bill, Energy Bill, Equality Bill, Fiscal Responsibility Bill, Personal Care at Home Bill have in common?
They all signal that the government has raised the flag of failure.
Labour came in, in 1997 seeking to take significant steps in reducing child poverty. The fact that this Bill has been reintroduced in the final Parliamentary session of a third term government is lamentable.
The fact that legislation has been introduced to ensure parents can legally ensure their children receive a decent standard of education highlights the government’s gross misunderstanding about their failures. The government are essentially turning around and saying to our schools and school staff that they were not given the tools they needed to do the job and are now being sued for a job conceived to have been done badly in some cases. If anyone is to be sued it is the government.
The Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill does nothing to address the issues of the past 12 months or the past 12 years.
We have yet another Crime and Security Bill. After 300 new offences, countless initiatives to tackle low level crime and a multitude of legislation Labour have failed to match their mantra from the 1990s, that they needed to tackle the causes of crime and not just the crimes themselves.
The Energy Bill highlights how Labour have let the most needy in British society down. It should not be the job of OFGEM to do the government’s work for it. They are the regulator not the rule maker.
Since 1997, British society has become the most unequal in any period in our history. Discrimination is reprehensible in all forms but you cannot put everyone onto a level playing field. That is what the Bill seems intent on doing by placing an obligation on the entire public sector to “narrow the gap between rich and poor”. Are we going to see Equal Opportunity forms peppered with questions like; How many bedrooms do you have in your house? What is your combined income? and so on? Does that matter a jot when it comes to doing the job? Of course not.
The introduction of a Fiscal Responsibility Bill is not just lamentable. It is laughable. If government needs a legal obligation to balance the books then they are not worthy of being our government.
No one would dispute that we need to look after the older generation in Britain. But again we need to look at the evidence of the past 12 years. Labour have badly let down our older population. The fact that so many have to sell their homes to survive is but one manifestation of this.
So by all means introduce a Personal Care at Home Bill but ensure that the care can be carried out at the person’s home and not a care home or other establishment.
Then ensure that the tax burden on our older generation is reduced.
Ensure that they get what is rightfully owed to them and do not have to go around with a begging bowl.
Restore dignity to old age.
Invest more in researching the diseases which afflict the older generation.
Ensure that the State pays for homes to be habitable for the older generation rather than force them to pay for any alterations themselves.
Allow relatives to look after their older loved ones without having to use their annual holiday entitlement to do so or sit at their desk wondering how their relative is.
It is clear from the omissions and admissions of failure in this Queen’s Speech that Labour, as a party and a government are stuck in a time warp.
Unfortunately for the electorate this is not going to last three minutes but 168 more days.
Waiting for the next song is no longer an option. We as a country need to change the record now.
Let’s take the omissions first. Labour’s legislative agenda is woefully inadequate in terms of its remedial measures for the economic and social situation we are currently in. Labour seem intent to remain a passenger on the bash the banker’s bandwagon (as their Financial Services Bill shows) and not switch to the construction cart. This is not opinion. Excluding the Jobs Bill from the Queen’s speech means Labour are once more talking a good talk about preventing the emergence of a lost generation but not walking the walk.
In the same vein, it was only a few weeks ago that Brown stood up at Labour’s annual conference and announced a whole raft of health measures. With the sidelining of the Health Bill, once again we see a government that seems to be all talk.
The exclusion of the Housing Bill for consideration in the forthcoming Parliamentary session is further proof that this government has no real solutions to the real issues facing this country.
What do the Child Poverty Bill, Children, Schools and Families Bill, Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill, Crime and Security Bill, Energy Bill, Equality Bill, Fiscal Responsibility Bill, Personal Care at Home Bill have in common?
They all signal that the government has raised the flag of failure.
Labour came in, in 1997 seeking to take significant steps in reducing child poverty. The fact that this Bill has been reintroduced in the final Parliamentary session of a third term government is lamentable.
The fact that legislation has been introduced to ensure parents can legally ensure their children receive a decent standard of education highlights the government’s gross misunderstanding about their failures. The government are essentially turning around and saying to our schools and school staff that they were not given the tools they needed to do the job and are now being sued for a job conceived to have been done badly in some cases. If anyone is to be sued it is the government.
The Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill does nothing to address the issues of the past 12 months or the past 12 years.
We have yet another Crime and Security Bill. After 300 new offences, countless initiatives to tackle low level crime and a multitude of legislation Labour have failed to match their mantra from the 1990s, that they needed to tackle the causes of crime and not just the crimes themselves.
The Energy Bill highlights how Labour have let the most needy in British society down. It should not be the job of OFGEM to do the government’s work for it. They are the regulator not the rule maker.
Since 1997, British society has become the most unequal in any period in our history. Discrimination is reprehensible in all forms but you cannot put everyone onto a level playing field. That is what the Bill seems intent on doing by placing an obligation on the entire public sector to “narrow the gap between rich and poor”. Are we going to see Equal Opportunity forms peppered with questions like; How many bedrooms do you have in your house? What is your combined income? and so on? Does that matter a jot when it comes to doing the job? Of course not.
The introduction of a Fiscal Responsibility Bill is not just lamentable. It is laughable. If government needs a legal obligation to balance the books then they are not worthy of being our government.
No one would dispute that we need to look after the older generation in Britain. But again we need to look at the evidence of the past 12 years. Labour have badly let down our older population. The fact that so many have to sell their homes to survive is but one manifestation of this.
So by all means introduce a Personal Care at Home Bill but ensure that the care can be carried out at the person’s home and not a care home or other establishment.
Then ensure that the tax burden on our older generation is reduced.
Ensure that they get what is rightfully owed to them and do not have to go around with a begging bowl.
Restore dignity to old age.
Invest more in researching the diseases which afflict the older generation.
Ensure that the State pays for homes to be habitable for the older generation rather than force them to pay for any alterations themselves.
Allow relatives to look after their older loved ones without having to use their annual holiday entitlement to do so or sit at their desk wondering how their relative is.
It is clear from the omissions and admissions of failure in this Queen’s Speech that Labour, as a party and a government are stuck in a time warp.
Unfortunately for the electorate this is not going to last three minutes but 168 more days.
Waiting for the next song is no longer an option. We as a country need to change the record now.
Monday, 16 November 2009
Another Day, Another Death, Another Defence
When Gordon Brown stands up tonight and mounts a defence of our involvement in Afghanistan he will be hammering in the final peg of the tent of trouble he has assembled for himself, the government and this nation.
The issue is not how many syllables Brown or ministers can utter in favour of the Afghan war or against the terrorists. The issue is that support for the Afghan war has diminished in part because our Prime Minister and government have allowed a vocal void to emerge.
Wars cannot be won by rhetoric but results. Brown must stop talking the talk and start walking the walk. Sending reinforcements to Afghanistan would be a start. Pressuring Karazi to cut the corruption in that country would be another step in the right direction.
The stakes are too high for the cycle of deaths and immediate defence to continue. We must have a proactive Afghan policy rather than one that is remorselessly reactive.
The issue is not how many syllables Brown or ministers can utter in favour of the Afghan war or against the terrorists. The issue is that support for the Afghan war has diminished in part because our Prime Minister and government have allowed a vocal void to emerge.
Wars cannot be won by rhetoric but results. Brown must stop talking the talk and start walking the walk. Sending reinforcements to Afghanistan would be a start. Pressuring Karazi to cut the corruption in that country would be another step in the right direction.
The stakes are too high for the cycle of deaths and immediate defence to continue. We must have a proactive Afghan policy rather than one that is remorselessly reactive.
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