Local News
From Wiltshire to Westminster, by Andrew Murrison
With the pre-election campaign trundling on since Christmas the media could have been forgiven for a great collective yawn as Gordon named the day. But not so! I had to elbow my way through the crush of journos and political anoraks jostling outside the Commons to hear the country’s worst kept secret and rush the news to their expectant public.
People may be disenchanted with politicians but judging by my mailbag they have not fallen entirely out of love with politics. There’s a lot of interest in issues, more I think than in the run-up to the 2001 and 2005 general elections. The reason is clear – across the country this one is likely to be a close run thing.
Though a hung parliament would be bad for us, the prospect of greater contestability bodes well for the next session whoever fetches up in Number 10. We would not, for example, see the likes of this week’s Digital Economy Bill, an important measure provoking stacks of letters and emails, being rushed through on the back of an overwhelming government majority.
An excoriating select committee report on the Driving Standards Agency’s multi-test centre programme has been joined by evidence that its new motorcycle test has hospitalised a number of candidates thanks to the risky sounding swerve and stop exercise. This programme, remember, closed lots of local test centres, including ours in Trowbridge. All in, the Agency resembles a disaster zone. I’ve no confidence that its meddling with test centres was in anyone’s interest and want it reviewed.
On Monday parliament formally dissolves, and me with it, like a sugar lump in a cup of tea. MPs then constitute or reconstitute when the new parliament forms up after May 6th. There’ll be much shoe leather expended between now and then.
Campaign D-2: today’s national messages
Our contract with voters
Vote for change.
Only by voting Conservative on Thursday will you get a new government
that starts cleaning up the mess on Friday.
A vote for the Lib Dems is a vote for five more years of Gordon
Brown.
- Labour only offer more of the same – and their desperate campaign is designed to scare families, older people and the vulnerable.
- The Liberal Democrats’ policies for an immigration amnesty, to scrap prison sentences under six months, keep Labour’s jobs tax and join the euro would damage Britain.
- From day one we will start to fulfil our no nonsense, no frills contract with the British people – to cut the waste, sort out the welfare mess, improve front line services and deliver change for the better. We won’t leave the poorest and the most vulnerable behind, because we’re all in this together.
- If we don’t do these things, you should vote us out in five years’ time. A Conservative Government will be accountable to you.
Contract for growth
Today, we are publishing our contract for growth, setting out our plans to get the economy moving for everyone. Our contract sets out that a Conservative government will:
- cut government waste to stop Labour’s jobs tax, which threatens to kill the recovery;
- use government guarantees to get credit flowing to businesses and protect the economy from the risk of a second credit crunch, building on our plans for a National Loan Guarantee Scheme;
- begin work immediately to create a national high speed rail network, initially connecting London and Heathrow with Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, and be the first country in Europe to roll-out nationwide superfast 100 mbps broadband.
**Key issues**
Labour’s lies over child tax credits. Labour are peddling yet another lie, this time that a Conservative government would cut tax credits for families on lower or average incomes. This is more desperate stuff from a Labour Party that has already lied about our policies on cancer waiting times and pensioner benefits. So let’s make our position on tax credits clear to voters and make this Labour’s last lie.
As our manifesto sets out: “We support tax credits and will continue to provide the range of tax credits to families, although we can no longer justify paying tax credits to households earning more than £50,000.”
Yvette Cooper admitted in Labour’s press conference
that median family income is about £33,000, so it is deliberately
misleading to say that our policy would hit average families, let alone
the “poorest families” as Gordon Brown claims.
Link
to story
Mixed wards continue to blight our hospitals. Labour
promised again and again that they would end the scandal of patients being
forced to stay in mixed sex wards. Just a few weeks ago they boasted that
they had “virtually eliminated” the problem. These figures
show that they have failed. People will rightly ask how they can believe
anything that the Labour Government promises after their repeated failure
to deliver on ending the scandal of mixed sex wards. The only party with
real plans for abolishing mixed sex wards once and for all is the Conservative
Party. We will build more single rooms to end the problem. All patients
admitted to hospital for planned care will be able to choose whether they
want to stay in a single room or on a bay while they are treated in hospital,
as resources allow.
Link
to story
Labour waste £850m on office supplies. Labour
ministers can’t even run an office, let alone a country. Labour’s
failure to buy even copier paper at a decent price means there is no hope
of them delivering complex IT and defence projects at competitive prices.
There is a clear choice at this election – Conservatives who will
ensure value for money, or five more years of Gordon Brown wasting your
money.
Link
to story
Hospitals prepare for closures. Labour have badly mismanaged
the NHS. As a result of their poor planning, wasteful spending and obsession
with centralisation, services have been cut up and down the country and
further closures are planned. As the only party that has promised to protect
the whole of the NHS budget we will defend local services. We will have
a moratorium on any outstanding proposals to downgrade A&E services
and close maternity units and closures will not go ahead if they do not
have the support of local people and their GPs.
Link
to story
Defence chiefs condemn Lib Dem ‘gamble.’
This letter from senior defence and security experts destroys Liberal
Democrat credibility on national security. Their whole approach to defence
is vague and confused. They say that they will scrap Trident but by failing
to say what they will replace it with they are being weak on defence and
dishonest about the defence budget. Their manifesto doesn't even mention
NATO, they remain committed to the dream of a European Army, and their
antipathy towards the Transatlantic Alliance is worrying to anybody who
cares about the defence of the British national interest. In trying to
be all things to all people, the Liberal Democrats lack credibility on
the vital issue of national security.
Link
to story
Claims that Labour’s jobs tax is ‘irrelevant.’
This study is based on a theoretical model rather than the experience
of job creators. Business leaders who together employ more than one million
people in this country are clear that the biggest risk to the recovery
is not cutting waste, it is Labour’s jobs tax. That is why we will
stop Labour’s jobs tax, meaning 7 out of 10 working people will
be better off under the Conservatives.
Link
to story
**Other issues**
Allegations of postal vote fraud. Under Labour, the
UK’s reputation for free and fair elections has been undermined.
We will implement a system of individual voter registration, tried and
tested in Northern Ireland and recommended by the Committee on Standards
in Public Life and the Electoral Commission, as soon as possible. This
would provide additional checks in the system to stop postal vote fraud.
Link
to story
Ian Blair’s comments on Conservative plans for
police reform. People want to know that the police are listening to them,
and the police want to be able to focus on community priorities, not ticking
boxes. So we will replace the existing, invisible and unaccountable police
authorities and make the police accountable to a directly-elected individual
who will set policing priorities for local communities. We have always
been clearthat elected commissioners will not have operational control
over policing.
Link
to story
Local elections. Conservative councils have higher rates of resident satisfaction with council services, deliver greener and safer streets, and charge lower levels of council tax. They show how a Conservative government will deliver value for money for taxpayers and improve quality of life. Across the country we have been fighting a positive campaign highlighting the successes of Conservative-run councils, showing the practical benefits of Conservative action and policies in local communities. With just hours to go to polling day, our national and local campaigns are focussed on reminding people of the choice at this election.
Civil partnerships. Since the beginning
of his leadership, David Cameron has made clear the Conservative Party’s
commitment to sexual equality and gay rights. Our Equalities Manifesto
confirmed we support civil partnerships and will recognise civil partnerships
in the tax system. We will also consider the case for changing the law
to allow civil partnerships to be called, and classified as, marriage.
Link
to story