Jonathan Djanogly, Member of Parliament for the Huntingdon Constituency and Mr Shailesh Vara, Conservative Candidate for the North West Cambridgeshire Constituency have called on the Government to 'stop talking and start acting' after Tony Blair's eighth Queen's Speech was used to kick-start the Labour Party's campaign for the General Election.
With an election expected in around five month's time, Tony Blair used the Speech to ask people to trust him to deliver after 7 and a half years spent focusing on the wrong priorities.
Mr Djanogly and Mr Vara suggested it was no surprise that Tony Blair has finally started talking about the issues that matter to people just five months before a possible general election, but argued that people shouldn't put their trust in a man who has shown he will forget about them once the election is over.
Mr Djanogly said:
"Empty promises are this Government's hallmark. We are sure this offering will be no different. Tony Blair has had more than seven years to address the things that matter to people, but instead his Government has spent that time fighting the wrong battles.
After 7 and a half years in power, 66 tax rises and record increases in spending, many people we speak to across Huntingdonshire still want to know when Tony Blair's Government will deliver on the things that matter to them.
Increasingly, people tell us that the Conservative Party is talking about the right things. We are committed to an extra 432 police for Cambridgeshire, and we will also deliver cleaner hospitals, school discipline, controlled immigration and lower taxes.
We will also be accountable for our actions. Our specific Timetable for Action has set out very clearly how and when we'll deliver these things so that people can judge us by our record."
Mr Vara added:
"As the election gets closer people also know that the only way to stop four more years of Blair is to support the Conservative alternative. The Liberal Democrats are actually losing support as people focus on their plans for 40 new taxes and a softer approach to burglars and drug-dealers.
All we get from Labour is talk when we need action and action when we don't. They tell us what to eat, how to raise our children and how to spend our spare time. But this Government can't turn talk into action when it matters. It's time for a Conservative Government that will."
Notes:
1. The Labour Government is failing to tackle what matters to people.
On the five key measures of school discipline, more police, lower taxes, cleaner hospitals and controlled immigration, the Government is all talk.
School Discipline
In the Queen's Speech, Labour promised that it 'attaches the highest importance to extending educational opportunity so that all individuals can realise their full potential'.
But Labour has promised this before. They promised 'education, education, education' would be their priority.
What has happened?
- One in three eleven-year-olds leaves school unable to write properly.
- A million children play truant every year.
- There is an assault on a teacher every seven minutes.
More Police
In the Queen's Speech, Labour promised 'powers the police and others have to fight crime will be strengthened'.
But Labour has promised this before. They promised that they would be 'tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime'.
What has happened?
- Gun crime has doubled under Labour. In 2003, a gun crime was committed every hour in Britain.
- For the first time ever, more than a million violent crimes were committed last year. That is more than the combined populations of Manchester and Liverpool.
- Police officers spend almost half of their time at their desks instead of being on the streets fighting crime
Lower Taxes
In the Queen's Speech, Labour promised 'policies which entrench economic stability and promote growth and prosperity'.
But Labour has promised this before. They promised that they had 'no plans to increase tax at all'.
What has happened?
- Labour have increased taxes 66 times.
- Tax has gone up by the equivalent of £5,000 for every household in the UK.
- The number of tax collectors has increased almost twice as fast as the number of new doctors and nurses.
Cleaner Hospitals
In the Queen's Speech, Labour promised to 'continue its reform of the National Health Service, offering more information, power and choice to patients'
But Labour has promised this before. They said that they would 'save the NHS'.
What has happened?Controlled Immigration
Labour had nothing to say about immigration in the Queen's Speech. In the past Labour promised that they would make the asylum system 'fairer, faster and firmer'.
What has happened?
- Only one in five failed asylum seekers is ever removed.
- There are now 250,000 failed asylum seekers, equivalent to a town the size of Brighton, living in Britain who have no right to be here.
- In the last 3 years there have been only 17 prosecutions and 6 convictions for employing illegal immigrants.
2. Seven Years of Promises from Labour:
- 1997: Labour promised in 1997 that 'Britain does deserve better' (Labour Party manifesto, 1997).
- 1998: The Government was entering the 'post-euphoria, pre-delivery' stage (Financial Times, 12 January 1998). 'There is much more to do' (Tony Blair, Labour Party Conference Speech, 1998).
- 1999: '1999 will be the year of delivery on promises we made to win the election' (Tony Blair's New Year Message, 30 December 1998, quoted in The Daily Telegraph, 5 July 2003).
- 2000: 'We are in a fight - and it's a fight I relish. For it is a fight for the future, the heart and soul of our country' (Tony Blair, Labour Party Conference Speech, 30 September 2000).
- 2001: We have 'an instruction to deliver' (Tony Blair, statement outside Downing Street, 8 June 2001).
- 2002: It is time to 'see through ... our journey of modernisation' (Tony Blair, Labour Party Conference Speech, 2002).
- 2003: 'After six years of a Labour government we stand poised to tackle some of the deep-seated problems that have bedevilled our country' (Tony Blair, Big Conversation document, November 2003).
- 2004: We want to 'give everyone the chance to make the most of themselves. Deliver better lives for working families' (Tony Blair, Labour Party Conference Speech, 2004).
Resource: Conservative plans for additional full-time police officers
The table below shows the additional full-time police officers each force in England & Wales will get under Conservative proposals for 40,000 more police across Britain.
Police Force Additional police planned
Avon and Somerset 963
Bedfordshire 335
Cambridgeshire 432
Cheshire 641
Cleveland 460
Cumbria 343
Derbyshire 609
Devon and Cornwall 971
Dorset 433
Durham 511
Essex 923
Gloucestershire 362
Greater Manchester 2271
Hampshire 1110
Hertfordshire 588
Humberside 653
Kent 1061
Lancashire 1043
Leicestershire 644
Lincolnshire 375
London (City of & Met) 8539
Merseyside 1272
Norfolk 457
Northamptonshire 371
Northumbria 1237
North Yorkshire 434
Nottinghamshire 740
South Yorkshire 994
Staffordshire 670
Suffolk 379
Surrey 613
Sussex 906
Thames Valley 1183
Warwickshire 311
West Mercia 633
West Midlands 2426
West Yorkshire 1544
Wiltshire 360
Dyfed-Powys 353
Gwent 410
North Wales 462
South Wales 974
England & Wales 40000"