Sunday, 25 October, 2009
 | BNP - authoritarian and isolationist - a recipe for disaster |
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This week saw the appearance of Nick Griffin on BBC’s Question Time. While I and many others thought the panel, but especially the audience, exposed his shallow and hateful views for what they are, it is clear that the full range of the British National Party’s policies must be exposed to scrutiny.
No-one should be in any doubt that Griffin’s party traces its roots directly from the British Union of Fascists, many of whose members actively supported both the aims and methods of Germany’s National Socialists. Their views on race and nationality are well known and Nick Griffin’s reference to the ice-age inhabitants of this wonderful country clearly ignores the successive waves of arrivals, starting with the Celtic tribes, in a bid to suggest his party’s “blood and soil” philosophy has been consigned to history.
I firmly believe people are individuals and should be treated as such. Those – of any background - who would divide Britain into groups according to race, colour or religion would drag this country down, not free its people to use their skills and achieve their dreams.
At its heart, the British National Party is isolationist and authoritarian.
Its policies on trade would see us turn inwards with a loss of those jobs dependent on exports and foreign investment. There are over one million such jobs in the northwest alone. Add to that the knock-on effect of other people losing their jobs as a result and very soon Britain would be in the grip of a massive recession, with hyperinflation taking hold as the new regime printed money to pay for its spending plans. Very soon exchange controls would be introduced making foreign holidays a thing of the past.
Voting would no longer be a British right.
You might think this is a bad joke, but no. For example, the BNP has a policy of removing the voting rights of those who didn’t complete its military training. And those that do complete the training will get to take their assault rifles and ammunition home – ready for use. The prospect of violent, drunken racists rampaging through Burnley’s streets with assault rifles is too horrific to contemplate.
The BNP does not believe in a free market economy. The state will direct both workers and businesses – so all those small businesses in Burnley will be told what to do. Or be forced to close.
As for taxes, the BNP want to remove income tax (where the rich pay more than the poor) and replace it with a tax on consumption (a sort of massive VAT). And, we all know what would happen then – the taxes on consumption would need to be huge, so people would spend less, employers would need less workers and would pay lower wages too. The result? A recession on a scale never ever experienced before.
All mainstream parties have an obligation to address the voter alienation and disillusionment that fuels support for extremism.
A Conservative Government will address voter’s legitimate concerns:
So, we will take action on immigration.
A decade of Labour’s failed asylum policies, the dramatic increase in immigration, and failure to tackle illegal immigration has damaged race relations in Britain today. Uncontrolled immigration has helped to create a culture of fear and resentment - among British people of all ethnic backgrounds. We will manage economic migration. For economic migrants from outside the EU, we have proposed a two-stage process for deciding which applications should be successful. The first stage would be to make eligible for admission those who will benefit the economy. The second stage would be an annual limit to control the numbers admitted with regard to the wider effects on society and the provision of public services. There is a proper national debate that we should have about immigration.
So, we will repair our broken society.
That is the great task for the next Conservative government - not just because it is both morally and socially right, but because, in these troubled economic times, getting our economy right means getting our society right. Tackling joblessness, getting people off drugs, and putting children on the straight and narrow are the only long-term, sustainable ways of cutting the cost of social failure and bringing down taxes and the cost of living.
So, we will deliver radical welfare reform.
It is our moral obligation to end the culture of long-term welfare dependency in Britain. In a responsible society, individuals who are capable of working accept their responsibility to work – and the government accepts its responsibility to help all those who can work get into work.Instead of keeping people on benefits and locked in a cycle of deprivation, we will support families. Using the savings made from our programme of welfare reform, we will end the couple penalty in the tax credits system lifting 300,000 children out of poverty.
Richard
Sunday, 18 October, 2009
| Answering the scaremongers |
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I was asked the other day about another scare story doing the rounds – this time that Conservative’s would “raise tuition fees to £7,000.”
As with the lie that we are planning to abolish Sure Start, this story is total nonsense.
We share the idea that those who benefit from higher education should meet some of the cost of their degree, but we must make sure that those who could gain from university are not put off by the prospect of debt.
That’s why – for months – Conservatives have been calling for Labour’s ministers to get on with the review into student finance. What we need is robust information on the options for funding higher education and that needs to be on a cross-party basis, so we can end the uncertainty for universities and students.
Richard
Sunday, 11 October, 2009
| Antisocial behaviour |
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Last week Conservatives published a radical plan to tackle binge drinking and alcohol-related violence and disorder on our streets.
The Police are fighting a constant battle against alcohol-fuelled antisocial behaviour in town centres – including Burnley’s - at weekends, leaving them overstretched.
A Conservative government will introduce significant price increases on the problem drinks that are strongly associated with anti-social behaviour and give tough new powers to local councils to prevent irresponsible retailers and premises from selling alcohol. Key measures include:
· Significant tax increases including on alcopops, strong beer and strong cider that contribute to violence and disorder on our streets. As a result, a 4-pack of super-strength beer will be £1.33 more expensive, 4 cans super-strength cider will be 74p more expensive and a large bottle of alcopops will be up to £1.50 more expensive.
· Supermarkets and other retailers will be banned from selling alcohol below cost price. This will help tackle the ‘pre-loading’ trend – young people and binge drinkers consuming cheap alcohol at home before going to town centres.
· A much tougher licensing regime. Local councils and the police will be given new powers to restrict the large number of late licences awarded to shops, takeaways and other venues.
This new approach will have a significant impact on the problem of drinking and antisocial behaviour, but leave responsible drinking unaffected.
Richard
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