Sunday, 28 February, 2010
 | Are you better off than you were five years ago? |
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New analysis has revealed that GDP per capita has fallen since the last general election. The UK now produces £281 less per person in real terms than at the last election. This is the first time in recent history that GDP per capita has fallen over a full parliament. The only other time output person has fallen over a parliament was during the short-lived 1974 Labour parliament
So when people ask the famous question ‘are you better off than you were five years ago?’ Gordon Brown is the first Prime Minister in modern British history who has to answer ‘no’.
Labour’s 2005 manifesto promised ‘increased prosperity’. That is the biggest broken promise of all. Even through the dark days of the 1970s and the recessions of the early 1980s and 1990s the growth of GDP per capita was sustained in every full Parliament.
This shows that the debt-fuelled model of growth that Gordon Brown pursued for the past decade is fundamentally broken. Gordon Brown’s debt is the single biggest threat to our economic future. We cannot afford another five years of Gordon Brown. We need a new economic model built on saving and investment under the Conservatives.
Richard
Sunday, 21 February, 2010
| Leafleting |
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I had a very busy weekend delivering our latest leaflet. It was a real pleasure to talk to so many people on my way round. Labour are in real trouble in Burnley, but so are the Lib Dems after wasting so much public money on frivolities.
It really is time for a better Burnley.
Richard
Sunday, 14 February, 2010
| Skills - Another Labour let down |
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At the beginning of this month the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the quango responsible for distributing Government funds to universities and colleges, confirmed that funding for 2010-11 will be £449m lower than announced previously.
This means that teaching budgets are being cut by 1.6% in real terms compared to 2009-10 levels, research funding is being frozen, and the capital budget for new buildings is being cut by 15%. The latest cuts follow others announced in December’s Pre Budget Report, and mean that the higher education sector is set to see its budget fall by a total of around £1bn over the next three years.
With more than a million young people not in any kind of work or training, we need to create more opportunities, not less. That’s why Conservatives have pledged to provide an extra 10,000 university places this summer, paid for by a discount for early repayment of student loans.
To help young people not following traditional academic routes, we will also redirect £775m from the Government’s wasteful and inefficient ‘Train to Gain’ to create 100,000 new additional apprenticeships and training places, and to fully fund the 77,000 adult apprentices which are currently only part-funded.
Conservatives will also ensure that all apprenticeships are work-focused by making it easier for companies to run apprenticeships, and give a £2,000 bonus to each small firm creating a new apprenticeship.
Richard
Sunday, 07 February, 2010
| Getting Burnley back on its feet |
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Burnley can’t afford five more years of Labour. We need change to get this town back on its feet. Neither Labour nor the Liberal Democrats have the first idea of where growth is going to come from.
For the first time ever, Conservatives have set out eight benchmarks – the Benchmarks for Britain – against which we are happy for the next Conservative government to be judged. If we achieve these benchmarks over the next Parliament, then we will have succeeded in taking the British economy in a very different direction from the one it has followed for the last ten years.
Conservatives will make this a reality with a range of policies including more competitive taxes, new infrastructure like high-speed broadband, a green investment bank, radical education and welfare reform.
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Prince Charles’ latest visit to Burnley was a real filip and emphasise His Royal Highness’ interest in seeing the town get the opportunities it deserves . I was however disappointed that some on the extremes of politics criticised the visit. But perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised as their political bedfellows say it is their duty to remove the Queen as Head of State.
Richard
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