View From The House - 12th September 2000

Reprinted From The Lichfield Mercury

'Tis Tuesday afternoon as I write this. I have just seen Tony Blair's speech to the Labour Party Conference in stormy Brighton. He spoke about how we would cut £16 billion from pensioners (Untrue!), education (Untrue!), the NHS (Untrue!), and overseas aid (Untrue!) In fact, we Conservatives have said we will match or exceed Labour spending pound for pound; we just won't waste so much money on projects like the Dome among many others. He said we were wrong when we predicted one million more unemployed as a result of the introduction of the minimum working wage. He was right about that. We got that wrong because the plan suggested by Labour before the election was to have a minimum wage of £5.50 per hour and that would have damaged employment prospects. In the end, Labour's hype was replaced by reality: the minimum wage was almost £2 less which made it pretty pointless in the first place.

Tony didn't have much to say about what the Government was going to do about pensions, fuel, education, and health. He said he is listening, that he cares, and that he "will act". He can certainly do that. But no real specifics or details, as ever. He has not delivered yet. After three and a half years. Will he tomorrow?

The Conservative Party has issued its pre-manifesto document making 121 specific pledges. Some are particularly relevant to us in Lichfield and Burntwood. In Health, we would restore the power to GPs to decide where their patients should be treated. If a GP believes a baby is best born at the Maternity Unit in Lichfield, then it will be born in Lichfield - not Cannock or elsewhere. (That power was taken away from GPs when Labour abolished GP fundholding). I have always believed that money should follow the patients - not the other way round. It was that which preserved the future of the Victoria Hospital throughout the 90s until the present Government changed the system.

A Conservative Government would also allow headteachers to set their own catchment areas and class sizes. Brothers and sisters would no longer be separated from each other and from friends by being forced to attend different schools against their will.

On more general issues, now that Scotland and Wales have their own parliaments, issues in the House of Commons relating only to England would, under a Conservative Government, be voted on by MPs only representing constituencies in England. We would cancel the Government's early release scheme where 23,000 convicted criminals have been released before half their sentences have been served - and over a 1000 have committed offences on the streets onf Britain that they would not have been able to do had they still been behind bars as the judges and juries intended. We are committed not to surrender more powers to Brussels nor to adopt the weak Euro transferring our gold and other reserves to Frankfurt.