Speeches

12 March 2005

Michael Howard: Time for action

Conservative Party Leader Michael Howard, speaking at the Spring Forum in Brighton, said:

“2005 has already been quite a year. My team, Liverpool, is in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. My team, Wales, is at the top of the Six Nations Championship. And my team, the Conservative Party, is dominating the agenda, standing up for people, doing what’s right for Britain.

It just goes to show that if you have the right team, with the right motivation, and, most important of all, self-belief, you can defy the pundits. 

Thanks to all your efforts, the Conservative Party is now, for the first time in many years, in a position to restore principle to government, to stand up for common sense, and to put people’s priorities first.

Our Party’s Strength – Standing up for People

Since the beginning of this year – election year - we’ve been making the political weather. 

Our plans, rooted in decent, common sense values, focus on what matters: school discipline, lower taxes, cleaner hospitals, controlled immigration and more police.

We’re being positive about our plans for the future of our country, and that’s why we’ve had a great start to this campaign. 

But look at Labour. 

So far this year they’ve compared me to Fagin, to Shylock and to a flying pig. I don’t know about you, but something tells me that someone, somewhere out there, is just a little bit rattled. 

They’ll do anything, say anything, claim anything to cling on to office at all costs. 

Well I’m not going to let them get away with it. Too many people are longing for change. Too many hopes rest on our shoulders. We have work to do.

So let me nail Labour’s lies right here, right now.

First, I’ll never take risks with Britain’s economy. A strong and stable economy is the bedrock upon which our country’s future depends. 

That’s why we’ve set out plans to rein in Mr Blair’s borrowing. And that’s why the Conservative Party is the only party which guarantees the independence of the Bank of England. We will never hand control over Britain’s interest rates over to Europe.

Second, I’ll never undermine the principles of the NHS. In times of need, it’s been there for my family, and for millions of families like ours. 

That’s why we’ll spend more on the NHS - £34 billion more. So our NHS can offer free treatment – let me repeat that, free treatment - whatever your income. 

And third, I’ll never put ideological dogma before the needs of our people. I didn’t go into politics to pursue an ideological agenda. I went into politics to get things done – to make life better for everyone in our country.

That has been the proud duty of our Party. A Party whose success has always come from applying Conservative values to new challenges. 

Our values are constant, and they have guided Conservatives for generations. 

Trusting enterprise. 
Rewarding hard work. 
Respecting others. 
Personal responsibility and a sense of nationhood. 

These are the values that guide me. These are the values at the heart of our plans. And these are the values of the forgotten majority – decent, hard-working people who’ve been taken for granted by Mr Blair. 

People like Margaret Dixon. Someone who has worked hard all her life, paid her taxes, raised a family. And then found that when she needed care most, her vital operation was cancelled, seven times. Margaret praised the doctors. She praised the nurses. She blamed the system. 

When I raised her case, I was accused of playing politics. Mrs Dixon, Labour said, was a human shield. She’s not a human shield, Mr Blair, she’s a human being. A wife, a mother, a neighbour. Margaret Dixon deserves to be treated with respect, not dismissed with a soundbite. 

Mr Blair came to power claiming to want to help families like the Dixons. Today, he casually dismisses them as isolated cases. Well, not to the Conservative Party. For anyone – for everyone - who’s had a raw deal under this Government, we’re on your side. 

Of course, when you stand your ground against Labour’s spin machine you have to take some flak. That’s because Mr Blair can’t stand being held to account. 

Accountability makes him angry. Well I can tell you now, Mr Blair, come May the fifth you’re going to be very angry indeed. Because every day, between now and polling day, we’re going to hold you to account for the promises you’ve broken, the money you’ve wasted, and the contempt you’ve shown for the office you hold.

A Positive and Optimistic Future

Well, the British people have had enough of your talk, Mr Blair. And so have I. We’ve heard it all before.

The British people expect their Prime Minister to be straight with them. To tell them the truth. To keep their promises. A Prime Minister they can trust. That is the kind of Prime Minister Britain deserves.

I’m ambitious for our future, and determined to get things done. 

My aim is a Britain where opportunity and security are enjoyed by everyone, where they’re not just a privilege the fortunate few can buy. 

The simple expectations, so harshly denied in recent years - a clean hospital, a disciplined school, safe streets - are entirely within our grasp, if only we have the courage to reach for them.

We believe tomorrow can be better than today. And now it’s time for action, to make sure that tomorrow is better than today. 

We have a plan for Britain’s tomorrow, a tomorrow to believe in; a tomorrow to strive for. 

Our plan is a practical one, but our vision reaches high into the sky: a country run, at long last, according to a guide that no philosopher, no politician, no economist could ever match - the decent, common sense values of the British people. 

A country where everyone has the opportunities they dream of, and the security they deserve.

Cleaner Hospitals

Today, when someone in your family gets sick, the worry is made ten times worse because of Britain’s dirty hospitals.

I know. Two years ago my mother in law died from an infection she picked up in hospital. Yes she was old. Yes she was frail. But she still enjoyed life. She need not have died.

Labour’s obsession with targets has created a culture in which the super bug thrives. Whitehall targets actually prevent doctors and nurses closing wards they know are infected with MRSA.

I trust professionals to make the right decisions. I won’t try and second guess them at every turn. 

So we have a plan to give matrons the power to close wards they know are infected with the super bug. That’s the way to clean up our hospitals – put matron back where she belongs: in charge.

School Discipline

And we have a plan to put teachers in charge of our schools, so they can provide our children with their essential birthright: a decent education. 

Today, too many parents lie awake at night worrying about how to get their children into a decent, local school. It’s a scandal that at the start of the twenty-first century, in the fourth richest country in the world, families have to move house to get their children into a school which gives them a decent education. 

In tomorrow’s Britain - Conservative Britain - parents will know that the quality of their children’s education is guaranteed, whatever their postcode.

Education has the power to transform lives. I know. 

I come from an ordinary family. If the teenage Michael Howard were applying to Cambridge today, Gordon Brown would love me. My socio-economic background ticks every one of his politically correct boxes: the child of immigrants; from a small town in Wales; a family with modest means; educated in a State school. And of course, Gordon Brown would hate Tony Blair. 

I didn’t have any special privileges. But I was lucky enough to live in a town with a first class State school. It was the best start any child could have in life. Fifty years on I want every child to have that opportunity.

A decent education is not being part of some social engineering project – it’s about learning. I’m told history is now all about “empathy” – not learning what actually happened, when and why. 

Well I want children to learn at school, not to ponder, endlessly and excruciatingly, how it might have felt to be a particular historical character. 

Imagine being Anne Boleyn. You're about to have your head chopped off - and how do you feel about it? Not brilliant I suppose - but that's hardly the point. Children are at school to learn.

That’s why we have a plan to get rid of political correctness from the national curriculum. And that’s why I have put in charge of it that tireless champion of common sense, Chris Woodhead. 

I read stories of ill discipline in our schools with horror. I remember my teachers as people I respected. If children don’t learn to respect authority at school how are they going to respect others when they grow up? 

So we will give head teachers back control over their schools. They will have the power to expel disruptive pupils. No meddling bureaucracies – no ifs, no buts, no nonsense. 
I will not allow the minority to ruin the education of the majority.

More Police

Respect for others, respect for the law and respect for property – these are the bedrock of a decent society. The decline in individual responsibility, the proliferation of so-called “human rights”, and society’s failure to distinguish right from wrong have left Britain in a mess – unable to get a grip on rising crime and disorder.

As a society we have to tackle crime and the roots of crime – poor education and drugs. 

If children don’t learn to read, write and count properly at school they’ll find it that much harder to get a job when they leave – and they’ll be that much more likely to get into a life of crime.

And any effective crime-fighting strategy must tackle the drug culture. Sandra has dedicated herself to support the fight against addiction. Every drug addict should have the chance to go straight – it’s about tackling the roots of crime. So we have a plan to give hard drug addicts who commit crime a simple choice: rehab, or jail. 

But we must never forget that people are responsible for their actions. The acceptance of personal responsibility is at the heart of a successful society. 

Most criminals aren’t stupid. They commit crime because they’ve calculated the risks and worked out they can get away with it. Sadly they’re right. All too often crime pays in Britain today. Criminals now have more chance of committing a crime and getting away with it than at any time for the last 25 years.

So we have a plan – put more police on the streets and they’ll catch more criminals. It’s not rocket science. 

My approach to law and order is rooted in the values which I was brought up to believe in – those who break the law deserve to be punished. In my book, punishment is not a dirty word. 

So we will build enough prison places to ensure that dangerous and career criminals are taken out of circulation. And prisoners will serve their sentences in full. 

There’ll be no more half time sentences for full time criminals. 

Oh and by the way – if you are watching this on TV and you’re a burglar, a mugger, a vandal, whatever. I suggest you think twice before voting Conservative. Because people have had enough and we’re coming to get you. 

Controlled Immigration

People want a government that upholds the rules – not one that turns a blind eye when they are abused. And that applies as much to immigration as to crime. So we have a plan to limit immigration – to take control of our borders. 

Today, our immigration system is out of control. I know it, you know it: everyone knows it, including the terrorists and people smugglers who make a mockery of Britain’s hospitality. 

In tomorrow’s Britain - in Conservative Britain - immigration will be controlled and strictly limited.

Some people say that’s racist. It’s not. It’s common sense. 

I believe in controlled immigration for the most personal of reasons. I am the child of immigrants. As my parents always told me, Britain is the best country in the world. And one of the things which make Britain so great is our sense of fair play. We are a tolerant, generous, welcoming people with a profoundly compassionate nature. 

We believe in immigration – in offering a home to people who want to work hard and make a positive contribution to our society. And we accept our moral responsibility to those fleeing persecution. 

But all these virtues are threatened by an immigration system which is now out of control – which is undermining good community relations, placing an ever-increasing burden on our public services and threatens our very security.

We face a real terrorist threat in Britain today – a threat to our way of life, to our liberties. But we have absolutely no idea who is coming into or leaving our country. There are a quarter of a million failed asylum seekers living in our country today. No one knows who they are or where they are.

To defeat the terrorist threat we need action not talk – action to secure our borders. 

So we have a plan to control immigration. Parliament will set an annual limit on the number of people that can settle in Britain. We will impose 24-hour security at our ports so that we get to grips with illegal immigration and the terrorists who exploit it. And we will insist on health checks for people who want to settle here. It’s our national health service – not a world health service. 

Lower Taxes

People work hard, they pay their taxes and they deserve value for their money. But today, families are paying an average of £5,000 in extra tax a year – and what have they got to show for it? Maybe a new wheelie bin? Green, with a nice yellow lid?

Everyone knows there is no such thing as a free lunch. With Mr Blair you pay for lunch … but it never seems to turn up.

Britain cannot carry on indefinitely spending more than it is earning without higher taxes or higher interest rates. If we are to secure our future economic prosperity, government must once again start to live within its means.

There are two Britains today: private sector Britain, where people are working harder just to stand still, struggling just to make ends meet. And bureaucratic Britain, where money is no object, you spend what you like, you employ who you like. 

For every job the private sector lost last year, the public sector took on almost two more. Britain cannot carry on like this without storing up huge problems for the future. You know a country is living on borrowed time when government is the fastest growing industry in town. 

So we have a plan to get a grip on government spending. That’s why a Conservative government will cut waste. 

There’ll be 20 per cent fewer MPs, and 20 per cent fewer government ministers. Over 160 quangos will disappear. 235,000 bureaucratic posts will go. We’ll scrap the New Deal. There’ll be no new Supreme Court. 

And as for those unelected, unaccountable regional assemblies, the playthings of John Prescott, we’ll get rid of them too.

Yes, these decisions are tough – but they are right. Right because they’ll enable a Conservative Government to get resources to the front line – to our schools and hospitals – giving taxpayers value for their money.

And right because people deserve to pay less tax. I believe that families are better at spending their hard earned cash than any politician.

That is why Conservatives will cut taxes. 

The hardest hit by Labour’s stealth taxes have been the older generation.

If you want to know about a family, look at how they treat their older relatives. And if you want to know about a country, look at how it cares for its older generation. How a country treats the older generation is a test of its values. 

Many served our country in her greatest hour of need, fighting for liberty, freedom and Britain’s independence for future generations. We must never forget the contribution they have made – and continue to make to our communities. 

But in Britain today too many pensioners are not shown the respect they deserve or given the dignity that is their due.

The older generation don’t seem to feature in Mr Blair’s New Britain. New Labour’s Britain is a country where the older generation has been airbrushed out.

I want our country to honour our senior citizens, cherish their wisdom and care for their needs - a country where they can live out their days in security and with dignity, respected and protected. 

I will increase the basic state pension in line with earnings, making pensioners up to £11 a week better off after four years. By increasing the basic pension, we will free hundreds of thousands pensioners from the tyranny of means tested benefits – restoring their dignity, independence and self-respect. 

And I will give every home where the adults are sixty five and over a fifty per cent Council Tax discount up to a maximum of £500. This will ensure that Council Tax bills for five million pensioners are cut.

To those who have given so much, we must surely give what is their due.

Peroration

The twenty-first century will be one of great and rapid change.

A century of untold opportunity. 

I want our country to be in the forefront of that change, embracing that opportunity.

I want Britain to hold her head up high. 

But I don’t measure success simply by the scale of our influence or the size of our economy.

I measure success by the quality of the life we all live. And I believe – I know – that we could be doing so much better.

In a matter of weeks, the British people will face a clear choice.
If you want higher taxes, if you want to give Brussels control of our asylum system, and if you don’t believe in the mandatory life sentence for murder – then you’re quite right to vote Liberal Democrat.

When you go into that polling booth, you could pick up that pencil and vote for five more years of Tony Blair; five more years of talk; five more years heading in the wrong direction.

Or you can vote for a new government and a new direction.

A government that has a clear Timetable for Action: what we’ll do, when we’ll do it. 

A government that is accountable.

A government that stands up for real people – the people who’ve been let down by Mr Blair.

Confident in our enduring values, ambitious for our nation’s future, we’re ready to serve our country once again.

So come and join us.

Whatever your background, wherever you’re from, if you’re thinking what we’re thinking – come and join us: there is a better way.

It’s time for change.

It’s time for tomorrow.

It’s time for action.”

Rt Hon
Michael Howard QC MP