I am here today to tell you why you should vote Labour in the 2015 general election. I’ll begin by talking about the economy:
In 2010, David Cameron and the Conservatives promised that they would balance the books, repairing the damage done by the 2008 financial crisis. 5 years on and the books aren't balanced. In fact, the deficit is up to £75 billion. As a result of their incompetence, wages are down, taxes are up, VAT is up, the building of houses is at its lowest since the 1920’s, families are £1,100 worse of a year and the working person is £1,600 worse off a year. All of this proves that the Tories strict austerity measures do not work and that David Cameron and the Conservatives have let our country down!
The Conservatives have countered this by saying that if Labour takes away the austerity measures, they will make the money back by increasing VAT. I, for one, believe this to be hypocritical. Go all the way back to 1979. Conservative shadow Chancellor Geoffrey How said “We have absolutely no intention of doubling VAT”. 2 months later, VAT rose from 8% to 15%. Jump forward to 1992. Chancellor Norman Lemont said “I have no need, no proposals and no plans to either raise or extend the scope of VAT”. 11 months later, VAT is added to gas and electricity. Now go to the start of the current term in 2010. David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne said “We've said it already. There are no plans to increase VAT. Our plans don’t involve rising taxes on ordinary people” and “We don’t have any plans to raise VAT.” Just weeks later, Chancellor George Osborne raises VAT from 17.5% to 20%. Are they really in a position to talk? In fact, David Cameron has a record of U-turns. He said that he would not cut pensioners winter fuel allowance. He then did. He said carrying a knife in public would result in jail time. He then scrapped it. He said that he would not cut child benefits. Then he did. He said that he would not cut front-line services. Then he did. The list goes on.
Labour have instead promised to: Ban exploitive zero-hour contracts, double paid paternity (from 20 days to 40 days), reform the banks, fix the energy market, cap rail fares, raise the minimum wage from £6.50 an hour to £8 an hour, cut business rates for small businesses, lower the tax for low and middle incomes and raise it for the rich (scrapping the Tories millionaires tax break) and invest heavily in housing, building 200,000 affordable homes a year.
Moving onto the NHS. Under Cameron’s government, 2 million people have had to wait 4 or more hours in A&E, 20 million have had to wait more than a week to see a GP and 4 million are on waiting lists for operations (the highest in 6 years).
Labour will employ 3,000 additional midwives, 5,000 additional home care workers, 8,000 additional doctors and 20,000 additional nurses, guarantee a GP appointment within 48 hours, guarantee cancer tests and results within a week and invest £2.5 billion into the service overall.
Finally onto education. The coalition of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats promised to scrap university fees altogether. Month later, they tripled it from £3,000 and £9,000. They then promised that this was the end and that they would, from then on, completely support Britain’s education system. By January 2015, the Conservatives again broke their promise, revealing that they would take £3 billion of the education’s budget, in the process closing down free schools and opening private ones.
Labour will reduce university fees to £6,000, make sure that every young person out of a job or school is in training for work and that all young people that are unemployed for a year are given a job or apprenticeship.
Now I can’t tell you who to vote for, but take into account the facts that I've just given you and I'm sure you’ll see which party is better for our country: Labour: A better plan, a better future.
By: Daniel Grondin
In 2010, David Cameron and the Conservatives promised that they would balance the books, repairing the damage done by the 2008 financial crisis. 5 years on and the books aren't balanced. In fact, the deficit is up to £75 billion. As a result of their incompetence, wages are down, taxes are up, VAT is up, the building of houses is at its lowest since the 1920’s, families are £1,100 worse of a year and the working person is £1,600 worse off a year. All of this proves that the Tories strict austerity measures do not work and that David Cameron and the Conservatives have let our country down!
The Conservatives have countered this by saying that if Labour takes away the austerity measures, they will make the money back by increasing VAT. I, for one, believe this to be hypocritical. Go all the way back to 1979. Conservative shadow Chancellor Geoffrey How said “We have absolutely no intention of doubling VAT”. 2 months later, VAT rose from 8% to 15%. Jump forward to 1992. Chancellor Norman Lemont said “I have no need, no proposals and no plans to either raise or extend the scope of VAT”. 11 months later, VAT is added to gas and electricity. Now go to the start of the current term in 2010. David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne said “We've said it already. There are no plans to increase VAT. Our plans don’t involve rising taxes on ordinary people” and “We don’t have any plans to raise VAT.” Just weeks later, Chancellor George Osborne raises VAT from 17.5% to 20%. Are they really in a position to talk? In fact, David Cameron has a record of U-turns. He said that he would not cut pensioners winter fuel allowance. He then did. He said carrying a knife in public would result in jail time. He then scrapped it. He said that he would not cut child benefits. Then he did. He said that he would not cut front-line services. Then he did. The list goes on.
Labour have instead promised to: Ban exploitive zero-hour contracts, double paid paternity (from 20 days to 40 days), reform the banks, fix the energy market, cap rail fares, raise the minimum wage from £6.50 an hour to £8 an hour, cut business rates for small businesses, lower the tax for low and middle incomes and raise it for the rich (scrapping the Tories millionaires tax break) and invest heavily in housing, building 200,000 affordable homes a year.
Moving onto the NHS. Under Cameron’s government, 2 million people have had to wait 4 or more hours in A&E, 20 million have had to wait more than a week to see a GP and 4 million are on waiting lists for operations (the highest in 6 years).
Labour will employ 3,000 additional midwives, 5,000 additional home care workers, 8,000 additional doctors and 20,000 additional nurses, guarantee a GP appointment within 48 hours, guarantee cancer tests and results within a week and invest £2.5 billion into the service overall.
Finally onto education. The coalition of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats promised to scrap university fees altogether. Month later, they tripled it from £3,000 and £9,000. They then promised that this was the end and that they would, from then on, completely support Britain’s education system. By January 2015, the Conservatives again broke their promise, revealing that they would take £3 billion of the education’s budget, in the process closing down free schools and opening private ones.
Labour will reduce university fees to £6,000, make sure that every young person out of a job or school is in training for work and that all young people that are unemployed for a year are given a job or apprenticeship.
Now I can’t tell you who to vote for, but take into account the facts that I've just given you and I'm sure you’ll see which party is better for our country: Labour: A better plan, a better future.
By: Daniel Grondin
Opinion: Why vote Labour?
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