-ROBERT’S
COMMENTS-
An insight into the week’s national
news
Value for
Money & Lower
Taxes
At 3.15 pm today, the Conservatives unveiled their Value for Money
Action Plan. This plan shows how we can get value for money by taking
tough decisions. We will spend on what matters to the majority of
people by cutting back on the rest.
Our plan means
we can:
- Stop Mr Blair’s
next round of stealth tax rises.
- Give taxpayers
value for money.
- Cut taxes.
In 2007-8, we will be
spending £12 billion less than Labour.
Of this £12 billion, we will spend £8 billion on reducing
Labour’s excessive borrowing so we can avoid the tax rises
that would be inevitable under another Labour Government. The remaining £4
billion will be used to cut taxes.
The choice at the next election is clear: more waste and higher
taxes under Labour, or value for money and lower taxes under the
Conservatives.
Why Labour are All Talk
Tony Blair said he had ‘no plans to increase tax at all’,
but then he increased them 66 times.
Now, nearly all independent experts, including the OECD, IMF, IFS,
ITEM Club, NIESR and CEBR say that Mr Blair is spending, wasting
and borrowing so much that he would have to put up taxes again if
he wins the next election.
Estimates of the size
of the black hole vary. Some commentators think it will be about £10
billion, others think it will be larger.
Unlike the Conservatives,
Mr Blair has no plans to deal with the black hole, so he would
have to put up taxes again. The only question
is which? He could:
- Charge Capital
Gains Tax on people’s homes;
- Put VAT
on food; or
- Increase
National Insurance by 3 per cent.
The pressure is now on Mr Blair to say which taxes would rise.
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats confirmed today that they would put up
tax. They have more than 100 spending commitments which they intend
to fund with more than 40 tax rises.
These include a local
income tax, which would cost a typical family an extra £630
per year and a host of other taxes including airline tax, dog tax
and water tax.
A vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote for higher taxes.
Robert Key Says
Conservatives will get value for money by spending on what
matters to the majority of people and cutting back on the rest.
We will protect the budgets of key public services. Between 2005-6
and 2007-8, spending on the NHS will rise by 21 per cent, the budget
for schools will rise by 13 per cent, transport by 10 per cent and
international aid by 18 per cent.
We will spend more than
Labour on the police, pensions and the nation’s
defences, with spending in those areas growing by 12 per cent,
12 per cent and 9 per cent between 2005-6 and 2007-8.
We will give patients a choice of clean hospitals. We will give
parents a choice of well disciplined schools. We will get crime under
control.
But we have to
take tough decisions. Under a Conservative Government:
- 168 public
bodies will disappear;
- 235,000
bureaucrat’s jobs will
go;
- Labour’s
Regional Assemblies will go;
- Labour’s
new Supreme Court will be scrapped;
- there will
be no Small Business Service; and
- there will
be no New Deal.
These decisions are tough – but they are right. This spending
is wasteful and unnecessary. It is not delivering value for taxpayers’ money.
Our value for money review
of Government has identified £35
billion of savings. £23 billion will be re-spent on priority
public services, to help implement our radical Right to Choose
reforms in the NHS and schools so that we can provide cleaner hospitals
and
discipline in schools; and fund more police on the streets.
The review also identified £12 billion of net savings in non-priority
areas. £8 billion of savings held back to reduce national debt;
and £4 billion of savings will be used to fund tax cuts in
our first budget within a month of the election.
These are not vague aspirations. These are absolute commitments.
Better public services, better value for money, lower taxes.
That is the Conservative
agenda for Britain’s forgotten majority. |
