FRANK DOBSON TO VISIT BASILDON LABOUR ACTIVISTS - Lib Dems and abstentions are Tories’ new best friends
Labour MP and former Secretary of State for Health Frank Dobson will be in Basildon, at the invitation of local MP Angela Smith, on Friday 11 March to speak to Labour Party members. Mr Dobson will encourage activists to get out on the doorsteps and to tell people that it’s not safe to stay at home on election day and it’s not safe to have a protest vote. Local votes for the Lib Dems must not be seen as an easy option, that although they might be masquerading as a party of the left, their policies would penalise hard working families and hit the poorest just as hard as the Tories.
Frank Dobson will say:
“We can only have a decent society if all the people who want a job can get a job and if we make sure that when people work for a living they are paid a living wage. That has always been at the core of Labour Party politics and it still holds true today. It was what John Smith promised a Labour government would make happen and the Labour Government has made it happen.
“Under the Tories 3,000,000 were out of work. Today the figure is 600,000. Here in Basildon, over 3300 people were out of work in 1997, today the figure has been cut by more than half, to just over 1200, and it is still falling. This isn’t just good for the people who have got the jobs and their families. It is also good for the taxpayer. That’s because it costs the taxpayer at least £12,000 a year, in benefits paid out and tax not taken in, to keep somebody out of work. So this cut in unemployment, here in Basildon alone, will save the taxpayer nearly £25 million this year.
“Across Essex over 28,000 were unemployed in 1997, a figure that has been cut substantially so that it is now just over 15,000. And the figure for unemployed across the East of England was over 100,000 in 1997 - a figure that has been more than halved under this Labour Government - so saving the taxpayer over £600 million pounds a year.
“On top of that the people in work are a lot better off than they were under the Tories. The take home pay of the worst off in work has increased dramatically – as a result of the combined effects of the introduction of the national minimum wage and the various tax credits that have been introduced under the Labour Government. The Tories opposed these policies that have delivered full employment and better pay. That is only what you would expect from the Tories but it is a sad fact that the Liberal Democrats have also opposed Labour’s bold and effective policies at every stage.
“The Lib Dems opposed the national minimum wage and even opposed last year’s increase from £4.50 to £4.85, calling it “misconceived” and “irresponsible”. This rise alone will have directly benefited at least 130,000 people across the East of England. And the very recently announced increase means that in October the national minimum wage will rise to £5.05. This will benefit over one million people across the UK, including many here in the Basildon.
“The Lib Dems also voted against the Windfall Tax on the utilities which has paid for the New Deal – a scheme that has helped 820 young people here in Basildon, more than 8000 across Essex and over 28,000 across the East of England find work. The expansion of the New Deal to cover over-25s, lone parents and the disabled has led to another 980 jobs here in Basildon, nearly 12,000 in Essex and over 38,000 across the East of England as a whole. The Lib Dems called the New Deal “a waste of time”. It hasn’t been a waste of time for the thousands of people here – not to mention their families.
“The Lib Dems also opposed the Working Families Tax Credit and the 10p rate of income tax, policies that have benefited 7600 people and their families in Basildon by allowing them to keep more of what they earn.”
