FRANK DOBSON TO VISIT HEBDEN BRIDGE 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 Hebden Bridge on Saturday 26 February to speak to local 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 also 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 Calder Valley, over 2300 people were out of work in 1997, today the figure has been cut by well over half, to a little over 900, and it is still falling. The figure for unemployed in West Yorkshire was nearly 70,000 and again this has been more than halved so that it is now just over 31,000. Across Yorkshire and the Humber over 150,000 were unemployed, a figure that has also been halved under this Labour Government.
“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 180,000 people across Yorkshire and the Humber. And then yesterday, a further increase was announced so that the national minimum wage will rise to £5.05 in October this year. This will benefit over one million people across the UK, many of them here in the Calder Valley.
“The Lib Dems also voted against the Windfall Tax on the utilities which has paid for the New Deal – a scheme that has helped 700 young people here in Calder Valley, nearly 6000 across Calderdale and Kirklees and more than 23,000 across West Yorkshire find work. The expansion of the New Deal to cover over-25s, lone parents and the disabled has led to another 1060 jobs here in Calder Valley, over 7500 in Calderdale and Kirklees and over 30,000 across West Yorkshire. 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 8600 people and their families in Calder Valley by allowing them to keep more of what they earn.”
