FRANK DOBSON TO VISIT NEWCASTLE LABOUR ACTIVISTS - Lib Dems are Tories’ new best friends
Labour MP and former Secretary of State for Health Frank Dobson will be in Newcastle on Saturday 18 December to speak to Labour Party members in Newcastle East and Wallsend. Mr Dobson will warn activists that 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 Newcastle, over 10,000 people were out of work in 1997, today the figure has been more than halved, to a little over 5000, and it is still falling. Across the North East the number of unemployed was nearly 90,000. Again this has been more than halved to just over 43,000. 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 this year’s increase from £4.50 to £4.85, calling it “misconceived” and “irresponsible”. They voted against the Windfall Tax on the utilities which has paid for the New Deal – a scheme that has helped over 7000 young people here in Newcastle, and over 40,000 across the North East, find work. The expansion of the New Deal to cover over-25s, lone parents and the disabled has led to another 7600 jobs here in Newcastle and, again, over 40,000 across the North East. The Lib Dems called the New Deal “a waste of time”. It hasn’t been a waste of time for the 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 hard-working families in Newcastle by allowing them to keep more of what they earn.”
