Weekly brief: 03 May 2001
Four years on – a lot done, a lot to do
This week marks the fourth anniversary of Labour's historic election to office in May 1997.
Over the past four years we've seen some real changes in Britain – change only made possible by a Labour government. But while we should be proud of our record, we are not entitled to claim that the job is done. What we are entitled to claim is that we've made a good start.
Laying the foundations
Some manufacturers have been through tough times, but the economy is stable, inflation is low and over a million more people are in work today. Interest rates are half what they were in the 80s and early 90s saving £1,200 a year on the average mortgage. Spending on debt and dole has fallen from 42p in every extra pound of government spending to just 16p – leaving billions extra for public services.
Even if we do need more public service staff, in England alone we now have 11,000 extra teachers, 17,100 more nurses and 6,700 more doctors than in 1997 and after years of decline, we've turned the corner on police numbers as well. 2001 will be the first year in a decade in which recruits to all three services will rise as Labour's investment in public services – the largest ever - feeds through.
Crime rates are still a real problem but overall, crime is down 10 per cent. And burglary and car crime are falling even faster – down to their lowest levels for a decade.Three million children may still live in poverty, but there will be 1.2 million fewer than in May 1997 thanks to measures like the Working Families Tax Credit, the first ever National Minimum Wage and record rises in child benefit.
The work goes on
These changes aren't down to chance. They're thanks to the choices this Labour government has made. And we'll go on making those tough choices as we work to achieve our new ambitions – ambitions such as full employment, the NHS the pride of Britain once again, an education system to match the best in Europe and an end to child and pensioner poverty.
The Tories more extreme than ever
In contrast to Labour's progress, after four years in opposition, the Tories are still set on taking us back in time.
They are set on a course which would see investment in public services cut to the bone and an economy locked back in the damaging cycle of boom and bust that characterised the late 80s and early 90s.
They are still as blinkered as ever on Europe – threatening to pull out at the cost of over 3 million jobs.
They are still as extreme as ever. It is absurd to end up with a situation where decent one-nation Tories are forced to desert while extremists are welcomed and even promoted. The front bench is now a who's who of euroscepticism, intolerance and downright prejudice.
A better Britain for all
Of course there are things on people's lists that haven't been done yet, changes they want to see. The land of opportunity and prosperity for all is not yet built. But we can be more certain today than in May 1997 that it can and will be.
Extra help for market towns
Over the past four years Labour's extra investment, lower taxes and measures such as the New Deal and minimum wage are transforming opportunity in town and country. But Labour also recognises that rural communities face particular difficulties. So this week John Prescott announced a cash boost for 43 market towns across England including 30 in counties badly affected by foot and mouth. This takes forward the commitment to strengthen market towns announced in last year's Rural White Paper.
Each town will receive up to £1 million to help create job opportunities, restore high streets, improve local transport and encourage local people and businesses to get involved in building better communities. This extra funding comes alongside a market towns ‘toolkit' developed by the Countryside Agency, to help towns identify problems and agree how they should be tackled.
Over 18 years the Tories failed rural communities. Essential bus services were run down, village schools and post offices closed down, and promises on police numbers were broken. And it was those living and working in the countryside who were hit hardest by the economic consequences of the BSE debacle. Now their £16 billion public services cuts guarantee would mean cuts in rural services and cuts in support for rural regeneration programmes such as the £100m Market Towns initiative.
Calling time on outdated licensing laws
It has become all too clear in recent years that Britain's licensing laws – some of which are a century old - are in dire need of reform.
- Fixed closing times encourage binge drinking at last orders.
- The surge of people leaving premises at the same time creates disorder and policing problems.
- The law, as it now stands, involves too much red tape which is damaging to an industry employing over two million people.
So Labour this week confirmed radical new proposals, following consultation, to bring these laws up to date. We have already introduced legislation giving new powers for the police to shut disorderly premises and to tackle underage drinking. The new measures include:
- a single integrated licensing scheme for premises including conditions on hours, noise limits and capacity
- permission to sell alcohol to be granted by local authorities not magistrates
- the scope for 24-hour opening, 7 days a week in appropriate locations.
These will provide new savings and opportunities for business, more consumer choice, greater safeguards for local residents, and a boost for tourism. This is a radical new system based on rights and responsibilities - which would allow greater freedom and flexibility for people to enjoy themselves, balanced with tough and uncompromising powers for the police, the courts and licensing authorities to punish those who abuse those freedoms.
Wembley stadium
The Labour government regrets the Football Association's decision to withdraw its support for the current plans for the redevelopment of Wembley Stadium. It is clear that escalating project costs - which have risen from £334 million to £660 million - have played a key role.
Given that the FA cannot complete the project, we have decided to examine all the options that are available. A recent study into the issues surrounding the Commonwealth Games in Manchester has demonstrated the importance of cross-government working and the same committee has therefore been asked to examine the options for the national football stadium.
We have always been committed to the proposals for a new national stadium, and we remain so. But that doesn't mean the government can simply write blank cheques or act as a national bank for projects which encounter funding difficulties. We cannot step in as a banker of last resort.
Better maternity care
Labour is determined to ensure not only the best maternity care – but real choice for expectant mums as well. Yet at the moment too many maternity units are outdated and there are too few midwives.
Labour has already made a start – thanks to our bursary scheme we have reversed the decline in midwife training. But there is still a long way to go, so this week Alan Milburn announced £100 million for maternity care. Over the next few years this will mean:
- midwives returning to the NHS to receive a £1,500 one-off payment
- 500 extra midwives by 2002
- single room provision for better privacy
- more comfortable rooms with home comforts like TV and phones.
There will also be a new National Service Framework which will ensure that:
- All women will have access to a midwife for 100 per cent of their time in labour – compared to just 70 per cent now.
- All women, wherever they live, will have access to a midwife they know and trust and the choice of a safe home birth.
And all proposals for change within maternity units will have to meet with the approval of families and midwives – in keeping with Labour's aim to get power back to the frontline of the NHS.
This is in stark contrast to Tory plans. All they can promise is cuts to NHS funding and patients being asked to pay privately instead.
Better maternity rights
In this year's budget we announced measures to increase maternity pay from £60 to £100 a week, and for the period that it covers to be extended from 18 to 26 weeks by 2003. We also announced a right to two weeks off for fathers at the time of birth as well. This week Stephen Byers added to this package with unpaid maternity leave to be extended by three months – meaning mothers will be able to take a year off work by 2003.
Evidence shows that women with longer periods of maternity leave are more likely to return to work. If only 10 per cent of those who stay at home were to return then employers could save up to £35 million each year in recruitment costs alone.
To help employers deal with the changes, we will also introduce a new simplified framework of pay and leave regulations. Expectant mothers will have to give greater notice of when they intend to start and return from maternity leave, making it easier for employers to plan for and manage absences.
Labour is proud to put families first – especially when they need it the most, at the time of a new birth. The Tories would hurt new mums and dads – taking away rights to leave and better pay.
Parents can find out their entitlements at www.tiger.gov.uk
One million take up Labour's learning help
Labour's target of one million Individual Learning Accounts (ILA) opened was met this week - a year early. This marks major progress towards Labour's ambition for all people to be able to develop their talent.
ILAs are a success story, with an average of 3,000 accounts being opened each day. More than half the people who have opened an ILA since January had not been in learning in the last three years. ILAs give people extra financial help on top of their own savings to fund training or education. By making learning more affordable and accessible, they also play their part in encouraging people to take responsibility in developing their talent.
Under the Tories, talent was wasted and potential unrealised as they ignored the learning needs of individuals – preferring to concentrate on an elite few instead. Now their £16 billion cuts guarantee would put ILAs at risk – threatening the future of thousands of people.
Details online at www.my-ila.com or call the ILA Centre on 0800 072 5678
Weak leadership and a party in disarray
Conservatives are now queuing up to tell Britain what Labour already knows - William Hague is not fit to govern.
- Respected Tory peer Lord Taylor of Warwick has slammed William Hague's failure to take action over John Townend as ‘pathetic' and ‘typical of weak leadership'. (The Independent, 30/1/01)
- Baroness Flather has branded William Hague ‘weak'. (Today programme, 30/1/01)
- In defiance of William Hague, Tory MP Laurence Robertson has been touring the TV studios in support of John Townend.
This is yet more evidence of a Tory party that is completely falling apart. Over the past few weeks we've seen credible one-nation Tories like former Hague aide, Ceri Evans, quit the party over Hague's ‘Foreign Land' speech. At the same time, extremists like John Townend and Christopher Gill seem positively welcome.
Not a day goes by without more reports of Tory disarray. Pro-Europeans line up against anti-Europeans. Rival leadership camps are jockeying for Hague's job. In fact the Tories have now abandoned all hope of standing as a credible opposition and are more concerned with who will replace William Hague.
As Tory MP Andrew Rowe put it on Channel 4 news: ‘If he doesn't dent Labour's majority significantly, the Party will get rid of him without a flicker… We've given you a run for your money, you haven't made a difference, you know we love you dearly, go away.' (21/4/01)
This is the shambles that is today's Tory party after four years of William Hague's leadership - a narrow sect on the fringes of British politics.
It is clearer than ever that Hague is too weak to lead, his party is too extreme to be led and, after four years in opposition, the Tories are still unfit to govern.
4 years on – the Tories' worst policies yet
After four years in opposition the Tories are more extreme than ever. They are not only committed to cutting public spending by £16 billion but their stance on asylum, on drugs, on Europe and on the health service all threaten to take us backwards.
Policy 1 – cut public spending by £16 billion
Despite the 18 years of Tory under-investment which blighted public services and which we are still paying for today, the Tories must be the only people in Britain who think that the way to improve public services is to cut investment.
Policy 2 – promise tax cuts you can't fund
Coming on top of the spending cuts they can't find, this pledge shows that the economy will battered again by the short-termism that locked it into boom and bust.
Policy 3 – make patients pay for healthcare
The Tories' ‘Patients Guarantee' is, as Shadow Health Spokesman Liam Fox admits, a ‘Trojan horse' for privatisation. Patients will be forced to pay thousands of pounds for operations or face longer waiting times.
Policy 4 – lower standards in schools
The Tories clearly haven't been doing their homework. They want to sack the teachers employed to lower class sizes and end the literacy and numeracy hours meaning soaring class sizes and falling standards for all.
Policy 5 – privatise the state pension
This is a classic Tory clanger. By encouraging young people to opt out of the state they will create a black hole in the fund that pays for today's pensioners.
In four years the Tories have learnt nothing from their mistakes. All they can offer is to take Britain back in time.
