In her latest general election update, Theresa Villiers, parliamentary candidate for Chipping Barnet, has been writing about the Conservative economic plan:
“This country has faced unprecedented shocks to our economy during these past few years as a result of first the banking crash, then Covid, then the energy price hike. I know that cost of living pressures continues to cause hardship and I will always work to try to keep inflation down and get living standards up.
Despite these difficult times, the plan set out by the Prime Minister is now delivering lower inflation, lower energy bills, rising wages, rising pensions, a £900 tax reduction, and the joint fastest growth in the G7.
We are one of only three countries in the world to have a tech sector worth over a trillion dollars. There are four million more people in work compared to when the Conservatives returned to office in 2010, faced with Labour’s note saying “There is no money left”.
The economy is turning the corner. We need to stick to the plan that’s working, not go back to square one with Labour.
The Labour manifesto is clear that they would put up taxes. Their plans would give us the biggest tax burden in history.
They would shut down North Sea oil and gas. They would introduce French style trade union laws. That includes full employment rights on day one of people arriving in a new job. This would jeopardise job creation. Labour would also halve the number of apprenticeships, denying young people the opportunity to get on in life.
They also blocked a change in the rules on nutrient discharge in waterways which would have unlocked the building of 100,000 new homes.
Labour always crash the economy. They always raise taxes. They always end up in a debt crisis. They always leave office with unemployment higher than they inherited it.
We can see how Labour operate by looking at our own situation locally. Barnet’s Labour council have put up council tax and hiked green bin charges by nearly 40% after saying they would freeze them. Despite that, the potholes are the worst I’ve ever known them to be in the 20 years I have lived in Barnet.
Sadiq Khan has hiked mayoral taxes by 70%, while Conservative mayors have not levied these charges at all. Mayor Khan has also inflicted Ulez on the outer suburbs, hitting pensioners and ordinary working people who can’t afford a new enough car or van to comply with Ulez rules. If we have a Labour Government with a massive majority, we can expect many more of these anti-driver charges, and Keir Starmer has refused to rule out increasing fuel duty.
Whereas Conservative governments work to get deficit down. We run the economy better for the long term. We create more jobs and opportunities. Our prudent management of the public finances meant that when the Covid crisis hit we were able to spend a massive £407 billion in saving jobs via the furlough scheme and then billions more to pay half of everyone’s energy bill at the peak of the Ukraine crisis.
Because we have made tough decisions to repair the public finances, we have now been able to start cutting taxes.
Our manifesto commits to a cut tax for workers by taking another 2p of employee National Insurance (NI). This means that we will have halved NI from 12% at the beginning of this year to 6% by April 2027. This is a total tax reduction of £1,350 for the average worker on a £35,000 salary.
We’ll cut taxes to support the self-employed by abolishing the main rate of self-employed National Insurance entirely by the end of the Parliament.
We’ll cut taxes for pensioners by ensuring that the income tax personal allowance is always higher than the State Pension.
And we’ll end the unfairness in Child Benefit by moving to a household system, so families don’t start losing Child Benefit until their combined income reaches £120,000, saving the average family which benefits £1,500.
In conclusion, you’ve seen the polls. You’ve heard the commentators. You know who they say is going to be the next government.
If Keir Starmer is Prime Minister, your values and your priorities will need a voice. You will need an MP who will stand up to a Labour Government and stand up to Sadiq Khan. A Labour MP would not do that but I will.
We need to continue the fight against anti-car measures from Sadiq Khan, like Ulez expansion and new bus lanes. And we can’t give up on the campaign to save Barnet police station. We must stop Sadiq Khan selling it off because we need police to be visible and present right here in our community. We can’t afford a Labour MP who’ll be on Sadiq Khan’s side not ours.
If Keir Starmer is Prime Minister, I will be your voice, holding him to account and standing up for our values: lower taxes, more police, common sense in classrooms and expanding the NHS.
I know you might not agree with everything the Conservatives have done. I know people feel frustrated. But if you vote Labour or Reform and hand Keir Starmer the supermajority he wants, do you think he will feel the need to listen to you? Do you think he’ll care about your priorities or your values?
You would be handing Labour a blank cheque to do whatever they want, courtesy of your savings. The only way to guarantee that you’ll have a voice in the next Parliament is to vote Conservative one more time. Please give me your support on 4th July.”
