Back me on Brexit and I’ll end austerity, May tells Tory MPs
PM dances on stage to promise a reward for party unity
THERESA MAY yesterday promised to plough money into public services by ending austerity if she is supported in getting a good Brexit deal.
In a crucial speech to close the Conservative Party conference, the Prime Minister sought to see off the twin threats of Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn by promising to deliver a Brexit “in the national interest” and then reward voters who have faced a decade of cuts since the financial crash.
In a hint of the spending boost to come, Mrs May said she would lift borrowing caps on councils so they can build up to 10,000 extra homes a year, freeze fuel duty for a ninth year in a row and deliver a new cancer strategy to increase early detection of the illness and save 55,000 lives a year by 2028.
The PM insisted Britain’s best days are ahead, promising a programme of increased investment in public services and marking the end of a decade of cuts following the financial crash.
“Because you made sacrifices, there are better days ahead,” she told voters.
“A decade after the financial crash, people need to know that the austerity it led to is over and that their hard work has paid off.”
She went on: “So when we’ve secured a good Brexit deal for Britain, at the Spending Review next year we will set out our approach for the future.
“Debt as a share of the economy will continue to go down, support for public services will go up.”
Mrs May was under intense pressure after her party’s conference in Birmingham was racked by divisions over Brexit.
Her ex-Foreign Secretary Mr Johnson stole the show on Tuesday by calling on Tories to urge Mrs May to “chuck Chequers” – the Brexit plan the PM refused to mention by name yesterday.
But despite Tory former Minister James Duddridge delivering a letter of no confidence in his leader on the morning of her speech, Mrs May vowed to continue with her strategy in the face of EU opposition, telling party members: “If we stick together and hold our nerve, I know we can get a deal that delivers for Britain.”
Mrs May, who sought to ease Tory tensions by jigging her way on stage to the sound of ABBA’s
Dancing Queen, warned Brexiteers that squabbling over the details of EU exit might mean “ending up with no Brexit at all”.
And she delivered a stinging riposte to Mr Johnson’s reported “f*** business” comment, saying firms should know that “there is a four-letter word to describe what we Conservatives want to do to you – it has a single syllable, it is of Anglo-Saxon derivation, it ends in the letter K. Back businesses.”
She launched a ferocious assault on Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour, describing the takeover of the party by the left as “a national tragedy” and his policies of nationalisation and shares for workers as “bogus solutions that would makes things worse”.
In a clear pitch for voters turned off by Mr Corbyn’s leftwing economic agenda and rows over anti-Semitism, she said she wanted the “decent, moderate and patriotic” Tories to be “a party for the whole country”.
Sarah Longlands, director of the IPPR North think-tank said Mrs May’s promise to end austerity was “not enough” as northern councils had “borne the brunt” of spending cuts. She said the PM needs to promise an above-inflation increase for public services and demonstrate a “spirit of common purpose” with councils.
THERESA MAY yesterday sought to highlight her domestic agenda, announcing plans to boost home ownership by allowing councils to borrow more money to build alongside a strategy to improve the early diagnosis of cancer.
In a high pressure speech to close the Conservative conference in Birmingham, the Prime Minister also revealed she would freeze fuel duty for the ninth year in a row as she attempted to shift debate away from the party’s divisions over Brexit.
Mrs May told how her goddaughter died from cancer as she outlined plans to spare thousands of others the “pain of losing a loved one before their time”, and said her housing plans would revive the “dream of home ownership”.
Aides said the move to lift the cap on councils borrowing against their housing revenue account assets to fund new developments could lead to additional investment of an estimated £1bn in as many as 10,000 new homes a year.
Before the introduction of the cap under Margaret Thatcher, councils built around 10,000 homes a year – but that figure has subsequently dipped as low as 100.
“Solving the housing crisis is the biggest domestic policy challenge of our generation,” Mrs May said.
“We cannot make the case for capitalism if ordinary working people have no chance of owning capital.”
Mrs May said more homes were added to the housing stock than in all but one of the last 30 years but “we need to do better”.
“The last time Britain was building enough homes – half a century ago – local councils made a big contribution,” she said.
Although measures had been announced to improve councils’ ability to build “something is still holding many of them back” – the cap on borrowing.
“It doesn’t make sense to stop councils from playing their part in solving it, so today I can announce that we are scrapping that cap.
“We will help you get on the housing ladder. And we will build the homes this country needs.”
Council chiefs had been calling for the cap to be scrapped and welcomed the announcement.
Lord Porter, chairman of the Local Government Association, said: “The last time this country built homes at the scale that we need now was in the 1970s when councils built more than 40 per cent of them.
“Councils were trusted to get on and build homes that their communities needed, and they delivered, and it is great that they are being given the chance to do so again.”
The PM also announced a new cancer strategy as a key part of her plan for the NHS, with early detection vital to boosting survival rates.
Mrs May urged activists to defend the Tory record on the health service, adding she can only do her job thanks to the “wonderful staff ” who help manage her diabetes.
She went on: “Cancer can strike any of us at any time.
“A few years ago, my goddaughter was diagnosed with cancer.
“She underwent treatment and it seemed to be working.
“But then the cancer came back.
“Last summer, she sent me a text to tell me that she was hoping to see another Christmas. But she didn’t make it.
“Half of us will be diagnosed with cancer. All of us know someone who has been.
“Survival rates are increasing, but we are lagging behind other countries.”
Mrs May predicted that by 2028, 55,000 more people will be alive five years after their diagnosis compared with today.
Emma Greenwood, Cancer Research UK’s director of policy and public affairs welcomed the ambition, but said: “The scale of the challenge is substantial and must now be reflected in Government action. Significant investment in NHS staff who diagnose and treat cancer patients will be fundamental, as will continued research into new diagnostic tests.”
We cannot make the case for capitalism if people cannot own capital. Prime Minister Theresa May in her conference speech
THERE WAS a distinct spring in the step of Theresa May after the Prime Minister began her ‘make or break’ party conference speech with some dance moves to the sound of Abba’s Dancing Queen.
It was the human side to an under-fire premier that the country has been waiting to see. Selfdeprecating in part, it was a speech which avoided the calamities of 12 months ago. It was confident in its delivery. It was centrist in its tone. And it was courageous as she tried to unite her party.
She certainly showed why she’s a serious politician for these times, rather than a stand-up comedian, and why any audition for TV’s Strictly Come Dancing deserves to be put on hold.
Yet, while Mrs May’s wellreceived speech will have struck a chord with all those who sympathise with her political predicament, the coming days and weeks will determine whether her own MPs stick by her – or get cold feet.
For, just as Mrs May was preparing to tell Tory activists that “the future is in our hands” over Brexit, James Duddridge, a littleknown MP, was submitting a letter of no confidence in the PM’s leadership.
This is the same Mr Duddridge who, hours before, was unable to explain why he had not intervened earlier. Not only is his lack of leadership in complete contrast to the resilience of Mrs May when it comes to Brexit, national security or overhauling public services in an age of austerity, it also revealed the major flaw in the political strategy being pursued by some of the more diehard Brexiteers.
For if Mr Duddridge, and also the likes of Shipley MP Philip Davies who submitted his own letter in July, get their way, a leadership contest now would be so elongated that Brexit would effectively have to be put on hold because the Government – and the country – would be left in a vacuum and the Tories held in national contempt by voters for putting self-interest first.
Yet, with fractious colleagues like this, Mrs May couldn’t afford any slip-ups as she set out her own Brexit position and the importance of governing in the national interest. It was significant that she did not mention the word ‘Chequers’ – this speech appeared to be the start of a subtle rebranding exercise as the PM prepares for another crucial round of negotiations with her EU counterparts.
And while Brexit will come to define Mrs May’s premiership, her emphasis on certain domestic policies – particularly housing, healthcare and transport – was significant. Likewise, her desire for a socially inclusive country which stands up to all forms of intolerance.
This didn’t sound like a Prime Minister preparing to lose her job as she set out what security, freedom and opportunity means to her, and her country. The question is whether Tory MPs will give Theresa May the job security she needs to negotiate the UK’s freedom from the EU and create a new era of prosperity for all.
She deserves the chance to persevere, but with Parliamentary arithmetic and a hostile EU against her, Mrs May’s immediate future is still not in her own hands in spite of a defining speech that would, in normal times, have left Tories dancing to the tune of their leader.