Our Conservative family must come together to defeat Labour

AS Prime Minister, it is my duty to lead the fight for a brighter future for the country that we all love. I want to give us all a renewed sense of pride in our great country.

You can only deliver the change that our country needs if you have a plan. That is why we have been working so hard on the five priorities, the most important issues facing the country.

I know this plan will deliver. We have already made good progress despite the difficult circumstances of the past year, the legacies of Covid and the instability caused by war in Europe and conflict in the Middle East.

Our number one priority was to halve inflation. High inflation is the single biggest barrier to sustainable growth which is why getting it down has been our top priority. It is a hidden tax on people’s pay packets and it is what has been squeezing families’ budgets.

We stuck to the plan, and inflation has more than halved from 11.1 per cent to 4 per cent, and the Bank of England has confirmed it will fall again in the coming months. Mortgage rates are already starting to come down because of this.

Because of this progress we have been able to cut taxes. Our tax cuts mean that for the average worker earning £35,000, their taxes have been cut by £450 a year. It means a senior nurse will be £600 a year better off; a junior doctor £750 better off and a teacher £630 better off.

With inflation falling, people’s wages are rising in real terms and people are returning to our high streets to support local businesses with retail sales up in January and consumer confidence at a two-year high.

Progress has been slower on waiting lists and we haven’t yet finished the job on small boats. Despite the NHS carrying out more operations than ever before in its history, we have not made as much progress as we would have liked.

Ultimately, the health service needs more doctors and nurses which is why we have introduced the first ever long-term workforce plan for the NHS to ensure that we are training more medical professionals here at home.

We have cut illegal Channel crossings by a third and our Rwanda legislation will provide the deterrent that is needed to stop the boats. We know that Labour will use every trick in the book to try and block the bill in the Lords, but we are determined to pass it.

Delivering the change our country needs means taking difficult long-term decisions and sticking to the plan. Keir Starmer and the Labour Party can’t say what they would do because they do not have a plan.

‘Delivering the change our country needs means taking difficult decisions and sticking to the plan’

When pressed on their policies, all they offer is confusion and indecision; creating uncertainty for families and business. All Labour now have is their 2030 decarbonsation promise which they themselves have said has a £28billion a year price tag, but with no plan to pay for it.

Labour would take us back to square one; with taxes and mortgage rates rising and family budgets being squeezed.

But it’s not just the fact that Labour doesn’t have a plan for the economy that threatens our progress. They would also make life more expensive and more burdensome for business.

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves don’t understand the private sector, they don’t know what it takes to build and grow a business. So just when we need our businesses to help us grow the economy, Labour plan to shackle them with more regulation.

They have already set out 75 new rules they plan to impose on business. These regulations would hit our small businesses hardest. But Starmer and Reeves just don’t get it.

I know that the last year has not been easy. I understand why people feel exhausted with politics. I get why people choose to stay at home rather than come out in a by-election that won’t change the government.

But later this year, we will have a general election that will decide who governs our country. I am confident that by then we will have made more progress, that the plan will be delivering the security and opportunity that people crave.

At the next election, I will need the support of everyone who wants lower taxes and secure borders because the alternative, Keir Starmer, believes in neither of those things.

The Conservative family must come together to defeat Labour and ensure a brighter future for our country. A vote for anyone other than the Conservatives will just help Starmer.

The reason we will stick to the plan and the reason I, unlike Keir Starmer, am willing to make difficult decisions to address the long-term problems our country faces is because a strong economy is the bedrock upon which a successful country is built.

It is how we will deliver a brighter future for Britain, with long-term economic security and opportunity: where hard work is always rewarded; where ambition and aspiration are celebrated; where young people get the skills they need to succeed in life; where families are supported, where those who have worked hard all their lives have the dignity they deserve in retirement; and with security at home and abroad.

The choice at the election later this year will be between this Conservative vision for Britain and a Labour Party that would just take us back to square one.

Drop in share of vote in Wellingborough is biggest slump for Conservatives at any by-election

Dominic Penna and Ben Butcher

THE two losses in Kingswood and Wellingborough on Thursday mean that Rishi Sunak has broken a series of unenviable by-election records.

In Wellingborough, the Conservatives’ share of the vote fell from 62.2 per cent in 2019 to 24.6 per cent – a fall of 37.6 per cent that is the biggest collapse in the Tories’ vote at any by-election.