PM vows 2016 a game-changer
EU poll and economy feature in Cameron’s New Year message
THE year ahead can be a “gamechanger” for a Britain on the rise, David Cameron has insisted, as he pledged not only better economic security but also social renewal with no-one left out in sharing the country’s growing prosperity.
In his New Year message, the Prime Minister talked about delivering on the Conservatives’ manifesto promises, including staging a referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union, which, alongside the elections in Scotland, England and London, will be the focal point of the political year ahead.
He admitted that negotiating with 27 other countries was “difficult”, but said the UK Government was “fighting hard to fix the aspects of our EU membership that cause so much frustration in Britain; so we get a better deal for our country and secure our future”.
The PM claimed Britain faced the new year with “renewed strength” and the prospects were looking good with low inflation, rising employment and growth.
He highlighted how, because of its competent management of the economy, the UK Government would introduce tax cuts, increase state pensions, provide more free childcare and raise health spending. And, in a nod to the current crisis, he said more money would be made available for flood defences, emergency services and support.
On extremism, the Conservative leader said the country not only needed to crack down on radicalisation but also on issues that “for too long have been swept under the carpet”, such as a failure to integrate and women being treated as second-class citizens.
But much of his speech was on social renewal in what he called the “turnaround decade”, where the Government will: build more houses to tackle the moral “outrage” of young people not being to afford their own home; address poverty; make progress on combating the problems of addiction and mental health and step up the fight for equality by closing the gender pay gap. The PM said: “If we really get to grips with these problems this year, we won’t just be a richer nation but a stronger, more unified, more secure one.”
In a dig at Jeremy Corbyn, he added: “While others are on a protest march, we remain on the long walk to a greater Britain.”
In his New Year video message, delivered on Twitter, the Labour leader vowed to step up his campaign against austerity and claimed 2016 would be the year that would be “the start of a journey to deliver a Labour government” in 2020.
Noting how in the three months of his leadership Labour had defeated the Government on such issues as working tax credits, police cuts and running the prison service in Saudi Arabia, the Labour leader said: “We have to challenge them much more next year; much more on their cuts to local government and their lack of investment in the needs of our economy and our people.”