THE latest monthly column from Croydon Central MP Gavin Barwell...
AS YOU may have heard on the news or read in the newspapers, there have been lots of announcements of what the Conservative Party will do if it wins an overall majority at the next election including:
Letting people keep more of the money they work hard to earn, by increasing how much you have to earn before you pay the basic and higher rates of income tax
Eliminating the deficit by 2018 by tackling tax avoidance by large multinational companies, but also by taking tough decisions on public spending like freezing working-age benefits for two years
Abolishing long-term youth unemployment by ensuring that any young person who has been out of work for six months gets an apprenticeship, traineeship or community work – and paying for this by reducing the cap on the amount of benefits an out-of-work family can receive each year from £26,000 to £23,000 a year (under Labour, there was no cap and some families got more than £50,000 a year)
Helping young people to buy their first home by building 100,000 starter homes only available to first-time buyers under the age of 40, with a 20 per cent discount
protecting the savings of elderly people by abolishing the 55 per cent tax they have to pay if they want to pass their pension pot on to a loved one when they die
Increasing the NHS budget each year
Making sure everyone can get access to a GP seven days a week
Reducing immigration from the EU
Introducing a British Bill of Rights so that decisions about human rights are made by British courts, not European judges in Strasbourg.
Most of these sensible ideas are about making day-to-day life easier for the people I represent – helping people cope with the cost of living by letting them keep more of the money they earn, making it easier to get a doctor's appointment, making it easier to get onto the housing ladder, and helping young people to find work.
You may not agree with everything this Government has done, but ultimately politics is a choice.
Realistically, there are two people who could be prime minister after the next general election – David Cameron or Ed Miliband.
I am obviously biased, but if you compare David Cameron's speech with Ed Miliband's last week – when he didn't even mention the deficit and immigration – it's crystal clear which one is better suited to being our prime minister.
