As the Summer Recess begins I thought it would be good to reflect on what the first Conservative Government in nearly 20 years has done in less than 100 days.
We hit the ground running with our first Budget beginning to deliver our election manifesto promises. We have increased the level at which people start to pay tax and have taken the first steps to raise the 40p tax threshold. Furthermore we are ensuring work always pays more than benefits by reducung the benefits cap to £20,000 a year outside of London. The introduction of the New National Living Wage will also help those most in need in our country as the minimum wage increases to £9 by 2020. This along with the assurance the personal tax allowance will always increase in line with National Living Wage increases will mean the lowest earners, those working 30 hours a week on the minimum wage, will not pay any income tax at all. These plans will help create a fairer society as we move from a low-wage, high-tax, high-welfare economy to a higher-wage, lower-tax, lower-welfare economy.
Husbands and wives both work in most households these days and childcare costs can take a big slice of the family budget so I know the promise to give 30 hours a week free childcare for young children is very welcome.
We promised to deliver an in-out referendum on our membership of the European Union and our Bill has been published and is currently going through initial Commons stages whilst the Prime Minister is working on delivering renegotiated terms with the rest of the EU member states. So, by 2017, you can have your say on our membership of the EU.
We also propose to introduce ‘English Votes for English Laws’, which has been one of my personal manifesto pledges in every election I have been a candidate in, finally creating a fair system for all four nations in our Union.
The high budget deficit which Britain ran up under the previous Labour government will be a thing of the past as, by the end of this Parliament, we will be running a budget surplus. This means the government making more savings and non-ring fenced departments reducing their spending by a further £20 billion, but it is necessary to help our economy to continue to grow. When we started down this path in 2010 we all heard the scare mongering. According to Labour we were heading back to the dark ages and record unemployment. We have shown our economic plan is the right one for working individuals, businesses and the most vulnerable in our society.
Our NHS is receiving more investment and, under a Conservative Government, will always be free at the point of delivery. We are addressing the problems in our education system to ensure our young people have the skills they need to fill the new jobs we are creating. We are investing in defence to make sure we are all protected from the threats we face and we have given local control of Transport, Housing Investment, Skills and Health and Social care to the Northern Powerhouse, something which it is hoped can be rolled out across the country.
We in South Derbyshire, where unemployment is less than 1%, are benefiting from business expansion and a growing local economy which is helping us towards achieving full employment, a feat deemed impossible in the past. We also live in a beautiful part of the Country and I hope the weather permits you to get out and about at the many local events in the constituency this summer.
(This was originally written for the Derby Telegraph).