Chowdene Conservatives
Chowdene Conservatives are the ward branch of the Gateshead Conservative Fedeation. We have talked to many people in Chowdene and carried out surveys and like you we are tired of the complacency of Gateshead Council, complacency which has led to appalling public services compared with the amount of money that Gateshead council has taken in extortionate taxes, which have increased by 9.7% and will continue to rise if the people of Gateshead don’t stand up at the next local elections and vote Conservative.
Already since 1997 council tax has risen by £236, an increase of 31%, meaning council tax has risen from £767 to £1003 per year for the ordinary people of Gateshead. The Liberal Democrats are just as bad according to the independent Audit commission who say that Liberal Democrat councils charge more than £141 in council tax than conservatives. All that the Liberal Democrats bring is more red tape, more taxes and less service. And in addition to the lower average taxes, according to independent research from the Audit Commission, local residents are more likely to be satisfied with the local public services offered by conservative-run councils. Conservatives are the only way.
Labour believes pouring your money into services will solve the problem, conservatives believe reform, in the form of slashing red tape, will solve the problem. For the amount of money that Gateshead Council takes from us the state of our schools is appalling with 6 of the 10 LEA secondary schools in Gateshead achiveing below he national average for 5 A*-C GCSE results. While, according to the Independent Audit Commission Conservative controlled councils achieve the highest GCSE point scores.
While great areas of Gateshead continue to live in social decay Gateshead council increases the burden of tax on the poorest and most vulnerable in society, for example since 1997 council tax has risen by £177 on grade A houses. Graffiti and vandalism is rife, yet Gateshead Council refuses to address the problem while conservative councils such as Wandsworth have expanded CCTV cameras to crack down on offenders. Hard-working decent law abiding people are afraid to leave their houses for fear of criminals or muggers. The rise in violent crime is blighting lives, particularly those among the most vulnerable sections in our society. Conservatives say enough is enough and have introduced community wardens for example in conservative controlled Kent country council. Conservative Hamelton council have lent auto-dialler burglar alarms to residents while their property is temporarily unoccupied. Conservative controlled Westminster council has launched a ‘City Guardian’ initiative to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour. And yet this council charges under £300 in council tax per year and is still nsidered excellent by the Audit Commission. This proves it is about methods and reform not about pouring money into services.
At the next local elections the people of Gateshead should vote Conservative, they should send a message to Labour that they are tired of paying one of the highest taxes in the nation while living in a town filled with crime, social decay and failing schools. The Conservatives will cut taxes and raise public services, we’ve done it in other parts of the country through a variety of schemes and we can do it in Gateshead. Its time to give the conservatives a chance in Gateshead, we as a party have changed and now its time for the people of Gateshead to change and vote conservative.
NATIONAL NEWS
MORE LABOUR MEANS MORE TAXES
"We have no plans to increase tax at all” (Tony Blair, Financial Times, 21 September 1995)
Before Labour were elected, Tony Blair assured British voters that Labour had no plans to increase taxes. But taxes have gone through the roof under Labour, with 60 tax rises since 1997.
Taxes up 50% since 1997
Since 1997, the Government’s tax take has risen by 50%. That’s £5500 extra in tax revenue for every household in Britain. But our public services just aren’t good enough. We haven’t seen the kind of dramatic improvements we deserve. And our economy is being damaged too. We are becoming less competitive as the burden of tax and red tape rises. The economic gains we made in the 1980s are fast being eroded. Our ambition for Britain is to achieve a fair deal for everyone - sustained prosperity and world-class public services, hand in hand.
A £5 billion a year raid on pensions
Two-thirds of all pensioner households will soon be subject to a means test. Meanwhile, those who have saved hard throughout their working lives are retiring today on half the pension they would have received in 1997. This is thanks, in large part, to the Government’s £5 billion a year raid on pensions. A stealth tax that was hidden behind the health of the stock markets in 1997, but which is all too plain to people today. We want to ensure that no one who wants to save for their retirement will be held back, and no-one will be left behind through a lack of income in later life.
Business tax up £47 billion
Last year, Britain suffered the sharpest fall in business investment in a decade. This is a Government that has been producing 15 new regulations every working day. Only the Conservatives understand that businesses generate the wealth on which we all depend. We will give business a fair deal, and cut the burden of red tape imposed on them by government.
National Insurance up £8 billion
As a result of Labour’s increases in national insurance contributions and council tax, a typical British family will be £568 worse off this year. But despite this latest tax increase, our public services continue to fail the people who rely on them most. One million people on hospital waiting lists, 30,000 children leave school without a GCSE and our streets have never been more violent. We are committed to better public services and a low tax economy. We believe that the British people deserve world-class public services, but that hitting hard-working families with higher and higher taxes helps no-one.
It's time for a fair deal for everyone
Creating a better life is not simply a matter of faster spending. Improving a nation’s health depends on encouraging enterprise and community initiatives, eliminating red tape and cutting waste. Conservatives are at work designing policies to give everyone in Britain a fair deal:
• We will recruit 40,000 extra police officers for neighbourhood policing.
• We will revolutionise the present asylum system by placing a quota on entrants to Britain.
• We will give every patient in Britain a Patient’s Passport, allowing real choice within the NHS and rewards, not penalties, for those who choose to pay for treatment outside the NHS.
• We will scrap Labour’s university tuition fees - their tax on learning.
• We will cut the bureaucracy that ties up head teachers in red tape, and allow heads to run their own schools.
• We will always be a lower tax party than Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
Taxes are crippling Britain. It's time for a fair deal for everyone.
A FAIR DEAL FOR STUDENTS
Conservatives have announced plans for wide-ranging reform of higher education that will give a fair deal for students and universities. Conservatives will:
- Scrap all tuition fees
- Axe Labour's plans for top-up fees, which would mean a total bill of £9,000 for students
- Scrap Labour's arbitrary university admissions target
- Axe the proposed Access Regulator for universities
- Improve vocational and technical education
As Damian Green MP, Shadow Education Secretary, explains, "Labour has twice broken its promises on fees and let students down badly. Conservatives will scrap all fees and give a fair deal for students".
Labour's broken promises
Tuition fees - Labour's first broken promise
During the 1997 general election Tony Blair promised, "Labour has no plans to introduce tuition fees for higher education" (Evening Standard, 14 April 1997). Yet within a year, the Labour Government had brought in tuition fees.
Top-up fees - Labour's second broken promise
In the 2001 Labour manifesto, they pledged, "We will not introduce top-up fees". But less than two years later, the Labour Government has announced that it would allow universities to charge fees of up to £3,000 a year.
Liberal Democrats make students pay
Liberal Democrats say that they would scrap tuition fees, but we only have to look at their record in Scotland. Tuition fees have not been abolished in Scotland – as fees still have to be repaid after graduation (the so-called ‘graduate endowment liability’). Far from abolishing tuition fees, graduates just pay later and some pay more. As Labour’s David Blunkett has remarked, ‘it is difficult to see how anyone in Scotland has gained, with 40 per cent of students not paying fees in the first place and now having the non-fee deferred so that they have to pay after they have left university’.
Indeed, advertising watchdogs have investigated the Labour-Liberal Democrat Executive in Scotland over a complaint it has made misleading claims about "abolishing" tuition fees. The ASA carried out a simultaneous investigation into similar claims made by the Scottish Liberal Democrats in leaflets circulated to households in Edinburgh.
Our recent policy announcements reflect the Conservative Party’s commitment to offer a fair deal for everyone.
NO-ONE LEFT BEHIND…
STATE SCHOLARSHIPS TO CREATE A NEW TYPE OF SCHOOL. Our plans will ensure that no child is stuck in a failing inner-city school. We will allow good schools to expand and new schools to be set up outside the state sector. And we will allow
pupils to attend these alternative schools taking their existing funding with them.
NO EXTENSION OF CHARGES IN NHS. We have pledged not to extend any charges in the NHS, except for the fines we have outlined for abuse of the system. That will ensure that all services available free today would remain free in the future
under a Conservative Government.
LONGER, MORE CONSTRUCTIVE SENTENCES FOR PERSISTENT YOUNG
OFFENDERS. We will seek to rehabilitate persistent young offenders by introducing longer, more constructive sentences followed by a long period of active rehabilitation.
COMPULARY REHABILITATION FOR CHILDREN ON DRUGS. We will make drug treatment compulsory for all young people identified as heroin or cocaine addicts. We plan to expand drug treatment tenfold, paying for the increase out of savings made in
the health budget.
40,000 EXTRA POLICE OFFICERS FOR NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICING. We will
introduce New York style policing putting police officers back on the beat in every town and parish. Our plans include the provision of 40,000 new police officers paid for by savings in the asylum budget from introducing a 20,000 annual quota.
LIFETIME SAVINGS ACCOUNTS. The savings ratio has almost halved since 1997. As a result, too many people have no savings to fall back on. Our policies will encourage saving through a flexible savings product – the Lifetime Savings Account –
ensuring that no one is left behind by a lack of resources.
INVEST THE PROCEEDS FROM RIGHT TO BUY IN NEW SOCIAL HOUSING.
We recognise the need for more social housing to ensure that no-one is left behind and will allow proceeds from Right to Buy sales to be reinvested in housing by Housing Associations.
GENUINE FOUNDATION HOSPITALS: GETTING HOSPITAL STANDARDS UP AND
WAITING LISTS DOWN. We will give NHS hospitals genuine freedom to deliver the best healthcare for their patients. That means getting rid of central targets, allowing freedom to
borrow to expand and the ability to attract and retain staff by setting pay locally.
GIVE HEADS BACK THE AUTHORITY TO RUN SCHOOLS. Heads should be
allowed to set and enforce school policies such as discipline, including for example,allowing home-school contracts to be made a compulsory condition of admission. It will no longer be the case that unruly children are allowed to drop out of the system.
Nor will we allow the majority of children to be held back by a disruptive minority.
ALLOW GOOD SCHOOLS TO EXPAND AND NEW SCHOOLS TO SET UP.
Our plans will give more children the opportunity to attend schools that will help them to fulfil their potential.
SCRAP AS LEVELS. Our commitment to abolish AS levels, simplify the national curriculum and give schools greater independence means that children will be less burdened by exams, politicians will be removed from the education system and teachers will be given more power and time to teach.
ALLOW HEADS AND SCHOOLS FINAL SAY OVER EXCLUSION OF PUPILS.
Our plans to give schools the final say over the exclusion of pupils means that children will not be held back by one disruptive classmate.
THE PATIENT’S PASSPORT. We plan to introduce a patient’s passport, allowing patients to transfer the cost of NHS treatment to any hospital they chose, whether
public, voluntary or private.
EXTEND THE RIGHT TO BUY TO HOUSING ASSOCIATION TENNANTS.
We oppose any Labour plans to scrap the ‘Right to Buy’ for council tenants, and will Extend this successful scheme to tenants of Housing Associations. We will take special
steps to ensure that housing in rural areas continues to be available.
A BIGGER ROLE FOR VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS. Just because the state pays for services doesn’t mean it has to provide them. We will look at ways to remove the barriers to voluntary organisations taking on work currently done by Government.
JOIN THE GATESHEAD CONSERVATIVE FEDERATION FOR £15 OR £3 FOR THOSE UNDER THE AGE OF 22, BY CONTACTING CHOWDENE@CONSERVATIVES@FAIRADSL.COM
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