Labour will be ambitious, says Blair
In a speech at Labour Party headquarters, Tony Blair has promised that Labour will be bold and ambitious in its plans for Britain.
Though thin on actual policy detail, Mr Blair gave an advance glimpse of Labour’s next election manifesto by outlining the seven “key challenges” that Labour would be seeking to address “relentlessly”.
Firstly, he highlighted “expanding economic and educational opportunity for all” so that advanced skills opportunities become “available to a larger and larger majority.” This presumably relates to the pledge to encourage 50 per cent of the school leaving population to attend university.
Following up on recent speeches on extending choice in the NHS, Mr Blair said that Labour would personalise “public services so that they meet the aspirations of each citizen while remaining universal and equitable”.
Thirdly, Mr Blair pointed to the record employment levels and said that he could commit to “tackling the problems of poor families and deprived neighbourhoods when the majority are relatively well off and the great majority are in work”.
On pensions, he said that retirement would be promoted as an “opportunity and not a threat” and that the state would continue to provide “properly for the increasing ageing population when private pension provision is under pressure and the taxpayer base remains constant or in relative decline.”
Also on the domestic front, he pledged to continue “pursuing the tough law and order policy people rightly expect, in an era where, also rightly, people are zealous about basic civil liberties.” Labour, the Prime Minister said, would promote a “tolerant and multi-cultural society” whilst tackling abuses of the asylum and immigration system.
Turning to the international dimension, he repeated previous pledges to focus attention on climate change and the problems of Africa during the UK’s upcoming presidency of the G8 and EU.
The Labour leader, in a nod to the party’s declined poll ratings since 2001, began by arguing that: “the key to renewing our political support for the coming years is policy. We must set out, as we started to do in June and July, a compelling modern prospectus for the country to make it stronger, fairer and more prosperous.
“There is one key test that every policy decision should pass: does it, in practical terms, advance and improve the lives of Britain’s hard-working families in the future? Does it help provide opportunity and security for them in a world of change?
“Only Labour is facing the future with confidence. While others peddle the politics of pessimism and anxiety, Labour is forging ahead to build a Britain of all the talents, rooted in the values of opportunity, responsibility and fairness we share with the British people.”
He revealed that over the next six months Labour will publish policies on all of the “challenge” areas, specifically including cutting the burden of regulation for business, improving vocational education, a “roadmap” to universal under-fives child care and major legislation to establish a new Serious Organised Crime Agency.
Concluding, Mr Blair said: “This is not the time for caution in the face of future challenges – but for the boldness essential to renew Britain for the era of globalisation. Britain is getting better but we can be better still. The new policies we are setting out – on pensions, childcare, asylum, housing and many other areas, in addition to what we have already announced on heath, education and law and order – are the route map for that journey.”
