If I were to ask you how the UK would best compete in a global economy, which of the following two options would you choose?
Option 1, a Tory-led reality:
• a country that promises to build vital economic-boosting infra...structure, but doesn’t actually get on with the job
• where young people from poor backgrounds struggle to attend school or skip meals due to unpublicised cuts to educational grants
• where families do not eat properly because they cannot afford energy bills
• where there is huge growth in food banks because people cannot afford to eat
• where large corporations call the shots meaning the general population struggle and so cannot contribute to the economic growth as they would like - the profits disappear into the hands of a few and often into tax havens
• where the state has to subsidise private landlords when people are forced out of their homes due to the Bedroom Tax - the wealthy get more and disadvantaged families struggle even more than they were before
• where money is wasted on government universal credit computer programs because no one is encouraged to discuss problems under Tory-led departments
• a society that takes short term decisions: reducing police numbers to allow crime to grow in the future; closing walk-in medical centres to allow A&E departments to implode
• where the government punishes people for wanting to achieve their potential and go to university by imposing £40k debts
• a society without the principle of fairness: tax cuts for the wealthiest at the time of hardship for the many
• this Tory nightmare will slow the UK’s development - limited infrastructure makes the UK less attractive to investment and poverty slows the potential of our labour markets
Option 2, a Labour Party vision:
• a country that delivers on its infrastructure promises: real plans to create new long-term jobs for people of all ages and promising to put our money where our mouth is on roads, trains, housing and energy solutions - money that creates money today and not some mythical notion in the future
• a country that doesn’t pander to a privileged elite, buts creates gold-standard apprenticeships so everybody can aspire towards recognised success - less welfare and more economic productivity
• a country that invests (not Tory cuts) in early years learning in Sure Start centres so that disadvantaged children can catch up and contribute to the UK’s future of innovation
• where parents are supported to go to work by extending free child care
• where children can work properly at school because they are being heated and fed due to a 20 month Labour freeze on energy bills
• where crime is continually pushed down by an ongoing police presence and the cost of crime averted
• where hospitals receive the investment they need to people are kept healthy and can continue to contribute to growth
• this Labour vision will create a society with infrastructure fit for purpose, and in getting there it creates thousands of jobs, training and growth sooner rather than later
You’ve seen the choice, and you can make your decision. I know which way I would turn, and it is towards the long-term Labour vision - an equal and more prosperous option.
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