Britain has entered a new ‘ageof austerity’, David Cameronhas warned – after theGovernment admitted it haddelivered the deepestrecession since the SecondWorld War.

In this year’s Budget, the

Chancellor confirmed that Gordon

Brown’s decade of irresponsibility

had left Britain with the highest

borrowing in peacetime history.

David Cameron said: ‘There are

deep, dark clouds over our economy,

our society and our whole political

system. There is only one way out of

this mess, and that is through massive

change.’

Addressing the Conservative Party’s

annual spring conference, David

spelled out what that change would

mean for Britain. It would mean, he

said, a government which ‘delivers

more for less’. And to achieve that, he

set out a four-point plan to change the

way government works:

• Make government live within

its means. ‘Controlling public

spending and delivering more for

less must start right now,’ declared

Mr Cameron.

• ‘A new culture of thrift’ in

government. Taking Labour to task

for their wasteful attitude to

taxpayers’ money, he said: ‘It’s not

government money, as Labour like

to say. It’s your money.’

• Cure the big social problems, like

family breakdown and welfare

dependency, instead of just treating

them.

• Give people more power through

technology and transparency. To

make sure taxpayers get value for

money, Mr Cameron announced a

plan to publish every item of

government spending over £25,000.

‘We need a complete change of

direction,’ said the Conservative

leader. ‘I’m not talking about changing

one group of ministers for another. I’m

talking about a whole new, never-

been-done-before approach to the way

this country is run.’

Right: Conservative Party leader David Cameron

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The Shadow Foreign Secretary, WilliamHague, has repeated his party’s promise tohold a referendum on the EU Constitution.

At the last election, every major party

promised the British people would be given a

vote. Since then, both Labour and the Liberal

Democrats have dropped that pledge.

Only the Conservatives stand by their

promise to let the British people have their say.

Mr Hague slammed Gordon Brown for

breaking his word: ‘Despite every promise to

the contrary, a Prime Minister no one had

voted for signed a treaty the people had never

approved’.

Not too late

But it is not too late to have the referendum,

says Mr Hague. The European elections on

4 June are a chance for voters ‘to send Gordon

Brown a message so loud he cannot ignore it’.

‘We say to the voters on 4 June: you were

promised you would be listened to, you were

promised you would have your say. The one

way you can still have your say is to vote

Conservative.’

Give the people their say on EuropeCONSERVATIVES WILL KEEP THE PROMISE THAT OTHER PARTIES HAVE BROKEN

Cameron tells it like it is

IN THE REDWhat was in the Budget?

• The Chancellor described theworst recession, the fastestrising unemployment, and theworst public finances the UKhas had since World War Two.

• National debt is going to doubleagain to £1.4 trillion – thatmeans every child born in theUK will come into this worldwith a debt of £22,500.

• The Government is planning toborrow more money in the nexttwo years than all previousGovernments put together.

• The current downturn ispredicted to be worse than thoseof the 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s.

And we’re all going to payfor it – with tax rises...• Tax rises on the many, not

the few. There will be a £1,000tax rise on every family over thenext two years.

• Tax rises on petrol. The fuelduty escalator will be re-introduced, hitting everyonewho drives to work.

• Everyone earning over £20,000will be worse off.

...and spending cuts:• £2.3 billion cuts to the NHSbudget next year.

• £600 million cuts to theschools budget next year.

• £300 million cuts to theuniversities and skills budgetnext year.

VOTE FOR CHANGE

News from your local Conservatives

Maidstone & The Weald

Mattersfrom Helen GrantProspective MP for Maidstone & The Weald

BUDGET2009

SPECIAL

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LABour support foreuro Army ‘outrAgeous’The Shadow Defence Secretary has slammedLabour Members of the European Parliament forvoting to support a ‘common defence policy inEurope’ and an ‘integrated European ArmedForce’.Dr Liam Fox said: ‘The fact that 16 Labour

MEPs voted in support of this report isoutrageous.’Conservatives opposed the defence proposals

in the Lisbon Treaty (the renamed EUConstitution). Unlike the other main parties,they stand by their promise to hold a referendumon the Treaty.

NeWs iN Brief

The Conservatives have madeclear they are committed todelivering first-class publicservices even though money is inshort supply thanks to Labour’sdebt crisis.

In the Budget on 22 April,

Chancellor of the Exchequer

Alistair Darling announced

£84 billion of Labour cuts.

Investment in the National Health

Service will be cut by £2.3 billion

next year and spending on schools

and universities will be slashed by

£900 million.

Speaking in the House of

Commons, Mr Darling’s Tory

counterpart, George Osborne, said:

‘We have moved from the age of

prosperity to an age of austerity.

But the current leadership of the

Labour Party has been left behind.’

Mr Osborne said there should be

‘a sensible debate’ about how to

deliver decent public services at a

time when money was tight. ‘We

should be discussing how we get

better value for money now the

cupboard is bare,’ he told MPs.

That debate, he suggested, should

look at some of the things which

drive up the spending of taxpayers’

money – like unproductive

services, welfare dependency and

family breakdown.

Mr Osborne praised the handful

of Labour MPs who had shown

they were ready to have that debate

– but he said their problem was that

‘they are led by someone who still

wants to reduce everything to a

pathetic dividing line of “Labour

investment versus Tory cuts”.’ A

more grown-up debate was needed

to tackle the problems the country

now faces.

The Conservatives have proposed

a number of reforms to improve our

public services – such as more

single rooms in the NHS to tackle

hospital infections and give patients

dignity and privacy, and giving

teachers more powers to maintain

discipline in our schools.

CONSERVATIVESYOUR COUNTRYNEEDS YOU

join online atwww.conservatives.comor call 0845 833 4022

Improving public servicesCONSERVATIVES WILL HELP SCHOOLS AND HOSPITALS THROUGH LABOUR’S RECESSION

The latest crime statistics paint a ‘worrying picture’with rising levels of serious crime, the ShadowHome Secretary Chris Grayling has warned.

Official statistics from the Home Office show an

increase in domestic burglaries, drug offences and

robberies involving knives.

Mr Grayling said the statistics were an ‘alarming

step in the wrong direction’ and stressed that the rise in

knife robberies undermined Labour’s claims to be

getting to grips with knife crime.

The figures also highlight Labour’s failure to tackle

anti-social behaviour: problems with people being

drunk or rowdy in public places have increased, and

other incidents of anti-social behaviour are largely

unchanged.

Chris said: ‘All of this underlines the need for the

Government to stop wrapping up our police in

unnecessary paperwork and get more officers back on

the streets fighting crime.’

CRIME RISE PAINTS‘WORRYING PICTURE’

VIOLENT CRIME HAS DOUBLED SINCE LABOUR CAME TO POWER

A home is repossessedevery seveN miNutesA Government scheme to help homeowners avoidhaving their homes repossessed has beencriticised for providing no help to anyone – FOURMONTHS after it was announced.Chancellor Alistair Darling claimed that the

‘Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme’ wouldprovide ‘real help for homeowners’ when it wasfirst touted last December – but it has not doneso yet.Since that announcement, an estimated

25,000 homes have been repossessed –equivalent to one home every SEVENMINUTES.‘Not one single homeowner has received one

single penny under this scheme,’ David Cameronreminded Gordon Brown in Parliament: ‘What adisgrace. What a callous farce.’

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ANother LiB demcANdidAte joiNsthe coNservAtives

A top Liberal Democrat who waslined up to be one of theirParliamentary candidates at thenext election has left the party to join David Cameron’sConservatives.Norsheen Bhatti – who has stood

for Parliament for the Lib Demstwice before, and who used to work for former leaderPaddy Ashdown – said the Lib Dems were now ‘out oftouch with everyday life and people in our country.’Instead, Norsheen said she wanted to be part of a

‘modern party’ with a ‘dynamic’ leader.Eric Pickles, the Conservative Chairman, welcomed

Norsheen to the Conservative Party, saying: ‘LiberalDemocrats can achieve the changes they sodesperately want through the Conservative Party.Like them we share similar values on civil liberties,the environment and quality of life issues.’

Labour’s spent.

Thanks to Labour’s Debt Crisis, there’s no money left.Britain needs change.

The Conservatives will drive upstandards in state schools bycreating a new generation ofprimary academies, free frompolitical interference.

Under the plans, state primary

schools which have performed well

and shown excellent leadership will

be given freedom to set their own

curriculum, budget, staff and school

hours. They will be accountable to

parents for behaviour and standards,

and would be freed from local

authority control.

Opportunity

Michael Gove, the Shadow Schools

Secretary, said: ‘Making schools

genuinely accountable to parents

could make a real difference to the

opportunities for some of the most

deprived children.’

Under Labour, four million

children have failed to get five good

GCSEs including English and

Maths. Many are let down at an

early age, with four in ten children

leaving primary school unable to

read, write or add up.

Michael stressed: ‘Academy

freedoms for secondary schools have

already helped thousands of

disadvantaged children by driving up

standards in the state sector. We want

to allow the same thing to happen in

primary schools.’

uNempLoymeNtcouLd hit 3 miLLioNThe British Chambers of Commerce has said that UKunemployment will reach 3.2 million – or just over onein ten workers – by the second half of next year. Conservatives would get credit flowing and protect jobs

with a £50 billion National Loans Guarantee Schemeand give tax cuts to firms which take on new employees who have been unemployed for three months.

More power for parentsover primary schools

Giving parents more power: Shadow Schools Secretary Michael Gove MP

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VOTE

HELP FOR SAVERSAND PENSIONERSGovernment ignores nationwide campaign

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GrantHelen Grant will be the Conservativeparliamentary candidate for Maidstone& The Weald at the next election.

You can contact Helen at:

Maidstone & The WealdConservative Association, 3 Albion Place, Maidstone,Kent ME14 5DY

07703 202002

www.helengrant.org

helengrant@helengrant.org

Helen

Can we help you?Please let us know of any issues you would like us todeal with locally or nationally…

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Promoted by MWCA on behalf of Helen Grant, both of 3 Albion Place, Maidstone, Kent ME14 5DY and printed by The Print Factory, Lexicon House, Midleton Road, Guildford, Surrey GU2 8XP

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Promoted by MWCA on behalf of Helen Grant, both of 3 Albion Place, Maidstone, Kent ME14 5DY and printed by The Print Factory, Lexicon House, Midleton Road, Guildford, Surrey GU2 8XP

Conservative campaigners up and down the countryorganised street stalls and collected signaturescalling on the Government to adopt their proposalsto help savers and pensioners in this year’s Budget:• abolishing income tax on savings for all basic

rate taxpayers; and• raising the threshold for pensioners by £2,000Despite massive support for the proposals, the

Government ignored these calls.In Maidstone, dozens of young people turned out

to deliver the Pensions and Savings petition tothousands of households as part of a constituency widecampaign undertaken by prospective MP Helen Grantduring March and April.The youthful delivery team was put together by

Sophie Jones (16) of Cranbrook School and BlaiseMatthews (17) of Maidstone Grammar School, whowon a competition to shadow Helen in the run up tothe next general election.Helen Grant said “The high level of response we

received from this petition throughout Maidstone &The Weald was a clear indicator of public support forour policy proposals for this years budget. I am veryconcerned that they have been blatantly ignored bythe Labour Government. The silver lining in all ofthis is that our young people are clearly engagedin the political agenda. By their actions they areshowing that they care about the plight ofa section of our society who are being particularlybadly affected by Gordon Brown’s recession, oursavers and pensioners”.

Helen Grant with Sophie and Blaise beside her