Sponsored by
Cameron exclusive: Hague will play key role winning votes in the North
David Cameron admitted recent discussions with Yorkshire party members had been frank but said that Conservatives were campaigning hard for local issues.
He was in Leeds last month for a clear-the-air meeting with party members and prospective Parliamentary candidates, with many telling the Yorkshire Post afterwards that a strong performance by Mr Cameron had allayed their fears.
The Tory leader said yesterday that William Hague would take a more prominent role as the leading spokesman for the North and in charge of the party's Northern Board.
He said: "William Hague is doing more public engagements in the north of England than anywhere else. The Northern Board is advising us on policies for our manifesto.
"The absolute key person on this is William Hague, that is why so many of his public engagements are in the North and we will make sure he continues to campaign hard."
Mr Cameron said that candidates had been selected in all the key marginal constituencies in Yorkshire.
He accepted that with only one female prospective Parliamentary candidate, the region was far below the national average of a third of women candidates, but said it was up to constituencies to pick individuals and denied Yorkshire was ignoring his modernising agenda.
LOCAL ELECTIONS
Mr Cameron said that the lesson learned from May's local elections was that it was all about "organisation, organisation, organisation".
He highlighted gains in York, where the Conservatives picked up eight of the nine winnable seats, and a good showing in the East Riding elections as examples of Tory improvements.
But he accepted that in West Yorkshire, with seats lost in Leeds, Bradford and Kirklees, there was room for much improvement.
He said: "York shows that where we're organised, where we fight a strong campaign, the modern Conservative Party can do well in Yorkshire. But I recognise that in West Yorkshire we've got to do better.
"Conservatives have got to shout louder, in Leeds for example we need to explain what we're doing running the council.
"The evidence shows in the local election if we can do well in places like York and the East Riding where we're organised then we'll be able to do well in a General Election too."
CONSTITUTION
An English Parliament would be ruled out by the Conservatives as too costly.
"The last thing we want to do is create more bureaucracy," Mr Cameron said.
The Tory leader said his party was very firm on the so-called West Lothian question, where Scottish MPs can dictate policy for the English but not their own people because laws are now decided by Scottish Parliament.
"We have utter clarity on the West Lothian question compared with utter confusion from the current Government. I couldn't be more clear. There needs to be a policy of English votes for English laws," he said.
"If we have English votes for English laws it would mean that English MPs would have the final say on matters for England."
But despite his keenness for a referendum on the EU treaty, Mr Cameron did not back SNP calls for a similar vote on independence.
He said: "It would be perverse for a party that wants to support the union to campaign for something that could break it up."
TEAM
Despite headlines this summer concentrating on John Redwood's economic competitiveness and Iain Duncan Smith's social justice policy reviews, Mr Cameron claimed to have complete confidence in his Shadow Cabinet.
He said he starts the day with Yorkshire MPs William Hague and David Davis, his Shadow Foreign and Home Secretaries respectively, either side of him and was also full of praise for the latest Yorkshire addition to his top team, Sayeeda Warsi.
In June Ms Warsi was given a seat in the Lords and made Shadow Community Cohesion Minister by Mr Cameron, having failed to win her home seat of Dewsbury at the 2005 General Election.
Mr Cameron said: "Sayeeda is an excellent appointment, she's been working extremely hard and I've seen first hand what a superb communicator she is.
"William Hague has been leading the way with his campaign for a referendum on the EU treaty, Shadow Chancellor George Osbourne has done sterling work on deregulation and we have new people coming through like Michael Gove who has been doing great work on schools' policy.
"There's a good combination of politicians. It's a very strong team."
TRANSPORT
The Northern Board under William Hague's leadership will play a greater role in identifying transport projects in Yorkshire that will receive the Conservatives' backing.
Mr Cameron said that one of its biggest tasks is to come up with policies that will help clear the congested roads and overcrowded rail lines in the region.
"We're finding that transportation is one of the biggest issues that faces Yorkshire. Improving transport is a key issue here and we will reflect that in our policies," he said.
The Tory leader had a taste of what life is like in the slow lane for thousands of Yorkshire commuters when he was caught up in jams on the M62 on Tuesday.
Conservatives are looking into whether to fund new transport schemes via bonds, borrowing on the open market and allowing local authorities to keep the business rates paid by firms in their first five
years.
FAMILY & CRIME
"SOCIETY" is to become the Conservative party's core theme at the next General Election.
In a direct challenge to Margaret Thatcher's famous 1987 soundbite "There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families", the Tory leader said his entire electoral pitch will be based on his addressing and solving social problems.
He said: "You win an election by answering the big question the country is asking, and to me the big question is 'how do we mend Britain's broken society?'"
Mr Cameron added: "I think what you're beginning to see now is that people are linking up the problems.
"The growth of violent crime and knife crime, the problem of guns and gangs, the breakdown of the family, problems of drug abuse, the problem of educational underachievement.
"People are beginning to link all those things up and say they are connected."
Highlighting the mantra around which his electoral campaign will be built, he said: "To paraphrase Bill Clinton: 'It's society, stupid'."
However, asked whether that message was getting through to people yet, he conceded: "It takes time."
NATIONAL HEALTH
The Tory leader hit back at suggestions his party is a policy-free zone – and insisted that it is Labour which lacks proposals for promoting health and tackling crime.
He said: "Take health policy. What's the Government policy today? It's to have an 11-month review. They do not have a policy.
"Meanwhile, the Conservative Party has a White Paper on the NHS to give it greater independence, put GPs in the driving seat, stop the closure of accident and emergency units and have a strong programme of public health."
And he claimed it was his party that had the firmer vision on law and order.
"Who has got the full worked-up group on a border police force? The Conservatives. Who said scrap the ID cards in order to help pay for it? The Conservatives. What is the Government's crime policy? What are they going to do?
"You can name any area and I can explain those things we're already committed to and those things under way through our policy review that would make an extremely strong manifesto."
TAX
MR Cameron underlined his commitment to tying his party down to the "centre ground" by confirming there will be no up-front tax cuts in the next Tory election manifesto.
Despite a warm reception from many of his party towards John Redwood's competitiveness task force recommendations – which included proposals to slash corporation tax, abolish inheritance tax and cut stamp duty on shares and property – Mr Cameron made it clear his tax proposals would not feature in his manifesto.
"John Redwood is a very intelligent man, a deep thinker about policy and he's good at examining economic problems and coming up with policy solutions and that's why I think he produced a good report," Mr Cameron said.
"I think what he's given us is a very good menu in terms of deregulatory initiatives and tax changes that we can draw on. And what I will say on the tax front is that there are these two sets of things we can do. The first is the family tax reductions that will be met by the green tax rises.
"And the second is that over time, as we share the proceeds of growth, some of his suggestions for reducing tax can be implemented."
Seeking to reassure voters that green taxes will be offset by cuts elsewhere, he added: "We will produce a very clear package showing which green taxes go up and which family taxes will come down."
EUROPE
MR Cameron defended his decision to make Europe a key battleground, insisting that far from being "backward-looking", it is an issue that younger generations feel passionately about.
"What's the Government's policy on having a referendum? First they say they'll have one. Then they say they won't. "
To many, the party's decision to re-focus on the issue seems bizarre, given the painful drubbing that the William Hague-led Tory party received at the 2001 election, which it fought with the slogan "Keep The Pound".
Mr Cameron was unrepentant about sticking with what he said was a key issue.
He added: "Are we banging on about Europe? I do not think that this is some sort of backward-looking policy."
"In the empowered, networked world we live in, government is the servant, not the master, and if you're the servant you ask before you change the way people are governed."
NEXT ELECTION
GORDON Brown's recent climb in the opinion polls is temporary and has not changed the "facts" about his 10-year record, Mr Cameron has insisted.
Dismissing the gloom that has hit his party during the summer, he said: "The polls don't excite me.
"Yes, people say we've had a turbulent few weeks, but look at the big picture."
He added: "I was expecting a bounce. But I don't think the facts of British politics have changed.
"We have a crisis in the NHS with hospitals being downgraded. A crisis in our criminal justice system. A crisis in our pensions system. People paying ever more stealth taxes.
"I don't think the facts have changed in British politics and I don't hear any new argument from Gordon Brown. What is actually the new argument he's talking about. What has really changed from the failures of the Blair-Brown years?
"To me, nothing. The cuts and the problems you can trace straight back to the decisions Brown has and hasn't made."
What do you think? Register to have your say on this story.
Email to a friend
Print this page- Leeds lose Ward to Palace: Is there anyone they can afford now?
- Sheffield Wednesday leaving it late to hijack Leeds United over Ward
- As Snodgrass dithers over Leeds, Warnock throws a lifeline
- Ball is in Leeds United’s court over contract - Snodgrass
- Police turning blind eye to Asian voter fraud, says MP
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: East
