Blair: “Personal prosperity” to be at heart of third term
Tony Blair today vowed that increasing the “personal prosperity” of every person and family in Britain would be at the heart of a third Labour term in government.
In a major speech seen by many as marking the start of the election campaign, the Prime Minister said Labour had already increased prosperity by ensuring economic stability and reforming public services, and would use that as a springboard for future reforms.
He also went out of his way to praise Chancellor Gordon Brown’s record, labelling him “the most successful British post-war Chancellor” and saying Labour was now the party trusted with the economy.
In a speech that mentioned “prosperity” 24 times, Mr Blair said: “Everything we do must be for this one central purpose: increased personal prosperity and well-being. We need to show how we will continue to make individuals and their families better off in living standards and in quality of life.
“It is all working to one end – individual and collective prosperity, each as important as the other, each possible because of the other.”
Voters would be faced with a “straight” choice between a Labour Party determined to keep spreading opportunity and prosperity, and a Conservative Party concerned only with “a few at the top”, he said.
Calling for the party to be “unremittingly New Labour” as it continued the reforms of the past eight years, he said its reforms had put power in the hands of many and opened up opportunity for everyone.
Mr Blair extolled Labour’s successes in its first two terms, such as taking an NHS that had been “on the verge of collapse” in 1997 and giving it the biggest ever expansion in free healthcare.
He added: “A more prosperous Britain is our strongest claim to re-election for a third term. It is a vindication of our values and our reforms and, if we earn the renewed support of the British people, it points the way to an unremittingly New Labour third term.”
However, the successes must be taken a step further by “radical” reform to put the individual at the heart of public services, he said. Taxation could only be justified if it delivered services that were as good as or better than those the individual could have provided were they able.
Economic stability was another key Labour achievement, he said: “As a result of our economic record, Labour is now the party of economic stability . This is the single biggest strategic shift in British politics in the past ten years. That’s why the economy was always going to be centre stage in any possible election.”
Britain was pulling ahead of rival economies, and had already overtaken France, Germany and Italy in living standards, he added.
However, the Prime Minister admitted more must be done “to fulfil the promise of that early vision”.
He stressed that he was “not complacent” about the challenge ahead, saying “a third term must be earned” and admitting that life was still tough for many.
The New Labour manifesto would be aimed “at all sections of society – for those struggling to get on every bit as much as for those struggling to get by”, he said.
Over the next few months, key announcements would be made on childcare, vocational skills, support for first-time house buyers especially those in the South East, pensions and local government.
But the Conservatives dismissed the speech as “unbelievable”, with co-chairman Liam Fox, saying: “Tony Blair has had eight years to address the priorities of the people of this country. Now, just a few months before the general election, he wants us to believe that he will finally deliver. But nothing he can say will be believable to the British public because they, like Gordon Brown, cannot trust a word he says.”
He also highlighted a new Conservative billboard poster showing a photograph of Mr Blair alongside the word “unbelievable.”
The Liberal Democrats were also unimpressed, with economics spokesman Vince Cable, saying more than “spin and self-congratulation” is needed.
He said: “The Prime Minister has to focus his attentions on the economy, under the stewardship of Gordon Brown, as his Labour Government has achieved very little elsewhere.
“The Government has a tendency to ignore problems on the horizon, including the high levels of consumer debt linked to the bubble in the housing market and a growing fiscal deficit.”
Dr Cable added: “The Prime Minister should have put forward proposals on how things can be improved for pensioners and those on low-incomes not spin and self-congratulation.”
