Howard: Blair has undermined Britain’s values
Conservative Leader Michael Howard said today that under New Labour Britain’s core values have been undermined.
In a speech in Watford Mr Howard said that pandering to ‘troublemakers’ was at the core of what is going wrong with Britain.
The Conservative leader said that under Labour the lawbreaking minorities were in control to the detriment of “ordinary, decent folk”.
He pointed out that when he criticised a small group of Travellers, who abuse planning laws, he was widely attacked by senior Labour MPs and the media.
“In fact, some senior politicians, journalists and broadcasters give every appearance of being on the side of the troublemakers, the rulebreakers and the mickeytakers,” the Tory leader said.
He added: “In his desire to please everyone, Mr Blair has undermined Britain’s values and with it the sense of fair play that’s so central to our national identity.
“Some people call it political correctness. Others call it moral relativism. I call it madness.
“Common sense has been stood on its head. The victims have become the aggressors and the aggressors have become the victims.”
Mr Howard said that under the Conservatives the country would be governed by the ‘right’ values, “rewarding people who do the right thing: who work hard; play by the rules; and take responsibility for themselves and their families”.
The first thing the Tories would do after gaining power would be to crack down on immigration.
“Only two out of ten people who claim asylum in Britain today are genuine refugees. So what happens to the people who are not genuine refugees? Are they sent home? No. There are now almost 250,000 failed asylum seekers living in Britain today,” he said.
To combat this he pledged to put 24-hour security in ports, to create a British Border Control Police force, to pull out of the 1951 UN Convention to ease deportation of asylum seekers, and take ‘genuine’ refugees from the UN.
To tackle crime he said the Tories would recruit 5,000 more ‘real’ police a year and ditch the paperwork and political correctness ‘that tie their hands’. In addition, he proposed giving local authorities the power to withhold housing benefit from families with more than three ASBOs.
He concluded: “The politically correct establishment seems more interested in the rights of the few than the future of the many.
“Yet the so-called Human Rights Act seems to protect the law breakers and penalise the law abiding.
“Let me remind you about British values Mr Blair – fair play is not about the many, or the few. It’s about everyone getting equal treatment under the law.”
