VISION FOR GREATER OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL IS CONSERVATIVE AIM

Another chapter has now become available of the Conservative Party's draft Manifesto. By publishing our proposals and asking the public to comment on them, it gives the Conservatives the chance to embed public opinion in a way never done before, in the policies on which we will be fighting the General Election. 

The first chapter was about the Health Service and the more recent one has covered schools and mending the country's broken society. The chapter is available at the Conservative Party's website at Conservatives.com - click on the link at the top of the web page to read the draft chapters published so far.

You can also see the responses to the questions David Cameron was asked when he recently responded to people's queries about the Health Manifesto. This open process is engaging voters in new ways and by using internet technology people can join in and make their views known.

The latest chapter, on mending the broken society, sets out the Party's vision of using the powers of the State to empower people to tackle poverty, inequality and the lack of opportunity in Britain. Finding solutions in our local communities, boosting attainment for ALL pupils in local schools and ensuring the State does not crowd out local initiative, are all key ingredients in making sure that there is genuine opportunity for all regardless of whatever walk of life people come.

Creating a big society is the Conservative vision not creating an ever bigger State.

Tackling the Jobs Crisis – Measures to Get Britain Working

An incoming Conservative Government is determined to tackle the crisis for people who want to work.

The Party has set out how it will bring down the massive spending deficit the Labour Government has created and how it will boost economic growth and modernise Britain's economy. The aim of all these measures is to raise national income and create opportunity for people who are finding it difficult to get a job.

The Conservatives are proposing a 'Work Programme' to help people into employment. It will comprise the following elements:

• Work for Yourself, offering business mentors and loans to would-be entrepreneurs,
• Work Together, a programme to connect people to volunteering opportunities in their area,
• Work Clubs, places where people can receive mentoring, skills training and help to find local job opportunities, and
• Youth Action for Work, which over two years provides 200,000 additional apprenticeships, 100,000 additional Further Education college places, 100,000 ‘work pairings’, and over 40,000 additional young apprenticeships;
• There will also be a new generation of technical schools, a new national ambition to turn Britain into Europe’s leading high tech exporting nation and 10,000 new university places.

The Conservatives will also abolish the tax on new jobs. As part of our plan to Get Britain Working, we will abolish tax on the jobs created by new businesses in the first two years of a Conservative Government. Any new business started in the first two years of a Conservative Government will pay no Employer National Insurance on the first ten employees it hires during its first year.

It is estimated this tax holiday will encourage new entrepreneurs and is predicted to generate around 60,000 additional jobs over two years. Clear and simple rules will ensure that the jobs created are genuinely new.

The Conservatives have shown previously that by creating the right economic framework Britain's business people and entrepreneurs can create the jobs people need. It's time to start work!