Event though our new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has made it clear that there won't be a General Election this year, I do think it's sensible for us to be ready for an election when one comes. Brunswick has had a fantastic Labour MP in Gordon Marsden since 1997, and it's vital that we keep it that way.
When I look around our area, I see so many things that would not be there had the Tories stayed in power - our fantastic Surestart Centre for one, and the new state of the art Devonshire Road School. It's easy for us to forget how tough life was before Labour came to power, and I've stumbled across a list of things that we've done since 1997, which I thought I'd reproduce here:
1. Lowest inflation since the 60s
2. Low interest rates
3. Introduced the National Minimum Wage
4. Record police numbers in England and Wales
5. Cut overall crime by 35 per cent
6. Record levels of literacy and numeracy in schools
7. Best-ever primary school results
8. Funding for every pupil in England to double (since 1997) by 2007-08
9. Lowest unemployment for 29 years
10. Written off up to 100 per cent of debt owed by poorest countries
11. 78,700 more nurses
12. 27,400 more doctors
13. Brought back matrons to hospital wards
14. Devolved power to the Scottish Parliament
15. Devolved power to Welsh Assembly
16. Banned anti-personnel mines
17. NHS Direct offering free convenient patient advice at any time
18. New Deal - helped over a million people into work
19. Local government funding has increased by a third in real terms
20. Equalised the age of consent for gay men
21. Free entry to all national museums and galleries
22. Overseas aid budget more than doubled
23. Restored city-wide government to London
24. Child benefit up 25 per cent since 1997
25. Created Sure Start to help children from low income households
26. Introduced the Disability Rights Commission
27. £200 winter fuel payment to pensioners & extra £100 for over-80s
28. The biggest rolling stock replacement programme ever seen on our
railways
29. Negotiated the historic Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland
30. Over 30,000 more teachers in England schools
31. Implemented the Freedom of Information Act
32. All workers now have a right to 4 weeks' paid holiday
33. Record rises in the state pension
34. 700,000 children lifted out of relative poverty
35. Introduced child tax credit giving more money to parents
36. Banned handguns
37. Cut long-term youth unemployment by 75 per cent
38. Free nursery places for three and four-year-olds in England, Scotland
and Wales
39. Free fruit for all four to six-year-olds at school
40. Free school milk for five, six and seven-year-olds in Wales
41. Record police numbers in Scotland
42. Implemented the Human Rights Act
43. Cleanest rivers, beaches, drinking water and air since the industrial
revolution
44. Free TV licences for over-75s
45. Banned fur farming and the testing of cosmetics on animals
46. Halved maximum waiting times for NHS operations
47. Free local bus travel for over-60s
48. Record number of students in higher education
49. Extended the Race Relations Act so that all public bodies and functions
now have a duty to promote race equality
50. Five, six and seven-year-olds in class sizes of 30 or less
These are all changes that I'm hugely proud of, and want to promote and defend. If you'd like to know more about how you can help Blackpool South Labour Party in the next General Election, then please
contact me or telephone Blackpool South Constituency Labour Party on 01253 344143