Weekend update

Saturday and the campaign team were out canvassing in Whitwick, we will be spending a few days in this Ward over the next week. The main issue remains Gordon Brown's top down housing targets and the prospect of huge housing development on some or all of the Green Wedges which separate Whitwick from Coalville. Only a Conservative Government can get rid of Labour's target of 12200 extra houses and return full powers for housing to locally elected and locally accountable councillors. This will be the choice for voters in Whitwick and many more wards in our constituency of North West Leicestershire come the election.

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Shadow Home Secretary Visits Coalville

On Friday we had Chris Grayling the Conservative Shadow Home Secretary visiting the police station in Coalville and out on the beat with local policemen around the centre of Coalville. The visit was a great success and gave Chris the chance to have informal discussions with the senior local officers about his ideas to improve policing and streamline the paperwork, targets and bureaucracy.

Prior to visiting North West Leicestershire Mr Grayling had been visiting the High School in Shepshed with Nicky Morgan the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Loughborough. There is no doubt that having a shadow cabinet member in the constituency gives our campaign a huge boost. The last time Chris was in our constituency was in his role as Shadow Transport Minister back in 2007 just before the 'election that never was', when Brown bottled out off calling a snap election. Many thanks to Inspector Chris Brown and sergeant Paul Harrison for organizing the visit.

On Friday evening we were out canvassing in the Whitwick Ward and our teams had very encouraging results. Once again many thanks to the volunteers who support our efforts with such vigour and determination.

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Tuesday Evening Planning Meeting at the District Council

Late Tuesday afternoon, I spoke in the district council chamber in support of the planning application to rebuild and expand the Belvoir centre. This was undoubtedly the most important planning application affecting our major conurbation of Coalville for many decades. Provided that the development proceeds in a reasonable timeframe this application will shape the future of the centre of Coalville for the next twenty-five years plus, play an integral part in the Conservative controlled councils plans to regenerate Coalville and also provide 1100 much needed new jobs in the very heart of the town Coalville.

The ambitious plans provide for a new superstore, numerous shops, bars and restaurants, also a six screen cinema and a multi-story car park accessed by a new bridge and traffic island at the junction of Whitwick Road, High Street and Hotel Street. I am pleased to report that the application was passed with all party support.

I would like to compliment Councillor Matthew Blain and the all the planning team at the council involved in the work required to bring this most important application to the planning committee. The fact that the Conservative controlled council have been able to attract developer willing to invest in Huge projects such as these in the teeth of the deepest recession for sixty years is a testament to their hard work, professionalism and dedication to the cause of improving the quality of life for our residents in Coalville.

The Belvoir centre application can proceed alongside the redevelopment of the Ford garage site and the North side of Hotel Street which was passed by the planning committee in the Autumn. For those who were disappointed by the refusal several months ago of the so called ' Asda application' please bear in mind that under Labour Government rules had this been approved then the Belvoir centre project would not had been able to be given permission as the maximum amount of retail space permitted in the town would have been reached.

Coalville has suffered more than its far share of disappointments over the years, as I left the chamber the representative of the developers thanked me for speaking in support of the application, I replied ' please now deliver the project and regeneration that Coalville so desperately needs, He replied 'We will '.

I am sure that we all look forward to ' Cranes over Coalville' in the near future.

Following the planning meeting I travelled across to Ashby to join our canvassing teams for the rest of the evening. I had a couple of interesting conversations on the doorsteps with some of our younger voters, more about this later.

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Tuesday Visit to Haines Watts accountants in Ashby

Today I visited an accountancy firm in Ashby to discuss the state of the economy and the outlook for business and enterprise locally and nationally. I met with Mr Ryan Wilkinson of Progress Haines Watts.
Given the figures released this week showing that business investment has fallen drastically in the few months of this year, I was keen to question Ryan on this. Ryan was emphatic that the problem holding back business and enterprise remained access to funding from the banks. He regaled me with numerous examples of small and medium sized businesses employing local people which have been unable to get bank support to grow their businesses. Every time a business expands and takes on a new contract there is usually a delay between the delivery of the goods and or service and the payment from the customer, the funding of this gap is called the working capital requirement of the business. Without this working capital businesses are unable to fund extra business. It is clear that the Labour Governments bank loan guarantee scheme is failing, Ryan remarked that he only knew of one business who had been able to access the scheme.

Only by getting business and enterprise moving again will our country be able to recover from recession, with the Labour Government sending mixed messages to the banks several of which are now effectively in Government control, it is obvious that business is not getting the support it needs. Banks are being asked by Gordon Brown to lend more to business, pay back the debt to the Government and at the same time improve their cash reserves, it is impossible to do all three of these at once and it is business which is suffering.
 

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Weekend update

Canvassing in Ashby in the morning, we had teams in all three wards (Ivanhoe, Holywell and Castle) meeting the electorate and spreading our message. Early afternoon I attended a presentation at the Conkers Waterside site in Moira by Emma Bryn-Jones and Alison Adkin. The presentations also included one from some of those who work at Conkers about the environmental projects they are pioneering for our area.

On Saturday evening I visited the residents of the Coleorton Hall community (many thanks to Sudesh Mattu and Mr Ray Dennis for organising the visit). I was accompanied by my wife Jackie and our sons Alex and Ben. The residents were invite to one of the houses and we had a good old fashioned question and answer session which I enjoyed very much. Many thanks to Andrea and Raj for hosting the event in their lovely home and also for providing the refreshments.

Sunday canvassing

This morning we had teams out in both Thringstone and Ashby contacting voters. As expected the rain held off and we were able to make good headway through our uncanvassed residents. The canvassing will increase again next week as there are now less than 70 days until an expected May 6th polling day. If Gordon Brown wants a March 25th poll he will have to call the election by Tuesday this week, I wonder how brave he is feeling?

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The Royal Hotel Tuesday and Thursday evenings

This week we have been not only canvassing in the market town of Ashby De La Zouch throughout the week, but I have had two speaking engagements at the Royal Hotel as well.

On Tuesday evening I had the honour of giving a speech to the Conservative association at our annual general meeting. This was the fourth time I have addressed the AGM as the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate and it will be the last time before the General election. I think everyone agreed that it was the best AGM for many years and members left (into a snowstorm) ready and eager to take the fight to Labour in the forthcoming election and to hold them to account for the last 13 years they have spent in Government.

On Thursday evening, I was back at the Royal Hotel as the guest speaker of the Rotary club (dinner club). I was invite by Mr John Bate and I had a very enjoyable evening in fine company. The topic of the speech was `my life so far` and I hope it gave the audience an insight into what drives and motivates me in my business, political and family life.

The recanvassing of Ashby continues with more to be done tonight (Friday) and at the weekend.
 

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UK worse off than five years ago

This evening, George Osborne will cite new research showing that, for the first time in modern history, national income per person will have fallen over a full Parliament.

When people ask the famous question, ‘are you better off than you were five years ago?’ Gordon Brown is the first Prime Minister in modern British history who has to answer ‘no’. Labour’s 2005 manifesto promised ‘increased prosperity’. That is the biggest broken promise of all. Even through the dark days of the 1970s and the recessions of the early 1980s and 1990s the growth of GDP per capita was sustained in every full Parliament.

This shows that the debt-fuelled model of growth that Gordon Brown pursued for the past decade is fundamentally broken. Gordon Brown’s debt is the single biggest threat to our economic future. We need a new economic model built on saving and investment.
 

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Weekend Update

Saturday saw our canvassing teams out in Kegworth until mid afternoon after which I moved on to a meeting in the Friendship centre in Long Whatton. The meeting was organized to hear about the proposed removal of funding by the airport to support the night time bus service through Diseworth and Long Whatton. A representative of the airport had the unenviable task of explaining to the packed hall (I calculated that over 100 local residents were in attendance) why the airport was no longer willing to support this service to two villages very near its perimeter and the flight path of its aircraft. The airport maintains that very few of the local residents use the evening (7pm to 7am ) service (which was disputed by local residents) The current service is proposed to be removed and re-routed through Kegworth from April. The data presented by the airport seems to be totally at odds with the concerns of local residents and given the number at the meeting indicate that there are more users of the service than the figures provided suggest.

I had a chance to meet the chairman of the protest group Mr John Payter and I have agreed to try to help them, despite the airportmaintaining that the decision has already been made.
 
On Saturday evening I was invited to attended the Bull and Lion public  House in Packington for a 'Help for Heros' fundraising event. I was very pleased to support the event and thanks to David Cameron's help  was able to donate a bottle of House of Commons Whisky signed by our  party leader. Also in attendance was Councillor Graham Allman (also Mayor of Ashby de la Zouch) and many members of the local Conservative  party. I have been informed that the event raised over £2000 for this very worthy cause.  

Sunday morning back in Packington canvassing. Despite the return of  Wintery conditions in the form of 3 inches of snow North West  Leicestershire Conservatives turned up the heat as the media  speculation about the prospect of an early election increased. We  canvassed until lunchtime filling in gaps in our returns. The election can only be a few weeks away now and so we cannot be deflected in our task of holding this Labour Government to task for its record of 13 years of failure.

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Terrible borrowing figures

The UK Government's financial position worsened again last month as it borrowed money for the first time in January for 17 years. Instead of the expected £3billion surplus, we borrowed over £4billion. This again brings into question the accuracy of Alistair Darling's budget figures. The question is will Gordon Brown allow a budget before the election which will highlight the economic failure of his Government.

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Local Lib Dems in disarray

It would appear that the local Liberal Democrat Party are suffering problems at present with the news today that it has seen its local branch suspended. Whilst I would not want to comment without knowing the facts, it is obviously a serious situation to warrant such an extreme measure.

I would urge Liberal Democrat voters to think very carefully before they use their vote at the next election. Chiefly due to the fact that a vote for the Liberal Democrats in NW Leics will be a vote to keep Gordon Brown in Downing Street for another 5 years.

There are many more areas where Liberal Democrats and Conservatives agree such as smaller government and civil liberties. I vote for the Conservtives would be a a vote to see action on these issues.

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Ross Willmott quits as Leicester City Council leader

After weeks of trying to hang onto both his job as Leicester City Council leader and Labour PPC in NW Leics, Ross Willmott last night finally had his hand forced by his Labour colleagues on Leicester City Council and was effectively forced to step down from his leader position.

Although it is right that Ross Willmott should not be subsidised by the Leicester City Council taxpayer to campaign to become an MP in NW Leics, I feel it is a pity that great pity that he had to be forced and shamed into doing the right thing for the electors of North West Leicestershire and the taxpayers of Leicester.

His reluctance to stand down before now needs to be noted by the electorate in North West Leicestershire. I think from this debacle, people will see the type of candidate Mr Willmott is, one who will do first what is best for him and only do the right thing when facing pressure from the public and other politicians

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Monday Morning with Francis Maude MP

I collected Francis Maude MP from Leicester railway station on Monday morning and I took him for a tour of the Marlene Reid Centre in Coalville. The director of the centre David Alquist took the time to introduce Francis to several of the voluntary groups who work from the centre. The visit followed on from my first visit on the 28th of January. I was once again very impressed by all the work going on at the centre. Francis Maude is our Conservative spokesman on the third (voluntary) sector.

From Coalville we travelled to Langley Priory where Francis addressed an audience of business owners.

It was great to have one of the big beasts of the Conservative party in the constituency, the last time Francis Maude visited North West Leicestershire was as Conservative Party chairman on the day after the district council elections in 2007 to celebrate local Conservatives taking control of the council.


Monday Evening in Measham

I address the audience at the MOPC (Minorca opencast protest group) meeting for all PPC`s.The meeting involved each PPC giving a presentation on their party`s energy policy and their line on opencast mining. There then followed a Q and A session. The meeting was attended by about 60 locals and various political activists of the political parties involved.

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We need change to fix our broken politics

Public anger at the expenses scandal is part of a deeper frustration with our whole political system. Labour have had 13 years to mend our broken politics. But Gordon Brown is just not capable of doing it. He has tried to block the publication of MPs’ expenses, he has dithered over reform and it took days of Conservative pressure to force him to take away the whip from three Labour MPs facing prosecution over expenses.

Today, after avoiding a leadership election and bottling a general election, Gordon Brown is trying to fiddle the electoral system to save his own skin. It’s clear he will say anything to cling on to power.

We can’t go on with five more years of Gordon Brown’s old politics. We need change and real reform of the political system. We will fix our broken politics with a sweeping redistribution of power: from the state to citizens; from the government to Parliament; from Whitehall to communities; from Brussels to Britain; from judges to the people; from bureaucracy to democracy. We will ensure that MPs can never use parliamentary privilege to evade justice, and reform lobbying laws so ex-ministers can’t use public resources for private gain. To get real political change we need a change of government.

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Saturday

A very foggy Saturday morning started with canvassing in Castle Donington (picking up where we finished on Friday evening). With several teams working in different parts of the village a great deal of ground was covered. After a very enjoyable pub lunch the stalwarts of the campaign team moved on to the Thringstone Ward to canvass and leaflet along Brooks Lane and Thornborough road until tea time. The canvassing and leafleting steps up a gear once again as the election looms ever nearer.

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Labour's defence review

Gordon Brown has consistently let down our Armed Forces. He underfunded the last defence review and tried to force savage cuts on our Armed Forces in the middle of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have had four Defence Secretaries in four years, one of whom was part-time. His record is one of contempt, not respect, for our military. It’s clear that Gordon Brown’s decision to announce a review now, on the eve of a general election, is more about winning votes than national security. Gordon Brown will say anything to get re-elected – which is why we need to change to get Britain back on its feet.

Labour’s failure on defence – key facts

· The Armed Forces have been reduced by 21,000 since 1997.

· There are more civil servants in the MoD than there are sailors and airmen combined.

· Gordon Brown cut the helicopter budget by £1.4 billion in 2004, leading to a shortage in helicopters.
 

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A busy Thursday

Thursday morning Operation Griffin

Thursday morning started with a visit to the airport for a briefing about security and the anti-terrorist activity being undertaken in North West Leicestershire and in particular the airport itself. The briefings and presentations were from the members of Leicestershire constabulary based at the airport, special branch anti-terrorist squad and also the Royal Logistics Corps based at army Chilwell near Nottingham (bomb disposal). The briefing was part of Operation Griffin to raise awareness of the potential threat and the fact that the UK threat level has recently been raised to 'Severe', which means that an attack on UK intersts at home or abroad is likely.

It was very reassuring to see the work all of these services were doing to reduce the risk and mitigate the impact of a potential terrorist attack in our district. The briefings called for 'awareness not alarm,' most of these in the audience work at or near the airport and it is vital that they report anything unusual to the police and security services. We watched several short videos showing how a potential terrorist incident could be discovered and thwarted by the security services as a result of putting several small pieces of information from different sources together. Security is all of our responsibility and we all have our part to play. we need to ensure in our battle with those who would perpetrate such attacks that our vigilance and security measures in North west Leicestershire are at least as good as anywhere else in the UK as the terrorists will always go to what they believe is the softest and easiest target

Thursday Afternoon

I was interviewed for the BBC Daily Politics show which is being shown on Friday 5th of February at 1200hrs, the topic was North West Leicestershire and wether we should have a by-election or just wait for the General election?

Thursday Evening

The campaign team returned to the village of Castle Donington, canvassing and leafleting. I noticed a massive increase in the number of 'Don't Destroy Donington' signs in windows and gardens. This evening was far less wet than Wednesday, after which it was not just the canvass sheets and leaflets that needed to dry out on the radiator when I got home.

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Monday with the Air Ambulance

This afternoon I visited the Leicestershire and Derbyshire Air Ambulance service at East Midlands Airport I was invite by Andy Williamson. The air ambulance service is funded by charitable donations and it needs £1.6m of funding each month to keep the helicopter serving our area flying. Huge numbers of volunteers across the two counties carry out vital fundraising work to ensure the service continues and thrives. Last year the Air ambulance was called out on 980 missions. The helicopter is called out by the NHS ambulance trust and uses paramedics seconded from the NHS. The Air Ambulance also employ their own doctors who also supply extra expertise at the scene of accidents and emergencies. The helicopter flies during daylight hours throughout the year and was called out to help rescue a man from Hinckley who had fallen through ice try to rescue his dog while I was touring the base.

The service in its current form has been based at East Midlands Airport for the past two years and it is seeking to raise funds to improve its infrastructure by building a hanger and replacing the portacabins its office are in with a permanent purpose built office facility. This investment is expected to cost in the region of £600k and will be a commitment for the long term to our area.

Amazingly I was told that despite its charitable status and the life saving work it performs the Air Ambulance is ineligible for lottery funding.

Following the return of the helicopter from is rescue mission I had the chance to travel in the helicopter for a trip to the Derby Royal infirmary to see how quickly casualties can be taken to hospital.

Interestingly the staff who run the service expressed a determination not to take Government funding and all the controls and targets that currently come with it, instead preferring to remain funded by donations and free to set their own goals and to run the service so that it is able to respond and to local needs. I think there is a lesson to be learnt there.

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Canvassing, Canvassing and then some more Canvassing

Despite the dip in temperatures as the thermometer barely got above zero all weekend our campaign team and volunteers were turning up the heat in preparation for the General Election or a By-Election (if Gordon Brown can get over his pathological fear of elections). Friday early evening was spent in the village of Breedon meeting residents on the doorsteps. Saturday and Sunday mornings were spent in the Greenhill Ward canvassing voter intentions and identifying our supporters. We also delivered leaflets across several polling districts.

Given the very cold weather on returning home a hot shower was most welcome to warm up my legs, you don't seem to realize how cold it is on the streets until you get back into the warm.

Another weekend of excellent progress, as we tick off another week of the pre-election period.

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UK no longer among most stable banking systems

The United Kingdom is no longer classified as being among the most stable and low-risk banking systems in the world, credit rating agency Standard and Poor's (S&P) said on Thursday (28th January).

Britain's weak economy will continue to hinder the credit profile of it's banking industry. S&P said in a report, adding it expected the unwind of high levels of debt to weigh heavily on economic growth prospects and banks' financial performance. '

We no longer classify the United Kingdom (AAA/A-1+)among the most stable and low risk banking systems globally' Standard &Poor's ratings service said.

What this means is that because of Gordon Brown's complete failure to produce credible policy framework to reduced our national debt or even a policy to stop it soaring by 300-400%, international investors are losing confidence in our country's financial services sector. Gordon Brown is running the economy for the short term benefit of his Labour Government rather than the long term good of the country . This could mean more expensive mortgages and loans for hard pressed householders and businesses in the near future due to UK Banks finding it harder to borrow money at competitive rates due to an increased risk premium.

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Thursday at the Marlene Reid Centre in Coalville

Today I spent time seeing first hand the what the voluntary sector are doing to help support the lives of some of our most vulnerable local residents and those who need support be it short term to get back on their feet or for the long term.

Mr David Ahlquist the chief executive of North West Leicestershire Council for Voluntary Services (CVS) gave me a tour of the facility and I got a chance to meet some of the people who work in the groups providing the community support, I also got an opportunity to find out a little about the projects they are delivering. These included Community transport, , Play schemes, The play bus, Carers support, NWLCVS toy library also Money and Welfare benefits advice and attracting volunteers and brokering volunteering opportunities in our area.

Several of the team leaders remarked at the increase in demand for the services provided by their group as the economic situation has deteriorated. I was very impressed by the knowledge, motivation and the can do attitude of all the leaders and volunteers.

The picture shows me with some volunteers at the React project which provides new and re-used furniture at an affordable price to those in need. It also works with the woodwork project providing training for people with learning difficulties, assembling flat pack furniture and repairing donated items. the other spin off benefit is that because of the 10 000 items of furniture collected and delivered to households approximately 250 tonnes was diverted from landfill. A real win- win scenario.

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We can't go on with Labour's debt crisis

Figures published earlier this week showed the first signs of economic growth after 18 months of recession – the longest and deepest since the war. And as George Osborne pointed out yesterday, the latest figures show that the average family is almost £900 worse off than in 2005.

Labour’s Debt Crisis is now the biggest threat to our recovery. It’s clear that Gordon Brown’s Government left us badly prepared for the recession and badly prepared for the recovery with no credible plan to tackle the deficit. We can’t go on like this. We need change and a Conservative government to get a grip on our debt crisis. As any family with a credit card knows, the more we spend and the longer we wait to pay off our bills, the worse it gets.

Five facts about Labour’s Debt Crisis

• We’re borrowing money at a rate of around £6,000 every second – every five seconds, the Government borrows more than the average British person earns in a year.
• This year, we’re expected to borrow almost 14 per cent of our GDP – almost twice as much as when we nearly went bust in the 1970s.
• We’re spending more money on the interest on our debt than on almost anything else.
• We have the biggest budget deficit of any large economy.
• Last week, we had the worst public borrowing figures for any December on record.

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Wednesday Meeting with local Farmers

On Wednesday aftenoon I met with some local farmers to discuss Conservative Party policies and especially those related to agriculture and the countryside. The meeting was arranged by Andrew Redfern the senior group secretary of the NFU and was kindly hosted by Mr David Rhodes of Home Farm Long Whatton.

The discussion included talking about the fact that 15 percent of farm households in england were in poverty at the last count according to official figures obtained by the Conservatives.

There are few more important industries than the production of food, but these figures show how tough life is for farmers. Despite welcome increases in income many farm businesses are barely breaking even as the costs and regulatory burdens imposed by Governmnet increase. As a result thousands of farmers have quit the industry, weakening our supply base and leaving us more reliant on imports of food that we could produce ourselves. Our agricultural industry is a national asset but too often under the current Governmnet farmers have been undermined.

Whitehall must source more British Food

Nick Herbert has pledged that if Conservatives are elected to Government they will require all Governmnet departments to ensure the food they serve meets British standards of production. The Government must take a lead by example to boost sustainable food courcing in the UK. Every year the public sector spends over £2 billion on food, currently under Labour barely half food the treasury buys is from our own production.

Consevative plans Rural action

A conservative government will breath new life into the countryside Our Rural agenda will:

• Respect rural people by giving rural communities a voice to decide their own future and only seek to regulate where self-regulation fails.
• Give power to rural communities by shifting power and decision-making to communities, so that people have a genuine say over the matters that affect them locally.
• Protect rural services by considering social value alongside environmental and economic value. We will address the lack of affordable housing through growth which reflects the wishes of local communities and also help rural communities protect the countryside they cherish from development by central government.
• We will revive the rural economy, by reducing the barriers to business growth and creating incentives for rural development.

Farming policy

Rural communities need a thriving farming industry, but Britain`s farmers have endured a tough time, faced with animal diseases and excessive regulation. They need a Government which will work with them not agianst them, so we will

• Overhaul farming regulations to lift the burden of unnecessary paperwork and inspections.
• Press for reforms of the Common agricultural Policy which reflect the importance we attach to the long term sustainablity of UK farming.
• Make it easier to buy British produce by improving food labelling with our Honest Food Campaign.
• Use public procurement to strengthen the link between food grown in our fields and the meals served in our schools and hospitals.                                     

                                                                        
This cooperation will be crucial in tackling the threats to our food security and it will help to rebuild the bond of trust between rural communities and the government.

Further the Conservatives have pledged to introduce a Supermarket Ombudsman to protect farmers. The ombudsman will be charged with powers to prevent leading retailers from using their size and influence to squeeze the profit margins of farmers and other suppliers.

This special help for agriculture is on top of measures we will introduce to encourage all businesses to thrive and grow, ultimately for the benefit of everyone in our society.

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Moira Fire Station report

The Save Moira Fire Station Action Group has compiled this document to highlight some of the inconsistencies in the data provided to support the Fire Authority case for closure of Moira Fire Station. The Leicestershire Fire Service's "IRMP" report was based on data from the "Northern Review" documentation which sets the standard for Risk Analysis in the North West Leicestershire. Their report was also supported by various LRFS reports published before and during the public consultation period. Anyone wishing to study this source material in depth can do so by following the links (in blue print) in this report.

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Evening canvassing sessions

Wednesday evening saw our team canvassing in the village of Long Whatton. This week we had already spent Monday evening in Donisthorpe, Tuesday in Bardon and we will be meeting in Thringstone this evening. As the nights get lighter and the General election gets nearer, we will be extending our evening canvass sessions to ensure we get to speak to every voter between now and polling day and explain to them that there is an alternative to Gordon Brown`s ever increasing centralisation of power and control, top down targets and increasing taxation.

Many thanks to the growing band of loyal volunteers who turn out most evenings in all weathers to help get our message of hope out on the doorsteps.

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Out of recession, but only just!

The economic news today was deeply disappointing. Most experts were predicting 0.4% economic growth for the last quarter, for the actual figure to be only 25% of this at 0.1% destroys Gordon Brown's economic credibility even further.

This risk now is a double dip recession. Something I have warned about several times on my blog, and something even Alistair Darling recognises as a possibility.

Unfortunately Gordon Brown's Labour Government left us badly prepared for the recession and badly prepared for the recovery. What we need is a General Election so we can have a Conservative Government with a credible deficit reduction plan that keeps mortgage rates low, creates jobs and doesn't choke off recovery.

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