Opinion: Tories are out of touch, out of time

The Chancellor’s statement lifted the lid on 14 years of economic failure. It is time for a General Election.

Taxes are still rising; prices are still going up in the shops and mortgages are higher. This will be the first Parliament in history in which living standards have fallen. The Conservative Party are so desperate to cling onto power, they will say or do anything to get elected.

A Conservative party that continues to put themselves first and the people of this country an extremely poor second leaving working people to pay the price.

The banner headlines: Britain in recession. The national credit card maxed out. The highest tax burden for 70 years. Food prices are still 25% higher than they were two years ago. Rents up by 10% and a typical family remortgaging this year will pay an extra £240 pounds a month.

This is the price of 14 years of a Conservative Government.

In addition, housebuilding is off a cliff; homelessness has never been higher. Add in children who can’t see a dentist, sewage in our rivers, and we have still to uncover the full extent of the Covid fraud, currently estimated at £7bn.

The Conservatives are out-of-touch and increasingly out-of-time. It is the same locally.

Nothing says that more than the mess of the Regional Pool.

The Conservatives ran Peterborough City Council for 24 years running down the pool for decades. They then closed the pool in September after RAAC (Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete) was discovered in the building.

These problems don’t come about overnight. Just like lots of our infrastructure, the Tories under-invested in the good years, sitting silently when their mates in government cut £43 million in local funding.

Our current MP can run from his, and their record, but neither he nor they can hide.

The decision to run down the Regional Pool with no plan for a new one is an act of vandalism.

The Tories now say we can patch up the pool, at a cost of £15m the city simply does not have due to their poor financial management when they were in charge and pretend nothing is wrong.

It comes across as a desperate act of short-term measures designed simply to discredit the current administration when we need better.

Peterborough and the country need, deserve, a government and council that will fight for the living standards of working people. For honest government. Not more chaos. We are all crying out for a sustainable plan for growth.

The Labour group here in Peterborough has been saying that it is time for change, locally and nationally now for years.

So, Prime Minister, please stop the delay and the uncertainty. Confirm 2 May as the date of the next general election. Because it is time for change.

The people of Peterborough, and the country, deserve better.

On a separate note, this week marks the start of Ramadan. May those observing it find peace, hope, happiness, and humility at this time.

Ramadan Mubarak to one and all.

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