As a finalist in the contest to select a Conservative candidate for London Mayor, I fully share David Cameron’s ambition of widening the appeal of our party. Our challenge is to maintain the support of committed Tory voters while reaching out to those who have supported other parties in the past and the undecided.
Nowhere is this more true than London, a city of 7 million people reflecting a wide diversity of ethnic and social backgrounds. My campaign for Mayor is based on motivating our natural supporters while demonstrating that under David Cameron’s leadership the Conservative Party has changed and appeals to people right across the political spectrum.
One vivid example of this change message that I enthusiastically support is the ‘Breakthrough Britain’ policy report.
It contained nearly 200 detailed recommendations for tackling social ills such as family breakdown and welfare dependency.
But even more important than its bold plans to support marriage and get the long-term jobless back to work was the message it sent about our party.
Under Mr Cameron’s leadership, the Conservatives are concerned with the welfare of all our people, not just the better off.
I want to inject into my campaign that sense of mission – the sense that only the Conservatives can tackle the deep-rooted social problems facing our country just as Margaret Thatcher once tackled our deep-rooted economic problems. We rescued our country once; we can do it again.
My top priority would be tackling crime in the capital, especially violent crime.
I would work closely with the Metropolitan Police Commissioner to achieve my goal of having a New York-style drive against crime with more police on the streets and much tighter systems of monitoring crime levels and targeting hotspots.
My other main priorities are improving public transport, speeding traffic flows, devising a practical green agenda for the capital and helping small and medium size businesses. I would scrap the congestion charge because it has not brought any benefits while costing motorists a lot of money and hitting business.
I would cut the cost of Ken – now £300 a year for the average household. Livingstone has increased his share of the council tax by 150 per cent since coming to power seven times more than the rate of inflation over the same period.
I would root out waste in Livingstone’s empire, where there are a staggering 173 people employed as spin doctors of one sort or another.
More broadly, I would follow David Cameron’s lead and map out a practical green agenda for London, centred on the better use of technology to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, user-friendly recycling and a general clean-up of the capital to reduce litter and graffiti.
I need hardly add that I applaud Mr Cameron’s efforts to get more women into politics. His initiative is all part of the change message. As the only woman among the four finalists, all I would add is that it took a woman to stop Ken Livingstone last time.
Posted by Administrator on behalf of Victoria Borwick, one of the four finalists for the Conservative Party’s nomination for London Mayor.
Victoria was born in London and has lived there all her life. She is a former finance director at Conservative Party Headquarters and has had a 25-year business career, mainly as a group director for P&O. She is a councillor in Kensington and Chelsea and chairman of the borough’s community relations group. She is married to Jamie, a businessman, and they have four children.
You can visit her website here.
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