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Preface Tony Blair
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New Labour’s 2005 manifesto applies
the unchanging values of our party to
the new priorities of the British people.
It is a plan to improve the lives of hardworking
families and prepare our
country for success in a fast-changing
world. Our case rests on one idea more
than any other – that it is the duty of
government to provide opportunity and
security for all in a changing world.
Every chapter relates back to that goal:
breaking down the barriers that stop
people fulfilling their talent, extending
opportunity to every corner of the
United Kingdom, building communities
strong and safe for those who play by
the rules. On the firm foundations we
have laid since 1997, our programme
will embed a new progressive
consensus in our country.
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This preface is my personal message.
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Eight years ago, I offered new leadership – fresh, idealistic,
energetic, but untested.You voted for change and gave me the
chance to serve. In our first term we banished the demons of
ten per cent interest rates, mass unemployment, wages of
£1.50 an hour, and outside toilets in our schools. We put
Labour values into action. And we banished Labour demons
too:we showed we could run the economy well, cut crime, and
stand up for Britain abroad.We proved our competence.
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Four years ago, I said we needed to continue the modernisation of our
economy, coupled with investment and reform to achieve change in
public services. At the end of this second term we have delivered an
unprecedented period of stability and growth, we have increased
investment and we have embarked on a radical programme of reform
to put the people themselves in the driving seat of our public services.
We have made difficult decisions – about health policy, student
finance, and secondary school reform. In the process we have proved
our resilience. Now we go to the people not only having delivered on
our promises, but also setting new and more ambitious goals for our
public services and our country.
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But Britain can be better still.
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I know the change is possible. Not just because I have studied the statistics,
but because I have seen it with my own eyes, across the length
and breadth of the United Kingdom.
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I have spoken to NHS staff in Coventry, Edinburgh and Swansea,
who tell me how their new hospital and the new funding is letting them
improve care for their patients.
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I have heard teachers in Bexley, Middlesbrough and Sheffield tell me
how they no longer have to work in crumbling classrooms without
books and computers – and pupils show me, with pride, round their
sparkling new school.
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I have met youngsters in Blackpool and London whose lives have been
transformed by the New Deal – once written off, they are now full of
confidence and ambition.
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I’ve been to communities in Southampton and Darlington where the
Sure Start programme is helping overcome disadvantage and seen for
myself the remarkable revival of our great cities.
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I have met aid workers in Africa who tell me how this country is
improving the lives of the poorest on our planet.
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These are not the fantasy of politicians.They are the stories of real life
in our country and abroad. Not for everyone. Not everywhere. But for
enough people and in enough places for us to know it is not a fluke.
Personal prosperity and the good society; the fruit of partnership
between the British people and a government on their side.
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Now we have to decide whether to go forward or back.
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Britain is on the right track.We will not change direction. Neither will
we rest on our laurels. Our third-term opportunity is to build on the
progress we have made.That progress, first as a party then in government
began with the insight that the only way to advance decent
progressive values was to develop a new policy agenda. Our understanding
of the world and the great changes underway in our society
led us to reject the false choices of the past.This is the foundation stone
of new Labour.
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I believe that in our third term we can embed a new progressive consensus.
One that reflects the mission of our movement, and the hopes and values of our people.And as much as the pursuit of this consensus
represents an unprecedented opportunity for progressive politics, so it
will be bitterly opposed by those who seek to take us back to the divisions
of the past.
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In our third term we will forge an even stronger bond between the
goals of economic progress and social justice. No going back to fiscal
irresponsibility. No going back to a Conservative government that says
mass unemployment is a price worth paying. Going forward instead
to an opportunity economy, spreading prosperity through high
employment and welfare reform, spreading opportunity through
widening access to university and training, spreading ownership
through the Child Trust Fund and expanding homeownership.
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In our third term we will make public services safe for a generation.
No going back to one-size-fits-all monolithic services. No going back
to the Tory years of cuts and privatisation. Going forward instead to
services free to all, personal to each: breaking once and for all the dropout
culture in education and the waiting-list culture in health, by raising
investment and driving innovation through diversity of provision
and power in the hands of the patient, the parent and the citizen.
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In our third term we will cement a new social contract with rights
matched by responsibilities. No going back to ‘no such thing as society’.
Going forward instead to power and resources in the hands of the
law-abiding majority. A government committed both to abolishing
child poverty and to putting the values of individual responsibility and
duty at the very heart of policy.
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In our third term we will show that our national interest can only be
pursued by engaging with the world’s great challenges. No going back
to a Britain marginalised and weak. Going forward to a stronger country
in a safer, fairer world. Leading on Africa, leading on the environment, at the heart of Europe, working together to tackle terror
and spread peace and justice.
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We do not duck the tough choices – from independence for the Bank
of England to the tax rise we made for the NHS, to the war in Iraq.We
made decisions because we believed them right – not because they
were destined to be popular.
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But we refuse to accept false choices.The British people never wanted
to choose between wealth creation and social justice.They never wanted
to choose between national security and overseas aid.They never
wanted to choose between equal rights and protection from crime.
These are the false choices that landed us with economic decline and
social division.
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The British people have the capacity to make this a great country. Our
ideals are undimmed: extend opportunity to all, demand responsibility
from all, secure justice for all. Our policies are refreshed: never has a
governing party proposed a more wide-ranging programme of change
for the country. Our vision is clear: a country more equal in its opportunities,
more secure in its communities, more confident in its future.
It is our social contract:we help you, you help yourself; you benefit and
the country benefits.
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So now, I fight my last election as Leader of my party and Prime
Minister of our country. My call is a passionate one: let’s together
make irreversible the positive changes that are happening in
our country. Let’s make the values of social justice and a fair deal
for all the governing ideal of our country not just for some time
but for all time. People freed from barriers of class, building a
better future for themselves and for the country. Self-interest
and national interest together.
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