Articles and Speeches

Opportunity for Social Mobility
02-Feb-07, Windsor Express Article.

One of my prime motivations for entering politics and supporting the Conservative Party, was my firm belief that people are happy when they have the opportunity to do well, both educationally and financially, through hard work and perseverance.

Yet, today it seems that the kind of social mobility I enjoyed in the 1980s is no longer available to the same degree. I am deeply disappointed that despite the warm words of the current Labour Government, the fact is that it is more difficult for a young person to make their way in life than it was 20 years ago! They have pushed a whole class of people deeper into poverty and have made it almost impossible for them to work their way out of it.

After 10 years, people have a right to ask why. When a third of 11 years olds cannot read and write properly and when the proportion of children from the least well-off household who make it out of poverty is lower than for the pre-Labour generation, Why has Labour let them down in such an obvious way?

I do not believe that this was the intention of the Labour Government. I believe it is a result of their poor and ill-thought out policies in education. It is also the result of the Chancellor’s creation of a monstrously complicated tax and benefits system which ensnares the least well off into a poverty trap.

So I am delighted that David Cameron raised the issue earlier this week when he spoke of the five barriers to a thriving and integrated society and flagged education and poverty as two of the key elements.

Poor education and poverty are key contributors to rising debt and family breakdown for younger people. It is no wonder that a large group of the least advantaged people are being left behind when their opportunities for education and advancement are so limited.
There is a better way and I want to live in a Britain where the opportunities we enjoyed a generation ago are, once again, available to the current generation.