You can tell when the Tories are rattled
Signs that the Tories locally and nationally are getting more and more rattled by the threat posed by the Liberal Democrats can be seen with their misleading attacks on our policies. Sadly some people might be taken in by the nonsense they are peddling on the doorstep and in their blogs so here are the facts:
We WOULD have a referendum on the EURO
We believe that it is in Britain's long term interest to be part of the Euro. But Britain should only join when the economic conditions are right, and in the present economic situation they are not. Britain should join the euro only if that decision was supported by the people of Britain in a referendum.
We are NOT going to abolish all prison sentences under six months
We know (and experience shows) that tough community punishments are more likely to stop people from committing more crime than a few weeks in a prison cell watching TV and learning the tricks of the trade. We will not stop courts from sending people to prison if they felt the circumstances demanded a short prison term. And people who breach their community punishments could also be sent to prison. Our plan is to in most cases avoid sentences of six months or less.
We are NOT committed to abandoning Britain's Nuclear Deterrent
We do not support unilateral disarmament. We do think it is wrong to spend £100 billion replicating a nuclear weapon system designed to win the cold war against the Soviet Union. We believe this isn't the best way to defend us against modern threats. Senior military figures like Field Marshall Lord Bramall agree there are better cheaper alternatives. These should all be considered as part of a Strategic Defence Review.
We will NOT give an amnesty to all illegal immigrants
Immigration in this country is in a complete mess. Tory and Labour governments weakened border controls, abandoning real control.
Our solution to deal with the illegal immigrants they let in is to concentrate deportations on foreign criminals and people traffickers. We will only give illegal immigrants who have been here ten years, speak English and have not broken the law the opportunity to go legitimate, benefiting the tax man.
The Labour party have already bought in regulations that give illegal immigrants an amnesty after 14 years. It is dishonest of Labour and the Conservatives to suggest that you can simply round up perhaps three quarters of a million people that they let in and deport them all. It would not only take years, cost nearly £10 billion and probably wreck the economy if they could actually find them. The Tories are hopelessly split on the issue.
London Mayor Boris Johnson has suggested an immigration amnesty in London to try and tackle the problem, but David Cameron doesn't want to know.
Labour and the Conservatives choose to simply ignore the problem and hope it goes away. In the meantime many of these people are being exploited by criminal gangs when they could be contributing to our society by paying tax and national insurance like everyone else.