Kathy Pollard launches Charles Kennedy's Press Conference in Norwich
April 5, 2005 9:01 PM
Left to right: Bob Russell, MP for Colchester, Kathy Pollard, Parliamentary Candidate for South Suffolk, Norman Lamb, MP for North Norfolk and Charles Kennedy MP
Kathy Pollard, the Liberal Democrats Parliamentary Candidate in South Suffolk, has launched the General Election campaign in the region with Charles Kennedy. Kathy, who chaired the regional press conference for Charles Kennedy in Norwich said, "Opinion polls show Charles Kennedy is the most popular of the political leaders. More and more people are turning to the Liberal Democrats as they become disillusioned with the extremism and dog fighting between the other two parties. We offer a positive alternative and we will run a fair and positive campaign."
Speaking to the assembled press and Lib Dem campaigners Charles Kennedy said "The Liberal Democrats will fight this campaign based on real solutions to the real problems people face everyday.
Just have we have done in Scotland, the Liberal Democrats would scrap student tuition fees the whole of the UK and provide free personal care for the elderly- help with things like washing or feeding.
We will provide quicker diagnosis for serious health problems and end the 'hidden waiting lists'.
We will end the scandal of discrimination against women in our pensions system, giving a £100 more a month to all pensioners over 75.
The deeply unfair Council Tax will be scrapped. A local income tax based on ability to pay would give a typical household an extra £450 a year and 6 million pensioners would pay no local tax at all.
We will cut class sizes in our schools.
We will provide 10,000 more police and keep them out on the streets longer by cutting back on paperwork.
And we are straightforward about what this would cost.
First, we would ask the wealthiest 1% of taxpayers to pay that bit more. Second, we would redirect £5 billion of existing government spending by scrapping wasteful Government programmes like compulsory ID cards and cutting back central government departments.
Our costings are based on official figures. The sums add up. The balance sheet is balanced.
And we've just got to get serious about the environment. Time is not on our side. The reality of climate change is with us here and now. That's why the green agenda is at the heart of all we propose to do.
People feel badly let down by Labour. They're never going to regain the trust of the British people. Frankly, they don't deserve to.
When you break your promises over tax increases and imposing student top up fees people don't forget.
Nor will people forgive the fact that Tony Blair lined up with George Bush and we were misled into the Iraq war.
The Liberal Democrats have been principled and consistent on all these matters during the last parliament.
And we're going to stay principled and consistent throughout this campaign and into the next parliament which I am determined will see us present in much larger numbers.
The Conservatives just can't offer credibly the fresh alternative that the country is looking for. They are a party of the past, not
the future.
We're going to address people's hopes, not play on their fears. We're going to be the positive force in this general election."
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