I was delighted to see in last week’s Queen’s Speech a programme for government for the next year which is solely targeted towards backing people who work hard and want to get on in life.
In addition to slashing income tax for 24 million people, cutting immigration by a third, reducing crime by 10 per cent and put in place the efficiency savings to reduce Labour’s deficit by a third, this Government is continuing to build upon these successes particularly in tackling immigration, improving social care conditions and supporting pensioners.
On immigration, the Government will bring forward a bill to clamp down on those from overseas who abuse our public services.
The Government will stop immigrants accessing public services which they are not entitled to and fine landlords of private housing who fail to check the immigration status of tenants. Having campaigned hard and won a battle to ensure that our NHS health facilities properly audit the cost of foreign nationals to the British taxpayer and proactively recover outstanding debts, I support the Prime Minister’s numerous measures aimed at limiting access to public services for migrants.
In addition, it will be made easier to remove people from the UK by legislating to ensure that Article 8 (the right to family life) is not abused. Courts will balance the crime committed against the right to remain in the country. I will, however, continue to push in Parliament for the UK to leave the European Court of Human Rights (and the associated significant costs) and to replace it with a British Bill of Rights instead.
On social care, this Government will legislate to ensure that those who have contributed all their lives should be rewarded in retirement. Pensioners and carers will be protected through the implementation of a care cost cap and extending the means test threshold for financial assistance to ensure that no-one has to sell their home in their lifetime to pay for residential care.
Finally, the Government’s Pensions Bill will see the creation of a new flat-rate pension set above the basic means test to replace the current two-tier system, to be implemented from April 2016. This will mean that more women can get a full state pension in their own right, stopping the shameful situation whereby women who have taken time out of work to care for their family are let down by the system.
I believe that these measures, and the many others included within the Queen’s Speech, will help support thousands of hard working Crawley families.