Annabel Goldie: Common Sense for Scotland

Annabel Goldie, Manifesto Launch 4th April, 2011

Common Sense for Scotland

Good morning.

I am proud to stand here today as the Leader of the opposition party which has delivered more for Scotland in the Scottish Parliament than any other opposition party in the history of devolution.

And I am proud that the first place in Britain where Conservative policies and principles were put into action over the last 14 years was here in Scotland.

The Scottish Conservatives are delivering for Scotland.

In the last four years, just look at what we have achieved:

Safer streets – because we forced the SNP to deliver 1,000 extra police.

Help for families because we backed a four year Council Tax freeze.

Thousands of jobs saved because we pushed through cuts in business rates for thousands of small businesses.

Hope in the war on drugs because we forged a new drugs strategy.

Help for our high streets from our £60m town centre regeneration fund.

And over 10,000 new jobs on the way, help for first time buyers and a boost to the construction industry from the hefty £26m we secured in the recent Scottish budget.

All part of a massive £2 billion package of benefits secured by the Scottish Conservatives over the last 4 years.

Real help for Scotland.

Common sense policies delivered by Scottish Conservative votes.

Because for me, all that matters is to deliver for Scotland.

Not for me the dreary vision, the limited horizon, the never-never land of the SNP.

Not for me, the stodgy, statist, dead hand blame game of Labour.

For me, always Scotland - always the national interest, never the nationalist interest.

For me, blue sky thinking, not red flags and bull.

From me, real, practical help for hard pressed families, communities and business.

Scottish Conservative votes delivering for Scotland.

But I want to build on that positive record and this Manifesto sets out how for the next 5 years, we shall deliver even more for Scotland. How we shall support families, create jobs, provide opportunity, keep our communities safe and promote a greener Scotland.

I want to deliver that positive vision for Scotland. That is why this Manifesto is credible and it is costed. It is straightforward and faces up to reality.

But it also brings forward practical policies, charts a way forward for Scotland and offers hope.

Clear about the challenges – credible about the solutions.

It is Common Sense for Scotland.

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Today, we meet in the Glasgow Science Centre.

Science and engineering are in the Scottish DNA.

Ingenuity and entrepreneurial flair are in the Scottish DNA.

Scotland leads the world in so many areas but there is much more we can do.

If we could achieve just a 1 percent increase in productivity that would grow our economy by almost £1 billion a year.

And that is why growing the economy and creating jobs must be at the heart of our plans.

So let me take you through the highlights.

Already in this year's Scottish budget, the Scottish Conservatives delivered measures which will create over 10,000 jobs for Scotland.

But we want to do more. That is why we will:

Create a Scottish Business Start Up Fund. It will support access to enterprise education and vocational training and it will provide grants and loans to help create new businesses. Over the next 4 years, this will have funding of £154 million to boost the economy, create jobs and train the workforce of tomorrow.

We will make compulsory, enterprise training at all colleges and universities.

And we will create a new dedicated Cabinet level Minister for Enterprise and Jobs.

As I first said 17 months ago, and copied by Labour yesterday, we will also create a Business Dividend Fund to reward local authorities if they exceed targets for business start ups.

And we will place a new duty to promote economic growth on all public agencies.

The Scottish Conservatives have already been instrumental in delivering real help to Scotland's smaller businesses and in the next Parliament we want to do more.

So we will promote a Business Rates Reform Bill;

The Bill will ensure that the main business rate poundage can be no higher than in England,

It will consolidate the discount we secured for tens of thousands of small firms,

It will ban sector specific supplements such as the tax on retail jobs recently proposed by the SNP and stopped by the Scottish Conservatives.

And we will extend the scope of the small business rates relief scheme over the life of the Parliament as public finances allow.

And for rural businesses, we will expand the scope of rural business rate reliefs which will help to protect our rural post offices, pubs, hotels and petrol stations.

Real help for Scottish business, real help for Scottish communities.

Saving jobs, creating jobs, getting Scotland back to work.

And to help Scotland do business, we will:

Accelerate the introduction of superfast broadband across Scotland – a £135 million investment to get Scotland better connected.

To keep Scotland moving we will....

Introduce an updated Strategic Transport Projects Review

Pilot the introduction of hard shoulder running on sections of the M77 and M8;

Use the borrowing provision made available by the UK Government to complete the new Forth Crossing;

And, as the Manifesto shows, work on road, rail and ferry services in partnership with the UK government and the private sector.

These measures, and many more along with other plans about developing tourism, creating a skills base and working with the voluntary sector add up to a better deal for Scottish business.

Common Sense policies to grow the economy and create jobs.

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Let me turn to local government.

Scottish Conservatives successfully argued for the end of ring fencing for local government funding but the SNP introduced a new bureaucracy in its place. So we will abolish the concordat. Local democracy must mean local accountability.

And I can also announce that we will review the funding formula for local government across Scotland to ensure fairness for all. We will ensure that all issues are taken into account, including any significant rural dimension. We will consult with COSLA and aim to phase in any changes over a number of years.

To enhance local democracy, we will give people the chance to have a powerful, elected Provost by holding referenda in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee.

And to help councils sustain the communities which they serve, we will require them to allocate a budget to community councils so that more can be delivered to meet local priorities at a local level.

We created and delivered a highly successful Town Centre regeneration fund worth £60million. In the next Parliament, we will push for another round of funding. Not £60 million this time: but £140 million. More help for our High Streets. More help for business and good news for communities.

And we believe that the proper maintenance of Scotland's roads is essential, for both economic prosperity and quality of life for local residents.

For these reasons, Scottish Conservatives want to set up a Road Maintenance Fund, to upgrade and repair our roads. The total fund is over £200 million. This includes more action on pot holes. Yes - a pot hole fund and I'm proud to announce it! This pot hole fund would give councils additional money for road maintenance but only on the condition that they are not replacing or supplementing existing money allocated for that purpose.

Common Sense for Communities from the Scottish Conservatives.

But these common sense policies have to be matched by better value for money for the taxpayer.

These are tough times. The catastrophe which Labour created in our public finances left chaos, crisis and challenge. Everybody knows it is Labour's fault – but we are where we are.

Certainly far better a Conservative led coalition sorting out Labour's mess, than a Labour Government making it worse!

But to deliver real value for the public's cash, we have to get more bang for their bucks.

So we will create a new Minister in the Cabinet for Finance and Reform to take decisions on taxation and spending and to drive through public sector reform. And because good example should be set by Government, we are reducing 3 Ministerial portfolios to 2!

We value people who work in the public sector who deliver our vital public services. And, to protect jobs, we will freeze public sector pay until April 2013 for those earning over £21,000. But whilst we will seek to avoid compulsory redundancies, it would be irresponsible to guarantee every job.

We can do even more to cut the pay bill. Whilst we will exempt the least well off from the pay freeze, we will ensure that for new contracts paying salaries of £50,000 and above the proposed salary will be subject to an independent pay assessment and the contract will prohibit the payment of bonuses.

Our agenda for public sector reform must reach our classrooms, lecture theatres and health centres.

On education, our goal must be to teach every child according to their needs and skills, rather than in a state controlled straightjacket of uniformity. We must give them a 21st century education to equip them for the 21st century world.

So we will enable educational charities, philanthropists, not-for- profit trusts and groups of parents to set up new schools and allow existing state schools to be run independently of local authorities.

They will all be non-selective and unable to charge fees.

We will give headteachers of schools remaining within local authority control more powers over the running of their own school, particularly over discipline policy, recruitment of staff and control over how the school budget is spent.

Did you know that thirteen thousand pupils leave the Scottish schools system every year without acquiring good basics in reading and writing?

That is unacceptable. Greater focus on literacy and numeracy is essential, particularly in primary school. We will reform the process of testing reading, writing and arithmetic to make it more rigorous and to ensure that by the time pupils reach the end of P7 their progress in these basic skills is measured against nationally agreed criteria. Testing identifies pupils who are struggling and allows them to be supported. Not to do that is wrong. Testing is the right thing to do.

And to let every child get every possible opportunity, pupils should be free to leave school at 14 provided, and I stress provided, they engage in a monitored apprenticeship or a full-time vocational or technical training programme to give them the necessary skills for the world of work.

And we restate our commitment to pilot second chance learning centres for the small minority of pupils who make life a misery for their well-behaved classmates and teachers. The classroom is where you go to learn, not to misbehave.

Let me turn to higher education. Scottish Universities have a fine tradition, a proud reputation but that can only continue if there are additional sources of funding. This issue has already set us apart from the other Parties in the campaign. But I shall not apologise for defending our universities against threat, I shall not apologise for wanting to keep them open to do the excellent work which we all value and I shall not apologise for protecting generations of youngsters from the dismal prospect of thousands of lost places. I shall not be cowed and I shall not be silenced because the public deserves to hear the truth.

The status quo is not tenable and the introduction of up-front tuition fees is unacceptable. We will therefore introduce a fair and affordable graduate contribution facilitated through income-contingent loans. The contribution will be variable by institution but will only be paid after graduation at a rate affordable to the graduate.

This will make university funding more sustainable and progressive. This will also enable us to introduce a system of enhanced bursary support for those students most in need. This will start as an extra £55 million a year from 2013/14.

So once again, the Scottish Conservatives will tell it like it is. I leave it to the others to explain their arithmetic sleight of hand and the thousands of university places under threat because Alex Salmond and Iain Gray refuse to face up to the facts. Our proposed graduate contribution will be based on a University cost of £3,600. And we would set a cap. At just £4,000.

Unlike the other Leaders, I will not short-change our Universities and colleges and I will not betray our young people and their futures.

Common Sense on Education and skills for Scotland.

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Moving onto Scotland's NHS, it is a fine public service, we are proud of its excellence and of those who work in it.

But it can always be improved. We believe that reducing management costs will free up money to invest in front-line services, and protect vital local facilities.

Because the Scottish Conservatives value the NHS, we will protect health spending, increasing it annually in line with inflation.

But we must use this money efficiently. We will start by reducing top-level management costs by 30 per cent in the Scottish NHS over the next Parliament. All savings will be redirected to frontline NHS services.

We opposed the SNP's abolition of prescription charges, which took millions of pounds out of the NHS. We would reintroduce prescription charges at the 2009 level of £5 for a single item and

£48 for a prepayment certificate – That puts £37m back into the NHS.

At the same time, we will review the list of conditions which are exempt from prescription charges to remove anomalies and widen the range. No individual or group who would have been exempt from charges prior to abolition will pay under our plans.

And to put health prevention at the heart of our NHS, we propose free universal health checks for those aged between 40 and 74.

Working with Community Pharmacy, we will deliver a range of drop-in services catching the early signs of potential problems and saving our NHS substantial sums in the long run.

And because we have been prepared to make tough decisions elsewhere in the NHS, we will introduce a Cancer Drugs Fund of up to £10m to ensure that Scottish patients have at least the same access to clinically effective drugs as patients in England.

And we will establish a new IVF Fund to broaden access to fertility treatment, giving additional funding to those Health Boards providing a minimum standard of IVF access in their area.

In the NHS, we need to remove the inappropriate emphasis on ideology and targets and shift the focus back to clinical discretion and what really matters - patient outcomes.

With this in mind, we will ensure NHS Boards have the freedom to commission voluntary and private sector care and remove the ban on entities other than GP partnerships providing primary care.

To improve access to healthcare, we will pilot walk-in treatment centres in our major cities. These have proved popular elsewhere and could be set up either by the NHS or by independent providers using their own capital.

We will review the provision of out of hours services, and will seek to amend the contract for Scottish GPs if necessary to ensure adequate services are provided.

We will work with the British Dental Association and local health boards to ensure that every Scot has access to a Dentist, at the same time as pushing for much greater emphasis on the preventative measures needed to improve oral health.

To deliver these improvements, it is clear that some structural changes are required. We will review the Scottish NHS structure with a view to reducing the number of health boards and health quangos.

Common Sense on Health from the Scottish Conservatives.

And finally, on reforming our Public Services, the Scottish Conservatives are the voice of Common Sense on crime.

Many people in Scotland today feel the criminal justice system is on the side of the criminal, not the victim. Victims of crime are too often forgotten and we want to give them a strong voice at the heart of the criminal justice system.

We must restore public confidence in our justice system. So we will re-introduce prison sentences of less than three months, so that custody can be used instead of community service where appropriate.

However, we will also offer tougher community sentences that the

courts and the public have confidence in. Offenders will carry out meaningful jobs like litter picking, snow shoveling and beach cleaning, wearing a high-visibility uniform.

We will also create high-profile, Scotland-wide projects on which a significant number of those on community service can be employed, ensuring that community service is hard work for those sentenced to it.

Now that such sentences will be available, the case for community courts becomes even stronger. We will pilot a community court in Glasgow.

Knife crime is a problem which blights too many communities across Scotland.

The outgoing SNP Government has failed to take any action to address the concerns of the victims of knife crime or deter those who want to carry a knife.

This needs to change. We will start by holding a nationwide knife amnesty to remove as many knives from the streets of Scotland as possible. As well as giving back to courts their full sentencing powers including short term sentences, we will end automatic early release so that more offenders are actually spending more of their sentence in prison.

The public expect knife carriers to go to jail and we, whilst recognising the sentencing discretion of the courts, will ensure that our reforms reflect this.

We will channel an element of funds confiscated under the Proceeds of

Crime Act 2002 directly to those charities and support groups that help the victims of crime.

We recognize that for too long prisons have failed to properly rehabilitate criminals which is why the re-offending rate in Scotland is so high.

Rehabilitation is at the heart of addressing reoffending. It must begin in prison and if necessary continue beyond release. That is why we shall create a new Scottish Prison and Rehabilitation Service.

We will hold be a national review of all rehabilitation schemes. We will guarantee that all prisoners get meaningful and constructive rehabilitation opportunities, irrespective of the type and length of their sentences.

We will introduce compulsory drugs tests for all inmates on arrival and departure from prison. We will extend drugs free wings in prisons and implement the national drugs strategy in every prison.

Scottish Conservatives were responsible for delivering 1,000 additional Police Officers in Scotland over the last four years as a result of our budget negotiations, and we are committed to maintaining Police numbers over the next Parliament.

We believe in local policing and local accountability, so we will replace Police Boards with elected local Police Commissioners, each covering a distinct local area. They would be elected at local elections and share terms of office with councillors.

Introducing democratic accountability for the police is a huge step forward, but it is not enough. We need to give local people the information and direct powers they need to challenge their neighbourhood police teams to cut crime. So we will oblige the police to publish very detailed local crime data statistics every month, including crime maps, and require police teams to have regular neighbourhood beat meetings so they know what people's priorities are.

Common Sense on Crime from the Scottish Conservatives.

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And to round off the morning, let me tell you about how we will help families.

And let me start with tax.

We will not use the existing or future Scottish Parliament tax powers to increase income tax in the next Parliament or impose new taxes, such as the discredited local income tax.

Scottish Conservatives first called for a Council Tax Freeze in 2003. Under Labour and the Liberal Democrats, Council Tax increased by 62 per cent in Scotland. In the face of opposition from the same two parties, Scottish Conservatives have ensured that the Council Tax has remained frozen since 2007, and we will now go further. We will freeze the Council Tax until at least 2013.

However, the Council Tax Freeze can't continue indefinitely. Looking ahead to when it eventually has to come to an end, we will change the

law to give local residents the power to stop bills rising faster than inflation.

A local veto for local people on local tax.

Eligibility for Council Tax Benefit is higher for pensioners than for the population as a whole, but take-up of the benefit is not universal. To help tackle this, and to ensure that those who have contributed to society over the years get a fair deal on tax, we will legislate to introduce

a Pensioner Discount from 2013-14, of £200 per pensioner household.

The discount will be available to all households where all adults have reached the State Pension Age.

We will not hold a council tax revaluation, nor will we introduce new bands or change the ratios between the bands. We will make no changes to the structure of Council Tax which would increase bills.

And for families with young children, we will devote £20m to enable us to give all parents a guaranteed level of health visitor support until their child reaches the age of five.

We will retain the current entitlement of 12.5 hours nursery care per week but will ensure there is greater flexibility regarding the times of day when parents can use this entitlement.

We will extend this entitlement to two year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds, starting with the most vulnerable.

We will merge health and social care budgets, placing social care under the control of the NHS. This will remove the incentive to use hospital beds when social care would be a more appropriate (and less costly) alternative.

We value the contribution made by carers across Scotland and we want to make progress in implementing the National Carers' Strategy to improve services for carers. Carers are too often the unsung heroes and heroines in our communities and the very glue which holds many families together. We value them and have found over £50 million for them to provide additional respite care.

Common Sense for Families from the Scottish Conservatives.

There is much, much more in our Manifesto – on the environment, energy, fishing, food, sport and culture. But these are just some of the highlights of what I am confident will be the most realistic, credible and costed Manifesto of any party in the race for Holyrood.

We don't just fill the pot holes of Scotland, we do something even more important – we fill the black holes of Labour and the SNP.

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I am proud of Scotland's past. I am optimistic about Scotland's future – but that optimism has to be rooted in the reality of today.

Already in this election, a clear dividing line has emerged. One Party – the Scottish Conservatives is being straight with voters. One party the Scottish Conservatives – has put forward proposals which are costed and credible.

But what about the others? A wish list of ideas - usually the same as each other – uncosted and incredible.

But I will tell it like it is. The other are telling it like they wish it were - but it isn't!

They are, quite literally, unbelievable.

Whether it's the Deficit Deniers of Labour or the Fantasy Economics and secrecy of the SNP, they are more interested in self preservation than in the common good.

But that is not my way. It is not the Scottish Conservative way. Alongside this Manifesto, we are publishing a comprehensive analysis of where the money goes – and where it comes from. And I challenge the other parties to match our detail and to prove to the voters that there is more to an election than mere soundbites and empty promises.

My goal, my driving force in this election is to bring more of what we have delivered for Scotland in the last 4 years, into the Scottish Parliament over the next 5 years. We have been pivotal in the past – and we will be pivotal again.

We will deliver Common Sense for the Common Good.

I am proud to deliver this Manifesto and to have it compared with the others.

I am proud that this is a manifesto for families, for business and for communities.

I am proud that this Manifesto, matched by our record of delivery in Scotland, can take our country forward.

I want a Scotland where the state serves the people, not the other way around.

Where hard work is rewarded, not penalised. Where business can flourish and create the jobs of tomorrow.

Where our children get the skills they need for the world today, where families are secure, the streets are safer, our communities are stronger and those in need are helped.

This is my vision for Scotland. This is our vision for Scotland. This is the Conservative vision for Scotland.

This is a manifesto for all of Scotland.

This is Common Sense for Scotland.

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