New Labour - it's a party to be proud of

Today - following Mr Blair's defiant speech at the Labour Conference - Worcester MP Mike Foster gives a staunch defence of a Government and party which, he says, has stayed true to the values of hard-working families.

They say a week is a long time in politics, so 20 years on from the Labour Party's drubbing in the 1983 General Election, perhaps it is excusable for some to view through rose-tinted spectacles an election manifesto described as the "longest suicide note in history".

The Militants and extremists running the show nearly brought our party to its knees. The next election in 1987 was remembered for fighting the SDP to avoid coming third - the Tories had a shoe in.

So you won't find me crying into my beer about the "Golden Days" of the 1980s - because for ordinary working people in places like Worcester, those years led to the misery of three million unemployed, high mortgage rates, negative equity and house repossessions, the poll tax and the near terminal decline in our public services such as schools and the NHS.

There is nothing mysterious about the title "New Labour".

It presents the traditional values of the Labour Party set in a new or modern setting.

To demonise the word "New" shows an unwillingness to see what is really happening - to the economy, in our schools and hospitals and in tackling law and order issues.

If "New" means different from 1983, then I plead guilty as charged - and the people of Worcester, I suspect, will be grateful for that.

Asked about the most important policy area for Government, Bill Clinton once remarked "It's the economy stupid".

We are now in an unprecedented period of sustained economic growth - steady improvements in people's standards of living. No more boom followed by bust.

Unemployment is at record low levels - the lowest since the early 1970s. Here in Worcester it is now at 2.3 per cent of the workforce.

Interest rates are at a 40-year low, mortgages are cheaper for home owners, and spending power is higher. The misery of the 1990s housing market crash is well behind us.

On estates like St Peter's, the threat of negative equity and repossession are no longer common currency.

For hard-working families, the Labour Government has introduced the National Minimum Wage, Working Tax Credits and Children's Tax Credits, helping 7,500 families in the City alone - so that work pays and a life on the dole doesn't.

And the New Deal (opposed by both the Tories and Liberals) has transformed the work of the JobCentre so that people out of work are helped and supported in finding employment.

For pensioners, often ignored by the Tories, we are working to give them a rightful share in the rising prosperity of our country.

The Minimum Income Guarantee supports the very poorest pensioners, many of them older, and the new Pension Credit will extend that support to people with some savings, or perhaps a small private pension.

The Winter Fuel Allowance, helping the 16,700 pensioners in Worcester, provides a real boost ahead of the costly winter time - but it remains under threat if the Tories were ever returned to power.

With free eye tests, the first ever nation-wide cheap bus fare scheme, reduced VAT on fuel and free TV licences for over 75s, we have made a start. The glass may only be half full, but it is filling up, not draining down.

But all this is only part of the story.

Good teachers practise continuous improvement. So we mustn't be surprised that standards are rising in our schools.

In 1997, 44 per cent of pupils achieved five (A-C) GCSE grades, now that figure is 52 per cent. Progress yes, but still more to do.

For 11 year-olds, in 1997 65 per cent achieved level 4 in English, this year it was 75 per cent.

We brought in the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies that focussed teaching into these core areas, and school funding has increased dramatically over the last six years.

How else could Worcestershire afford to employ an extra 500 teachers?

With teaching salaries increasing to attract and keep the best people in our classrooms, it is right and proper to invest heavily in our schools.

For example at Nunnery Wood High School, the core budget has increased by 56 per cent or £737 per pupil since 1997. And that does not include the hundreds of thousands of pounds given to the school in Direct Grant and Standards Fund.

For primary schools, the story is even better. Cranham Primary has seen its core funding increase by 87 per cent or £875 per pupil, without including Class Size Reduction, Direct Grant and Standards Fund money.

I know parents and teachers want more, and I support them, but what many don't realise is that local Conservative MPs voted against such increases - which their party called "reckless and irresponsible".

But it is reckless and irresponsible to plan huge cuts in school spending, 20 per cent reductions, and incentives to encourage parents out of the state sector and into the private sector.

This is what is also being planned for the NHS. A "Patients' Passport" has been launched by the Tories which will give incentives to people to opt out of the NHS, and instead go private.

In their own words, they want to "break the NHS monopoly".

I know not everything is perfect in the NHS, but I believe it is a service that many would only miss when it has gone.

So I am resolutely behind reforming and improving our NHS and defending it from attack by those who wish to break it up.

For the electors in Tolladine, Dines Green, Warndon, Battenhall and elsewhere, there are other issues I could have mentioned, but word limits prevent me from doing so.

But I believe I have shown that, 20 years on from a catastrophic electoral defeat, Worcester is a better place thanks to the Labour Government.

And I will not allow the party I am proud to be a member of return to the hands of the Militants and extremists that nearly killed it off.

But perhaps more importantly, allowed unimpeded Tory rule, bringing misery upon the lives of thousands of good people in Worcester.