David Cameron has once again set out a magnificent vision for a Conservative programme to make Britain greater.
I am delighted our poverty-fighting social justice ideas are back at the forefront of Conservatism. I may have entered politics over the Lisbon Treaty, but the journey taught me the calamitous extent of the welfare state’s failures under Labour.
That’s why I helped the Centre for Social Justice before the election: we must succeed to a far greater extent in our fight against poverty. And it’s why I spent three days in drug rehabilitation with serious ex-offenders: we need a rehabilitation revolution so everyone has the chance to make something of themselves and add to other people’s lives instead of ruining them. I believe in equality before the law and a chance for everyone, free of prejudice: we cannot permit intolerance and the suffering and lost opportunity which follow from it.
That is why David Cameron’s reinvigoration of our fight against poverty and injustice is so important. It is the continuation of a long-standing theme which we must never forget.
Here is the speech:
The full text is available from The Spectator. I recommend the whole video for the detail behind this conclusion:
Over the next five years we will show that the deep problems in our society – they are not inevitable.
That a childhood in care doesn’t have to mean a life of struggle.
That a stint in prison doesn’t mean you’ll get out and do the same thing all over again.
That being black, or Asian, or female, or gay doesn’t mean you’ll be treated differently.
Nothing is written.
And if we’re to be the global success story of the 21st century, we need to write millions of individual success stories.
A Greater Britain – made of greater expectations…
…where renters become homeowners…
…employees become employers…
…a small island becomes an even bigger economy…
…and where extremism is defeated once and for all.
A Greater Britain…
…no more, its people dragged down or held back…
…no more, some children with their noses pressed to the window as they watch the world moving ahead without them.
No – a country raising its sights, its people reaching new heights…
…a Great British take-off – that leaves no-one behind.
That’s our dream – to help you realise your dreams.
A Greater Britain – made of greater hope, greater chances, greater security.
So let’s get out there – all of us – and let’s make it happen.
