The 40p tax rate was only supposed to be paid by the most well-off people in our country…butin the past couple of decades, far too many have been dragged into it: teachers, police officers.So let me tell you this today. I want to take action that’s long overdue, and bring back somefairness to tax. With a Conservative government, we will raise the threshold at which peoplepay the 40p rate. It’s currently £41,900…in the next Parliament we will raise it to £50,000.
So here’s our commitment to the British people: No income tax if you are on Minimum Wage.A 12 and a half thousand pound tax-free personal allowance for millions of hardworkingpeople. And you only pay 40p tax when you earn £50,000. So let the message go out: With theConservatives, if you work hard and do the right thing…we say you should keep more of yourown money to spend as you choose. That’s what our long-term economic plan means for you.
And while I’m on the subject of the big economic questions our country faces – on spending, ontax – did you hear Ed Miliband last week? He spoke for over an hour, but didn’t mention thedeficit once. Not once. He said he ‘forgot’ to mention it. Ed – people forget their car keys, schoolkids sometimes forget their homework…but if you want to be Prime Minister of this country, youcannot forget the biggest challenge we face.
A few weeks ago, Ed Balls said that in thirteen years of Government, Labour had made ‘somemistakes’. ‘Some mistakes’. Excuse me? You were the people who left Britain with the biggestpeacetime deficit in history…who gave us the deepest recession since the war…who destroyedour pensions system, bust our banking system…who left a million young people out of work,five million on out-of-work benefits – and hundreds of billions of debt. Some mistakes? Labourwere just one big mistake.
And five years on, they still want to spend more, borrow more, tax more. It’s the same oldLabour, and you know what? They say that madness is doing the same thing over and overagain but expecting different results. Well I say: madness is voting for this high spending, hightaxing, deficit ballooning shower and expecting anything other than economic disaster.
In a country that everyone is proud to call home, you should be able to buy a home – if you’rewilling to save. It shouldn’t be some impossible dream. But we inherited a situation where itwas. Young people watched Location, Location, Location not as a reality show – but as fantasy.We couldn’t solve this housing crisis without some difficult decisions. The planning system wasstuck in the mud – so we reformed it…and last year, nearly a quarter of a million houses weregiven planning permission. Young people needed massive deposits they just couldn’tafford…so we brought in Help to Buy.
Of course there were those who criticised it…usually speaking from the comfort of the homethey’d bought years ago. But let’s see what actually happened. They said Help to Buy wouldjust help people in London…but 94 per cent of buyers live outside the capital. They said it wouldhelp people with houses already…but four-fifths are first-time buyers. They said it would cause ahousing bubble…but as the Bank of England has said, it hasn’t. So here’s our renewedcommitment to first-time buyers: if you’re prepared to work and save, we will help you get aplace of your own.
This conference we have announced a landmark new policy. It’s called Starter Homes. We’regoing to build 100,000 new homes – and they’ll be twenty percent cheaper than normal. Buthere’s the crucial part. Buy-to-let landlords won’t be able to snap them up.Wealthy foreignerswon’t be able to buy them. Just first-time buyers under the age of 40. Homes built for you,homes made for you – the Conservative Party, once again, the party of home ownership in ourcountry.
In a Britain that everyone is proud to call home, you wouldn’t be able to tell a child’s GCSEs bytheir postcode or what their parents do. There must be a great education for every child. Amonth ago I had this wonderful moment. Florence is now 4 and just starting school, so for thefirst time, all three of my children are at the same primary school. It was such a joy to takethem to school together; Florence clinging on for dear life until she saw a new friend and rushedoff to her classroom. It’s hard to describe what a relief it is as a parent to find a decent schoolfor your child. It shouldn’t be a lottery.
What we have in our state primary in London I want for every child in the country. And we’regetting there. More children in good or outstanding schools. More children studying science,languages and history. A new curriculum – with five year olds learning fractions; eleven yearsolds coding computers. And the biggest change is the culture. Teachers who feel like leadersagain. Who say: this is our school, we’re proud of it, the children must behave in it, we will nottolerate failure in it. We’ve come so far – and make no mistake – the biggest risk to all this isLabour. You know what drives me the most mad about them? The hypocrisy.
Tristram Hunt, their Shadow Education Secretary – like me – had one of the best educationsmoney can buy. But guess what? He won’t allow it for your children. He went to anindependent school that wasn’t set up by a local authority…but no, he doesn’t want charitiesand parents to set up schools for your children. He had the benefit of world-class teachers whohappened not to have a government certificate…but no, he wants to stop people like that fromteaching your children. I tell you – Tristram Hunt and I might both have been educated atsome of the best schools in our country. But here’s the difference: You, Tristram – like the restof the Labour Party – want to restrict those advantages…I want to spread them to every childin Britain.