Lincoln Conservative Association

Karl M^cCartney is working hard at Westminster settling in to his new role as the MP for Lincoln. Karl has assembled a team to manage day to day Constituency matters and will soon have an office in Westminster. He has also set out a timetable for Constituency Surgeries which will be held on the first Friday of the month with the next Surgery due to be held on Friday 2nd July.

An official web site has also been established at www.karlmccartney.co.uk where you can find all the latest news, press releases and interactive forms that you can use to contact Karl with any concerns or issues you may have or to request a Surgery appointment.

Karl McCartney today welcomed Eric Pickles to Lincoln.

The Conservative Candidate for Lincoln, Karl McCartney, has been campaigning throughout the Constituency building a rapport with the people of Lincoln across the City and the newly included outer areas. Karl’s positive messages, including his desire to to ‘Put Lincoln First’, have contrasted with those of the former Labour MP who was notoriously exposed over her expenses and has frequently voted with the her Labour Party colleagues in Government to the detriment of Lincoln on important issues such as the closure of local Post Offices.

Karl McCartney said today,
“Our supporters and volunteers in Lincoln have worked hard and long during this campaign to let the people of Lincoln know just how bad five more years of a Labour Government and Gordon Brown could be. Lincoln needs an independently minded MP who is untarnished by the expenses scandal, willing to promote our City and enhance the quality of life for those who live and work here. I have always said I would ‘Put Lincoln First’ and at the election on Thursday I am the only main party candidate who actually lives in Lincoln. Voters should know that any vote other than for the Conservative Party would only serve to keep Gordon Brown as Prime Minister of our country.”

“The people of Lincoln should Vote For Change. If you want to be certain of a clean break from the past and a new Government on Friday, vote Conservative on Thursday. Labour only offers more of the same – their desperate campaign is designed to scare families, older people and the vulnerable. Recent days have shown the Liberal Democrats’ policies on immigration, crime and the economy would damage Britain. With a new Conservative Government from Friday, we can get to work to fulfil our promised contract with the British people – by getting the economy moving, improving front line services and moving the country forward. Importantly, we won’t leave the poorest and the vulnerable behind because we are all in this together.”

We are offering a no-nonsense, no-frills contract to voters to do certain specific things in exchange for people’s vote. If we don’t do these things, if we don’t deliver our side of the bargain, vote us out in five years’ time.

• Changing our political system to make it more accountable, open and local – including commitments to give people the right to sack their MP; cut the number of MPs by 10%; cut ministers’ pay by 5%; give local communities more power, and publish details of government spending and contracts.
• Changing the economy to get it moving – including commitments to cut wasteful spending to stop Labour’s jobs tax; act now on debt; get Britain working by reforming welfare; reduce emissions and build a green economy; control immigration.
• Changing society to help build a Big Society where everyone plays a part in helping to mend our broken society. This includes commitments to: increase spending on health each year; support families; raise standards in schools; increase the basic state pension; fight back against crime, and create National Citizen Service for every 16 year old.

Only David Cameron and the Conservatives have the energy, leadership and values to get the economy working for everyone. We need to reward hard work, get Britain making things again, deliver value for money in government and sort out the banks.

We want the banks to work for the people, instead of the people bailing out the banks. And we need to learn the lessons from the financial crisis. Within weeks of the election, a Conservative government will launch the most radical overhaul for a generation in the way that banks are regulated and policed, in order to support the economy and protect consumers. We will:

• get credit flowing to businesses with large scale government guarantees, building on our proposals for a National Loan Guarantee Scheme;
• sweep away Gordon Brown’s failed system of regulation and put the Bank of England back in charge of controlling the overall level of debt in the economy;
• introduce a new levy on the banks;
• push for international agreement to separate the riskiest investment banking activities like large scale proprietary trading from ordinary retail banking;
• create a tough new Economic Crime Agency to crack down on white collar crime and serious economic crime;
• promote responsible consumer finance with a powerful new Consumer Protection Agency taking over from the Financial Services Authority and the Office of Fair Trading; and,
• set up a free financial advice service and a free annual financial health check, to help families get their finances on track.

Gordon Brown and the Lib Dems want to stick with the same failed system that got us into this mess. Only a Conservative government will change the system to support the economy and protect consumers.

Only a Conservative Government has the energy, values and leadership to mend our broken society. Today, David Cameron is setting out how Labour’s big government approach to the problems we face has comprehensively failed. Five more years of Gordon Brown means more of the same – and the Liberal Democrats could make things even worse. Under Labour:

• the poorest are getting poorer;
• social mobility has stalled;
• levels of family breakdown are some of the highest in Europe;
• violence against the person has risen since Labour came to power; and
• one in six children now grows up in a home where no one works.

To mend this, we say:

• To head teachers – you do what you think is right to impose discipline and order in your school. But parents will be free to judge you on your results.
• To those on welfare – if you can work we will do everything possible to help you get a job. But refuse to work and we will cut your dole.
• To criminals – if you commit a crime you won’t get early release because if you commit a crime you should be properly punished. But we will do everything we can to help you stop reoffending.
• To young people – spend two months on National Citizen Service, working and living with people from different parts of society, and you will emerge a better and stronger person.

While David Cameron is setting out a substantive agenda for dealing with some of the big problems we face, Gordon Brown is holding yet another press conference attacking the Conservative Party. It’s clear that only one party has the ideas and the energy to give Britain a better future.

This General Election is the most important we’ve faced in a generation.

Many people have still to make up their minds how to vote. Today, my colleagues and I are setting out how we will improve quality of life, protect our environment, give more powers to local people and safeguard our liberty. The Conservative message to people is simple: let’s change Britain for the better.

• Let’s stop Labour’s jobs tax that will kill the recovery.
• Let’s cut benefits for those who refuse work.
• Let’s fund new NHS cancer drugs.
• Let’s have national citizen service for 16 year olds.
• Let’s restore discipline in schools.
• Let’s scrap ID cards.

If you think it’s time for real change in Lincoln, the only way to vote is Conservative using your postal vote or at the ballot box on Thursday 6th May. Karl continues to meet with groups and individuals throughout Lincoln as the election campaign builds to a conclusion. For the latest news and to find out about forthcoming debates and public meetings please keep visiting this web site.

A vote for Labour and the Lib Dems could leave us stuck with Gordon Brown as Prime Minister – or the uncertainty of a hung Parliament which could kill the recovery.

Today, David Cameron and Michael Gove are speaking at a rally of parents in Kirklees. These parents are frustrated at the quality of education on offer for their children are demanding change – change which is being blocked by the Labour-led council and Ed Balls in Westminster.

David will be talking about the choice facing parents at this election:

• If you want to carry on with nearly 400,000 children a year suspended for violence and disruption, vote for Gordon Brown.
• If you are content with millions more children leaving primary school unable to read and add up properly, and leaving school without English and Maths GCSE, vote for Brown.
• If you want to keep good schools rationed by house price and income, vote for Brown.
• If you want politicians to have more power over schools instead of teachers running schools, vote for Brown.

But if you want to change course, vote Conservative:

• We will give teachers the powers they need to keep order.
• We will give heads the power to pay good teachers more.
• We will let all state schools do high quality international exams now studied in top private schools but banned in state schools.
• We will replace the leadership of schools with persistent serious behaviour problems, poor teaching, and children unable to read properly.
• We will build a new generation of independent smaller state schools with smaller classes, funded by taxpayers but run by teachers who know the children’s names and responsible to parents – not run by politicians.