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This is part 2 of the speech, part one is here.
We are asking a lot of them. But they know what we know - and what our soldiers in Northern Ireland who stand in the front-line against terrorism also know. There is a duty to be done. I believe it is a duty that this Conference, gathered here in Brighton, would not want Britain, of all nations, to shirk. In these difficult and dangerous tasks they deserve, and will get, this Party's full support.
Mr President, I have spoken of our plans for Europe, and our beliefs about Britain's place in the world. We now have to lead Britain through difficult times at home, as we have done so often in our history.
You know the things I care about - we all care about - the things I dreamt about as a boy. The chance to get on in life. To acquire knowledge, security, the prospect of a better future - and a life fulfilled. A corner of life that you can call your own. That's what people struggle for and sacrifice for when they watch their children grow.
If we're going to meet those hopes, fulfil those dreams - then we must build a strong economy.
And looking around the world, we can see even more clearly what makes an economy strong. A Government that secures two things; low inflation and the right climate for business to succeed.
It is people who create wealth.
People, not Government. Business, not bureaucracy. Enterprise, not interference.
But business can't succeed if Government doesn't play its part.
Low taxes - low inflation. Leaving people more of their own money to spend and save. Protecting them from those robber barons of the twentieth century. Inflation and the state.
I believe - I know - that it was for those tasks that the British people elected us to govern again.
They didn't trust anyone else to control inflation. They didn't trust anyone else with their taxes. They didn't trust anyone else to keep the state of industry's back.
Mr President, we must - and we will - deliver upon that trust.
But today even the world's most successful economies face difficulties. In the United States. In Japan. Throughout Europe - yes, and in Germany, too.
And here in Britain I know how great is the personal hardship that many people are facing. Some have lost their jobs; some their businesses; some their homes. We must pursue policies that will bring hope back into their lives.
I know how hard people are hit by the misfortune that befalls home after home, family after family, in a recession. Unemployment is a bitter experience. I don't want a temporary cure. I want a lasting recovery. To come out of this recession safe from the threat of its repetition. If there is one thought that goes through my mind wherever I see this recession Mr President, never again! That's why we're looking for long-term solutions. That's why we'll take no risks with inflation. And that's why we will continue to do everything possible to create the prosperity that is the hallmark of a Conservative Government.
But we must not forget what has been achieved and is essential for lasting recovery.
Inflation - down from nearly 11% to just over 3.5% in the past two years. And today I can tell you that even the underlying rate - that hard core we have found so difficult to reduce - has come down to 4%.
Interest rates - down from 15% to 9%. The starting rate of income tax - down from 25% to 20%. Mortgage payments down, on average, 80 pounds a month. All putting more of people's own money back in their own pockets.
And, yet, despite that progress, it's been taking such a long time for things to get going. I know hos frustrating that is. Here as abroad, debt has made people cautious. Slow to spend. That's made things tough for small businesses. Tough for industry, too.
That's what makes British industry's successes all the more remarkable. Exports - close to record levels. Manufacturing output rising - and productivity at record levels. Investment began to rise in the spring. And even in the High Street, sales have been picking up again.
It is not enough. It is only a beginning. But now, I believe, we can aim for more.
With a low inflation rate, we can compete with the best in Europe.
Let's not forget how we managed to bring inflation down and the man who did it - Norman Lamont. As he reminded us yesterday, for nearly two years it was the discipline of the ERM that helped us do so. But last month, we faced turmoil in the markets and rising interest rates across Europe. Germany's troubles had driven European interest rates so high that the mechanism was no longer the servant of Europe's prosperity.
But let us not waste time looking back. We have to deal with the world as it is. Let's take advantage of our circumstances to win new success for Britain.
With a lower exchange rate, we have a new competitive edge in Europe. And provided we don't blunt it with inflation, it gives us a real opportunity, in a single European market of 330 million people.
A market for British computers. British cars. British televisions. British textiles. British services. British skills. The biggest free trade area in the world.
That's the market in which British enterprise must succeed. And the Government will back British business all the way.
Let us return to that old and vivid slogan: British means business. And let me say a little more about what I believe Government can do to make it true.
First, low inflation. Down to the point where it no longer interferes with the decisions people and businesses have to make in their daily lives.
Second, we must create an economic environment in which more people are willing to invest their effort, their savings, their skills in new businesses because of the rewards that exist.
Those who risk their savings should know that if they build up wealth by their efforts, they will be able to keep more of it. What families have worked a lifetime to create, the taxman should never be allowed to destroy.
Those who build up new businesses must be confident they won't be stifled by taxation. And we know what that means for Government - it means standing firm against all those pleas for extra public spending. All so attractive to someone - so disastrous in combination.
Where more is really needed we will spend more. Our plans allow for that. But more for some programmes may have to mean less - for others. Because we have set our limits - and we will stick to them.
Mr. president, it's going to be a tough spending round. All my colleagues know it. But they also know they've got to do what business does. Protect the quality - cut the cost. We can keep improving our public services - if the public sector doesn't pay itself what the taxpayer can't afford.
It's too easy - when spending is under pressure - to forget the long term. To let the burden fall on private industry alone.
We must work with industry, to see whether the public and private sectors working together can do more to invest in our future. More to improve the infrastructure of this country. I know the problems. But it is time to look afresh at whether we can find new solutions.
But that's not enough. We must also see what more we can do to help our exporters win for Britain. In the single market - and in the world trading system.
We are battling for free trade - and to make sure we take the best advantage of it. I want to see British enterprise succeeding across the globe. Winning contracts. Creating British jobs. Generating our future prosperity.
And as part of this we must do more to lighten the burden of government regulation. Government should stand behind business - not in its way.
Mr President, this is a battle we've been fighting since 1979. But it's a battle that is never won. And now is the time to mount a new offensive.
We're already on the march against the Eurocrat and his sheaf of directives. But you know, it isn't just Brussels that rolls out the red tape.
It's Whitehall. And town hall. Everyone likes to tie another knot. Admirable intentions - disastrous combinations. Piling costs on industry. Mr President, that must stop.
It's not just big business that suffers. Far too often, it is the small firms who really suffer. Small firms - fed up with filling in the forms - who feel that it is just not worth being in business at all.
Of course, we want to have confidence in the safety of the food we eat, the homes we buy, the place we work in, the people who take charge of our children. But when this reaches the point where you may need 28 separate licences, certificates and registrations just to start a business, then I say again, this sort of thing must stop.
I have asked Michael Heseltine to take responsibility for cutting through this burgeoning maze of regulations. Who better for hacking back the jungle? COme on, Michael. Out with your club. On with your loin cloth. Swing into them!
You know, deregulation isn't just about making life better for business. It's about making life easier for everybody. Take the bureaucratic controls which mean Whitehall decides whether you have the chance to stop off the motorway. Every parent knows what I mean. Next services, 54 miles - when your children can't make 10!
They've got to go. And so those rules have got to go!
Or take the system that keeps air fares far too high. It's absurd that international air travel is regulated under rules set out before the jet airliner was even invented.
And why should so many people, from all over Britain, have to come to London when they want to fly abroad? I want to see more flights directly out of Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham and all our regional airports. That's better for the people who live there - and better for London too.
Mr President, it is vital that we get the economy back into strong - and sustainable - growth. We can do it. We must do it. But that is only the first of our ambitions for the course of this Parliament. The manifesto that won the Election set out a full programme for five years. Now we're going to put it into action.
Ladies and gentlemen, the year 2000 is less than a hundred months away. That, at any rate, is the latest Treasury forecast. I want Britain's example, its ingenuity, its decency and principle to be in the forefront as we cross that threshold.
In all we do we must speak to the instincts of the British people. For 300 years, the Conservative Party has reflected those instincts in a way that no other political party has ever been able to match.
So let's go out and tell the people about the things we'll be working for, and fighting for, in the next four years of Conservative Government.
We'll be fighting for better public service.
For services that put the parents, the patients, and the passengers first. Fighting bloody-minded and petty bureaucracy wherever we find it. That's what the Citizen's Charter is about.
We'll be fighting for good local Government, closer to local people. That's why in Wales it's set to be goodbye to the likes of Clwyd and Gwent and back to Pembrokeshire and Anglesey. In Scotland, the Scottish Secretary will be consulting the public on change - but I rather suspect it could be an Ian Lang farewell to monstrosities like Strathclyde.
In England we will give everyone the chance to put their views on the future of councils live Cleveland or Avon. I can't predict the outcome. But can you imagine Len Hutton walking out to bat for Humberside?
We'll be fighting for better health and social services.
For a Health Service run by local people in patients' interests. For more GP fundholders and more of our successful hospital trusts. We want better care for the elderly and vulnerable in the home and the community - wherever they choose to be. And we must make sure local councils respect the wishes of those who do go into homes. People in their last years are entitled to as much choice and dignity as anyone else. Not less choice and no dignity.
And Mr President, we have all been deeply shocked at the reports of scandals in some social security departments. It's terrible when children are involved. That's why we are going to set up regular independent inspection of social work in every council. We will not let vulnerable people and children be put at risk.
We'll be fighting to strengthen the rights of ordinary trade union members.
They must have freedom to join the union of their choice - and fairness in union ballots and finances.
And, under the Citizen's Charter, we're going to give you - all of you - a new right. To take direct action in the courts against those who disrupt public services through unlawful strikes, and hold the country to ransom.
And we've already blown the whistle on one of the last bastions of the closed shop - student unions. The days in which they march and demonstrate at the taxpayer's expense and numbered.
When it comes to education, my critics say I'm old-fashioned. Old-fashioned? Reading and writing? Spelling and sums? Great literature - and standard English grammar? Old fashioned?
Well, if I'm old-fashioned, well, so be it. So are the vast majority of Britain's parents. And I have this message for the progressives who are trying to change the exams. English exams should be about literature, not soap opera. And I promise you this. There'll be no GCSEs in Eldorado - even assuming anyone is still watching it!
I also want reform of teacher training. Let us return to basic subject teaching, not courses in the theory of education. Primary teachers should learn how to teach children to read, not waste their time on the politics of gender, race and class,
I don't know if you feel as I do, but I think it is intolerable that children should spend years in school and then leave them unable to read or add up. It's a terrible waste of young lives.
This is part 2 of the speech, part three is here.