I'm a student and here's why I'm voting Tory

This General Election, I will be voting for Ilford North’s Conservative Candidate Lee Scott.

Scott was my local MP for ten years and did a marvellous job representing his constituency, as has (in all fairness) current incumbent Labour’s Wes Streating. But a combination of my own political views and Streating’s performance as a Cabinet Member and Councillor in Redbridge tips me in favour of Scott.

I’ve heard many times that is some sort of crime to be a student and a Tory. So, I’ll lay down the reasons why I’m a Tory.

Here's why

I only really have four political beliefs, when it comes down to it. I believe in unlimited opportunity for all. Every citizen should be able to make the use of social mobility to better themselves. I believe we should be proud of our welfare system and it should be there to protect the most vulnerable, but it can be a trap and people can sometimes become over-reliant.

I believe in limited government. Government should not interfere with all aspects of life - only when it will be immoral not to do so or if it’ll be impractical for them not to do so.

This gives people personal freedom to make the decisions they want to live their own lives. I believe in civil liberties, but with this comes personal responsibility: people shouldn’t blame others for their shortcomings. This, I feel from experience, leads to positive personal outcomes.

Lastly, I believe in an open, free, mixed market economy. I don’t believe governments stimulate the economy.

Can you find me an example of a nation being taxed into prosperity?

It is business and consumers that do it, and the government merely creates conditions to allow them to do so.

The Conservative and Unionist Party fluctuates in their support for those four principles, especially with civil liberties, with Amber Rudd and Theresa Mays' performances as Home Secretary being cases in point.

But they are still the party that best fit those principles.

Employment

Tories tend to be pragmatic: the deficit has been slashed; unemployment is at its lowest point in 40 years. The Tory long term economic plan is working. It may be slower than liked, but it is working.

People who say otherwise would do well to remember to the situation the country was in back in 2010. “There’s no money left,” said the note in the Treasury.

Austerity

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People have criticised the Tories for austerity. Some of them won’t criticise the EU for its own forced austerity measures, but that’s a story for another day.

Austerity is simply living within your means: you cannot spend money you do not have, it is unsustainable, and you then rely on the strength of an economy you have no control over.

I do not believe cuts are responsible for the public service crisis. Merely, they are a symptom. During the late 20th and early 21st Century, demand for services increased to new highs. We used borrowing to pay for it; that proved to be disastrous.

The NHS

On the NHS, there’s talk of privatisation from the Tories. However, it was Labour who bought the private sector into the NHS with PFIs. In addition, under EU law, the procurement of services must go out to universal tender, which causes an unnecessary waste of time and resources.

It was Labour who commissioned ATOS in 2008.

In 2015, Labour committed an extra £2.5 billion per year for the NHS, so far, the Tories have invested £10 billion. Since the Conservatives have been in power, there have been an extra 11,000 doctors and 12,000 nurses and midwives joining the workforce.

If they really wanted to privatise, then they’re doing a terrible job of it.

I agree, the improvement of the NHS starts with investment, which is why we need the economy to be strong.

You can’t, however, simply throw money at the problem and hope it goes away. It needs more than just money. Since the NHS was created, every government apart from Jim Callaghan’s has put more money into it.

However, it’s never been enough. There’s always new problems. People are living longer, but aren’t necessarily healthier and are using services more, which means there needs to be a frank and honest debate in this country about healthcare. We need to proactive and not reactive.

I only trust the Tories to engage in this debate.

Leaving Europe

As for Brexit negotations, I don't feel it's an issue. I don't believe politcal leaders are going to decide the deal; it is business leaders. I suppose I'd rather have May fighting our corner, but both sides will be dictated to by corporations in their countries.

Taxes

A side note on corporation tax. It’s low taxes which makes this country attractable to businesses and the investment and jobs they bring. Increasing it, being forceful, will mean these businesses will move and take their jobs elsewhere, to maximise profits.

When the EU ruled Apple must pay it, Ireland refused to collect an £11 billion tax bill.

Fox Hunting

As for fox hunting, I do have massive opposition to it. I feel the need to address it, as there’ll be comments about it I’m sure, I quite simply don’t like it. Fox hunting is nothing more than bullying. However, I don’t think it will happen. I have a theory that the Tories are deliberately running a poor campaign to give Labour a possibility of forming a coalition (a majority is impossible with Scotland near enough gone for them) and then in the last week really hammer the message home with “coalition of chaos” rhetoric.

If that’s not true, I’m pretty hopeful that the motion will be defeated by backbenchers, who caused plenty of U-Turns in the last year of Cameron’s premiership.

I'm a student and here's why I'm voting Tory

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