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Henry Smith

Henry Smith: Securing a better future

In his article this week, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate Henry Smith talks about securing and growing jobs for all.

Published

2 months ago

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One of the darkest themes of the last few months has been to witness Labour’s attitude towards business. Jeremy Corbyn just sees opportunities to increase taxation, and in Crawley the Labour-run Borough Council seeks to hike neighbourhood parade rents by as much as 30 per cent.

Such an attitude ignores the fact that our businesses are the wealth creators and the employment providers that towns such as ours should be looking for, not turning away.

Since 2010, over 7,600 more jobs have been created in our town. Our economy, employment and earnings continue to grow. Fewer regulations and lower tax burdens under a Conservative Government are what can enable companies to take on more staff.

Indeed, over the last nine and a half years we have seen the number of businesses in Crawley grow by over 1,000. Our town has one of the highest average salaries nationally with people taxed less and wages growing faster than inflation.

The Conservative Government has created 3.7 million jobs including over 466,000 more jobs in the south east of England. We must not let Labour throw all that hard work away.

Next week, our town must decide. A Conservative government led by Boris Johnson that gets Brexit done, and focuses on people’s priorities like creating jobs and backing the NHS and our schools. Or Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister, and an economy buckling under the strain of soaring borrowing and the chaos of another two referendums.

We know that every Labour government has left office with higher unemployment than when they came in. A Corbyn-led Labour administration would see everyone paying an extra £2,400 a year in tax to fund their reckless spending plans – this is the equivalent of an entire month’s pay for the average worker.

A majority Conservative Government will mean a brighter future. Soon after taking office, Boris Johnson announced an increase in the National Living Wage to two thirds of average earnings, currently forecast at £10.50 an hour – and widening its reach to everyone over 21.

This will mean an average pay rise of £4,000 per year for four million people by 2024.

This is the better future we can secure for our town and our country.

Henry Smith
Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Crawley

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Henry Smith

Henry Smith MP: Debating the Queen’s Speech

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2 days ago

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21st January 2020

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One week after the General Election in December, the Queen’s Speech took place in the House of Lords chamber. While read out by Her Majesty, the document is of course written by the government of the day, and outlines the legislation it wants to put to Parliament in the coming year or two.

This last week has seen the Queen’s Speech debated by MPs. With priorities including delivery of Brexit, enshrining in law the largest ever NHS funding settlement and making sure serious offenders serve proper custodial sentences, I support the agenda and look forward to voting in favour of it in the days ahead.

The Speech includes proposals to make it law that an extra £33.9 billion every year by 2023-24 goes to the National Health Service. The NHS Funding Bill was introduced in the House of Commons earlier this week, and is due to be debated in Parliament later this month.

On Monday I spoke in the Queen’s Speech debate, about Britain’s role in the post-Brexit world. Decisions taken at home can support Global Britain abroad and so in turn help our nation be more prosperous and secure.

The last three and a half years saw our country go to the polls for one referendum and two general elections, needing to make clear on three separate occasions that Crawley and our United Kingdom support leaving the European Union.

In my speech I reiterated Crawley’s consistent position on this issue, and the wider sense of British fair play and democracy.

One such example is though support for the right of the Chagossian people – many of whom have made Crawley their home – to return to their homeland. We can still do right for those wronged by the Harold Wilson government half a century ago.

Britain is at its best as an outward-looking, ambitious, free-trading country, promoting liberty, the environment and justice around the world. The best years of Britain as a global nation lie ahead of us.

Henry Smith MP
Crawley Constituency

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