Party Conference: Margot speaks on “Strategies for Economic Growth”

I spoke at this fringe meeting organised by the Social Market Foundation with Theresa May, Oliver Letwin and Brendan Barber.

For those of you who don’t know him Brendan is the General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress. It was his first ever attendance at a Conservative Party Conference. And it was my first ever appearance on a platform with a Trade Union leader. Although I have had dealings with Unison earlier this year, and they were excellent in fact.

My points, briefly, were:

• Britain has been transformed from a manufacturing economy to a service economy and that cannot be rowed back. But what should be happening is much smarter support for technology, highly skilled and added value manufacturing and the environmental sector. This government has just watched manufacturing go down, blaming low cost competition from the east. That cannot be helped, but a boost for the high tech end can and should take place. A Conservative government must put in place tax incentives to foster a supportive environment for businesses, sometimes start ups, in these fields.
• We have global leadership in financial services and this needs to be protected not destroyed by clumsy over regulation. We need to get back to the Bank of England being the sole regulator, sensible capital/borrowing ratios and bonuses that reward long term asset appreciation, not short term spikes. I completely support Boris Johnson’s stand against clumsy over - intervention from the EU. France and Germany have no interest whatsoever in protecting the growth potential of the City of London.
• We need a government that is strong enough to stand up to every other interest group which comes with good reason why more should be invested in their area. We have to get back to spending less than we earn and that will require strong government and leadership.
• Education Education Education, yes, Tony Blair was right, a pity his party wouldn’t allow him to deliver. It now falls to the next government to raise standards, protect our universities from being dumbed down like the schools and invest in life sciences. It is worrying that the only reason our best Universities are able to carry on delivering a quality education at all is down to all the foreign students paying the actual cost of a university education (which is a good £15,000 pa of course).
• Skills and apprenticeships. This is very important to areas where there is still manufacturing or at least industrial services. Training and skills are crucial and the next Government needs to help the one in five young people not in work to acquire skills at NVQ level 3 in conjunction with employers.