New
Forest West Constituency Labour Party
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Step by step, Labour is building prosperity and security for all the people of New Forest West. Our policies of economic stability and making work pay have delivered record employment levels and sustained, low interest and inflation rates.
Record number of people in work Our aim is to have, by the end of the decade, a higher proportion of people in work than ever before, as we move towards our goal of full employment in every region. Since 1997, unemployment has been reduced sharply in every region of the UK to a near 30 year low. More people are in work than ever before, that's over 1.8 million more than when Labour came to office. For the first time ever, Britain now enjoys the lowest unemployment rate of any of the major industrialised countries. In New Forest West unemployment (measured by claimant count) fell by 72 per cent between 1997 and 2004. Since its inception the New Deal has helped many people into work in New Forest West:
The number of people unemployed for more than one year also fell by 428 - 93 per cent between 1997 and 2004. More for pensioners, tackling poverty, sharing in prosperity :Labour wants all pensioners to have a decent and secure income in retirement. Our first priority was to provide a boost in the incomes of the poorest pensioners and make sure that people who have worked hard share in the country's rising prosperity. In New Forest West, 25,500 pensioners receive the basic state pension worth £77.45 for singles or £123.80 for couples (2002). 27,420 pensioners benefit from the Winter Fuel Allowance, worth at least £200, plus £100 for those over 80. In addition, Labour introduced free TV licenses for over 75s, free eye tests and reduced the Tories' VAT on fuel from eight per cent to five per cent. The poorest pensioners are now significantly better off. Our next challenge is to address the group of pensioners who've managed to save something for their retirement but who - until now - have found that it is knocked straight off their benefit entitlement, leaving them no better off than those who have not saved at all. We introduced the Pension Credit to reward saving. 2,798 pensioner households in New Forest West are now benefiting from Pension Credit, with a national average award of £41.34 a week.
We
are helping build a better life for New Forest West's families and children: Labour is helping all hard working families and our goal is to end child poverty. We are making work pay, even for those families in low income jobs. In New Forest West alone, the Child and Working Tax Credit awards are helping 4,900 hard working families (figures from January 2004). We have also boosted support for families with young children. In 1997, there was no guarantee of early years child care for parents. Since then, 450,000 more child-care places have been created. Now every three and four year-old is now guaranteed a free part-time nursery place - in Hampshire Local Education Authority alone there were 22,300 free nursery education places for three and four year-olds in 2003. In addition, in the poorest fifth of places, new Sure Start children centres are providing high quality early education, childcare, health, family support and help into employment for poorer families. We are committed to halving child poverty within ten years on the way to abolishing it in a generation. In 1997, Labour inherited one of the highest rates of child poverty in Europe - with one in three children living in poverty. Our mission to abolish child poverty is grounded both in our determination to secure social justice, and to tackle the problems that the social exclusion of children builds up for the long term. Rebuilding the NHS through record and sustained investment: In 1948 it was Labour that created the National Health Service and it is Labour in government today that is investing in and reforming the NHS to create a health service fit for the needs of 21st century Britain. Our starting point for all that we want to achieve is our belief in a publicly funded NHS, free at the point of need and accessible to all, irrespective of their ability to pay. Labour is committed to boosting the numbers of nurses and doctors working in the NHS to deliver a faster, more convenient service for patients. In England alone, between 1997 and March 2004 there are 67,000 more nurses and over 19,000 more doctors working in the NHS. New Forest West is in Hampshire and Isle Of Wight Strategic Health Authority, where the number of nurses increased by 3,778 and the number of doctors by 709 between 1997 and 2003. The number of NHS consultants rose by 270 in the same period.
We are driving up standards in schools through our extra investment:
Since 1997 there has been remarkable progress in education. There are now more teachers in schools than at any point in the last 20 years - around 28,000 more than in 1997. In Hampshire Local Education Authority alone, which covers New Forest West, the number of full-time equivalent regular teachers in maintained schools increased by 380 between 1997 and 2003. In September 2003 the total number of teachers in Hampshire Local Education Authority stood at 9,370. Throughout England, standards are up with real improvements at every age level. We are working with parents and teachers to provide the best start for every child; with free, part-time early education for every three and four year-old whose parents want it; and in disadvantaged neighbourhoods we are bringing children's services together within the Sure Start programme. In our primary schools, the Literacy and Numeracy Strategies have dramatically improved the quality of teaching and raised standards across the board; and schools in the most deprived areas have seen the greatest improvement in performance. Our secondary schools are better too: around 50 per cent of 15 year old pupils now achieve five or more good GCSEs (grade A*-C). Top | Home | Constituency Profile Quotations Tory Talk | Local Issues | Local Party Details Labour History | Links | What's New
This information is from publicly available sources and figures refer to those available in February 2004 (unless otherwise stated). |
And because we're managing the
economy better, we can afford record investment in public services.
Under the
Tories dole queues stretched to 3 million, inflation rose to 10% and interest
rates to 15%. Labour’s
policies of economic stability have delivered the lowest inflation and interest
rates for over 30 years, and are helping more people into work. Labour's policies for economic stability
and making work pay are helping more people than ever before into work. 
