|
British Prime Minister Tony Blair unveiled his third-term
government at the start of perhaps the most crucial week of
his political career, amid talk of a possible challenge to his
leadership.(AFP/File/Carl de
Souza) | | Tony
Blair:
I've just come from Buckingham Palace where the Queen has asked me to
form a new government which I will do.
It's a tremendous honour and privilege to be elected for a third term
and I'm acutely conscious of that honour and that privilege.
When I stood here first eight years ago I was a lot younger but also a
lot less experienced.
Today as well as having in our minds the priorities that people want,
we, I, the government, has the knowledge, as well as the determination and
commitment, to deliver them.
The great thing about the election is that you go out and talk to
people for week upon week.
And I've listened and I've learned, and I think I've a very clear idea
what the people now expect from the government in a third term.
And I want to say to them very directly that I, we, the government, are
going to focus relentlessly now on the priorities that people have set for
us.
What are those priorities? First they like the strong economy, but life
is still a real struggle for many people and many families in this country
and they know there are new issues: help for first time buyers to get
their feet on the first rungs of the housing ladder; families trying to
cope with balancing work and family life; many people struggling to make
ends meet; many families on low incomes who desperately need help and
support to increase their living standards; businesses who whilst they
like the economic stability, want us also to focus on stimulating
enterprise on investing in science and skills and technology for the
future.
It's very clear what people want us to do and we will do it.
Second in relation to the public services, health and education, again
people like the investment that has gone into public services, they
welcome it. I have found absolutely no support for any suggestion we cut
back that investment.
The people want that money to work better for them, they want higher
standards, both of care and of education for the investment we are putting
in.
And so we will focus on delivering not just the investment but the
reform and change of those public services and I will do so with passion,
because I want to keep universal public services that know that the only
way of keeping the consent for them is by making the changes necessary for
the twenty-first century.
And third, people welcome the fact that so many more people are in work
and have moved off benefit and into work, but people still know there are
too many people economically inactive who should to be helped off benefit
and into work.
And they also know that, whatever help we are giving today's
pensioners, tomorrow's pensioners are deeply concerned as to whether they
will have the standard of life that they want.
People expect us to sort out these issues, we will do so.
And fourth, I've also learnt that the British people are a tolerant and
decent people, they did not want immigration made a divisive issue in the
course of the election campaign, but they do believe there are real
problems in our immigration and asylum system and they expect us to sort
them out, and we will do so.
And fifth, I've been struck again and again in the course of this
campaign by people worrying that in our country today, though they like
the fact we have got over the deference of the past, there is a disrespect
that people don't like.
And whether it's in the classroom, or on the street in town centres on
a Friday or Saturday night, I want to focus on this issue. We've done a
lot so far with anti-social orders and additional numbers of police.
But I want to make this a particular priority for this government, how
we bring back a proper sense of respect in our schools, in our
communities, in our towns and our villages.
And rising out of that will be a radical programme of legislation that
will focus exactly on those priorities: on education; on health; on
welfare reform; on immigration; on law and order.
In addition I know that Iraq has been a deeply divisive issue in this
country, that has been very clear.
But I also know and believe that after this election people want to
move on, they want to focus on the future in Iraq and here.
And I know too that there are many other issues that concern people in
the international agenda, and we will focus on those, on poverty in
Africa, on climate change, on making progress in Israel and Palestine.
So there is a very big agenda for a third-term. Even if we don't have
quite the same expectations that people had of us in 1997, we now have the
experience and the commitment to see it through.
One final thing: I've also learnt something about the British people,
that whatever the difficulties and disagreements with us, and whatever
issues and challenges that confront them, their values of fairness and
decency and opportunity for all, and the belief that people should be able
to get on, on the basis of hard work and merit, not class and background,
those values are the values I believe in, the values our government will
believe in. |