The year ahead can be a game-changer for a Britain on the rise, David Cameron has insisted, as he pledges not only better economic security but also social renewal with no one left out in sharing the country s growing prosperity. In his New Year message, the Prime Minister talks about delivering on the Conservatives manifesto promises, including staging a referendum on the UK s membership of the European Union, which, alongside the elections in Scotland, England and London, will be the focal point of the political year ahead. He admits that negotiating with 27 other countries is difficult but says the UK Government is fighting hard to fix the aspects of our EU membership that cause so much frustration in Britain; so we get a better deal for our country and secure our future .
The PM claims Britain faces the new year with renewed strength and the prospects are looking good with low inflation, rising employment and growth.
Because of its competent management of the economy, he highlights how the UK Government will introduce tax cuts, increased state pensions, more free childcare and higher health spending as well, given current events, more money for flood defences, emergency services and support.
Promoted stories
On extremism, the Conservative leader says the country not only needs to crack down on radicalisation but also on issues that for too long have been swept under the carpet such as a failure to integrate and women being treated as second-class citizens.
But much of his speech is on social renewal in what he calls the turnaround decade , where the Government will: build more houses to tackle the economic and moral outrage of young people not being to afford their own home; address persistent poverty; make progress on combating the problems of addiction and mental health and step up the fight for equality by closing the gender pay gap.
The PM says: If we really get to grips with these problems this year, we won t just be a richer nation but a stronger, more unified, more secure one .
In his strongest passage, he points out the scandal of how there are now more young black men in prison than studying at Britain s top universities.
Facts like this show the country s social problems are not just ingrained but enmeshed with one another.
So yes, we re going to spend this year delivering the education, training, jobs, tax cuts, healthcare and housing people need but we re also going to make sure no-one should be on the outside looking in at all these things; that everyone is a part of Britain s rise .
In doing so, we can make 2016 a game-changer for our country, declares Mr Cameron.
In a thinly-veiled dig at Jeremy Corbyn, he adds: There are many people who will tell you how deeply they care about these issues; they will shout into megaphones, wave banners and sign petitions.
But we re the ones who are able to make the arguments and take the difficult decisions in order to defeat these social scourges and deliver real security . So while others are on a protest march, we remain on the long walk to a Greater Britain . We won t get there overnight but during 2016 we will make some of our most significant strides yet.
In his New Year video message, delivered on Twitter, the Labour leader vowed to step up his campaign against austerity and claimed 2016 would be the year that would be “the start of a journey to deliver a Labour government” in 2020.
Share article
Noting how in the three months of his leadership Labour had defeated the Government on such issues as working tax credits, police cuts and running the prison service in Saudi Arabia, the Labour leader said: “We have to challenge them much more next year; much more on their cuts to local government and their lack of investment in the needs of our economy and our people .
We want to build an economy fit for the 21st century.”
Meantime, Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat leader in his annual message urged his party to look to 2016 with a new sense of purpose, a new drive and a sense of ambition as he attacked the Tories for punishing hard-working families through welfare cuts, Labour for squabbling and not being an effective opposition and the SNP for letting public services deteriorate .
The post 2016: Cameron pledges economic security and social renewal, where no one is … appeared first on News4Security.