Tim Montgomerie, Editor of ConservativeHome, recently questioned the decision of eleven Tory MPs to sign 'The Equality Pledge'. The Pledge stated that "more equal societies – those with a narrower gap between rich and poor – are more cohesive, healthier, suffer fewer social problems and are more environmentally sustainable."
One of those signatories the MP for Enfield North, Nick de Bois, defends his decision below.
To object to the statement, "I will therefore actively support the case for policies designed to narrow the gap between rich and poor", is odd. Those on the Left and the Right would mostly agree that a widening gap between rich and poor is a bad thing. What we disagree about is what to do about it.
In 25 years of running my own company, we helped create wealth for employees and their families, paid substantial tax and generated personal wealth. Policies that encourage economic expansion help create wealth, because more people earn money, gain jobs and by extension this helps reduce the gap between rich and poor over time. The coalition government has that agenda.
By supporting Grant Shapp's Right To Move policy, Iain Duncan Smith's proposals to end welfare dependency, George Osborne's raising of the personal allowance threshold, and Michael Gove's free schools - am I not supporting policies that will narrow the gap between rich and poor?
Those of us on the Right should not shy away from the debate about equality simply because it is couched in the language of the Left. Indeed, it's because the Left think they own the debate that we need to get stuck in and argue that Conservative policies are the way forward. By signing the Equality Pledge, I'm sticking a flag in the ground and saying, "The Conservatives are here, too".
