Gareth McKeever: Where we out-campaign the LibDems, we beat them

Gareth McKeever was the Conservative candidate for Westmorland and Lonsdale at the 2010 general election.

The story of this by-election is not UKIP or indeed, our own third place. We are a party in government and it would have been extraordinary not to have been trounced. UKIP were the main outlet for anyone who wanted to protest. No, the real story is the Liberal Democrat win, a victory that happened at a time when they were facing considerable pressure both locally and nationally.
 
I was Conservative candidate for Westmorland and Lonsdale and I write from experience. Coming up to polling day, the view was that on a bad day I would lose by 6,000 and on a good day scrape a win with a majority of 1-2,000. We could tell it wasn’t going to be a good day from the GOTV feedback; ‘I normally vote Conservative but Tim has worked so hard’ was a very common response from once solid Conservative voters, ‘Tim’ being Tim Farron, my Liberal Democrat opponent and incumbent MP. In the end I was resoundingly beaten, with the Liberal majority 12,000+. As a local reporter asked: ‘how does it feel seeing a once safe Conservative seat become a safe Liberal seat?. Funnily enough, it didn’t feel that great.
 

Gareth McKeever: Draconian hikes in tuition fees may discourage those from lower income families from attending university and drive them to study and work overseas

Gareth McKeever was Conservative candidate against an incumbment Liberal Democrat MP in Westmorland and Lonsdale at the general election.

As a candidate at the recent General Election, I supported tuition fees but the current proposals give more than pause for thought. Indeed, to my mind there are a number of important issues they fail to address that all relate to the economic trajectory our country will take for the next several decades.

The psychological barrier that high levels of debt will present to many students from lower income backgrounds is perhaps most concerning,  I am not sure I would have taken my place at Oxford if I had had to have to pay back loans in excess of £40,000. For a 17-year-old from a lower income family these sums may prove too scary a barrier to university. They also imply a much narrower range of career options than many will feel comfortable with. It may be the case that many Oxford graduates earn premium salaries but no one should feel under pressure to take a job in law, accountancy, banking or the like in order to repay huge debts.

A degree is supposed to increase life options, not narrow them and by discouraging students from poorer backgrounds we are doing our country a huge disservice by cutting the pool of potential talent on which our economy is ultimately dependent.

We also risk sending bright students from all backgrounds overseas. A higher rate of interest on loans payable by graduates who earn higher salaries will encourage many of our brightest to look abroad for their degree, putting at risk the economic benefits we hope to derive from their education. Why not broaden your horizons by studying at an Ivy League college where endowments and scholarships are much larger than in the UK, will be the question many will ask. A rate of interest linked to future earnings encourages just such a trend.

Gareth McKeever: We must not compromise on fundamental Conservative principles to hold the Coalition together if such a move threatens Britain's prosperity

Gareth McKeever was Conservative candidate against an incumbment Liberal Democrat MP in Westmorland and Lonsdale at the general election.

Why are you a Conservative? This is a question I have been asked many times, not least on the doorstep canvassing and it is a question that as Conservatives we can answer with recourse to strong, clear principles including personal responsibility, a strong society (different from a strong state), a market economy, freedom and fairness.

And whilst many others can lay claim to these principles, as Conservatives we can construct a clear and coherent narrative that links them together.

Coalition government inevitably requires compromise between political parties and such compromise is much easier when those parties share a commitment to similar or non-competing principles or political philosophies. In that instance the compromise is more likely to be in process than in outcome.

Until now the Coalition has focused on policies where both the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats are in general agreement on outcome. Disagreement and compromise has broadly centred on the journey rather than the destination and thus, both parties agree that the deficit needs to be reduced but somewhat differ on the scale and speed of the cuts.

The proposals regarding tuition fees and specifically, whether higher-earning graduates should pay more, is possibly the first major instance where the parties face compromise on outcome, as well as process.

Gareth McKeever and Manish Singh: The financial system is stabilised, but the real economy is in danger of a serious recession

Gareth McKeever is the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Westmorland & Lonsdale. Gareth has spent the last ten years advising investment funds on Japanese equities, most recently at Morgan Stanley. Gareth is a trustee for Honeypot children's charity and is an advisor for the Alpha Course.

Manish Singh is a graduate of Indian Institute of Technology. He is an Investment Director at SG Hambros Bank and is Head of Structured Products, advising clients on investments and asset allocation. He is also the Head of the Conservative City Future Research Group.

The Real Economy is Still at Risk

Let us make no mistake, the banking system may be stabilised but banks are not going to start lending at anywhere near the pace of recent years.

Increasing levels of debt have helped fuel economic growth and, for the foreseeable future, banks are going to be 'repairing their balance sheets', a euphemism for dramatically cutting back on loans to businesses and consumers alike.

We have already seen what a fall in mortgage loan growth does to the housing market and we should be prepared for a similar hit to business, with a subsequent sharp rise in unemployment, unless the government takes action fast.

One of the conditions for government support of the banks is that they start lending to businesses and providing mortgages to the consumer. However, there is much uncertainty as to what this means in practice and whilst the spectrum of products available may increase they will likely be offered at a much higher price. Furthermore, the government has a chequered history of white elephant capital projects and lending by government diktat is in no-one’s interest.