Dr Phillip Lee MP: The Givers and the Takers

Dr Phillip Lee is MP for Bracknell and a member of the Energy & Climate Change Select Committee. Follow Phillip on Twitter.

There is only one section of our society capable of generating the growth needed to save our economy: the 'Wealth Generators'. My definition of a Wealth Generator is a person who not only creates enough wealth to support themselves, but also others, too. By 2010, after 13 years of Socialism, hedonism and almost criminal fiscal irresponsibility, this small band of people on whom we had all come to rely upon has been left disillusioned and demotivated. Not only do we continue to tax them too highly, our banks are also still very reluctant to support them. Furthermore, in tandem with over-burdensome employment law, previous governments have made their lives a misery with health and safety regulation. In effect, the givers can no longer give enough because the takers are taking too much.

True Conservatives know that Socialists seek to create growth artificially. They don’t understand Wealth Generators. Openly or surreptitiously, the Socialists’ instinct is to control and that is fundamentally at odds with the free-thinking mindset of the entrepreneur. Socialists seek to magic jobs from nowhere, pour money into public projects and then, when all else inevitably fails, resort to the printing press. This is their version of growth. They argue that it is better to give someone a 'non job' and let them pay tax, than it is to provide no job and pay them benefit. This sounds neat, but it has been proven time and time again to be folly. Value cannot be simulated. Politicians of the Right also understand that successful economies need well-educated, driven individuals who are risk-takers. They know that for a country to prosper, it needs a hard core of dynamic people who believe that they have found the right place to fulfill their dreams. Sadly, I fear that does not sound like Britain today. Our young people do not receive an education comparable in quality to our international competitors. Yes, it is true that students do get to feel good about themselves for a few hours on results day, but then they can’t find a job because they’re not good enough. In effect, the Left has created the educational equivalent of a ‘non job’. I believe that this “everyone is excellent” ideology represents the most damaging attack on the futures of our young people since the Second World War. This appalling betrayal has created generations drunk on “A stars” and “media studies” and totally unprepared for the realities of an ever-changing, globalized economy, particularly one that is teetering on the edge of collapse.

More worryingly, this 'unreal' approach to life has sold Britain itself terribly short. The last Labour government left our country more divided than ever before, and that division is far more complex and dangerous than the old cliché of North versus South. It is now private sector workers versus public sector workers; the old versus the young; the rich against the poor; the indigenous versus the immigrant; the debtors against the creditors. Somehow, amidst this malaise of contempt and mistrust within our society we expect our Wealth Generators to save the day. We assume that they will stick around to subsidise the 'non jobs' with their mind boggling pensions; that they will hire staff with dubious qualifications and a poor work ethic; that they will put to one side the fact that we bail out some businesses but not others.

Dr Phillip Lee MP: The Autumn Statement must give small businesses confidence - not just cash

Dr Phillip Lee is MP for Bracknell and a member of the Energy & Climate Change Select Committee. Follow Phillip on Twitter.

With the notable exception of some banks, most businesses have coped remarkably well with the current economic turmoil. Yes, it’s true that a low growth environment maybe the new normal, but it is testimony to their ingenuity that so many balance sheets remain relatively healthy. What is clear, though, is that businesses are now being called upon to shoulder the burden of the growth creation needed to pay our debts. In response to the government's 'call to arms', across our country thousands of SME’s have been changing what they do and how they do it, in an effort to secure increasing returns.

Fortunately for Britain, change is what our successful businesses do best. Unlike governments, they are able to identify problems and fix them without having to worry about so-called “public opinion” or a never ending list of vested interests. If costs are too high they are cut. If the market demands a new solution, it’s delivered. The process of moving businesses forward can be brutal but, ultimately, everyone benefits from an economy populated with lean, flexible enterprises more able to adjust to whatever the global economy has to throw at them. That is why protecting and enhancing Britain's business environment has become so essential.

Working for yourself, having enough money to do all the things you want to do and no debts are dreams of many. Being from a family which runs small businesses, I know the reality of building one that delivers profit year after year is, however, quite a different process to what many perceive. With it comes risk, stress and problems. Some people literally lay down their lives trying to build a business. There are few, if any, short cuts. It's just tough. Hardly any businesses have guaranteed sales. Most battle to hit targets 'month by month' as, because of increased customer choice, trade is now much more fluid than before.

Dr Phillip Lee MP: When it comes to Germany, yesterday should be no guide for tomorrow

Dr Phillip Lee is MP for Bracknell and a member of the Energy & Climate Change Select Committee. Follow Phillip on Twitter.

In 2006, I had the good fortune of attending the World Cup in Germany as a then long-standing member of the Englandfans supporters' club. Travelling up and down the country, one witnessed genuine pride in staging one of the world's great sporting events. German flags were held aloft and their national anthem sung, both in a manner not seen since the War. It was as if Germany had rediscovered its sense of nationhood, a strong pride in being German once more. For a travelling English fan with a strong interest in politics  (not as uncommon as you might think!), it was a tremendous sight to behold. The scars of the past were healed and a unified Germany was moving on, free to make geopolitical decisions with no need to reference a dark history from a previous century. Recently, I've come to think that I was premature in forming that judgement. To me, the German approach to the eurozone crisis has been baffling. Why is it so determined to defend the Euro at such huge financial cost to itself? The market protection argument would only be acceptable if the total profit on their exported goods could comfortably absorb regular trillion Euro payments to the Mediterranean. So, if it is not money, what is driving them?

Dr Philip Lee MP: China may be big - but it has big, big problems

Dr Phillip Lee is MP for Bracknell and a member of the Energy & Climate Change Select Committee. Follow Phillip on Twitter.

Whilst walking through Tiananmen square in 1995, images of tanks driving towards unarmed people and Kate Adie's dramatic eye-witness testimony came to my mind. Locals gathered around me, eager to practise their English. Skulking behind me, suspicious characters listened intently to my conversations.

It was an uncomfortable experience - one which I recalled on my return to Beijing earlier this year with my select committee. The capital appeared much changed. Bicycles have replaced cars; the view from the Square now dominated by skyscrapers. In stark contrast to my first visit, during which I witnessed a mother carefully folding McDonald's packaging material as cherished evidence of her child's visit to a burger restaurant, consumption has now become commonplace. Local incomes have risen on the wave of Western demand for Chinese products. Manufacturing industry has left China holding vast foreign currency reserves. Perhaps more worringly, though, it has also now left them with significant resource and environmental challenges. One hundred years ago, China had few carbon emissions. In a hundred years time, it will have no fossil fuels.

Dr Phillip Lee MP: We must challenge politicians who cling to a 'centre ground' cosily defined by Labour's New Luddites

Dr Phillip Lee is MP for Bracknell and Vice Chair of the Parliamentary Space Committee

Clement Attlee's Labour government was arguably the most influential administration in modern British history as the ramifications of his premiership live on in the 21st century. The NHS, social housing, welfare; systems so terribly abused and breaking today, originally represented a Promised Land to a poor population devastated by war. Such benefits were then an 'easy sell' and guaranteed votes. Their long-term affordability, however, was never questioned. Despite obvious signs of subsequent breakdown, successive governments of both persuasions have perpetuated the myth that Atlee's 'reforms' were the best that could be delivered. Untouchable. Sacred. It is high time we stopped kidding ourselves. With the State's debt continuing to double under the current government it is clear that we can no longer live like we have been doing.

It is some achievement that socialism (including the current 'polished' version) has maintained a firm grip on British life since the War. The Labour Party has thrived on the electorate's growing acceptance of State diktat and generous hand-outs. In effect, the Left still controls welfare, health, education and the largest state broadcaster in the world. Their power base has allowed them to maintain unrivalled influence over some of the most essential elements of British life: hospitals, schools and, most importantly, the information needed for people to decide what they think and who they choose to vote for. This is astonishing and represents a genuine failure of the Right. I have to take my hat off to the often privately-educated, left-wing elite who designed and continue to operate the programme. It does have a certain elegance. But, as a Conservative 'by experience' (not by birth) I have developed a deep dislike of this 'soft' Left: what they have done to our country and what they will continue to do if left unchecked?

Dr Phillip Lee MP: Why now is the time to put a Briton into space

Dr Phillip Lee is MP for Bracknell and Vice Chair of the Parliamentary Space Committee

The sceptics about space have been wrong before. Can you imagine life without mobile phones and live sports coverage from around the world? Or more seriously, family members without access to kidney dialysis machines and insulin pumps?

The last generation had vision. They replaced Laika the dog with Yuri Gagarin, inspiring generations to follow careers in science and engineering. In the Daily Telegraph recently, Gerard DeGroot described Yuri Gagarin as “a waste of space”. Not even Senator McCarthy would have stooped to that.  By a combination of raw courage and that precious human desire to push back boundaries of knowledge, Gagarin led the way in man’s exploration of space.

Phillip Lee: The McBride Affair shows how Labour turned Cool Britannia into Cruel Britannia

Dr Phillip Lee is a GP based in the Thames Valley and fought Blaenau Gwent at the 2005 general election. Here he laments the way in which the planned Labour smear operation sought to exploit the taboo of mental illness and asserts that now more than ever is the time for the Conservatives to show compassion for the vulnerable in society.

When one reflects upon the recent Westminster scandal involving Messrs McBride and Draper (et al.), it is sad to conclude that in today's Britain such behaviour is viewed with a certain sense of tired resignation.

In a country where Saturday night televisual fayre can involve the ritual humiliation of the mentally unwell on The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent; where one TV channel's top-rating show involves watching "housemates" behaving disgracefully towards each other and being "rewarded" with celebrity for doing so; and where the awful phenomenon of "happy slapping" can be viewed as an acceptable form of entertainment by some of our younger generation, is it any wonder that the behaviour of Brown's bullies was accepted by some senior supporters and employees of the Labour movement?

It would appear that bullying has become de rigueur in Labour's Britain. Where has Mr Brown's moral compass gone? What of engendering respect for others, compassion for the needy and concentrating on the proper governance of this great country?

Phillip Lee: Introducing the CFOB

Dr Phillip Lee, a candidate and Project Director of the Conservative Friends of Bangladesh, describes the activities of the organisation.

The Conservative Friends of Bangladesh (CFOB) was established at last year’s Conservative Party Conference. At a well-attended launch event organised by Anne Main MP, the Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague MP welcomed the creation of the group and supported its aims to both build better relationships with the Bangladeshi people here in the United Kingdom, and foster a greater understanding about the country of Bangladesh.

There are over half a million British Bangladeshis. Traditionally, Labour has been the political party of choice within the community. CFOB immediately recognised this and set about challenging that attitude. Bangladeshis are entrepreneurial, hard-working and family-oriented people and hence we believed that they should instinctively feel at home in the Conservative Party. Our growing membership since the launch is evidence that we were right. Up and down the country there are ‘key marginal’ constituencies where significant Bangladeshi communities live. CFOB has worked hard to make contacts and listen to the concerns of those communities.