Robert Halfon MP: Four doorstep messages that Conservatives can deliver to Britain

Robert Halfon is Conservative MP for Harlow. Follow Rob on Twitter.

What are four words that best sum the Tory-led Government?   Labour would have the public believe it is  'grannies', charities, 'pasties' and 'millionaires'.  But, Conservatives don't need to let the left's narrative become the story.  There is a very powerful message to communicate, centred around Aspiration, Opportunity, Community and Fairness.

Take Aspiration:  Want to own your council home?  Then you will get a £75,000 discount.  Want to start up a micro business in your rented social housing?  Now you can do it. Want to work and get out of the poverty trap - rather than stay on benefits?   Receive the universal credit combined with the raising of income tax thresholds.

Take Opportunity: Want better local schools and hospitals?  Academies and Free Schools with tougher curriculum will raise standards.  Choose the GPs and Hospitals you prefer, unconstrained by the bureaucracies of the PCTs and Strategic Health Authorities.  Want more skills?  Go for one of the 400,000 apprenticeship places on offer, the Youth Contract, or even the Work Programme.

Robert Halfon MP: It's time for Conservatives to make friends with mainstream trade unionists

Robert Halfon is MP for Harlow. Follow Rob on Twitter

It’s time that Conservatives stopped bashing trade unions and start remembering our roots. That is the central argument of my DEMOS pamphlet that was released yesterday: Stop the Union Bashing. The battles with Arthur Scargill in the 1980s cloud many people’s perception of our relationship to them. But we have a long history of caring for trade unionists. I suspect you don’t believe me. Let me ask you this: who first set out to legalise the trade union movement? A Conservative, indeed a prime minister: the Earl of Derby. And who said that the law should not only permit, but “assist” the trades unions? It was Margaret Thatcher herself.

In fact, Mrs Thatcher was a committed trade unionist. The first political office she held was in the Conservative Trade Unionists. She understood very well something that many Conservatives now forget: there is a huge difference between the militants and the grassroots members. That is why, as Leader of the Opposition, she fought hard to recruit members from the Conservative Trade Unionists. It is hard to imagine now but in 1979 trade union members flew banners reading: “Trade Unions for a Conservative Victory” in Wembley Stadium.

Since then, relations between us have not been as strong, but that does not mean they do not exist. David Cameron recruited Richard Balfe, an ex-Labour MEP, as his envoy to the trade union in 2007.  A wise move as Balfe boldly pointed out to his former comrades that “it may be worth noting that some 30 per cent of trade union members vote Tory.”

Robert Halfon MP: Recognising the Kurdish Genocide

Robert Halfon is the Member of Parliament for Harlow. Follow Rob on Twitter.

“There is another Iraq, buried under Iraq”. So said the head of the Kurdistan Mass Graves Commission as she explained to me her work during my recent visit to Kurdistan with the All-Party Parliamentary Kurdistan Group. Travelling around Iraq, her job is to try and identify the mass graves of the victims of Saddam Hussein’s genocide against the Kurds. Sometimes using DNA techniques, sometimes through simple ID (like a chain, a wallet or ID Card), the Kurds painstakingly are going through every mass grave they can find, in order to try and bring respite to grieving families and some kind of closure to what happened under the Baathist regime.

So far around 300 mass graves have been discovered, some with hundreds of bodies, some with fifty to sixty. There are also pits with just bones. We saw this for ourselves when we went to the far north area of Garmian. Row after row of baby sized coffins, filled with bones. Incomplete, unable to be identified, but at least given dignity. Whilst there, we were not only greeted by the Mayor and other dignitaries, but also Shazad Hussein, a grandmother whose family was killed in the genocide and who literally played the grandmother in the award winning Iraqi film, Son of Babylon - a moving and tragic account of Iraq’s missing million people.

It is strange that whilst the world knows much about modern genocide: the Bosnians by the Serbs, the tragedy of Rwanda, little is known about the Kurdish story. In fact, their genocide which is known to most as ‘Anfal’, is not even recognised as an international genocide by the United Nations - something that I, chairing a committee of academics, lawyers, and Parliamentarians, am trying to change. The facts are these: if you define genocide as scientifically planned mass murder with various stages of development - notably, marginalisation, demonisation, and eradication, - then the Kurds suffered genocide.

Robert Halfon MP: The Left are winning the internet battle. It's time to fight back...

Robert Halfon is Conservative MP for Harlow. Follow Rob on Twitter.

For the past few years now, we on the right have been busy congratulating ourselves on the success of our presence on the Internet.  In some ways it is understandable.  Right of centre websites like ConservativeHome, Guido, John Redwood’s blog and much more besides have created a forum for Tory activists, undermined the left and provided intellectual ballast. But, whilst we have been slapping ourselves on the back, in some ways, the left have leapfrogged over us.  Instead of Web 2.0, they have gone straight to 4.0, creating interactive campaigning websites, American-style, that have changed the nature of how pressure groups operate.

38 degrees is the left’s most successful campaigning force to date.  It has far more achievements to its name than Ed Milliband, or his Shadow Cabinet. Unlike some, I don’t see 38 degrees as an irritant, or dismiss it because it is run by Labour activists.  The organisation has created a powerful campaigning force with hundreds of thousands of email addresses.  Forests, the NHS, energy prices are examples of serious activity.

What we need to remember is that whilst 38 degrees is controlled by leftists, its members are not necessarily of the same political persuasion. There have been numerous times when I, as MP, I have pro-actively interacted with ‘38 degreers’ and have received positive emails from individuals in return.  I fact, I would argue that 38 degrees has created, for the most part, a mass database of centrist/floating voters, albeit with a sizeable minority from the centre left.

Robert Halfon MP: A 2.5p cut in fuel duty would help create thousands of jobs and get the economy growing again

Robert Halfon is the Member of Parliament for Harlow. Follow him on Twitter.

Regular Conservative Home readers will know that last year, I campaigned successfully along with this blog and many Conservative MPs for the Government to drop the 4p per litre fuel rise that was planned by Labour, and would have hit every family in Britain. George Osborne listened - to his credit - and petrol is now 10p per litre cheaper than it would have been under Labour's plans. This will save an average family £144 this year in filing up the family car.

But we still have problems. Fuel duty is a regressive tax. It hits the poorest Brits twice as hard as the rich, according to the Office for National Statistics, and is crushing small businesses, especially in areas outside big cities, where firms have no real access to public transport. Tim Montgomerie has long argued for a rebalancing of the tax system - the "shock and awe" tax-cuts that are needed to kickstart growth. I believe a cut in fuel duty is an essential part of this plan. That's why we're asking George Osborne to stop the planned 4p fuel duty increase in August.

Today, along with the FairFuelUK campaign and other MPs, I will deliver a new report by the CEBR to 10 Downing Street. The headline figures - which are based on the Treasury's own statistical models - show that a 2.5p cut in fuel duty would quickly create 180,000 jobs, and more than pay for itself with the extra tax revenues that would be generated. At 1pm, Quentin Wilson and I will open a mass lobby of Parliament - the first ever national Fair Fuel day. People and small businesses from across the British Isles will be coming to Parliament, to ask their MP to support lower fuel taxes in this Budget.

The problems that we face are well-known:

Robert Halfon MP: Taxpayers should be allowed to tour Big Ben for free

Robert Halfon is the Member of Parliament for Harlow. Follow him on Twitter.

Last Friday, I received an email from the Chief Executive of the House of Commons. It stated:

“As part of the Savings Programme, the House of Commons Commission has agreed that Clock Tower tours should be self-financing. In order to cover costs of administering the tours, and enabling these premium tours to continue, there will be an admission charge of £15.00 per visitor. This is in line with the emerging policy that while free democratic access to Parliament is maintained, charges will be made for specialist tours.”

They plan to introduce the fees from this July. If they go ahead, it would cost a family of four as much as £60 to visit Big Ben.

Next to the EU crisis, and public service reform, this may seem like a tiny issue. But it is one that I find deeply unsettling. Symbolism is hugely important in politics. As I said to Speaker Bercow, in a point of order on Monday:

“Are there not other ways of saving money, such as not publishing Hansard and other publications on a daily basis, and publishing them online instead? Will you please look at it again, to make sure that we are a Parliament for the many, not the few?"

Robert Halfon MP: The Sri Lankan government must stop persecuting Tamils and acting like a rogue nation

Robert Halfon is the Member of Parliament for Harlow. Follow him on Twitter.

Today there was a major debate in Westminster Hall. With many other backbench Conservative MPs, I urged the Government to speak out against the persecution of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

As many ConservativeHome readers know, the years between 1983 and 2009 saw a bitter civil war between the Sri Lankan Government and the Tamil Tigers. During that long and bloody conflict, both sides were responsible for atrocities. But following the ceasefire three years ago, Tamil civilians have been subject to outrageous abuse of their basic human rights. In 2009, for example, 300,000 Tamil civilians were displaced or caged up in barbaric internment camps. As late as November last year, 7,000 remained in these camps. Many more are unable to return home. Thousands are forced to live in tents without access to basic health care, sanitation and education. Even worse: the Sri Lankan military is still occupying 7,000 square miles of Tamil land in the North and East, where they have no credible property rights.

The UN Committee Against Torture has said that the military behaves as if it was above the law; threatening and harassing human rights workers, defence lawyers and journalists. There are reports of violent suppression of Tamil dissidents, disappearing civilians, and secret executions. The Committee to Protect Journalists have said that Sri Lanka still has the 4th highest unsolved rate of journalist murders in the world. For far too long, Sri Lanka has assured the world that they are making improvements, but refused to give concrete details of the Tamil families still detained in camps. Very limited access is given to foreign journalists. It is without doubt a hideous regime.

Of course there will be many who say “Sri Lanka is the other side of the world. What can Britain do?” But the truth is that Britain is in a surprisingly powerful economic and political position to ask Sri Lanka to respect the human rights of all its people. After China, we are Sri Lanka’s largest trading partner, and their main source of Western tourism. In 2009, Britain imported over £600 million worth of goods and services from Sri Lanka. The UK should be ready to look elsewhere for these imports, if Sri Lanka refuses to improve their tragic record on human rights.

Charlie Elphicke MP and Robert Halfon MP: Tax cuts for the many, not the few. Let's increase the personal allowance to £10,000.

By Robert Halfon, MP for Harlow, and Charlie Elphicke, MP for Dover.

Tax cutting has to be as much about morality as about economics.  Both are just as important, and neither are mutually exclusive. For Modern Conservatives, the task is clear: Any tax cut must be affordable, help the economy to grow and be justifiable on ethical grounds.

For any tax cut to be credible in times of austerity, it is necessary to show that it can be funded. It must also benefit the many, not the few.  This is why Labour’s plans are the economics of the madhouse. Labour’s VAT cut would focus help on the better off, paid for by more Government borrowing. Only Ed Balls and Labour could dream up tax cuts for the few paid for by higher interest rates for the many.

For Modern Conservatives, tax cutting is in essence a moral creed – allowing people to keep more of their own money so they will have the choice on how, if and when to spend it. Starting with tax cuts for the poorest for who lower taxes would make the greatest difference. Unlike Ed Balls and Labour, Conservative tax cutting must be for the millions rather than millionaires.

So how do we square the circle? How do we help those most in need and boost the economy? Across the board income tax cuts meet the criteria of helping millions but are incredibly expensive.  A basic rate income tax cut of just one pence would cost £3.85bn in 2012-13, so the 3p cut suggested by Ed Balls and Labour would cost a cool £12bn. Not only is it expensive, it is unprogressive, as the rich would benefit most (no wonder the country went bust!). For our part, we see lower taxes for the lower paid is a greater priority than the abolition of the 50p rate.

Robert Halfon MP: While the Internet can be a bastion of freedom, it is still controlled by governments and corporations

Robert Halfon is the Member of Parliament for Harlow. Follow him on Twitter.

There was a good article on modern censorship in last weekend's Observer by Denis MacShane MP. He reviews the new book on censorship by Nick Cohen, who explains that - contrary to popular belief - everything is not rosy in the Internet Garden of free expression. Instead of providing a forum for democracy, modern corporations, Governments, and advanced technology companies are seeking new ways in which to control the Internet. In China, for example, whilst there are millions using micro-blogging sites (Twitter is banned), there is a new requirement for all micro-bloggers to be 'publicly registered' - anonymity is to be curtailed.

Even Twitter has succumbed. Often cited as the bastion of freedom of thought, the company appears to have now agreed to ensure that twitterers are subject to individual government laws. Although Twitter denies that this will have any impact, the effects of this 'ruling' have only just begun. Only yesterday it was reported that Brazil and Twitter have apparently agreed to prohibit twitterers from reporting police activities, such as police road blocks, speed checks and the like.

The logical extension of this is enormous: after Twitter censorship, then what about mobile phones. There is little difference between banning phone conversations that report 'police road blocks', as there is to banning twitter for doing the same. The message here is clear: whilst the Internet is a great source of liberation, at the end of the day, we are subject to the whims and decisions of Governments and the huge corporations that control it - whether it be Google, Microsoft, Twitter or Facebook.

It is a bit like being a regular at a wonderful Pub to have a drink, until the Landlord decides he doesn't like the cut of your jib, restricts what you drink and then throws you out. What all this means is that the alluring romanticism of the Internet is coming to an end. Yes it brings enormous benefits, but we are naïve if we think we are living in an Internet libertarian's utopia.

Robert Halfon MP: Stop the calls for the Guillotine and let the public judge Diane Abbott

Robert Halfon is Conservative MP for Harlow. Follow him on Twitter.

So Diane Abbott said some stupid things in which most reasonable people will disagree with.  But, we Conservatives should be hesitant about jumping on the "PC" bandwagon, tearing our clothes, wailing and gnashing our teeth.

In doing so we walk into the elephant trap, set for us by the left, in which any misplaced remark or statement leads to a vicious bout of condemnation, followed by calls for the Guillotine - a sort of reverse McCarthyism if you like.  Forget Abbott and think Clarkson for a moment, and you will see what I mean.

Left-wing witch-hunts (they are invariably left-wing) are not particularly savoury, and have become the norm in recent years.  The hunts have claimed numerous scalps -and are a sign of the guillotine culture we now live in.  If we indulge in the same, we give licence to our opponents and agree that the methods they use are the accepted ones.  It is no good claiming, imagine if a Tory had said it - and what would happen as a result.  My answer is so what:  Tories should be better than this.

Conservatives should remember Voltaire, and vigorously argue the case against Abbott et al.  We believe in free speech after all.  Let the public judge - they will hoist Diane Abbott on her own petard - much better than any Westminster show-trial.

Robert Halfon MP: The BBC cannot continue as a kleptocracy. We need to put licence-fee payers in charge

Robert Halfon is the Member of Parliament for Harlow.

Today will see the second reading of my Private Member's Bill, to democratise the BBC - if it is called by the Speaker. First of all, let me say that I am not a “BBC basher”. I love the BBC. I don’t even mind its centre-left leanings, because it stops Conservatives from being complacent. The BBC is a great British institution - although of course it sometimes does remind me of that old maxim of Shimon Peres, who said that television made “dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable".

But it is nevertheless worth having: if it didn’t exist, we would have to invent it.

I listen regularly to BBC radio, especially BBC Essex and Look East, and to the World Service, which is central to spreading liberal democracy around the world.

I do not object to the licence fee; I personally would be happy to pay double. But at the moment, the licence fee is taxation without representation. We do not tolerate that in our politics, and there is no reason why we should tolerate it in our public media.

Everywhere else in our public institutions, we are moving away from mainframe democracy to an open-source democracy, which is responsive to ordinary people. Just think of:

• elected Police Commissioners,
• e-petitions,
• the right to sack your MP if they are convicted of wrongdoing,
• the right to set up your own school,
• local referenda on Council Tax,
• the Localism Act, and neighbourhood plans,
• transparency of data and public spending,
• elected Select Committee Chairmen, and of course
• The Backbench Business Committee.

The BBC is behind the curve on this, and it must change.

Robert Halfon MP: Cutting the 50p tax rate must NOT be a priority for modern compassionate conservatives

Robert Halfon is Conservative MP for Harlow.

Tax cutting is as much political as it is economic.  That means that it is no good just to argue the economic case for cutting the fifty pence tax rate without any consideration of the political consequences. 

And the political consequences of such a tax cut - at this point in time during the economic cycle - are enormous. 

At a stroke, it would allow our opponents to re-characterise the Conservatives, as being the party of the rich - for the few, not the many.  The signal that such a tax cut would give to the public - many on average wages of £20,000, struggling with rising prices, would be that Conservatives were looking after vested interests:  not so much a dog whistle - more a full blown trumpet.  It is not hard to imagine the response on our doorsteps, and the leaflets from the Labour Party that would result.

For years, - particularly in the dark days of Opposition - Conservatives allowed themselves to lose the low tax argument. Conservatives and tax cuts came to be synonymous with a belief that were not so much the nasty party, but the party of vested interests. That is what made it so much easier for Gordon Brown to slap on the fifty pence tax in the first place - knowing how hard it would be for a future government to undo.

To win the tax-cutting argument, we need to first prepare the ground, explaining why lower taxes are literally about social justice:  a fool proof mechanism for empowerment.  Then we need to demonstrate that tax cuts are for the the many not the few. That tax cutting is indeed a moral creed designed to help the poor.

Robert Halfon MP: An everyday story of Apple Folk

Robert Halfon is MP for Harlow.

Although I prefer Blackberry, it is impossible not to recognise the genius of Apple. Nevertheless, one of my main objections has been the somewhat authoritarian nature of its products. Not only does it provide the infrastructure - fair enough - but it ties you to their ecosystem completely, without any alternative.

Imagine going to Tesco, for example, and, as well as the supermarket providing the infrastructure of the shopping experience, every food item you bought had to be Tesco-branded. So no Heinz Ketchup, only Tesco Ketchup.  Well, that is the problem with Apple IMania. Not only are you 'chained' into their ecosystem, but you are then subject to tough and arbitrary rules on apps, subscriptions, etc. Hence last week's courageous decision by the Financial Times to withdraw from having an iPhone/iPad app.

Robert Halfon MP: What are the lessons to be learnt from the demise of Gadaffi?

Robert Halfon is MP for Harlow.

First: the free world must stop appeasing dictators. It may work in the short term but never in the long. The last government, some of our universities and businesses, lost their moral compass when it came to dealing with the Libyan regime. Whilst senior new Labour Government figures hob-nobbed with Gadaffi and his family, our academic institutions accepted millions in blood money, whilst companies rushed to Libya to sign commercial deals. The release of Lockerbie murderer Al Megrahi marked the high point (or low point)  of this appeasement by the establishment.  

Let's undo this wrong by ensuring Al Megrahi  returns to the UK to prison or spend the rest of his life rotting in a Libyan jail. Similarly there should be no 'exile' for Gadaffi and his family: only the international criminal court.

Sadly the appeasement of Gadaffi isn't isolated: the West did the same with Saddam - for a while - and with the Assad family in Syria. The results are always the same: bloodshed.

Robert Halfon MP: Petrol prices are causing unemployment

Robert Halfon is MP for Harlow.

As Tom Newton-Dunn at The Sun has reported, with unemployment at 2.5 million, and petrol prices hitting 150 pence in some places, there is increasing evidence that higher petrol prices are causing higher unemployment.

In 2006, when petrol was just 95p on average, experts at the London School of Economics, and University College London, published research (PDF) showing that unemployed workers who could not travel to jobs and tended to stay “unemployed for longer”.

Since then fuel prices have surged by an astronomical 40%, despite the recession and many suffering from redundancy or wage-freezes. In fact, the UK pump cost of unleaded is now at an average 135p. In some garages it is hitting 150p or more.

But British families face no alternative to driving their cars and vans, as even rail fares are set to rocket by 13% causing misery for millions.