Conservatives must stand up for the working people of Britain as the Party campaigns on the big issues facing the country in 2007, David Cameron has proclaimed in his New Year message.
Calling on Conservatives to move into higher gear and establish the details of a clear and positive alternative to Tony Blair's incompetent and untrustworthy administration, the Party Leader declared: "As we campaign in 2007 on the NHS, crime, the environment, the cost of living, and the shocking decline in social mobility in our country, we must show that, unlike Labour, we will be a party that is for working people, not rich and powerful vested interests."
Mr Cameron insisted that working people across Britain want action on the cost of living, council tax, poor housing, educational failure and under-investment in skills. He said that at a time when Labour has lost its authority, working people want competent measures to combat crime and anti-social behaviour, a strategy that makes the NHS work, rather than a service that is getting worse in many areas despite a doubling of expenditure.
"Working people want something done about the environment and their quality of life, and above all, people want a government that delivers for them," he said.
Mr Cameron said that after a decade of dashed hopes and broken promises from New Labour, people were wary of all politicians who say that they will be different, which was why in the year ahead, Conservatives must work even harder to earn people's trust, and show that they will not only make a difference, but will be different as well.
After a successful 2006, in which the Party moved back into the mainstream of British politics as a modern, compassionate voice for change, optimism and hope, he declared of 2007: "We must move into a new gear - setting out in detail our clear, positive alternative to a Labour government whose incompetence and untrustworthiness is beginning to disgust the working people it was elected to serve."
In his message, Mr Cameron praised the work of the Armed Forces, especially those personnel serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, and promised wholehearted backing to all sensible measures taken to strengthen the nation's borders, enhance the security services, and improve policing. And he said that in the year ahead, the Party must show "that it is the Conservative idea of social responsibility - not Gordon Brown's idea of state control and higher taxes - that will make life better for working people."
He said: "Conservatives believe that we're all in this together: social responsibility means understanding that everyone has a part to play in moving society forward - it's not just about what government can do, but about what all of us can do. "
2007 will be the year that Labour's dark side comes to the fore. With Blair going and Brown coming, we need to prepare ourselves for an onslaught of negative campaigning and the politics of fear and division. In 2007, the real battle for Britain's future begins: Labour's state control versus Conservative social responsibility."
