Theresa May comes out fighting before General Election, vowing to boost economy and put Britain on right path for decades
Ahead of the General Election, Theresa May says she will boost Britain's economy and urges voters to stick with her
THERESA May outlined her vision for a better Britain yesterday and declared: “Stick with me. I’ve got a plan.”
The PM admitted she had barely started her task of transforming the nation after just ten months in the job.
And she vowed to show what she is really made of if she is returned to Downing Street to finish the job on Thursday.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun on Sunday, Mrs May said: “We’ve really only just set out on this course and mustn’t risk turning back now.
“It’s not just about the next five years, it’s about setting our country on a path for decades to come.”
Mrs May pledged to build a Britain based on:
- MORE prosperity
- LOWER taxes
- MORE jobs
- A GOOD Brexit deal.
And she warned a Labour win “would see the economy slowly being wrecked” with the party’s spending plan being reliant on a “magic money tree”.
The PM spelled out the stark contrast between her solid ideas for government and Jeremy Corbyn’s promise of “unicorns and rainbows”.
Handing the Labour leader the keys to No10, she said, would wreck the economy by delivering a weak PM and a coalition of chaos with no clear plan for leaving the EU.
Mrs May insisted she was the only leader with a “clear vision” for the future up to and beyond Brexit.
She scoffed at Mr Corbyn’s misty-eyed monologues about giving young people hope for the future, saying: “You can’t give people hope if you’ve got a manifesto which would wreck the economy.
“We need to ensure that we have got a strong economy but we can build on that.
“I don’t want people to risk throwing away the hard work and sacrifice over the last few years.
“What I’m about is actually ensuring we get a government that will give the country the best hope for the future — and that’s me and the Conservative party.
“The hope I offer is the hope of actually grasping the opportunities that now open up to us, and that’s about believing in Britain and the British people.”
Mrs May spoke to us at a hotel in Leeds as she geared up for the final sprint towards polling day.
Despite a jittery campaign which has seen her huge lead in the polls shrink almost daily, she insisted she was relishing her long gruelling days on the stump.
She even claimed that getting out of the Westminster bubble to meet voters had made her a better politician — and she promised to do it more after June 8.
'Diabetes does not limit me'
DIABETIC Mrs May laughed off Labour smears that she was too “unwell” to be PM — and insisted there were “no limits” to her abilities.
She said her general health was good and her daily insulin injections had never got in the way of doing her job.
After Mrs May, who has Type 1 diabetes, skipped a live TV debate and radio appearance, Corbyn ally Paul Mason told the BBC: “We’re actually entitled to ask, is she unwell?”
But the PM pointed out that she was a great admirer of Olympic rower Sir Steve Redgrave, who has Type 2 diabetes.
She added: “He proved you can win an Olympic gold with diabetes, so there is no limit to what you can do with diabetes.”
Mrs May praised the NHS for her “fantastic treatment” and repeated her commitment to the service being free at the point of use.
She added: “Labour has claimed we are going to privatise it or somehow run it down, and at every election afterwards we have supported the NHS.
“Now we have put more funding into it and are continuing to do so.
The previous night we saw her being mobbed by guests when she popped into the hotel bar for a nightcap with campaign aides.
Women from a church group attending a faith conference lined up to pose for selfies with the vicar’s daughter and persuaded her to join them in an impromptu prayer.
Mrs May said: “One of the key things I have learned from this campaign is to get out of London and get around the country. That’s what I’ve been doing.
“I’ve sat down with steel workers in Scunthorpe, with fishermen in Mevagissey, with the oil and gas people doing great technological things with oil and gas up in Aberdeen.
“I went and watched them galvanising in South Wales. Getting out and actually seeing the real world outside Westminster, I think that’s hugely important.
“When I became Prime Minister, I talked about a country that works for everyone.
"When you get out and about and meet people, when you hear their stories and what’s happening in their town or area, that really drives home how important it is to make sure that, as we secure our economy — as we strengthen it and as it grows — we make sure this is felt across the whole country.”
The PM fiercely defended her fumbled attempt to fund social care — which led to an embarrassing and unprecedented mid-election U-turn — as merely “being open with people”.
She said getting Brexit right — with talks beginning in just a fortnight — was the key to building a more prosperous, independent Britain. Mrs May said: “It’s about being ready to go 11 days after the election, and having a plan, like we do.
“Labour don’t have a plan to start those Brexit negotiations — and if they do they keep changing it.
“I think Labour have had seven Brexit plans in nine months.
“It’s about having the strength to negotiate but also about the vision for the future. We need to recognise the opportunities that are opening up for us and grasp them.”
Blue raid for Brexit
TORIES are on course to pick up dozens of pro-Brexit Labour marginals, research suggests.
They will snatch 36 seats in the North West and Midlands if the big Ukip vote from 2015 turns blue, says WPI Strategy.
The targets are those where Labour has a majority under 5,000 but Ukip racked up more than 4,000 votes two years ago.
WPI’s Nick Faith said: “These represent prime pickings for the Conservatives. Turnout will, of course, be a major factor.”
Mrs May said it was her “firm intention” to reduce taxes on ordinary working families.
But she feared Labour would hike tax for workers and businesses to fund pie-in-the-sky promises that could only be delivered at a major cost.
Talk of Corbyn’s Labour taking Britain back to the hard times of the Seventies was the understatement of the year, the PM said.
She added: “His spending proposals would be the biggest rise in taxation in our peacetime history — so that’s going pretty far back.
“If we change course now, we would see the economy slowly being wrecked — and it might not be that slowly. His manifesto is about having a magic money tree that you can shake.
“If somebody wants some money spent, here’s the magic money tree.
“Jobs would go and we would see businesses leaving this country because Jeremy Corbyn wants to put corporation tax up.
“The figures in his manifesto don’t add up.
“There’s a big black hole there and that’s got to be paid for somehow, and most people know that when there’s a Labour government everybody pays for it out of their pockets.”
May return is odds on
THERESA May is the hot favourite to stay at No10 — with her party 1/8 to win most seats and Labour 5/1.
The Tories are 1/4 to win an overall majority, with “no party” 9/2 and Labour 10/1.
Mrs May is 1/4 to be PM on July 1 with Jeremy Corbyn rated a 7/2 chance.
Punters expecting a shock Tory flop are backing Boris Johnson as next PM at 25/1.
Ladbrokes said: “Bets continue to flood in for Labour but while their odds have shortened it still only represents a 17 per cent chance of victory.”
Mrs May will be “out and about” across the country over the next few days but said she had not had time to see where the campaign will take her.
But she said: “The big message I will want people to focus on is the crucial choice — it’s not just one of two people who are going to be PM.
“It’s about getting Brexit right but also taking this country beyond Brexit.
“It’s about having a vision for a stronger, independent, more prosperous Britain.
“I have that vision because I believe in Britain and in the British people.”
Inspiring moments
THE highlight of Mrs May’s tour of Britain came in Yorkshire when she met a young mum who had brought her eight-year-old daughter along.
The PM said: “She said they had talked about the election in school.
"Not only did she know the name of the Prime Minister but she also knew what a manifesto was.
“She said it was ‘a book for how you want to run the country’.
"I thought that was hugely impressive but she was also really sweet.”