This election has really been shaken up. It's really come alive. The pace is quickening, the interest is growing.
Thousands of people who weren't thinking about voting are now thinking about voting and we have got just over two weeks to make our big argument about what this election is all about. And this election is about a really big choice.
Do you want to go on with what you've got? Do you want another five years, do you want another five years of Gordon Brown? Or do you want real change with the Conservatives, change that can deliver, change that works, change that can get the job done? That's what this election is all about.
And just think about the problems we face in this country. We've got an economy mired in debt that needs to get going. We've got deep social problems. And we've got a political system that's in a complete mess. To sort out these problems we need decisive leadership. Not uncertainty, not fudge, not muddle. And you'll only get strong and decisive leadership from a Conservative victory on May the 6th.
Any, any other outcome, any other vote, could lead to a sort of stagnation, to a sort of haggling and a bickering amongst politicians and we won't get done what so badly needs to be done in our country.
So that's the message we have to take to the country but it's not just about strong and decisive leadership that only the Conservatives can bring. It's also about a choice of our big vision. We believe that in this country the politicians have been taking the public for mugs for far too long. They've been saying over and over again just one more law can be passed, just one more regulation issued, just one more bit of public money spent and all your problems are going to be solved. We know that is a big lie.
The change we need in our country is recognising we'll only really make things better when we all come together, when we all work together, when we all join together, when we work out that we're all in this together. That's the change that our country needs. It's the big society that we've been talking about in this General Election.
Take crime. Does anyone really believe that one more law, and God knows we've had enough laws in the last fifteen years, does anyone really believe that one more law is going to crack crime? We're, we're only going to crack crime when we all recognise our responsibilities, when we start bringing up our children properly, when we make sure there's good discipline at school, when we all work with the police on the streets to make sure our streets area safe. That's what the big society is all about. And to those people who say, well people don't want to take part in a big society, they don't want to play a role in the big society, I would say that's rubbish. They're insulting the charities, the social enterprises, the businesses, that make this country work and make our society as strong as it can be.
And let's tell people about the real change you can get from the big society. If you want to cut crime we will help you cut crime by being able to elect your own Police Commissioner. If you want to get better education we're going to bust open the state education system and allow new churches and charities and private schools and voluntary bodies come in and set up great schools for us to send our children to in the state sector.
And if you want to crack one of the biggest problems we've had in this country and we have today then the big society has the answer. And the problem is unemployment and welfare. Do you know what, even before we went in to this recession we had been leaving far too many of our countrymen and women stuck on the dole, stuck on incapacity benefit without giving them real help. And after this recession today we've got one in five young people not able, not actually being in work, and we've got one in four of the working population not having a job. Now does anyone believe that one more state scheme, one more new deal, one more thinking the unthinkable and then not thinking it at all or whatever they did is going to work? Of course not.
So we have got a new answer. We are saying let's get the great social enterprises, the great private training companies, in to help us get Britain back to work. And we will say to people that if you can work and if you want to work we will do everything we can to help you. We will give you the training, we will give you the support, we will give you the advice to get you going and get you back at work. But we will say something else. That for far too long in this country people who can work, people who are able to work, and people who choose not to work, you cannot go on claiming welfare like you are now.
I have, I have lost count in this election campaign of the number of people who've told me how angry it makes them. One person said to me, 'I get up at six, I go to work at seven, and I walk past house after house where the curtains are closed and I know that person isn't going to work, even though they could go to work. Why should I pay my taxes so that someone else can choose to live on welfare?'
Now we are a compassionate and tolerant and generous nation. To people who cannot work, to people who are disabled, to people who are looking for work and want work, we will always help you, we will always stand by you, but we will not go on helping people who can work, who are offered a job and refuse to take it. And within six months of taking office we will set out a new welfare contract that says the first time you refuse a job that you could do you lose a month's benefit, the second time, three months' benefit, and then you lose benefit for three years. We cannot go on as we are paying people who could work but who refuse to do so. That is a big change that's coming with a Conservative Government.
So my friends, we have just over two weeks to go, and we have to have the clearest and the simplest message to take to every doorstep in this constituency and around the country at this election. And the clear message is this. You can only be sure of change with the Conservatives. Any other vote and you could wake up on May the 7th and found that, find that Gordon Brown and the same team are still running the country. Any other vote and you could end up with a hung Parliament and indecision and indecisiveness and all the problems frankly we have right now.
That's not a solution to our problems; we need strong and decisive Government to get this economy moving, to stop Labour's jobs tax, to deal with the deficit, to bring us the big society, to tackle the big social problems, to clean up our politics, to cut the cost of the Westminster and the Whitehall gravy train and to get our country moving again. No other party can be sure of bringing the changes that we will bring.
And I would say to people that this is the moment our country wants change. Everybody knows we don't want to go on as we are. Everybody knows it is time for change and they can see from the Conservatives the change that you would get. A new team running the country on May the 7th, no doubt about it. A new approach to our economy. Cutting out the waste, stopping Labour's jobs tax, dealing with the deficit and getting the economy moving. A new approach to our social problems, not pretending the politicians have got all the answers but saying if we come together, work together, we can solve our problems.
And a real clean up, and I mean a real clean up in Westminster. We will not go on as we are, I want complete transparency on MPs' expenses, I want limits on what MPs can claim for, I want a smaller House of Commons costing less money, I want to shut the MPs' final salary pension scheme so we can look the rest of the public sector in the face. I want new rules so when MPs misbehave and are found misbehaving you the public can sack them, you don't have to wait for a General Election.
That's the change you'll get with the Conservatives. Not endlessly fiddling around with the electoral system but saying let's make it fairer by making sure every constituency's the same size. But let's not give up the thing about our electoral system that really works. When you're fed up with your Government, when you want change, you can throw them out of office.
It happened to us in 1997 and I think if we're frank we were a bit tired, we'd run out of steam and frankly we probably deserved it. But what is absolutely sure is this lot after thirteen years of debt and waste and taxes, after thirteen years of failure, after thirteen years of broken promises, and after these last years of drift and dither and despair and Brown, never has a Government more deserved to be turfed out of office, and it is our job to make sure we get real change in our country when that happens.