Tories unveil manifesto
Updated on 11 April 2005
Conservative leader Michael Howard has launched his party's general election manifesto, insisting it was "time for change".
Michael Howard revealed the Conservative manifesto.
Howard said he now led a "changed Conservative Party" and pledged to "battle relentlessly" to sort out the problems facing modern Britain.
Speaking at his party's campaign headquarters in central London, Howard outlined the manifesto's key pledges on cleaner hospitals, more police, school
discipline, controlled immigration, lower taxes and accountability.
He said a vote for Labour and Tony Blair would be a reward for eight years of "broken promises" and urged the electorate not to vote for "five more years of failure".
The Conservative Party manifesto
"You don't have to settle for that," Howard said. "Use your vote to tell Mr Blair that it's just not good enough.
"Use your vote to take a stand. It's time for change. It's time for action."
Howard began the manifesto launch by saying he had fought many battles in his life and that now he was going to "battle for Britain".
He admitted the manifesto did not have his picture on the cover, but said that instead it had "the simple longings of the British people - people who feel
forgotten and ignored".
Howard said people longed for hospitals that were clean and for more police on the streets "to enforce respect, discipline and the law".
He also said people were longing to see controlled immigration after "eight years of chaos" under Blair.
He said people were longing for a government that gave them value for money and lower taxes.
"Mr Blair's Government is taking more and more of people's hard-earned money, and wasting it," he said.
Howard said people wanted politicians to be accountable and said that on May 5 they could vote to "bring an end to the years of let-down" by electing
the Conservative Party.
"On May 5 you can let the sunshine of hope break through the clouds of disappointment we all feel," he said.
"We've got so much going for us in this country. I believe these islands are home to the most talented, creative hard-working decent people on ear.
"Twenty-first century Britain should be a place of optimism, dynamism and unprecedented progress. It may not feel like that today but there's no reason it can't feel like that tomorrow."
