I very much hope that everybody has enjoyed – even recovered from – the Christmas festivities and, together with my fellow Association officers, take this opportunity to wish you all the happiest of New Years.

2010 is the first of two crucial election years, since 2011 will see elections for the whole of the Shepway District Council. But first, there is a General Election to be won - to be won for the Conservatives, for David Cameron, for Damian here in Folkestone and Hythe, for Charlie Elphicke in Dover and Deal, and for our country. After all the false starts and speculation, now we know for sure that the country will finally have a chance to vote for change this year. The gloves are already off and the arguments have begun. Most voters might be contemplating the prospect of months of electioneering with emotions somewhere on a scale between indifference and dread. That is something we need to change over the weeks and months ahead. This is well and truly recognised by David Cameron, who explained in his New Year message that ‘the expenses scandal is not a chapter that comes to a close as we move into a new year - it is an ongoing reminder of a deeper breakdown in trust between politicians and the public.’ He went on to say that there are many causes: ‘Politicians who think they have the answer to everything and just can't bear to leave people alone to get on with their lives. Politicians who can't bring themselves to recognise any good in their opponents and refuse to work together to get things done. Politicians who never admit they're wrong and never acknowledge that they've made a mistake. A sense that people and their real-life problems are completely left out.‘ To which I would add a government that has been in office for far too long, which has a monumental record of failure, and which has succeeded only in debasing politics in our country. In what is surely destined to become our manifesto slogan, we simply can’t go on like this.

Our party leader’s resolution for this new year is to work harder for a new politics in this country. He asks us to be positive about our own policies on the doorstep as well as pointing out the dire consequences of our opponents' policies. But above all, he wants us to be honest about the severe problems facing the country and how we can solve them. He knows that, once the battle is over, we will need to rise above our differences and come together under the strong and united leadership of a new Conservative Government because that is the only way that we will sort out Britain's problems, halt our decline, and give this country the success that we all know we can achieve. I know that some members, myself among them, are deeply disappointed that we are no longer able to have a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. This is of course because Gordon Brown reneged on Labour’s promise to hold a referendum, made at the 2005 General Election. The Conservatives voted against the treaty in Parliament, but sadly we were not in government. And once all 27 EU member states (including the Irish second time round) had finally ratified the Treaty, it became law and there was then nothing more any of us could do. Voters need to be reminded of this on the doorstep. We have of course promised that, once in government, we will enshrine in law that any future European Treaty proposal  will need the consent of the people in a referendum. And there are plenty of other reasons why a Conservative Government will make a huge difference. Here’s just a few of them. An economic policy that focuses upon a huge reduction in the borrowing and debt that will be the legacy of Brown’s Government. An end to taxpayer subsidy of the trade union movement. The abolition of ID cards. An annual cap on immigration from outside the EU. An independent medical examination of every incapacity benefit claimant. The recognition of marriage in the tax system. The abolition of regional government and scores of quangos. The replacement of the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights. The abolition of inheritance tax for all but millionaires. The protection of private schools from interference from the Charity Commission. The freezing of the BBC licence fee. The repeal of the ban on foxhunting. And a 10% reduction in the number of MPs. Plenty there to campaign on!

That campaigning now starts in earnest, both here in the Folkestone and Hythe constituency, and In neighbouring Dover, a seat we must take from Labour if the Conservatives are to form a majority Government. Your Officers and Branch Chairmen will shortly be enlisting canvassing and delivery help in every ward, and this will continue every week right up to the General Election. Please help as much as you can. Please also renew your membership subscription when Gordon’s letter arrives (in most cases, later this month) and respond to the invitation to contribute to our Election Fighting Fund that will come from Michael and Gordon. Moreover, I want to see plenty of fundraising and social events arranged in every single branch between now and the Election, events that I hope you will support, and to which you will bring friends who are supporters of the party, if not yet members.

We are indeed ‘all in this together’. The election could come at any time between March and early June, and it is by no means ‘in the bag’. We shall all need to make a contribution to the campaign, and this can be done in many different ways. Just imagine how we shall all feel when this dreadful, feckless Government  is finally evicted from office some time this spring, and David Cameron is standing on the steps of Number Ten, and Damian and Charlie are heading for Westminster. It will be just like 1979 all over again!  I know I can rely upon your campaigning efforts, on your generosity and, above all else, on your loyalty to our great party.

Ever onwards and upwards! 

Russell Tillson