IDS in Rugby

Apologies for not keeping up with the blog over the past seven days! Last Friday, Iain Duncan Smith was our guest in Rugby at our annual dinner. Beforehand he met with our three local newspapers and gave a reporter from each of them a flavour of the material his Social Justice Policy Group will be brining out in the next few weeks. Just a few statistics: by the age of just three, children from disadvantaged backgrounds are as much as a year behind their middle class peers; nearly 60% of prisoners re-offend within two years; one in three 17 to 30 year olds is classed as a heavy drinker; only 3% of people with a registered disability are in work; research suggests 300,000 elderly people could be the victim of abuse in their own homes. Iain spoke about all of these issues and drew attention to the fact that there has always been compassion within Conservatism and that people who are Conservatives are often at the forefront of providing solutions, often without making a big issue of their activity. I know that following his visit, many more people will be looking at the Policy Group’s report when it is published.

Great article & picture in today’s Rugby Advertiser, but unfortunately not available online.