GSLP-Liberals-Manifesto-2019

Our credentials are clear. We have already delivered
Commonwealth Park, which our opponents criticised until
we finished it and our people loved it. We changed G1 from
a Jaguar to a Tesla and our fleet of passenger vehicles is now
hybrid. All our vehicle fleet will move to electric or hybrid
now. We did all these things in the teeth of opposition from
the GSD, whose only track record on the environment is to
be inconsistent in their approach to protecting it!
EQUALITY
The changes we have made in Gibraltar over the past eight
years have not just been physical. We have also delivered
a massive change in attitude to equality. In every area,
from gender equality to correcting inequality arising from
discrimination against those with disabilities or against
our Moroccan or Indian communities, we have been there.
Recent ‘Pride’ marches have literally just been the very tip of
the iceberg of what we have done.
Now we see some has beens in this election campaign who
want to dial the clock back on equality. I think Gibraltar will
have no time for that. At the same time some of the novices
in the campaign present themselves as more ‘progressive’
than us. The reality is that the GSLP Liberals have been
the only ones who have actually delivered equality in our
laws. We delivered in all areas by being both measured
and deliberate in our approach and in that way bringing our
community with us as we changed our society in a positive
and inclusive way. No one should minimise Samantha
Sacramento’s role in her determined pursuit of change on
the equality agenda, although you can see how some are
now trying to take credit for her 8 years of work.
OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU
Our manifesto is our commitment to you. It is one which
we strive to deliver in its entirety. It is more than just a wish
list which is how the GSD describes manifestos. This is why
I confess that I am disappointed that there are a number
of initiatives we have simply been unable to deliver in the
last four years because of Brexit. Despite the then leader of
the GSD after the Brexit referendum, Mr Feetham, having
invited me to completely abandon our 2015 manifesto, we
believed we had an obligation to deliver to you the things
that we had promised in the last General Election. I will now
also not shy away from my obligation to explain to you why
we have not completed some of our promises.
On the many projects and initiatives delivered during
the last four years, we have exceeded even our most
ambitious expectations. The University and the schools
we have delivered during this term of office - Notre
Dame First School, St Anne’s Upper and both Bayside and
Westside Comprehensive schools, the last three of which
we inaugurated formally last week - are truly special. It is
a highlight of my time in office to have watched my dear
friends, Gilbert Licudi and Dr John Cortes run with the dream
of an Education Revolution and to follow through. The
new schools are a secular temple to the commitment and
dedication of all the workers and teachers who have helped
to make them a reality. It is a symbol of the Gibraltarian’s
single-minded determination to be the best we can be. I
could not be prouder of those achievements!
ADAPT AND THRIVE
There are a variety of reasons why some initiatives have
not come to fruition in the last few years. Principally the
spectre of Brexit has played a significant role not just
in terms of the amount of Government time the issue
has taken up over the last three years. Also relevant has
been the international investment context. Changing
circumstances, allied to an ambitious programme of
development that has continued despite Brexit, have led
us to reconsider some of the Government’s plans to reset
our objectives accordingly.The decision not to proceed
with the Queen’s National Theatre is a product of this. Our
plans for the Queens were deliverable only with a very high
redevelopment of the site for luxury housing which we
decided we did not want to see there. We have therefore
gone back to the drawing board on that project. You can
now read more about our plans for a new National Theatre
and for the redevelopment of the Queens Cinema site for
affordable homes and rental housing for the elderly.
ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE & OUR
POST BREXIT ECONOMIC PLAN
We have delivered on the economic performance over the
last four years. Once again, Sir Joe Bossano’s predictions
on the economy have stood the test of time. In 2015 our
economic plan predicted that the economy would grow to
£2.4bn by March 2020. Our opponents used to laugh at our
predictions. I was happy to report at my Budget Address this
year that we had as good as hit that target a full year earlier
than anticipated. GDP was also up, as it has been every year
the GSLP Liberals have been in Government, by £177.8m -
a staggering growth rate of 8.2%. Net national debt is also
at a record low of 13.37% of GDP. The economy added 7%
more jobs than we had last year, taking us to 30,000 jobs
in Gibraltar. Another GSLP Liberal record. Private sector
growth was substantially responsible for that growth and, as
at summer this year, unemployment stands at just 33! The
Future Jobs Strategy our opponents said would never work
has delivered results. As usual, the GSD were wrong and we
were right.
As for prudence in our management of our public finances,
the one thing that our opponents do not highlight to you
is that in the last financial year we underspent by £4m, a
feat that has been possible thanks to the sterling work of
the Financial Secretary and his team at the Treasury, a feat
which silences the criticisms constantly unfairly levelled
upon us some years back by our political opponents.
Arrears owed to the Government are now down an
impressive £23.1m since 2016.
The Minimum Wage is legally prescribed to increase to
£7.50 over this and the next two financial years. We have
put it up every year since we were elected. Conversely the
GSD let five years pass without increasing the Minimum
Wage – on two occasions. In fact, in twelve out of the
sixteen years they were in power, the GSD did not raise the
Minimum Wage.
We have consistently provided support for all in our
...aspire to the best Gibraltar
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