Gillian Keegan, Minister of Education, spoke at the Center for Policy Research's Margaret Thatcher Annual Conference. Photo: Anadolu Agency
People Need The Minister of Education said we must learn to live within our means as the government works to bring down inflation.
Gillian Keegan said that “we, too, must exercise restraint when necessary laying out their political and economic ideologies in a Monday afternoon speech that sparked speculation about a future leadership bid.
Presenting herself as the heiress of Margaret Thatcher, she said that raising public sector wages risked fueling inflation and making everyone poorer. /p>
“Whatever businesses have to tighten their belts when sales are down, we too must exercise restraint when necessary,” she said at the Center for Policy Research’s annual Margaret Thatcher Conference in London.
Gillian Keegan presented herself as a Westminster outsider who grew up in a working-class family in Liverpool. Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP
“Labour politicians tried to redefine it as 'austerity'. I prefer to call it living within your means. You probably have to be a simple northerner to call a spade a spade.”
She quoted her political heroine, Mrs. Thatcher, who once said: “Penny does not fall from heaven, it must be earned here on earth.” her position as a potential future leader candidate if the Conservatives lose power in the next election.
It comes as Rishi Sunak was threatened with a potential Tory mutiny last week after Boris Johnson, Nadine Dorries and Nigel Adams said they were resigning immediately, prompting three by-elections at a time when the Conservatives were well behind from Labor in the polls.
An Economic Tale
Mrs Keegan said that, like Mrs Thatcher, she learned about economics while working in a store at the age of 14.
She said pushing for tax cuts before dealing with fundamentals like high inflation was an «economic fairy tale» in a clear blow to former Downing Street residents Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng.
She said: “Funding expensive projects or cutting taxes without sound money and financial discipline is a fairytale economy.
“Forget about this simple lesson and we will forget about Thatcherism.
“In addition, the selective selection of fragments of the legacy, masquerading as Thatcherism, is a betrayal of her great heritage. It’s not enough to look the part, you have to play the part, understanding how the real economy works to bring about real and lasting change.”
Based on her reputation for being tough on strikes, she quoted Ms Thatcher, who said, «As much as we want to do a lot in the public sector, there is nothing sensible or moral about spending other people's money that we don't have.»
Ms Keegan has refused to meet with the teachers' unions after they turned down an offer of a £1,000 lump sum for the current school year and an average 4.5% pay increase next year. Unions are threatening a coordinated strike in July and more strikes in the fall.
Ms Keegan said if inflation does not come down, teachers, parents and children «will all suffer».
A working-class family in Liverpool
She said: «It's a spiral that makes us all poorer, but it looks like some unions are more focused on their own narrow interests than our broader welfare as a society.»
In a very personal speech, she imagined herself as a Westminster outsider, raised in a working-class family in Liverpool and having a successful career in business before becoming a politician. She was elected MP for Chichester in 2017.
She said she took her husband's last name when she ran as a Conservative candidate to protect her family in the Labor stronghold in Liverpool.
Mrs Keegan, who left school at 16 to work as an apprentice in an automobile factory, said the government is «getting rid of the soft bigotry that says technical education courses do not equal academic education.»
She quoted the government promotes apprenticeship programs where students learn while working in industry as an attempt to demonstrate that universities are not seen as «the only way to a good life».
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