Diane Abbott speech to Labour Party Conference

Diane
Abbott MP, Shadow Home Secretary, speaking at Labour Party Conference,
said:

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Good morning conference.

It is a pleasure, and a privilege to
address this conference as Shadow Home Secretary.

But I would like to begin by thanking the
members and supporters up and down the country, and those of you in this hall,
who helped to deliver the stunning advance in this year’s General Election.

You were the architects of our success.
And you were able to do it because: you believed in our values; you believed in
our manifesto and, above all, you believed in the Labour party leadership.

Many commentators did not foresee the
General Election result that we had.

Some even said that we would be
annihilated. But today the Labour party is stronger than ever, we are still
standing… I am still standing.

But there is much more to do. We have to
get rid of this appalling FAILING Tory government. We have to win the next
General Election. Whenever it comes. AND WE WILL.

The theme of this session is “Protecting
Our Communities”.

And there is no greater responsibility
for government than keeping the nation safe from the menace of TERRORISM. 
Tragically last week we saw the fifth terror incident this year at Parsons
Green tube station. This comes after the terrorist atrocities at: Westminster;
the Manchester Arena; London Bridge; Borough Market and Finsbury
Park.   Looking back we must pay tribute to: the brave police
officers; firefighters; NHS workers and transport police who ran towards danger
and rose to the challenge of keeping us safe.

The Tories have no respect for public
sector workers as their unfair public sector pay cap shows. But in its moments
of greatest peril the nation turns to its public sector workers. They should
NOT be played off against each other and they should ALL be paid properly.

Because you cannot keep the nation secure
on the cheap.

Yet only on Friday the Chair of the
National Police Chiefs Council warned that that counter-terror funding to
police forces was to be cut by seven-point-two per-cent over the next 3 years.

Yet, Home Office documents reveal that
the budget for the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism will fall by more
than fifty million pounds over the next two years.

We
oppose these cuts and Labour will reverse them in Government.

And, as part of combatting terrorism
effectively, Labour is committed to a thorough review of the “Prevent” strand
of counter-terrorism policy. Increasingly there is a concern that Prevent is a tainted brand and not fit
for purpose.

Trampling on our civil liberties will do
the terrorists work for them.

What makes us free is what makes us safe.

And what makes us safe is what will make
us free.

Another key aspect of protecting
communities is POLICING. I have represented an inner city constituency for thirty
years. I know it is the poor, women and minorities who suffer most from crime.
I have always taken fighting crime very seriously, and will continue to do so
as Labour Home Secretary.

And the reality of the Tory record on law
and order is a long way from their rhetoric. Since 2010 Theresa May has been
Home Secretary and now Prime Minister. But ON HER WATCH: the number of police
officers has dropped by twenty thousand. Two-point-three-billion has been cut
from police budgets.

The truth is austerity undermines
policing in exactly the same way that it undermines our health service. We see
the consequences of this around us, with rising levels of homicide, knife, and
gun crime. And the police themselves are suffering from spiralling levels of
overwork and stress.

Labour in government will work to make
communities safe. And we will recruit ten thousand new police officers working
in the community.

Another key aspect of protecting
communities is keeping them safe from FIRE risk. Once again, this is something
where this Tory government has let the people of this country down.

And the extent of their failure is
symbolised by the Grenfell Fire.

Who can forget those images of Grenfell
tower ablaze? And this did not happen in a slum in an impoverished country far
away. It happened here in Britain, in one of the wealthiest areas of the
country, in one of the richest countries in the world.

The Tory controlled Royal Borough of
Kensington and Chelsea treated the residents of Grenfell like second class
citizens.

And when the disaster struck the Royal
Borough’s response was shameful. Even now, out of the all the families made
homeless only a handful have been offered permanent homes. And this in a
borough with over two thousand empty properties. Am I the only person wondering
why Commissioners have not been sent into the FAILING Royal Borough of
Kensington and Chelsea?

But Tory failure in relation to Grenfell
goes further than the borough council. Events at Grenfell are also a direct
consequence of: deregulation of fire standards and inspection; privatisation
and outsourcing.

We demand justice for the Grenfell
survivors. They will not be FORGOTTEN.
We demand an immigration amnesty for former Grenfell residents so they ALL feel
able to come forward for help.

Labour in government will recruit three
thousand additional firefighters. We fully support the campaigning of the Fire
Brigades Union, against the cuts. We all saw the photographs of the brave smoke
blackened firefighters insisting on going back into the flames to save lives.
We relied on our fire brigade at Grenfell. And the fire brigade must be the
lead agency for assessing risk, fire inspections and proper sign-off for all
major works and refurbishment.

No more outsourcing to the private
sector.

And I cannot leave this subject without
paying tribute to my colleague Emma Dent Coad, the MP for Kensington.

As a new MP, she found herself having to
deal with a national tragedy on the scale of Grenfell. She has offered love and
leadership to her community in full measure and conference should applaud her.

Emma has shown that Labour can make a
difference EVERYWHERE. And that Labour can WIN anywhere.

We finally had an Inquiry
into the Hillsborough tragedy, thanks to tireless campaigning of the people of Liverpool with
the support of my colleagues Andy Burnham and Steve
Rotherham. But as Labour Home secretary I promise: a full Inquiry into
Orgreave; an inquiry into the trials of Shrewsbury twenty-four AND an
inquiry into what happened to the thirty-seven Cammell Laird workers.

They ALL deserve justice

Another vital Home Affairs issue is
IMMIGRATION.

Tory opportunism on immigration is a
disgrace. They continue to talk about bogus immigration targets, which they
have not met and will never meet.

The Tories have weaponised immigration.

They have pandered to anti-immigrant
sentiment whatever the cost to the economy and communities.

Many of you will have seen the Panorama
program which revealed the brutal regime at Brooke House detention centre.

Labour will put an end to indefinite
immigration detention.

There ARE real labour market issues. But
the Labour party under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn will not scapegoat
immigrants for these issues.

Labour in government will work across
departments to counter the effects of deregulation, liberalisation and
weakening of trade union rights and freedoms.

 

Far from immigrants being a drain on the
public sector the truth is that, without immigrants, and the children of
immigrants we would not have a National Health Service we have today.

And of course EU citizens in this country
also play a vital role in the economy.

The willingness of the Theresa May to use
them as bargaining chips in the negotiations is shameful. We will guarantee the
rights of EU nationals living in this country. It is both vital for our economy
and it’s the right thing to do.

I have visited refugee encampments in
Calais, Greece and Lebanon and seen the pitiful conditions that so many
refugees live in.

And even in Britain the current
arrangements for housing refugees are not fit for purpose. They are not fair to
refugees and they are not fair to our communities. We will review these arrangements.

Labour under the leadership of Jeremy
Corbyn will fulfil its responsibilities to refugees, in particular child
refugees.  Parliament passed the Dubs Amendment and we will implement it
fully.

The watchword for our approach to
immigration in government will be fairness and the reasonable management of
migration.

But as the child of immigrants,
Conference must believe me when I say that, under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership,
immigration policy will always be shaped by enduring Labour values.

Conclusion

Thank
you again, Conference. For coming to Brighton, for listening to me, for
participating in the debates to come and helping to formulate policy.