Iain McNicol, General
Secretary of the Labour Party, speaking at Labour Party Conference,
said:

 

***CHECK AGAINST
DELIVERY***

 

Thank you, conference and
it’s great to be back in Brighton.

That’s Labour-run,
Tory-free Brighton & Hove.

Being back in Brighton
reminds me of so many Labour movement conferences: TUC, the Labour Party, my
union the GMB.

BUT there’s someone on my
mind this week.

Someone we’re missing.

That’s Mary Turner.

Mary was the very best of the
Labour movement.

Passionate about social
justice.

Driven by her values.

We miss her. I miss her.

We honour her memory.

Like Mary, I’ve always
believed there is power in a union.

When I was an organiser for
the GMB, I saw first-hand that without trade unions, the lives of working
people can be hell.

Without trade unions:

no limits on working hours,

no rest breaks,

no paid holidays,

no safety on the building
site or factory floor.

But there’s something more.

Mary Turner knew it:

trade unionism can take you
so far, but only Labour Governments can transform the lives of the many.

Our founders in 1900 knew it.

That’s why they started the
Labour Party in the first place.

To form governments and
deliver policies.

The welfare state.

The United Nations.

Comprehensive schools.

The Open University.

A national minimum wage.  Sure Starts for the children.

And the greatest achievement
of any government:

the National Health Service.

So this week in Brighton let
us focus on what the next Labour Government, led by Jeremy, will achieve.

How our generation will leave
a lasting legacy like the generation of ’45, or ’64, and ’97.

Let us start with the results
of the last general election.

Despite losing the election,
Labour outperformed expectations, and secured 41% of the vote, an increase of
nearly 9 points since 2015.

And whilst we should not
forget the six Labour seats we lost, we can be proud of the net gain of 30
seats, mostly from the Tories, in seats such as…..

Battersea,

Bedford,

Plymouth,

Cardiff North,

and Portsmouth South.

We won in Canterbury, where
Labour took the seat held continuously by the Tories and their like since
1295.  

And Labour is back in
Scotland.

Winning seven seats, with six
gains from the SNP.

 

Isn’t it marvellous to see so
many more Labour women elected, the highest proportion of the Parliamentary
Labour Party in our history?

More Labour MPs from Black
and Minority Ethnic backgrounds,

More Labour MPs with
disabilities,

More LGBT Labour MPs.

A Parliamentary Labour Party
that looks like the UK: modern, diverse, grounded in reality.

This was an election where
our online campaigning came into its own.

Labour had more than 1.2
million shares on Facebook.

We reached over 29 million
unique Facebook users.

In the last two days of the
campaign alone, 7.3 million individuals viewed our Get Out the Vote message on
Snapchat.

We used professional,
targeted, high-quality digital communications to support local campaigns, to
register people to vote, to guide activists to key seats, and to get out the
vote.

It was a brilliant campaign,
and we should applaud all those involved.

Victory next time is in
sight.

The campaign to win started
within hours of the election result.

Over the summer, Jeremy
completed his 50 Seat Tour, campaigning in

Bournemouth, Blackpool and
Bolton

Crawley, Carlisle and
Copeland

From Hastings to Harrow…

From Southampton to
Southport…

Aberconwy to Arfon…

Glasgow,

Rutherglen,  

The Western Isles,

Kirkcaldy,

Edinburgh and all points in
between.

Thousands of members have
been out on the doorsteps of Britain.

New members joining with
veterans.

Young with old.

That’s what I call real progress.

That’s what I call real momentum.

A united party, on the road
to victory.

Let me turn to the Labour
Party staff.

It is a daily privilege and
honour to work with the dedicated and talented party staff.

They are the best in the
business.

In the smoke and heat of an
election campaign, there is no-one better to have on your side.

In every one of the speeches
I’ve delivered as General Secretary, I have talked about the vital role of
party members.

Not just cogs in an election
machine, but as year-round advocates, developing policy, changing communities.

This conference thanks you,
for everything you do.

Today, I am proud to announce
we have 570,000 members, making the British Labour Party the largest political
party in Europe.

We’re picking up council
seats in places such as….

North Somerset,

Thanet,

Suffolk…

and Airdrie.

In Worthing, up the coast
from here, our candidate Becky Cooper won a council seat for Labour for the
first time in 30 years.

 

And next year we have local
elections across England, with millions going to the polls.

We are working hard to get
our parliamentary candidates in the places we need to win.

We will continue the work of
the Jo Cox Women In Leadership Programme, which has already seen two of its
alumni elected to Parliament.

And while I am happy to
debate it,

I will not give an inch,

nor make an apology,

for using All-Women
Shortlists to get even-more Labour women into Parliament.

In every one of my reports to
this conference, I’ve talked about the steady improvement in the party’s
finances.

It has taken a decade of hard
work, but we are today mortgage-free, debt-free, loan-free.

So this is today’s Labour.

Growing in size and
confidence.

Financially secure.

Reaching into the Tory
heartlands.

In contention to be the next
Government.

Labour has the leadership in
Jeremy, and the manifesto, the country is crying out for, on

education,

on health,

on social care,

on crime,

on transport,

on the environment,

on housing, and especially

on Brexit.

 

And on Europe, let me say how
much we value the work of our colleagues in the European Parliament, and the
leadership of Glenis Willmott.

Glenis: thank you for your
service to our movement, party and country.

The Tories may be in office,
but they have no mandate,

no majority,

no unity,

no authority.

But that doesn’t stop them.

They think they’re born to
rule.

So who is going to stop them?

Not the Lib Dems.

Not UKIP.

Not the SNP.

And definitely not the DUP.

Who is going to stop them?

We are.

Since the election, thanks to
the surge in our support, we have prevented the Tories from….

legalising fox hunting….

building more grammar
schools….

Scrapping free school
meals…

Ending the winter fuel
payment….

And imposing a Dementia Tax.

Labour has dumped the Tory
election manifesto in the shredder, and left Theresa May with nothing to say.

I said at the start how much
I value the trade unions, and value the advances we have made for British
workers.

But imagine if all of these
hard-won gains are flushed down the drain in a Tory Brexit.

Imagine the Britain our
children and grandchildren would inherit.

Only Labour can deliver a
Brexit which looks after the many.

Finally, conference I hope
you enjoy your time in Brighton & Hove.

A shining, diverse, European
city, everything the Tories hate.

I propose only one
improvement.

It’s a small thing.

It’s not much to ask.

Let’s make the trains safer,
more secure, more reliable

and run on time;

Let’s nationalise Southern
Rail!

Enjoy conference, and thank
you.

Ends

9ٖ��J%z���=

Carwyn Jones AM, Leader of Welsh Labour, First
Minister of Wales, speaking at
the Labour Party Conference in Brighton today, said:

***CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY***

I
want to begin by extending my thanks to Christina Rees, our Shadow Secretary of
State for Wales. Sadly she can’t be with us this week as she’s nursing a broken
foot.

I
don’t think there’s any truth in the rumour that she broke it kicking Alun
Cairns around Parliament in the first week back, but we’ll ask her when we see
her.

We
all wish you a speedy recovery, Chris.

Secondly,
let me say thank you to Jeremy for his continuing friendship and leadership.

Thank
you, Jeremy for the dignity you showed in a tough general election campaign.

The
Tories came after you in a personal and offensive manner, and you stood up to
that onslaught and led the party with great determination and defied the odds.

This
time last year, the Tories thought they were marching to a 100-seat majority.
Right now, they’re scared of their own shadows, let alone another general
election. What a turn around that is.

Conference,
when I heard Theresa May was giving a speech in Florence, I thought how apt.
Not so much in relation to the Renaissance, but more with a thought to the
works of that great medieval poet, Dante. It has been clear to me for some time
that the Department for Exiting the European Union regard the “Divine Comedy”
as some sort of instruction manual. That masterpiece imagines in glorious
detail the dark and terrifying journey through the nine circles of hell.

Well,
we’ve been going on our own journey for 15 months and still remain in the first
circle of hell – limbo – a remarkable achievement. But, then Dante did have
Virgil as his spiritual guide.

David
Davis has got Nigel Farage. The book really is worth a read as Brexit
re-interpreted.  At one point, at the
close of chapter XXI, Dante witnesses a demon mobilising his troops by using
“an ass as a trumpet.”  Which goes to
show that every century has its own Boris.

Conference,
this week in Wales we marked the 20th anniversary of the vote to establish
devolution in our country.  It was a
turning point for Wales, and a turning point for our Party. The list of achievements
is one of which we can be proud – and it belongs not just to Welsh Labour, but
to the whole Party and movement who made devolution possible.

·        
Unemployment
in Wales – routinely lower than the UK average. More jobs, better jobs – Welsh
Labour delivering in Government.

·        
Wales,
the first country to move to a deemed consent model for organ donation in the
UK. People owe their lives to that change in the law. Better laws, saving
lives, Welsh Labour delivering in Government.

·        
Free
school breakfasts in primary schools. Giving children the best start to the
day, giving parents a helping hand, giving teachers the attention they deserve
in the classroom. Welsh Labour delivering in Government.

·        
The
attainment gap between better off and poorer pupils in England and Scotland
continues to grow – in Wales it continues to shrink. A fair start to everyone
in Wales, no matter where you’re born – that is Welsh Labour delivering in
Government.

·        
Our
university students in Wales getting the best deal anywhere in the UK.

·        
And
who gets the best deal of all? Those students who can least afford university –
that is Welsh Labour delivering in Government.

But,
it isn’t just about policy. It’s also about having a voice and someone to fight
your corner. This week I gave a cautious welcome to the news that Tata Steel
and ThyssenKrupp entered the first stage of a merger deal.  A deal that should safeguard sites and
thousands of jobs in Wales.

Does
anyone honestly think that without devolution, without a Welsh Labour
Government determined to take measures to save that industry, putting money on
the table when others looked away, that those steel jobs would still be in
Wales today?

Would
the Tories have knocked down walls for the people of Port Talbot, Shotton,
Newport or Llanelli? We all know the answer to that.

With
our colleagues in the trades unions, our MPs, our AMs and local councillors,
Welsh Labour stood up for the steel industry – and we did what those banners
and badges asked us to do – we saved our steel.

Conference,
we are proud to work with our trades union colleagues in Government.

Together
we have built a genuine social partnership and together we are making Wales a
Fair Work Nation.

And
Conference, earlier this month our Trades Union Act received Royal Assent.

That
means that the pernicious attempts of the Tory Government to attack workers’
rights in Wales have been dis-applied, and, once again, workers in Wales have
the protections we fought so hard to achieve. Protections everyone deserves.

That’s
Welsh Labour delivering in Government.

Devolution
has given Wales a voice. And with Welsh Labour that voice speaks the language
of social justice, fairness, good work, decent pay and thriving communities.

Devolution
has given us something else. A new-found confidence. It is something I see
every day in young people in work, and in our schools and colleges. So where
has that confidence come from? If you could personalise it, you’d have to give
credit to my predecessor, Rhodri Morgan. As you know, Rhodri passed away
earlier this year, leaving behind a fantastic roller coaster of a political
career, a wonderful family and an ocean of anecdotes.  In May the Welsh Parliament held the closest
thing Wales will ever have to a state funeral, and we gave Rhodri the perfect
send off.

It
started late. It finished even later. In between there was a fantastic mix of
poetry, politics, sport, laughter and tears. And at the end, no-one really
thought about Rhodri the politician, but Rhodri as a big-hearted, intelligent
and inquisitive man who loved his family above all else. A fine role model, who
we all miss.

Rhodri
always said that Labour did best when it managed to mix together the mushy peas
of old Labour with the guacamole of New Labour. Now, I’ve been in Rhodri’s
kitchen and I can tell you that when it came to culinary combinations, Rhodri
was not always the person you would go to – but on the politics, he, as so
often, was absolutely right.  He was
absolutely right about the need for our Party to reflect all sections of our
membership, and all parts of this country.

That
was the key to our success in Wales in the last three elections.

When
the Party at UK level was under serious pressure, our unique and united Welsh
Labour identity meant we remained relevant and competitive in the Assembly and
local elections, when sadly others struggled. It was the unity that gave us
success against the odds. And when in the last days of the general election the
whole party surged, it meant we, in Wales, were starting from a higher
base-line and, as a result, achieved 50% of the vote for the first time in 16
years.

Our
identity as a Party is robust, authentic and complementary to the UK Party as a
whole. And, just as a country we will not countenance a roll-back of our
devolution settlement; there can be no question of Welsh Labour’s long fought
for, and hard won voice being diluted as we look to the future of our Party. I
know that both Jeremy and Tom understand this, and I welcome their unwavering
support for Wales. Thank you, both.

Because
Conference, we know Labour works best when we work together. Together, we
fought a hugely successful general election campaign – not just holding on to
what we had, but winning back seats for Labour.

Vale
of Clwyd – according to the bookmakers, Tories were 1/5 on to win. Result?
Labour Gain. Gower – according to the bookies, Tories were 1/9 on to win.
Result? Labour Gain. Cardiff North – Tories were 1/9 on. Result? Labour Gain.

Working
together we have exposed the Tories on broken promise after broken promise. On
rail electrification in the north and the south – and we know what’s coming
next – they’ll axe Swansea’s Tidal Lagoon.

But,
because Welsh Labour is in Government – there are things we can do. We are
already delivering on our manifesto promises.

·        
100,000
new good quality, all-age apprenticeships.

·        
The
most generous childcare offer for working parents anywhere in the UK.

·        
And
20,000 more affordable homes.

We
can also deliver on priorities for the future of our NHS.

There
is no privatisation of the NHS in Wales – and whilst we have a Welsh Labour
Government there will be no privatisation of the NHS in Wales. Only in Wales
are ambulance crews hitting their targets – because we’ve worked with the
service and designed a better way of working. And next week, the Welsh
Government will publish new guidance for our pioneering legislation on safe
nurse staffing levels in Wales.  

Conference,
Wales is the first country in Europe to legislate on nurse staffing levels. I
am proud that Wales has taken the lead in this area, empowering nurses and
ensuring the resources are there to care sensitively for patients. Legislation
that the Party promised in the UK manifesto in May, already being delivered by
a Labour Government in Wales.

And
working together we are making our communities better, fairer places to live.

When
Carolyn Harris MP began her brave and dignified campaign to end child burial
charges in the UK, we in Wales did not wait for the Tory Government to act. We
said, yes, that is the right thing to do, and, as a result, the Welsh Labour
Government has announced the abolition of all child burial charges in our country.
That is what we can do when we work together.

And
the country needs us to work together more than ever before, as we fight the
fundamentalists pursuing a hard Brexit. We are fighting tooth and nail against
the Tory power grab, dressed up as the EU Withdrawal Bill. It shows up their
Government as simply incapable of listening to other people’s views, or
respecting their legitimate interests – in other words, as lacking the basic
skills needed to negotiate successfully.

And
looking at the way in which they are failing the country in their negotiations
with the EU, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised.

I’m
delighted at the support we are receiving from Labour colleagues in Parliament
at fighting this real threat to devolution as we have known it for the past 20
years.

I’m
also incredibly proud of the work we have done together already – our team in
Cardiff Bay has worked hand in glove with Keir Starmer and the front bench in
developing our Brexit policies. As a result of that work, in Labour we now have
a sensible, evidence-based, economically sound set of principles and ideas that
can see this country through Brexit in an orderly manner.  

Contrast
that with the spectacle of the Tory approach. Sorry, correction – the various
Tory approaches. Does anyone really know who speaks for them on Brexit anymore?

Where
has the Prime Minister of this country gone? If,  before the general election, the country felt
as though it had a robot for Prime Minister, we’d now be forgiven for thinking
we have a hologram.

She
went to the country and asked for the support of our communities for a hard
Brexit, the country said no. The country said no to some other things as well –
our older people said no to being taken for granted. Wales said no to being
short-changed. Scotland said no to independence. And crucially, our young
people said no to being ignored. They said, through their votes, what we all
feel – Britain deserves better than this. This country deserves a Labour
Government in Westminster.

A
Government that actually cares about the future.

I
know that the people of Wales need that more than ever. Under the Tories, we
have had to take £1billion out of our public services in Wales. That’s the
annual budget of the entire North Wales health board. Our communities are
resilient, but they’re being unfairly punished. And with Theresa May and the
Tories they will be asked to give yet more. To give up. To give up their
livelihoods, their libraries, their leisure centres, and their right to a fair
deal. To give up hope. Enough is enough. It is time for hope.  

It
is time for Labour, in Wales and in Westminster.  Standing up for Wales. Working for fairness.
Working, together. Winning, together. That’s a future the country hopes for and
that’s the country we can deliver. Together for Wales.  Together for Britain.

Andrew
Gwynne MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local
Government, speaking
at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton today, said:

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AGAINST DELIVERY***

I’m delighted to respond to the ‘Protecting Communities’ debate as
Labour’s new Shadow Secretary of  State
for Communities and Local Government.

I want to begin by thanking my immediate predecessors, Graeme Morris and
Theresa Pearce, and to introduce our new CLG team in Parliament – Yvonne
Fovargue, Jim McMahon, Roy Kennedy, Jeremy Beecham and my PPS Stephen Morgan,
the first Labour MP for Portsmouth South, in the seat’s 99 year history.

I served for 12 years as a councillor in Greater Manchester.  In fact all of the Labour CLG team began our
political journeys in local government.
And I want to thank our Labour councillors who do an outstanding job
across the country.

I also want to thank Councillor Nick Forbes for his leadership of the
LGA Labour group. Nick has long campaigned against the “scissors of doom” forced
onto local authorities by this Tory Government. Thank  you Nick and the LGA Labour Group team.

Let’s also pay tribute to the emergency services, the volunteers and the
community who rushed to the aid of Grenfell residents on the 14th June.

The support that has been shown by the community in response to this
incident has continued to show how sorely lacking the response has been from
Government.

Thank you, John Healey and Emma Dent-Coad, for your work following this
tragedy. We will not stop until every resident of Grenfell tower has a safe
place to live, and the support they need to rebuild their lives.

Conference, we know the difference Labour in local government can make.

In Bristol, Labour has pushed the social care crisis into the spotlight
– leading the call for city leaders to come together to lobby central
government over cuts.

South Tyneside has developed a purpose-built facility to support
integrated health and care services, designed to support the needs of those
with varying stages of dementia.

In London, Sadiq Khan, has called an end to Boris’s vanity projects,
instead prioritising the development of new affordable housing.

In Greater Manchester and Merseyside, our Metro Mayors, Andy Burnham and
Steve Rotheram, understand that ‘a Northern Powerhouse’ is one built by local
people, and by investing in our communities – and not through slogans alone.

And after one of our darkest nights this year, as Manchester woke to
find children, young people and their families had lost their lives, Andy
offered the unifying leadership that was needed .

Labour in local government will continue to innovate to make a real
difference to people’s lives. But I also know the very difficult decisions that
councillors have had to make over the past seven years as this Tory government
sneakily attempts to devolve the blame for their cuts away from Whitehall – to
local councillors in town halls.

Conference, we won’t be fooled. Police cuts. Fire Service cuts.
SureStart closures. The crisis in social care.

They all have the same root cause: a Tory dogmatic vision of a smaller
state.

Austerity is a political choice. And we also know their cuts have hit
the poorest communities the hardest.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. This was the simple message that our leader Jeremy Corbyn took to the
country in June’s Election.

If, like me, you went to see Jeremy speak, you would have seen the very
real desperation for change that greeted him. The emotion in the eyes of those
who, for the first time in years, felt hope.  People who don’t accept this
country – the fifth richest in the world – should be defined by growing
unfairness and inequality.

That’s why a vote for Labour will always be a vote for a fairer Britain .

But conference, we cannot empower our communities if we impoverish them.

That’s why we have promised to put council funding on a sustainable
footing.

Councils would be £1.5bn better off under a Labour Government next year.

But seven years of savage cuts has created a hole in our public services
that demands more from us than increased investment; it demands that we
consider fresh ideas and approaches.

A generation of outsourcing and forced privatisation of public services,
has hollowed out the capacity of our councils to deliver for our communities.
For the past 3 decades, we’ve been told that outsourcing delivers better value
for money.

But, all too often, when savings are made, it is because services are
cut back, charges are introduced, and the pay and conditions of our valued
public service workforce are attacked. Meanwhile, those decisions are hidden
behind a cloak of commercial confidentiality.

And we know what else happens when our local services are handed over to
private companies.

Our councils continue to have responsibility for local services, but
they lose the ability to deliver them. So that when you report a pothole or
complain about street cleansing, it is to someone in a call centre far away who
doesn’t know your area, and has never walked down your streets – that’s if
you’re lucky enough to speak to someone at all. And with every contract that’s
outsourced, our democratic institutions lose dedicated, qualified staff.

Across the country Labour councils are already showing that it doesn’t
have to be this way. Labour Councils in North Tyneside, Islington, Stockport,
and many others, have shown that local services can be delivered better and
more efficiently in-house.

Austerity demanded innovation from the sector – and the ideas and
innovations from Labour Councils must not be forgotten as we plan for
Government.

So, today I can announce Labour’s radical plan to renew faith in local
services and deliver a renaissance of local government. Building on the work of
my colleague, Jon Trickett, the next Labour Government will deliver a Bill to
rebuild our local services.

In it, we will give councils greater powers to deliver services
themselves; because our services should be run for our local
communities alone.

We’ll extend transparency and Freedom of Information rules, so that
communities know where their money is going. And we’ll end the two tier workforce with a “Fair
Wage” clause. Taken together, this will be some of the largest set of reforms to
local government in modern times.

Empowering communities and rebuilding local institutions and local services.

Because they’re our public services – and we should always put people
first. It’s about strengthening society.  It’s about putting our values
– our socialism – into
practice.

We understand that it is by the strength of our common endeavour that we
achieve more together than we do alone. And it is communities  – properly empowered and renewed – that are
at the forefront of delivering that Labour vision of a better, fairer, more equal
society. We are so close to having the chance to make our vision a reality.

So let’s make it our sole mission – a Labour Government. Standing up for
our neighbourhoods, protecting our communities. For the many, not the few.
Let’s get to it.

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.

Andrew
Gwynne MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local
Government, speaking at the Labour Party’s Annual Conference in
Brighton, will say:

On the work of Labour councils, Andrew Gwynne will say:

“We know the difference Labour in local
government can make.

“In Bristol, Labour has pushed the social care crisis
into the spotlight – leading the call for city leaders to come together to
lobby central government over cuts.

“South Tyneside has developed a purpose-built facility
to support integrated health and care services, designed to support the needs
of those with varying stages of dementia.

“In London, Sadiq Khan, has called an end to Boris’s vanity
projects, instead prioritising the development of new affordable housing.

“In Greater Manchester and Merseyside, our Metro Mayors, Andy
Burnham and Steve Rotheram, understand that ‘a Northern Powerhouse’ is one
built by local people, and by investing in our communities – and not through
slogans alone.

“Labour in local government will continue to innovate to make a
real difference to people’s lives. But I also know the very difficult decisions
that councillors have had to make over the past seven years as this Tory
government sneakily attempts to devolve the blame for their cuts away from
Whitehall – to local councillors in Town Halls.”

On funding
for local government, Andrew Gwynne will say:

“Police cuts. Fire Service cuts. SureStart closures. The crisis in
social care. They all have the same root cause: a Tory dogmatic
vision of a smaller state.

“We cannot empower our communities if we impoverish them. That’s
why we have promised to put council funding on a sustainable footing. Councils
would be £1.5bn better off under a Labour Government next year.”

On empowering local communities, Andrew Gwynne will say:

“A generation of outsourcing and forced privatisation of public
services, has hollowed out the capacity of our councils to deliver for our
communities.

“Today I can announce Labour’s radical plan to renew faith in
local services and deliver a renaissance of local government.

“We will give councils greater powers to deliver services
themselves – because our services should be run for our local communities
alone.

“We’ll extend transparency and Freedom of Information rules, so
that communities know where their money is going.

“And we’ll end the two tier workforce with a “Fair Wage” clause.

“Taken together, this will be some of the largest set of reforms
to local government in modern times: empowering communities and rebuilding
local institutions and local services. Because they’re our public services –
and we should always put people first.”