Author
Naomi Klein, speaking
at Labour Party Conference, said:

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AGAINST DELIVERY***

Thank you
Kate for that lovely introduction and all the work that you do to put social
justice on the world agenda.

It’s been
such a privilege to be part of this historic convention. To feel its energy and
optimism.

Because
friends, it’s bleak out there. How do I begin to describe a world upside down?
From heads of state tweeting threats of nuclear annihilation, to whole regions
rocked by climate chaos, to thousands of migrants drowning off the coasts of
Europe, to openly racist parties gaining ground, most recently and alarmingly
in Germany.

Most days
there is simply too much to take in. So I want to start with an example that
might seem small against such a vast backdrop. The Caribbean and Southern
United States are in the midst of an unprecedented hurricane season: pounded by
storm after record-breaking storm.

As we
meet, Puerto Rico – hit by Irma, then Maria – is without power and could be for
months. It’s water and communication systems are also severely compromised.
Three and half million US citizens on that island are in desperate need of
their government’s help.

But just like
during Hurricane Katrina, the cavalry is missing in action. Donald Trump is too
busy trying to get Black athletes fired – smearing them for daring to shine a
spotlight on racist violence.

Amazingly
a real federal aid package for Puerto Rico has not yet been announced.

By some
reports, more money has been spent securing presidential trips to Mar-a-Lago.

As if all
this weren’t enough, the vultures are now buzzing. The business press is filled
with articles about how the only way for Puerto Rico to get the lights back on
is to sell off its electricity utility. Maybe its roads and bridges too.

This is a
phenomenon I have called The Shock Doctrine – the exploitation of wrenching
crises to smuggle through policies that devour the public sphere and further
enrich a small elite.

We see
this dismal cycle repeat again and again. We saw it after the 2008 financial
crash. We are already seeing it in how the Tories are planning to exploit
Brexit to push through disastrous pro-corporate trade deals without debate.

The
reason I am highlighting Puerto Rico is because the situation is so urgent. But
also because it’s a microcosm of a much larger global crisis, one that contains
many of the same overlapping elements: accelerating climate chaos; militarism; histories
of colonialism; a weak and neglected public sphere; a totally dysfunctional
democracy.

And
overlaying it all: the seemingly bottomless capacity to discount the lives of
huge numbers of Black and brown people.

Ours is
an age when it is impossible to pry one crisis apart from all the others. They
have all merged, reinforcing and deepening each other….. like one shambling,
multi-headed beast.

I think
it’s helpful to think of the current US president in much the same way.

It’s
tough to know how to adequately sum him up. So let me try a local example.

You know
that horrible thing currently clogging up the London sewers. I believe you call
it the fatberg?

Well
Trump, he’s the political equivalent of that.

A merger
of all that is noxious in the culture, economy and body politic, all kind of
glommed together in a self-adhesive mass. And we’re finding it very, very hard
to dislodge.

It gets
so grim that we have to laugh. But make no mistake: whether it’s climate change
or the nuclear threat, Trump represents a crisis that could echo through
geologic time.

But here
is my message to you today:

Moments
of crisis do not have to go the Shock Doctrine route – they do not need to become
opportunities for the already obscenely wealthy to grab still more.

They can
also go the opposite way.

They can
be moments when we find our best selves….. when we locate reserves of
strength and focus we never knew we had.

We see it
at the grassroots level every time disaster strikes.

We all
witnessed it in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower catastrophe.

When the
people responsible were MIA……. the community came together…… Held one
another in their care, organized the donations and advocated for the living –
and for the dead.

And they
are doing it still, more than 100 days after the fire.

When
there is still no justice and, scandalously, only a handful of survivors have
been rehoused.

And it’s
not only at the grassroots level that we see disaster awaken something
remarkable in us.

There is
also a long and proud history of crises sparking progressive transformation on
a society-wide scale.

Think of
the victories won by working people for social housing and old age pensions
during the Great Depression….. Or for the NHS after the horrors of the Second
World War.

This
should remind us that moments of great crisis and peril do not necessarily need
to knock us backwards.

They can
also catapult us forward.

Our
progressive ancestors achieved that at key moments in history, in your country
and in mine.

And we
can do it again – in this moment when everything is on the line.

But what
we know from the Great Depression and the post-war period, is that we never win
these transformative victories by simply resisting….. by simply saying “no”
to the latest outrage.

To win in
a moment of true crisis, we also need a bold and forward-looking “yes”

– a plan
for how to rebuild and respond to the underlying causes.

And that
plan needs to be convincing, credible and, most of all, captivating.

We have
to help a weary and wary public to imagine itself into that better world.

And that
is why I am so honoured to be standing with you today.

With the
transformed Labour Party in 2017.

And with
the next Prime Minister of Britain,

Jeremy
Corbyn.

Because
in the last election, that’s exactly what you did.

Theresa
May ran a cynical campaign based on exploiting fear and shock to grab more
power for herself – first the fear of a bad Brexit deal, then the fear
following the horrific terror attacks in Manchester and London.

Your
party and your leader responded by focusing on root causes: a failed “war on
terror”…. economic inequality and weakened democracy.

But you
did more than that.

You
presented voters with a bold and detailed Manifesto.

One that
laid out a plan for millions of people to have tangibly better lives:

free
tuition,

fully
funded health care,

aggressive
climate action.

After decades
of lowered expectations and asphyxiated political imagination, finally voters
had something hopeful and exciting to say “yes” to.

And so
many of them did just that, upending the projections of the entire expert
class.

You
proved that the era of triangulation and tinkering is over.

The
public is hungry for deep change – they are crying out for it.

The
trouble is, in far too many countries, it’s only the far right that is offering
it, or seeming to, with that toxic combination of fake economic populism and
very real racism.

You
showed us another way.

One that
speaks the language of decency and fairness, that names the true forces most
responsible for this mess – no matter how powerful.

And that
is unafraid of some of the ideas we were told were gone for good.

Like
wealth redistribution.

And
nationalising essential public services.

Now,
thanks to all of your boldness, we know that this isn’t just a moral strategy.

It’s a
winning strategy.

It fires up
the base, and it activates constituencies that long ago stopped voting
altogether.

If you
can keep doing that between now and the next election, you will be unbeatable.

You
showed us something else in the last election too, and it’s just as important.

You
showed that political parties don’t need to fear the creativity and
independence of social movements – and social movements, likewise, have a huge
amount to gain from engaging with electoral politics.

That’s a
very big deal.

Because
let’s be honest: political parties tend to be a bit freakish about control.

And real
grassroots movements….. we cherish our independence – and we’re pretty much
impossible to control.

But what
we are seeing with the remarkable relationship between Labour and Momentum, and
with other wonderful campaign organizations, is that it is possible to

combine
the best of both worlds.

If we
listen and learn from each other, we can create a force that is both stronger
and more nimble than anything either parties or movements can pull off on their
own.

I want
you to know that what you have done here is reverberating around the world – so
many of us are watching your ongoing experiment in this new kind of politics
with rapt attention.

And of
course what happened here is itself part of a global phenomenon.

It’s a
wave led by young people who came into adulthood just as the global financial
system was collapsing and just as climate disruption was banging down the door.

Many come
out of social movements like Occupy Wall Street, and Spain’s Indignados.

They
began by saying no – to austerity,

to bank
bailouts,

to
fracking and pipelines.

But they
came to understand that the biggest challenge is overcoming the way neoliberalism
has waged war on our collective imagination, on our ability to truly believe in
anything outside of its bleak borders.

And so
these movements started to dream together, laying out bold and different
visions of the future…. and credible pathways out of crisis.

And most
importantly they began engaging with political parties, to try to win power.

We saw it
in Bernie Sanders’ historic campaign in the US primaries…. which was powered
by millennials who know that safe centrist politics offers them no kind of safe
future.

By the
way…. Bernie, is the most popular politician in the United States today.

We see
something similar with Spain’s still-young Podemos party, which built in the
power of mass movements from Day One.

In all of
these cases, electoral campaigns caught fire with stunning speed.

And they
got close to taking power – closer than any genuinely transformative political
program has in either Europe or North America in my lifetime.

But
still, in each case, not close enough.

So in
this time between elections, it’s worth thinking about how to make absolutely
sure that next time, all of our movements go all the way.

A big
part of the answer is: Keeping it up.

Keep
building that yes.

But take
it even further.

Outside
the heat of a campaign, there is more time to deepen the relationships between
issues and movements, so that our solutions address multiple crises at once.

In all of
our countries, we can and must do more to connect the dots between economic
injustice, racial injustice and gender injustice.

We need
to understand and explain how all of those ugly systems that place one group in
a position of dominance over another – based on skin colour, religious faith,
gender and sexual orientation – consistently serve the interests of power and
money and always have.

They do
it by keeping us divided.

And
keeping themselves protected.

And we
have to do more to keep it front of mind…. that we are in a state of climate
emergency….  the roots of which are found
in the same system of bottomless greed that underlies our economic emergency.

But
states of emergency, let’s recall, can be catalysts for deep progressive
victories.

So let’s
draw out the connections between the gig economy – that treats human beings
like a raw resource from which to extract wealth and then discard – and the dig
economy, in which the extractive companies treats the Earth in precisely the
same careless way.

And let’s
show exactly how we can move from that gig and dig economy to a society based
on principles of care – caring for the planet and for one another. Where the
work of our caregivers and of our land and water protectors, is respected and
valued. A world where no one and nowhere is thrown away – whether in fire-trap
housing estates or on hurricane-ravaged islands.

I applaud
the clear stand Labour has taken against fracking and for clean energy. Now we
need to up our ambition and show exactly how battling climate change is a
once-in-a-century chance to build a fairer and more democratic economy.

Because
as we rapidly transition off fossil fuels, we cannot replicate the wealth
concentration and the injustices of the oil and coal economy, in which hundreds
of billions in profits have been privatized and the tremendous risks are
socialized.

We can
and must design a system in which the polluters pay a very large share of the
cost of transitioning off fossil fuels. And where we keep green energy in
public and community hands. That way revenues stay in your communities, to pay
for childcare and firefighters and other crucial services. And it’s the only
way to make sure that the green jobs that are created are union jobs that pay a
living wage.

The motto
needs to be: leave the oil and gas in the ground, but leave no worker behind.
And the best part, you don’t need to wait until you get to Westminster to start
this great transition. You can use the levers you have right now.

You can
take a page from Barcelona and turn your Labour-controlled cities into beacons
for the world transformed.

A good
start would be divesting your pensions from fossil fuels and investing that
money in low carbon social housing and green energy cooperatives.

That way people
can begin to experience the benefits of the next economy before the next
election – and know in their bones that yes, there is, and always has been, an
alternative.

In
closing…..

I want to
stress, as your international speaker, that none of this can be about turning
any one nation into a progressive museum.

In
wealthy countries like yours and mine, we need migration policies and levels of
international financing that reflect what we owe to the global south – our
historic role in destabilizing the economies and ecologies of poorer nations
for a great many years.

For
instance, during this epic hurricane season, we’ve heard a lot of talk of “the
British Virgin Islands,” the “French Virgin Islands” and so on.

Rarely
was it seen as relevant to observe that these are not reflections of where
Europeans like to holiday.

They are
reflections of the fact that so much of the vast wealth of empire was extracted
from these Islands in bonded human flesh.

Wealth
that supercharged Europe’s and North America’s industrial revolution,
positioning us as the super-polluters we are today.

And that
is intimately connected to the fact that the future and security of island
nations are now at grave risk from superstorms storms, sea level rise, and dying
coral reefs.

What
should this painful history mean to us today?

It means
welcoming migrants and refugees.

And it
means paying our fair share to help many more countries ramp up justice-based
green transitions of their own.

Trump
going rogue is no excuse to demand less of ourselves in the UK and Canada or
anywhere else for that matter.

It means
the opposite -that we have to demand more of ourselves.

To pick
up the slack until the United States manages to get its sewer system unclogged.

I firmly
believe that all of this work, challenging as it is, is a crucial part of the
path to victory.

That the
more ambitious, consistent and holistic you can be in painting a picture of the
world transformed, the more credible a Labour government will become.

Because
you went and showed us all that you can win.

Now you
have to win.

We all
do.

Winning
is a moral imperative.

The
stakes are too high, and time is too short, to settle for anything less.

Thank you

Angela Rayner MP, Shadow Secretary of
State for Education, speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton today, said:

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Conference, last year I said it was a
surprise, but a great privilege, to stand before you as Shadow Secretary of
State for Education.  And what a year it
has been.

Theresa May started it by warning of a
coalition of chaos. Now she leads it. And her education ministers have spent
the last few months ripping up their own Manifesto page by page.

They wanted to open new grammar schools.
But they can’t. They said they’d build 140 free schools. They couldn’t. They
pledged the healthy pupils fund would not fall below £400 million. Now it will.
They promised they’d provide free school breakfasts. But they won’t.

When we beat them on tuition fees, they
refused to accept it. Instead they will just stop turning up for votes. They’ve
gone from running the place to running away from the place.

In fact, I went through their Manifesto
line by line. There are more education policies that they are reviewing or
abandoning than they are actually implementing.

They’re binning their Manifesto; we are
building on ours.

The next Labour Government will create a
National Education Service, a cradle-to-grave system supporting everyone
throughout their lives. It would start in the early years, where we know it has
the most impact in changing people’s lives – just like my life was changed by a
Labour Government.

When I became pregnant at sixteen, it was
easy to think that the direction of my life, and that of my young son, was
already set. My mum had a difficult life, and so did I, and it looked like my
son would simply have the same.

Instead, the last Labour Government,
through support of my local Sure Start centre, transformed my son’s childhood,
and made sure that his life would not have to be as hard as mine had been. So
when I say that politics changes lives, I say it as someone whose own life was
changed.

Yet those services are being lost across
the country. We revealed today that since 2012, £437 million pounds has been
cut from Sure Start – nearly half of their funding.  That means more children and families with less
control over their lives.

So I am proud to say that we will give
£500 million a year directly to
Sure Start, reversing those cuts in full. Because to give every child a
fair chance to succeed, we need to give them the best possible start in life.

For far too many that simply isn’t
happening.  The Tories promised free
childcare to the children of working parents.
They promised over 600,000 places. But they created less than a quarter
of them. The most disadvantaged aren’t even eligible and costs are rising more
than twice as fast as wages.

Today, we are publishing a report setting
out the alternative. Free, high-quality early education, universally available
for every 2-4 year old, and extra
affordable care for every family, saving them thousands of pounds a year.
So our children will be ready for school.
And when children arrive, they won’t be let down for a lack of resources
there either.

The Government’s latest U-turn was on
their so-called fair funding formula two weeks ago. Thanks to our pressure, and
the great campaign run by parents and teachers, they have abandoned cash cuts
to schools.

But the truth is, there is no new money –
every penny has been found by cutting other education spending.  And they still won’t meet their promise that
funding will go up in real terms over five years. This means the continuation
of real terms funding cuts to 88% of schools, hitting the most disadvantaged
areas hard.

A Labour Government would meet that
promise instead: a fairer funding formula, but genuinely fair and properly
funded.  And we will remember the most
important resource: people.

Learning needs teaching. Teachers would
be at the heart of the National Education Service. And we will pay them
properly to do it. That is why we will bring an end to the public sector pay
cap.  And teaching assistants  and support staff too. Many have lost so much
that they are on the minimum wage. We will bring back national standards for
them too. They look after our children. We should look after them.

As well as giving our schools the
resources they need, we must ensure that they give every child the support they
need. Because all our pupils deserve a good quality of life. So, I am proud to
say that as your Secretary of State, I will allocate £10m from our departmental
budget to end the scandal of period poverty in our schools.

Councils are required to find a school
for every child. We will give them the resources to meet that responsibility.
Unlike the Tories, we will help successful state schools expand and ensure that
every child gets a school place. So we will invest £8bn pounds in new school
buildings, where they are needed. And we won’t neglect existing schools to do
it.      

We will provide the full £13bn pounds
needed for the existing school estate. Instead
of wasting millions of pounds on an inefficient free schools programme, we will
provide funding to ensure our schools are safe – that flammable cladding can be
removed, sprinklers installed and asbestos cleared.

And the National Education Service won’t
stop at eighteen, or sixteen.  Further
education isn’t just for those who ‘didn’t get the chance’ to go to university;
it serves the majority of young people. They too deserve a world-class
education.

Instead, the Tories are happy to manage
decline. I will only be happy when we manage success. So we will invest a
billion pounds into a further education service to deliver T-levels that are a
true gold standard.

The Tories keep talking about how they
want to help young people. Reducing fees.

Capping interest rates. Raising repayment
thresholds. I’ve got a suggestion for them. Stop talking about it, and get on
with it.

But our National Education Service is not
just for young people either. That is personal to me too. At sixteen I was out
of school and looking for work, but without qualifications to offer. I
supported myself and my son as a care worker, looking after the elderly and
disabled in their homes. Low qualifications meant low wages. No skills meant no
security.

As a trade unionist with Unison, I could
change that. Not just for myself, but for the carers I worked with, and the
people we cared for. Workplace education meant we had the chance to learn more
and earn more. Other people need that chance. So, our National Education
Service will be lifelong, providing for people at every stage of their life.

That is our National Education Service.
Not just another structure. Not another new sign on the school gate.

A promise, from a Labour Government, to
the British people and British businesses.

That we believe in all of them, in their
talent and their potential, in all they give to our country, and that we will
never limit their aspiration or their ability to succeed.  It will set out the education that people can
expect throughout their lives. The contribution that society makes to them and
that they can make to society.

Today, we outline the principles of that
National Education Service in a draft charter, starting a conversation on how
we continue to build it moving forward. And I look forward to that
conversation, to visiting schools, colleges, and universities, to talking to
pupils, parents, teachers, and businesses, so we can truly build a National
Education Service for the many, and not just the few.

Conference, Education informs. It
inspires. And it empowers. Because knowledge is power. I know that from my own
life. We must ensure that power becomes the right of every person, whatever the
circumstances of their birth.

That means giving opportunity to all,
with a guarantee of lifelong learning, whenever they need it. It means giving
power back to our communities, ensuring that every school in receipt of public
money is genuinely, democratically accountable to the people it serves.

The Labour Party was founded to ensure
that the workers earned the full fruit of their labour.  Well, the sum of human knowledge is the fruit
of thousands of years of human labour. The discoveries of maths and science;
the great works of literature and art; the arc of human and natural history
itself; and so much more that there is to learn. All of it should be our common
inheritance. Because knowledge belongs to the many, not the few.

This is our historic purpose as a
movement. Not just to be a voice for the voiceless.

But to give them a voice of their own.
That is the challenge we face. And it is what we will do, together. 

We have got the Government running. Now
let’s get running the Government.

Thank you.

Rebecca Long-Bailey MP, Shadow Secretary for
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton
today, said:

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Conference,
when I was little, my dad would tell me stories of his job in Salford,
unloading oil tankers. How we were known as “the workshop of the world”. Life
was good for us back then. My dad’s work was unskilled, but it paid well. 
My parents even managed to get a mortgage for their own little house.

And
from poverty-plagued childhoods, which made the film Angela’s Ashes look like
an advert for a luxury minibreak, they felt proud of their achievement! And
that was true of so many working class people right across Britain, for the
first time in history they were truly being offered the chance to aspire!

But
under Thatcher industries such as my father’s were put into what is so
callously called ‘managed decline’. It meant factories shutting their doors,
firms moving abroad or simply closing down, lower wages for those who could
still find work, and cuts to benefits for those who couldn’t.

We
now have the most regionally imbalanced economy in Europe.  40% of our economic output comes from London
and the South East alone. And despite the pretence that we have ‘full
employment’, we know the figures hide a worrying truth:

an
insecure, low paid and ‘casualised’ workforce.

When
the Prime Minister called the general election in spring, we were 20 points behind
in the polls. The seven weeks that followed saw the biggest narrowing of the
polls in British electoral history.

There
were many things that contributed to that turnaround. The passion, integrity
and strength of our leader, Jeremy Corbyn. The hard work of the Shadow Cabinet,
not least my brilliant team Chi Onwurah, Alan Whitehead, Barry Gardiner, Bill
Esterson, Jack Dromey, Gill Furniss and Dan Carden. The hard-work and
dedication of every single person in this hall and in our movement.

But
there were other key factors at play. A country fed up with the dogmas of
political and economic neglect that, for so many, had only meant so much
hardship. And a Manifesto that showed them that it didn’t have to be this
way. When we promised an industrial strategy to end the economy’s reliance
on the City of London. To properly fund our public services by making the top
5% pay their fair share. And to invest in our energy, transport and digital
infrastructure to make it fit for the 21st Century

When
we promised to take the radical action needed to tackle climate change,

and
ensure that 60% of our energy comes from low carbon or renewable sources by
2030. To support projects like Swansea tidal lagoon and Moorside nuclear plant.

When
we promised to introduce a £10 living wage. And to level the playing field
between small and big business. We offered a vision of hope. And we offered
transformation!  Because we know what
lies ahead.

Conference,
we are standing on the precipice of the fourth industrial revolution,

a
pace of technological and digital change so immense it will leave you feeling
dizzy.

It
will transform industry, it will transform our economy. And it has the
potential to transform the quality of life of every single person in Britain.

But
it will only do this if a Labour Government is holding the reins.

Now
I know it’s hard to believe but I was 38 the other day. Just 20 years ago, on
my 18th birthday, you had to dial up the internet, you checked your lottery
numbers on teletext, my first mobile only received ten text messages, and you
taped things off the telly with a cassette, which if, like in our house, you
were at the cutting edge of 1990’S interior design, you kept them in those
plastic boxes designed to look like books.

But
people in their teens today have no idea what most of those things are.

 And
the pace of change we have seen in the last 20 years will pale in comparison to
the next 20. Over the last few centuries, we have gradually learnt how to
transfer more and more human skills to machines. With current technological
breakthroughs, we are, for the first time, designing machines that do cognitive
and non-routine work.

Machines
that think!

But,
with some estimates suggesting that half of all jobs could be lost to
automation,

and
that few businesses are ready to harness change, it also brings the threat of
rising poverty and inequality. There is no doubt about what the digital age
will look like under the Tories: monopoly profits for the few, and increased
exploitation for the many.

Only
Labour will ensure that workers and businesses are equipped to enjoy the
prosperity this changing economy can bring.
 

We’ll
restore the rights of workers – rolling out sectoral collective bargaining and
guaranteeing unions access to the workplace – to ensure that new technology is
not just an excuse for disgraced old employment practices.  Because there is nothing cutting edge about
hire-and-fire, casual contracts.

We’ll
create the conditions for business to make those really ‘transformative’
discoveries which can change all our lives for the better, with an industrial
agenda that is so transformational, it will eclipse the new deal set out by
Franklin D Roosevelt in the history books.

We’ll
bring investment in research and development in line with other major economies
and create national missions to deal with the big issues of our time

And
our National Education Service will allow every single person in this country
to obtain the skills they need to thrive in a modern economy and ensure real
diversity in our workplaces.

But
it’s not enough for Britain to innovate. We’ll put Britain at the forefront of
industrial manufacturing, so that the ideas conceived in Britain are
manufactured and delivered here in Britain. ‘Made in Britain’ will not just be
an idealistic vision of times gone by, it will be a source of national pride
for future generations.

And
finally, we’ll ensure that workers themselves can have a stake in our
industrial journey alongside business. 

Imagine
if the technology which allows us to hail a taxi or order a takeaway via an app
was shared by those who rely on it for work. They would have the power to agree
their own terms and conditions and rates of pay, with the profits shared among
them or re-invested for the future.

That’s
why we are today launching a Report on Alternative Models of Ownership.

To
start asking fundamental questions about how we achieve real diversity of
business in the digital age, and how to ensure that it’s enormous potential
benefits serve the many, not the few.  

Now
conference, the fourth industrial revolution is here!  A time of profound economic and technological
change. The Tories have had their chance.
We’ve seen how they deal with industrial and technological change. And
they have failed.

We
either seize the possibilities it can bring us, technological advancement,

living
standards and leisure time, that even Harold Wilson in the white heat of
technology couldn’t have dreamed of! Or we let the Tories consign our heritage
as a proud industrial nation to the dustbin of history.

As
Klaus Schwab the Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum
once said:

“There
has never been a time of greater promise, or greater peril.”

But
we are ready! Together we will harness the fruits of the extraordinary changes
that are coming. A society with more potential than any before, but built for
the many, not the few. Conference, this is our time now!

Alex Rowley
MSP, interim Leader of Scottish Labour Party, speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton today, said:

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Chair, Conference, Thank you
for that welcome.

This week we gather here in
Brighton, united, strong and determined. Determined to expose how this Tory
Government is failing working people. Strengthened by the size of our
movement.  And united around our leader. The person who will be Labour’s
next Prime Minister – Jeremy Corbyn.

Conference, I was elected to
the Scottish Parliament in Cowdenbeath in 2014. And since then I’ve experienced
great highs and lows. There is no doubt that we have seen tough times in
Scotland. But we are back on track. And I want to pay tribute to the woman that
saw us through after our defeat in 2015. Kezia Dugdale.

Friends, Kez stood up for the
Scottish Labour Party in the toughest of circumstances. Both as Deputy Leader
and Leader of our Party. Conference, let us send her our thanks today. The work
that Kez did, and the result that she and Jeremy delivered alongside our
members in June, shows that the Labour Party is once again connecting with
communities across Scotland.

This year, we won back
constituencies from the SNP that people thought were lost for generations.
Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill, Rutherglen and Hamilton West, 
Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, Glasgow North East, East Lothian, Midlothian, along
with Edinburgh South –  all now represented by Scottish Labour MPs.

They will ensure Scotland’s
voice is heard in Westminster.

And let’s welcome each of our
new MPs to Conference today, led by our Shadow Scottish Secretary, Lesley
Laird.

I know we have asked so much
of you – our members, activists and supporters – over the last few years. But
we are so close in so many constituencies.  And we should set our sights
high. Being a strong opposition should never be enough. Our aim must be to win
the next election in Scotland. Because let me be absolutely clear. Scotland can
make that difference at the next election.

The choice will be between a
Labour Government that will tackle poverty, increase family incomes and raise
the standards for all.  Or more decline, decay and drift with a Tory
Government.

Conference, it’s not the SNP
who can deliver an end to the Tories. It’s the Scottish Labour Party.

Friends, we will win because
we will have the best candidates, the better ideas and the bigger vision.
That’s what our Manifesto this year gave us. A plan for the many, not the few.

In England, people saw
straight through Theresa May’s hollow words. Because this is what a ‘strong and
stable’ status quo means to working people across this country:

Cuts to public services, to
schools and hospitals, pursued by the Tories in England, but also for ten years
by the SNP in Scotland;

The loss of jobs that
provided the backbone of communities and their replacement with low pay and
insecure work;

And the disgrace of the
people, who suffered because of austerity, being asked time and again to pay
the price for it.

Conference, this is an
affront to every decent hardworking person in our country. Scotland is a rich
country. There’s no reason why children need to go hungry, why foodbanks should
be appearing in our communities or why men and women should be forced to spend
their nights sleeping on the streets. 

Conference, austerity is a
choice, and these are its consequences. And this is what the Labour Party will
stand against now and always.   

Conference, changing our
country has to start with changing the Government.

The election result in June
has energised us and shown that the chance to serve again in Government – in
Westminster and Holyrood – is within our reach.

Labour’s Manifesto showed
what we will do if we get there. It will be a Government for the many, not the
few. We’ll take industries that used to belong to every one back into public
ownership, and put people – not profits – first. We will oppose a Tory right
wing hard Brexit. We want a jobs first Brexit that keeps our access to the
single market. And, over the next year, under a new leader in Scotland, we will
start to lay out what change with Labour would mean.

Our party has not been in Government
in Scotland for ten years, and that has to change. Whenever the SNP leave
Government, they will leave having divided our country. Our first job will be
to bring our nation together again. And, just as Labour has always done, we
will bring people together around a vision of the future.

In 1945, Labour under Clement
Attlee gave us the vision of the NHS and the Welfare State. Through the 40s and
50s, Tom Johnstone brought power to rural Scotland and pioneered
hydro-electricity. In the 1960s, Harold Wilson saw a future powered by the
White Heat of Technology. And in this century, Gordon Brown, a son of Fife
church minister and a son of Scotland, ended the scandal of pensioner poverty,
made Keir Hardie’s vision of a minimum wage a reality, and lifted a million
children out of poverty.

Conference, that’s the
difference a Labour Government makes. And that’s why we will never stop
fighting for the Labour Government this country needs.

Friends, Labour’s mission was
about building a lasting legacy and giving people the opportunities they needed
to succeed. Today, we have that vision in Scotland again.

We need to set out a plan for
our major industries – for oil and gas, for shipbuilding, for finance, food and
drink. And we also need to attract the jobs of the future – in advanced
manufacturing, in renewable energy and in science and technology. We need to
provide this next generation of Scots with better opportunities than the last,
by investing in education, training and skills. And we need to renew our
commitment to the public services that look after us from cradle to grave – the
welfare state and the NHS.

That means being honest about
what we have to do to pay for these services and, as Labour, making the
argument that our duties to each other mean that we can afford to pay a little
more.

Not like the Tories in
Scotland, or like the SNP Government that only has one tax policy. A tax cut
for the airlines that will benefit the richest the most.

The
SNP cannot have a serious debate on tax if its only policy kicks off a race to
the bottom against a UK Tory Government, propped up by the DUP, who are
desperate to see that tax abolished. The SNP face a choice – work with Labour
to use the tax powers to protect public services – or give Philip Hammond and
Arlene Foster the excuse they are looking for to give the richest yet another
bonus.

Conference, the Scottish
Parliament’s new powers do not end with tax.  As powers over the welfare
state come into force, we need to think about how we can use them to show the
kind of society we want to build. And that is why I renew my calls today for
the Scottish Government to use their new powers to add £5 to Child Benefit – a
move that would lift tens of thousands of children out of poverty.

This would send a clear
signal that in Scotland we are willing to pay so that every child can get the
best start in life. Conference, we can afford this change and we should make
it, for this generation and generations to come.   

Conference, if we are to
build a better society, we also need to think about how we run our
country.  Scotland has been divided for too long by the question of
independence.  And, now the UK is divided by Brexit. Our nation faces the
greatest political change of our lifetime.

When power returns from the
EU, maintaining the status quo should not be an option. Because how we run our
country isn’t just an abstract discussion for politicians and academics. It’s
about how we enable working people across our country to have power as close to
their hands as possible. That is why I am proud that Scottish Labour supports
federalism, and why I believe this points the way for the future of our
country.

With the Tories and the SNP,
we have two Governments with no interest in reforming how the UK works, and
making it work better.

That is why it must fall to
the Labour Party. And why I renew my call today for a Constitutional
Convention, convened by the Labour Party, to determine how our country can be
renewed for the future. And, Conference let me be very clear. We will resist at
every turn the Tory Brexit power grab.

In Government, Labour will
defend Donald Dewar’s devolution settlement – Labour’s devolution settlement –
so that the powers of the Scottish Parliament are never diminished.  For
many who voted yes in Scotland, Jeremy has provided them with real hope of an
alternative. He has shown that change is possible inside the UK. That should
now be matched by a commitment from Labour for a Constitutional Convention and
a federal solution for the United Kingdom, with Scotland as a full and equal
partner.

Conference, the challenge
ahead of us now is straightforward. To restore Labour to Government in Scotland
and across the UK. Whoever wins our leadership election in Scotland will be our
candidate for First Minister and we will all get behind them to make that
happen.

And in Jeremy, we have a
leader who is a Prime Minister in waiting. So let us leave this Conference
later this week, united, determined and strong. Let’s win the next election for
working people. Let’s win to stand against poverty and inequality.

Conference, let’s win for
Labour.

Sadiq Khan, Mayor of
London, speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton today, said:

***CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY***

Conference, it’s great to be back in Labour Brighton. And it’s great to see our Labour Party so fired up under Jeremy Corbyn.
Labour confounded all expectations at the
general election this year.

Let’s be clear, Theresa May called this snap
election to try and wipe us out. And boy
did she fail.

It was inspiring to see millions of people vote
for the first time – especially so many young people. And it was inspiring to see so many people who used to
vote for our Party return home to Labour.

We made huge progress in the general election
and the credit for that goes to one person – the leader of our party – Jeremy
Corbyn.

He mobilised our movement. He motivated our activists and reached voters we
hadn’t reached before. Thanks to the hard
work of Labour members and trade unionists, London elected four fantastic new
Labour MPs.

We now have a Labour Member of Parliament
representing Battersea, Enfield Southgate,Croydon Central, and, yes, Labour
Kensington. Let’s hear it for our Labour
gains in London. Our new MPs: Marsha de Cordova; Bambos Charalambous; Sarah Jones
and Emma Dent Coad.

And by the way – hasn’t Emma been an amazing
advocate for the neglected residents affected by the terrible Grenfell fire?

As a united Labour family we’re on the march.
This year’s election came during an unbelievably
difficult time for London, our capital,the city I love so much. It’s been one of the darkest times in London’s recent
history. We’ve been through too much
suffering, too much horror, and too much loss. The terrorist attack on Westminster – the heart of our democracy.
The attack on innocent people, enjoying a night
out in London Bridge and Borough Market. The
horrific fire at Grenfell Tower. The
attack on innocent people near Finsbury Park Mosque during Ramadan. And the attack at Parsons Green station on Londoners,
as they travelled into work and school.

Nobody expects such tragedy. And no one should tolerate it. We prepare and practice for the worst, but we hope and
pray it will never happen. Keeping
Londoners safe is my top priority. And in
all honesty, it’s hard – by far the hardest part of my job. It really does keep me awake at night.

Fearing the call in the early hours that came
too often this summer, to say the worst had happened. More innocent Londoners, who have experienced
unimaginable horrors to help and console. More
funerals to attend of those who have been killed. And always, always more to do to keep Londoners safe.

But Conference – there are some people who spend
their entire lives trying to stop these terrible events and who lead our
response when they happen. Whose job it
is to put themselves in harm’s way, every day, to try to keep the rest of us
safe. And who do it with dedication,
professionalism and heroism.

Conference, please stand and join me to show
your appreciation to our amazing emergency services. Thanks to our police officers, community support
officers and staff. Thanks to our
firefighters and control room operators. Thanks
to our frontline NHS staff, and all who support them – our paramedics, nurses,
doctors  and health workers. And
thanks to our transport staff who are so often on the front line.

On behalf of all Londoners – and the entire
Labour Party – thank you for everything you do. You truly are heroes.

In the darkness of this year the bravery of our
emergency services has been a beacon of hope. We have witnessed incredible courage and self-sacrifice. Like PC Keith Palmer, who was tragically killed in the
line of duty while protecting Parliament. Although
he was unarmed, he didn’t hesitate before confronting the attacker.
Rarely has a St George’s medal for bravery been
so deserved. And our thoughts and prayers
will always remain with his family and friends.

Or take Colleen Anderson, a junior doctor at St
Thomas’ Hospital. When she saw the attack
from the hospital window, she rushed across the river to treat people lying
injured in the road.

Or Wayne Marques, the British Transport Police
officer who, single-handedly, took on three armed attackers at London Bridge.
Despite suffering terrible wounds, he fought
them off until help arrived.

Or the hundreds of firefighters, who went far
above the call of duty to save lives during the fire at Grenfell Tower. Who took extraordinary risks with their own safety.

And I want to say a special thank you to Dany
Cotton – our London Fire Commissioner.
Dany led the rescue operation at Grenfell Tower
– going into the building and taking those risks alongside our firefighters.
I want to thank Dany also for the honesty with
which she talked about those awful scenes – and for being so open about
receiving counselling after the fire. She’s
encouraged many of our emergency responders and ordinary Londoners to do the same.

And we should thank the brave Transport for
London staff, who calmly helped during the attack at Parsons Green station –
evacuating the train and leading people to safety – regardless of the risk to
themselves.

There’s no doubt that we face a growing threat.
Experts say that the number of terrorist attacks
this year is not a spike, but a long-term shift.

And crime is on the rise again. The types of crime we see are more complicated and
harder to tackle. Violent crime is rising
even faster – with too many killed or maimed as a result of knife crime or acid
attacks. And ever more young people are
being groomed and radicalised by evil extremists – whether here or abroad.

But Conference it doesn’t have to be this way. This
all feels very familiar. A weak and
divided Tory Government, refusing to face up to the challenges ahead. Bickering and infighting over Europe, putting our jobs
and economy at risk. Chronic
underinvestment in public services causing a crisis in our schools and
hospitals.
And crime on the rise.

But Conference, this isn’t the 1990s. This is
now. It’s like Back to the Future, but it
isn’t funny. Tory cuts to our emergency
services have made it harder to keep us safe. A billion pounds cut from the Met Police – a billion pounds less for
London’s policing budget.

The result? Fewer
police officers on our streets. Police
stations closed. And neighbourhood
policing under attack. Even police
counter-terrorism funding has been cut in real terms. The same goes for our fire service. Fewer fire engines. Fewer fire stations. And fewer fire fighters.

The same story is true in our National Health
Service, our councils, our transport network and in every one of our public
services.

Conference – we simply can’t go on like this.
The brave men and women of our emergency
services can’t do their job when the Tories are cutting their funding every
year.

It must stop. The Government must give our emergency services the
real-terms increase in funding that they desperately need – and right now.

You know, the Tories used to describe themselves
as the party of law and order. Well that
sounds like a bad joke today. And
frankly, as a former Home Secretary, Theresa May should be utterly ashamed of
her record.

Labour is the only Party with a plan to tackle
rising crime. Labour is the only Party
standing behind the men and women of our emergency services. And Labour is the only Party already making a real
difference in towns and cities across the UK.

A Labour Government will finally put an end to
years of Tory cuts to our emergency services. And a Labour Government, led by Jeremy Corbyn, will finally give our
emergency services the proper pay rise they so desperately deserve. Not the insulting offer made by the Tories.

It’s Labour – in London, Manchester, Liverpool
and Wales – that has a real plan to tackle violent crime – like gun crime,
knife crime and acid attacks. It’s Labour
that’s finally making social integration and community cohesion a priority so
we can put a stop to the grooming and radicalisation of our young people.

It’s Labour that’s finally made hate crime and
violence against women and girls a top priority for the police. And it’s Labour that’s restoring community trust in
our police, and making our emergency services more reflective of the
communities they serve.

You know it made me so proud to be the Labour
Mayor when Cressida Dick was appointed as the first woman Met Commissioner in
188 years. And when Dany Cotton was
appointed as the first woman Fire Commissioner in the brigade’s history.

And you know what? They were both appointed on merit as the best people
for the job.

Conference, despite the challenges we’ve faced
over the past year – I’m optimistic, positive and hopeful about our future.
I’m so proud to call myself British and to call
myself a Londoner. I’m confident that
both London and the UK have bright futures ahead. That we can become a more prosperous, safe and equal
country.

And, Conference, I’m optimistic about Labour’s future too. Optimistic that we’ll build on the success of Labour in power in London,
Manchester, Liverpool and Wales. That
we’ll make more progress in the local elections next year.That we’ll make a
huge difference to the lives of millions. That
we can build a fairer Britain. A more
prosperous Britain.  A safer
Britain.

And that Labour under Jeremy Corbyn will win the
next general election.

Thank you.