Debbie Abrahams MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and
Pensions, speaking at the Labour Party
Conference in Brighton today, said:

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It is. once again. an honour to be
speaking to you as Labour’s Work and Pensions Secretary.  Who would have thought that after leaving
school at 15 with just 3 ‘O’ levels I would be standing here today?

The passion I feel about building
a fairer society has been with me for as long as I can remember. For more than
20 years, I worked to tackle inequalities in communities and beyond. And that’s
what drove me into politics. The more you get into what determines inequality, the more you realise that
inequality is not inevitable. It’s constructed.

The type of society we have, the
tolerance and even the trust we feel towards one another, reflects how fairly
we divide up our collective wealth. Ultimately these come down to political
choices and leadership.

And people are seeing this now.
They are seeing the stark contrast between Theresa May’s Torie,s protecting an
increasingly wealthy elite, and Labour, under Jeremy Corbyn, whose entire
political life has been dedicated to the many, not the few. His commitment is
not a sound bite or a whim, it is who he is and has always been.

Over the past seven years, we have
seen the effects of the Tories’ ideologically-driven austerity policies. A
record 7.4m working people living in poverty. Falling real wages, which
remain lower than they were in 2008. An unprecedented rise in foodbank use,
rough sleeping doubling, and more than 120,000 children and their families
without a home.  A typical UK
worker would take 160 years to earn the average annual amount handed to a FTSE
100 boss.  And for the first time in decades we are
seeing life expectancy falling.

Conference, there can be nothing
more unjust than knowing how long we live is determined by inequality in
income, wealth and social position. It doesn’t have to be this way. We are the
fifth richest country in the world. As our Manifesto set out, the next Labour
Government, will make different choices, fairer choices. For the many, not the
few!

These widening inequalities have stifled
growth, too. Differences in growth across the UK have led to inequalities in
our labour markets as well. But the Tories’ social security policies have
failed to respond to this changing world of work, where workers are often stuck
in an endless ‘low pay, no pay’ cycle.

One of my constituents, a single mum who
works as a nurse in a local hospital, came to see me at one of my surgeries in
Oldham recently. In the process of transferring on to Universal Credit from tax
credit,s she had to wait more than 6 weeks for a payment, as over 1 in 4 people
do. This delay and a number other administrative issues meant that she couldn’t
pay all of her rent. When she came to see me, she had just been served an
eviction notice.

In another case, Kellie, who’s here
today, is worried that she will have a similar experience when UC is rolled out
in Wythenshawe. Although she’s been on tax credits, she is off work from her
cleaning job at Manchester airport, waiting for an operation. Being on
statutory sick pay has eaten into her savings and she’s now in rent arrears.
She said if she had to wait at least six weeks to receive her UC payment, she’s
sure her family would end up being homeless.

Conference, on behalf of these women, and
the six and half million families still to move on to Universal Credit, I’m
calling on the Prime Minister to halt next month’s UC roll out while we work to
fix these issues.

Our social security system is also
failing sick and disabled people. At last year’s Conference I played the
trailer from ‘I, Daniel Blake’, Ken Loach’s iconic film about a man recovering
from a heart attack, but found fit for work and battling for help from the
Department for Work and Pensions.

Its impact in changing attitudes about
social security claimants from the Tories’ shirker/scrounger narrative, to the
reality that the vast majority of claimants have contributed to the system all
of their lives, cannot be under-estimated. And as Ken is also here this
afternoon, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank him for all he has done.

But while the rhetoric might be changing,
the reality is not, with cuts to social security support and the anguish of unfair
assessments.

The United Nations’ Committee on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities recently reported that this Government’s
policies were leading to a ‘human catastrophe’. Increasingly, sick and disabled
people are facing poverty and isolation. As my Disability Equality Roadshow
revealed, many feel like prisoners in their own homes; with dwindling social
security support, too many are dying early, and even taking their own lives.

As we promised in our Manifesto with and
for disabled people, Labour will deliver on the rights of disabled people,
enshrining the UN Convention into UK law.

Conference, a Labour Government will
transform our social security system from one that demonises, to one that is
supportive and enabling. Like the NHS, it should be there for any one of us in
our time of need, providing dignity and security for all.

For older people, this Tory Government
has provided anything but dignity and security. Their failure to grapple with
the pensions system has left many with dwindling workplace pensions or
worse.  

At the same time, the Tories have
attacked the state pension, promising to increase the state pension age yet
again. This has been most extreme for women born in the 1950s, many of whom
have worked for well over 40 years and expected to retire at 60.

The acceleration of women’s state pension
equalisation by this Government has left hundreds of thousands of women in dire
straits. I’ve heard of women sofa-surfing in their 60s, living off the kindness
of family or friends, having used up all their savings, because they can no
longer do the work they used to. Too often older people are discriminated at
work, as well as when they try to get into work.  A Government Minister suggested that women
should go and find an apprenticeship during a recent debate!

These women feel understandable anger
that they have done the right thing and that the Government has failed to
deliver its side of the bargain. I have been meeting with them on my national
pensions tour. We promised in our Manifesto to provide pension credit and additional
support to the two and a half million 1950s women still waiting to retire.

 

As a starter, I can announce today that a
Labour Government in power now, would allow these women to retire up to two
years early.

Conference, this is the difference a
Labour Government would make. My challenge to this Government is to do the same
and to do it now.

Thank you Conference, thank you to my
wonderful team, and to my loving family. Now let’s get on with getting Labour
into Government!

ends

John McDonnell MP, Shadow Chancellor, speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton today, said:

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I’d
like to thank Ken Loach for that wonderful film and thank Ken for his
incredible contribution to our movement. Can I also thank the Shadow Treasury
Team: Peter Dowd our Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury; Anneliese Dodds; Jonathon Reynolds; Denis Tunnicliffe; Bryan Davies and my brilliant PPS Karen Lee

Only a few months ago we were 24 points
behind in the polls. Our opponents and virtually every political commentator =
those two groups are often interchangeable by the way – they predicted that we
would be wiped out in the general election.

I said then in interview after interview
that the polls would narrow and we would shock them all. Not many believed me.
And let’s be honest until you saw the exit polls, most of you were pretty on
edge too, weren’t you?

Before the election, I said that once we
entered the election period and broadcasters were legally obliged to give us
some semblance of balanced coverage, we would turn the poll ratings around.

Why? Well, first because people would be
given a chance to see Jeremy Corbyn for what he is. The honest, principled and,
yes, the strong and determined person and leader that he is.  And, second, because people would see in our
Manifesto what we really stood for and our vision of hope.

And that is what happened.  And it’s also down to you, our members, whose
overwhelming enthusiasm inspired people in their millions to come out and vote
for us.  I want to thank you all.

So yes, we have proved that we are an
effective campaigning Party. We now have to prove that we will be an effective
governing party. A Government that can set the political agenda for a
generation.

If you study the history of our Party,
you will see that it’s always been the role of Labour Governments to lead our
country into each new era.

It was the Attlee Labour Government that
built a new society from the debris of the bomb sites, in the new era after the
Second World War. Those men and women who had endured so much throughout the
depression of the 1930s and who had sacrificed so much to defeat fascism,
placed their trust in our party.

My Dad was a sergeant in the army and my
Mum a welder by day, in a munitions factory, and an ARP warden at night. They
came out of the war with that spirit of 1945, inspired in them by the election
of a Labour Government.  

And the Labour Party fulfilled its
promise to them and all the other families by creating the welfare state,
providing free education for their children, building them a decent home
,investing in an economy based upon full employment. And, of course, creating
that jewel in our crown, our NHS.  

In the 1960,s when the Tories governed
this country from their gentlemen’s clubs on behalf of the privileged few and
held this country back from facing the challenges of the modern era, it was the
Wilson Labour Government that recognised the potential of a modern Britain,
forged, as he said in “the white heat of the scientific revolution.”

For my brother and me, and so many others
of our generation, new educational opportunities enabled us to challenge the barriers
that had held so many working-class kids back.

And, yes, in 1997, after 18 years of
Thatcherism, when whole industries and communities across our country had been
destroyed by the Torie,s and our public services were on their knees, it was
the Blair/Brown Government that recognised and delivered the scale of public
investment that a 21^st century society needed.

We should never forget that we are part
of that great Labour tradition and we should be so proud of it.

So as we now enter the next, new era, the
era of the fourth industrial revolution, I tell you it is a Corbyn Labour
Government that will rescue our country from the long years of austerity. And
it will be up to us to lay the foundations of the new world that awaits us.

That new world is being shaped already by
the beginnings of the fourth industrial revolution.  Huge changes are underway in our society and
economy. Technological change is accelerating. This year, Chinese scientists
used quantum mechanics to teleport data to a satellite.

We can match that, we’ve got a Tory
Government teleported from the 18^th century.   We are determined that Britain embraces the
possibilities of technological change – scary though that may be. By the middle
of this century, it is possible that up to half of all the jobs we do now could
be automated away.

The
jobs that remain can, if we let them, be exploitative, dangerous, degrading,
and dead-end. Or the jobs we create can provide good, secure employment, in
work that is fulfilling and meaningful, in communities where pride and
prosperity has been restored.

We have already had a foretaste of what
this revolution would look like if it was left to the Tories. It is being used
to vastly enrich a tiny elite, whilst creating a life for many workers of long
hours, low pay, and insecure employment.

There’s a choice to be made. We can
remain a low-wage economy,y specialising in zero hours contracts. Or we can use
the state to help shape Britain’s future in this new world.  We know it can be done.

As
the Tories waste time and energy, alienating our closest trading partners,
other countries are using state direction of innovation and investment to carve
out vital areas of expertise – in robotics, in electronic cars, in cleantech,
in the smart city. Though the technologies are new – the British problem is
old. The City is not channelling investment into high value, high productivity
businesses.  Instead, it’s channelling
investment into property speculation.

It’s
the rentier economy, where wealth is secured not by what you produce, but by
the amount of rent you can charge. So we will change that.  We’ll put taxpayers’ money into key research
projects; we’ll foster the creation of networks and clusters of expertise. To reconnect the financial sector to the
economy of research and development and production, we will transform our
financial system.

Labour will establish a Strategic
Investment Board, comprising the Chancellor, Secretary of State for Business
and Governor of the Bank of England, to co-ordinate the promotion of
investment, employment and real wages.

In our investment strategy, we will no
longer accept the disparities between investment in London and the Home
Counties and the rest of the country.

This Tory Government plans to invest in
the north just one-fifth of what it will spend on transport per head in London.

We will legislate for a fair distribution
of investment. We’ll devolve decision making through the Regional Development
Banks, our Mayors, and regenerate the powers and resources available to local
councils.

We’ll build Crossrail for the north,
connecting our great northern cities from west coast to east, and extend HS2
into Scotland. We’ll deliver the funding for Midlands Connect, overhauling
transport across the Midlands. And we’ll overturn decades of neglect and lack
of investment in the South-West. We’ll electrify railway lines from Cornwall
right through to London.

The storms and flooding sweeping the
world in these last few months are yet another environmental wake up call. This
country has huge natural, renewable resources.
And we have an immense heritage of scientific and engineering expertise.
Yet this Government has slashed the funding, the renewables industry needs to
find its feet.

Labour will ensure we become world
leaders in decarbonising our economy. With a publicly owned energy supply based
on alternative energy sources. Where the Tories have dithered and delayed, to
deliver zero-carbon electricity, we will absolutely commit for example to
building projects like the Swansea Tidal Lagoon.

Ours will only become an economy for the
many, if we significantly broaden ownership. That means supporting
entrepreneurs, small businesses, the genuinely self-employed and massively
expanding worker control and the co-operative sector.

Building an economy for the many also
means bringing ownership and control of the utilities and key services into the
hands of people who use and work in them. Rail, water, energy, Royal Mail-
we’re taking them back.

We cannot allow this dynamic vision for
our economy to be undermined by the combination of belligerence and
incompetence, displayed by the Tories in the current EU negotiations. Our aim
is to create a Britain for the many, not the few. Our conscience doesn’t end at
the English Channel. We also want a Europe for the many, not the few.  

That’s why, whilst respecting the
referendum decision, we will work with our partners across Europe to create a
new European future, based upon collaboration and co-operation.

But we start with addressing the brutal
treatment of EU citizens by this Government. We demand that the rights of EU
citizens in this country are fully protected, just as we wish to secure the
rights of UK citizens in other EU countries.

And I warn the Tories if they try to
water down, or undermine protections we have secured on employment, consumer or
environmental rights, we will give them the political battle of their lives.

As we go into Government, you know we
will have to clear up the mess the Tories will have left us. After their long years
of austerity, the Tories are leaving a society steeped in debt and scarred by
low pay and insecurity, with our public services in meltdown. We will
commission a thorough review of the scale, causes and responses to debt. But
action is needed fast.

First, we will do what the Tories have
failed to do, and bring the Government’s deficit and debt under effective
control. The Tories have borrowed more than any Labour Government ever.

On arrival in office, we will set out
plans to eliminate the deficit and reduce debt, based upon our Fiscal
Credibility Rule. For each policy in our Manifesto, we are preparing detailed
implementation plans. To pay for our public services, we will close the tax
loopholes and avoidance scams used by the mega-rich, and we will make sure the
rich and the giant corporations pay their way.

Many people are also forced into debt by
low wages. It cannot be right that we are the only major developed economy to
have grown, while wages are lower than they were before the crash ten years ago.
And as inflation hits, many workers are facing yet another real-terms cut in
their pay, while the pay of FTSE 100 Chief Executives is 160 times that of the
average worker.

In the election campaign Theresa May was
asked why nurses were being forced to resort to foodbanks and she replied that
the issue was complex. It isn’t complex. It’s simple. They just aren’t being
paid enough.  

That’s why we insist the pay cap is
scrapped once and for all and not just for some, but for everybody. And we
demand decent wages for all workers. Britain deserves a pay rise. It’s why we
will introduce a real living wage of £10 an hour.  We will introduce pay ratios at the top. We
will address the gender pay gap that leaves women’s wages still trailing men’s
by 14%. And we will ensure every piece of legislation will be
measured against its impact on women before implementation.

I am proud to support those brave young
people who are campaigning for decent wages now, and those who have joined the
Bakers’ Union, to take on the might of McDonalds. Be clear, we will restore
basic employment rights, repeal the Tories Trade Union Act, set up a new
Ministry of Labour and restore collective bargaining.

As wages have fallen behind, more and
more families are being pushed deeper into debt. Household debt in this country stands at the record level of more
than £1.8 trillion. We have seen with pay day loans; some
companies were making massive profits from people’s financial difficulties.

Under Labour pressure, the Government was
forced to cap interest payments on payday loans. But more than 3 million credit
card holders are trapped by their debt. They’ve paid more in interest charges
and fees than they originally borrowed. The Financial Conduct Authority has
argued for action to be taken on credit card debt as on pay day loans.

I am calling upon the Government to act
now and apply the same rules on payday loans to credit card debt. It means that
no-one will ever pay more in interest than their original loan. If the Tories
refuse to act, I can announce today that the next Labour Government will amend
the law. Call it the McDonnell amendment.

Some of the heaviest debt burden has
fallen on young people.The Tories tripled tuition fees and allowed the Student
Loans Company to hike up interest rate charges. Young people are now leaving
university with £57,000 worth of debt. That’s why we put forward our
fully-costed commitment to scrap tuition fees.

And we will.

The Tories, with the connivance of the
Liberal Democrats, have created a totally unsustainable situation. Three
quarters of students will never fully repay their loans. So it’s not just bad
for students; it’s a bad deal for the taxpayer too.

As a result of Labour pressure, the
Government is now being forced into discussing reducing interest rates or
raising repayment thresholds. If they bring forward effective proposals we will
support them. But that won’t go nearly far enough. We can’t afford another five
years of spiralling student debt.

According to the Institute for Fiscal
Studies, and our independent research, writing off the Tories’ student debt now
would cost £10bn by 2050. Waiting until 2022 could treble the cost of a write
off. I am calling on the Chancellor to
act now, before the situation becomes unmanageable.

It’s the Tories who have got young people
into this mess, they should take some responsibility for getting them out of
it.

It’s not just students and households
with credit cards who are being ripped off.The scandal of the Private Finance
Initiative, launched by John Major, has resulted in huge, long-term costs for
tax payers, whilst handing out enormous profits for some companies. Profits
which are coming out of the budgets of our public services.

Over the next few decades, nearly two
hundred billion is scheduled to be paid out of public sector budgets in PFI
deals. In the NHS alone, £831m in pre-tax profits have been made over the past
six years. As early as 2002 this Conference regretted the use of PFI.

Jeremy Corbyn has made it clear that,
under his leadership, never again will this waste of taxpayer money be used to
subsidise the profits of shareholders, often based in offshore tax havens. The
Government could intervene immediately to ensure that companies in tax havens
can’t own shares in PFI companies, and their profits aren’t hidden from HMRC.

We’ll put an end to this scandal and
reduce the cost to the taxpayers. How? We have already pledged that there will
be no new PFI deals signed by us. But we will go further. I can tell you today,
it’s what you’ve been calling for.

We’ll bring existing PFI contracts back
in-house.

The Tories have tried to change people’s
view of what is normal and acceptable in our society. They want us to accept
that in the fifth richest country in the world it’s normal and acceptable for
people to be saddled with debt; for people to have to work long, often
insecure, hours, stressed out, struggling to find time with their family; for
people not to have a pay rise for years no matter how dedicated you are or how
hard you work; for young people to have no prospect of owning their own home;
for disabled people to be pushed to the edge by the benefits system; or for
carers to be struggling without support or recognition.

Let’s make it clear – we will never
accept that this is normal or acceptable.

Yes we will increase GDP, close the
current account deficit and increase productivity. But life is not just about
statistics. As Bobby Kennedy said almost 50 years ago:

 “The gross national product does
not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the
joy of their play.  It does not include the beauty of our poetry.”  (18 March 1968)

The performance of our Government will be
measured by the care we show to all our people and the richness of their
lives.    

We proved in the election, and we will
now go on to prove in Government, our belief that:

Hope will always overcome fear.

Kindness and generosity will always
overcome greedy self-interest.

And that the flame of solidarity in our
society will never be extinguished.

For years we have proclaimed that
“Another World is Possible.”

I tell you now, that world is not just
possible, it is in sight.

Let’s create it together.

Emily
Thornberry MP, Shadow Foreign Secretary, speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton today, said:

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Chair, Conference – It’s a pleasure to be back here in Brighton
and Hove.

A city which we can say – once again – has no Tory MPs. And it’s a
pleasure to be taking part in a debate where our delegates have such a strong
voice,

And we should all thank Kate Osamor and Nia Griffith who have
allowed me to speak on their behalf today so our delegates could have more
time. And let me say as well – it’s an honour to be on this stage with our
leader, my friend, this country’s next Prime Minister – Jeremy Corbyn.

You know, some people might remember a certain viral video from
election night of a bit of high-fiving gone wrong. But that’s not how I’ll
remember that evening. I’ll just remember seeing a friend of mine who had
defied all the pundits, all the doubters

and all the expectations. Someone who had proved during the
election, who has proved throughout his leadership, who has proved all his
life, that nothing is stronger, nothing on earth than a person of principle.

And it is that strength and those principles, those unshakeable
values that are going to take Jeremy into Downing Street and put Labour back
into power. After all, it was on this very stage two years ago that Jeremy
declared his mission:

“To put Labour values – the people’s values – back – into –
politics.”

And he has achieved that. But thanks to Jeremy’s inspirational
leadership, thanks to the brilliant efforts of everyone in this room, we can
now set our sights even higher.

It is time to put Labour values, the people’s values back into
Government.

Because if June’s election taught us one thing, it’s that if we
stand behind Jeremy’s principled leadership, if we stand united as a Party, and
if we stand on a radical manifesto, there is absolutely no seat that we can’t
win.  And no Tory that we can’t bin.

So next time, we’ve got to take the fight into their backyard.
Let’s go round the coast to Hastings. And end the ambitions of Amber Rudd.
Let’s go to Chingford. And send Iain Duncan Smith to the Job Centre. Then let’s
go to Uxbridge. And make sure Boris Johnson never, ever gets into No.10.

But Conference, please let’s just take a second to sympathise with
poor old Boris. Oh come on, just a second. He’s not been happy lately.
Apparently he’s sick of being blamed for the way Brexit is going and all the broken
promises of the Leave campaign.

 

I’m sorry, Conference? I’m sorry? Who does he think made all those
promises? Who does he think was in charge  of the Leave Campaign?

I know Boris doesn’t like paternity tests, but we might need one
for Brexit. We need to get him in a studio with Jeremy Kyle.

“Yes, I’m sorry, Mr Johnson…

“We’ve got the results back…

“It looks like this one is yours…

“It must have been that wild night out you had with Michael Gove.

“I’ve calculated your maintenance payments…

“That’ll be 350 million a week.”

But Conference, what a contrast. Here on this stage, you’ve got
Labour’s Brexit team – myself, Keir and Barry working every day in harness with
Jeremy, John and Diane. All pulling in the same direction.  All focused on
the same three priorities. The three priorities we’ve had since Day One after
the Referendum – Jobs, Jobs and Jobs.

While next week in Manchester, we’re going to see six Tory rats,
fighting in a sack, not worried about protecting the jobs of the British
people. Just every one of them looking out for their own.

Last Friday, Theresa May said we need to be “creative and
imaginative” to get a good outcome from Brexit. Well I’ve got a creative idea
for her step aside, end your shambles of a Government, and let the grown-ups on
this stage take charge.

And talking of grown-ups I’m proud to be here representing our
great Shadow Foreign Office team: Liz McInnes; Fabian Hamilton; Khalid Mahmood;
Helen Goodman and Ray Collins. And I’m proud as well to be speaking on behalf
of my friends, Kate Osamor and Nia Griffith. Kate, our Shadow Secretary of
State For International Development, facing a world in now constant
humanitarian crisis,

not least as a result of climate change.

As Kate would say, in that world, we’ve got a decision to make.
Either tackle head on the root causes of these crises or spend more and more
every year dealing with the consequences.  And, under a Labour government.
That is a decision we will not duck.

And Nia, our Shadow Defence Secretary, who has shown that Britain
under Labour

will be a strong leader within NATO, committed to spend 2 per cent
of our national income on defence. And committed to ensure that those who put
their lives on the line for this country the real-terms pay rises and the
decent living conditions that their service and their sacrifice deserves.

In dark, dangerous times for our world Britain must be equally
strong and equally committed to defence, development and diplomacy. That is
what we offer on this stage. And that is what Labour in government will
guarantee. 

But Conference, make no mistake. These are indeed dark and
dangerous times for the world. And too many times, the problems we face come
down to people abusing their power and ignoring the rules and values that
should govern our world.

From Venezuela to The Philippines we see the rule of law ignored
and originally democratic governments turning into increasingly autocratic
regimes. From Myanmar to Yemen we see human rights ignored and flagrant attacks
against ordinary civilians qll too often using British-made weapons.

From Kashmir to Israel and Palestine we see efforts at diplomacy
ignored and actions taken on both sides which will make peace harder to
achieve.

From Syria to Sudan, we see the Geneva Conventions ignored and
despots committing war crimes with total freedom and impunity. 

All across Europe we see the basic rules of humanity and the basic
lessons of history ignored as cowardly terrorists stalk our city streets and
vicious extremist parties rise in the polls.

And of course, in North Korea  we see the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty ignored with all the terrifying consequences the world
is now facing today.

Taken altogether what we are seeing today is the biggest challenge
to the world order since the 1930s and the collapse of the League of
Nations.  And if you believe as I do in what Jeremy has called…“A world
based on rules and laws” then this is the time, more than ever, when we need
our leaders to stand up for that world order. To stand up for human rights and
international treaties. And to insist on working through the United Nations for
peace.

But instead, Conference we now have a President of the United
States who believes that none of these rules and laws apply to him.

– Imposing a travel ban on Muslims;

– Equivocating over illegal settlements;

– Reneging on the Paris climate treaty;

– Imperilling the nuclear deal with Iran;

– And threatening to “totally destroy” North Korea. A country of
20 million men and women. And 5 million children.

This is not what we need from the leader of the free world.

To be honest, Conference it’s more like what we would expect from
a rogue dictator. And what makes it even worse is to see this Tory government
and this Tory Prime Minister pathetically going along with it all walking
hand-in-hand with Trump at the White House, supine, sycophantic and spineless.

And why? All in the vain hope that Trump will ride to the rescue
after Brexit with some fantasy free trade deal. Because, for this Tory
government that’s what their foreign policy has come down to no values or
ethics, no rules or principles just a simple case of what works best for the
bottom line. How else do they explain why – last week – Theresa May was in New
York, finally announcing the suspension of cooperation with the military in
Myanmar because of their actions in Rakhine.

While on the very same day, Michael Fallon was in Jeddah, signing
a deal to increase our cooperation with the military in Saudi Arabia wantonly
ignoring their actions in Yemen. It is rank hypocrisy. But it also illustrates
a basic fact that the world we want to see – a world governed by ethics and
values, a world based on rules and laws will never truly exist as long as
governments and world leaders get to decide for themselves when it suits them
to play by the rules and when the rules can be safely ignored.

The world we want will never exist when governments like Theresa
May’s think it’s perfectly OK to loudly condemn those they regard as enemies
but then fall utterly silent when it is their friends in Bahrain rounding up,
torturing and executing civilian protestors or their friends in Saudi Arabia
dropping cluster bombs on innocent children in Yemen.

In fact, if they were just silent that would be an improvement.
Instead, we have to listen to Michael Fallon saying that the thousands of
children killed and injured by air strikes in Yemen are just a consequence of
Saudi Arabia “defending itself”…

…“Defending itself”.

But Conference, it does not have to be this way. Labour can and
will do things differently when we are back in power.

And there is one concrete step we can commit to today.

For too long successive governments in this country have taken
decisions on granting arms export licences behind closed doors and shrouded in
secrecy.

Just two months ago we had the ludicrous situation where the
campaigners trying to stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia for use in Yemen had
their Judicial Review rejected on the basis of government evidence presented in
closed court a secret court so they were not even allowed to hear the evidence
let alone challenge it.

The fact is that arms export decisions made by Tory Ministers are
entirely subjective assessments taken without proper Parliamentary scrutiny
without listening to independent, expert advice, but listening far too much to
lobbyists for the arms trade and repressive foreign regimes.  A process
that leads to nonsensical double-standards, where the Government can decide too
late that selling arms to Myanmar is wrong but immediately increase its sales
to Saudi. It is an arms control regime that was already outdated. but which the
Tories have systematically abused, undermined and left fatally discredited.

And as the four shadow ministers responsible, Barry, Nia, Kate and
I have agreed that it must change. So just as the new Labour Governments
elected in 1997 and 2001 Immediately reformed the way decisions were made on
monetary policy and competition policy, the next Labour Government will
immediately reform the way decisions are made on the export of arms.

A wholesale reform of the legal and regulatory framework fully
implementing the International Arms Trade Treaty with clear rules, tests and
criteria for decision-making, based on independent, expert advice and the
objective assessment of evidence. A new system, that will prevent the misuse or
abuse of licences and adhere to the principles of transparency, true
Parliamentary accountability and freedom from undue influence.

Because Conference, it is not enough for us just to be better than
the Tories, we must set an entirely new standard for Britain and a shining example
to the world.

And if that sounds like setting our ambitions high, well you’re
damn right it is and we should not apologise for that.

You know, I heard Chuka say yesterday:

“Overpromising and under-delivering…

“…Is one of the reasons…

“…there was such fury with the Blair government.”

And when it comes to foreign policy, I totally agree with that
statement. But the way we avoid that mistake next time round isn’t to water
down the promises we make, it’s to keep the promises we make and make sure we deliver
them.

We will be a Government that will never put the interest of the
rich and powerful above human Rights, The Rule of Law, and the lives of
innocent children in Yemen…

A Government that will never put our principles up for auction.

And if we are going to be the kind of government we could be, we
do not just need what Robin Cook called for, twenty years ago, when he set out
his Mission Statement for the Foreign Office.

We do not just need an “ethical dimension” to our foreign policy,
we need to go much further than that.

We need what Martin Luther King called for 50 years ago, when he
set out his case against the Vietnam War.

– We need “a revolution of values”.

– “A genuine revolution of values”.

– “A radical revolution of values”.

Because if our mission back when Jeremy was elected, was to put
Labour values back into politics and our mission today is to put those values
back into Government, then our mission for the years to come must be equally
ambitious and equally radical. It must be to put Labour values at the heart of
the world order, to be a beacon in every corner of the globe for the values we
believe in here at home.

We have the leader in Jeremy to do it. We have the team on this
stage to do it. We have the members in this hall, and all across the country,
who will hold us to it.

So let us make that our mission. And this time – this time – let
us make it our record.

Keir Starmer MP,  Shadow
Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton today, said:

***CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY***

 

Thank you conference.  Thank you to everyone who has taken part this
morning. Thank you also to Labour’s fantastic Shadow Brexit team: Jenny
Chapman; Paul Blomfield; Matt Pennycook; Dianne Hayter; Karin Smyth; Emma
Hardy; and Jess Morden. ardBelieve you me, they could all have chosen easier
jobs in the last year.

What a year it has been. Article 50
triggered. A snap election. It was meant to be a coronation, but it left us
with a broken Government. Too weak to govern. Too divided to negotiate Brexit. Constructive
ambiguity is now official government policy.

It would be funny, if it wasn’t so
tragic.

Britain’s
place in the world is at stake. People’s jobs are at stake. People’s mortgages
are at stake. People’s futures are at stake. And who are the authors of this
Tory tragedy? 

First,
David Cameron, who gambled his country, because he couldn’t hold his party
together. Then, Boris Johnson, standing in front of his red bus, with a lie on
the side – a false promise of £350m a week for the NHS. Ruthless about his own
ambitions, but reckless about our country.

Now
Theresa May, robotically marching towards an extreme Brexit – focussed on her
own survival not the national interest.
Maybe the Tories can afford this disastrous approach to Brexit. Maybe
the Tories would benefit from a Brexit of deregulation, where rights are put at
risk.

But
you know, and I know, that millions of working people cannot. Whether
you’re in the front seat with Theresa May, or in the backseat with Boris
Johnson, there’s nothing patriotic about joy-riding our country’s economy off a
cliff.

This
has to stop. It’s time for a different approach. So let me share with you
Labour’s approach. An approach that is both democratically legitimate and
economically sensible. That respects the referendum result and puts jobs
and the economy first. An
approach rooted in our core values.  Values that bind us together. Labour
values.

Values of
internationalism: we have always been an internationalist party; reaching out
to Europe and the rest of the world rather than turning inwards.  Values of co-operation, solidarity, and a
simple belief that we achieve more together than we do alone. An unflinching commitment to human rights, the rule of law, rights at
work and the protection of our environment. Fairness,
equality and social justice in our economy and in our society.

As we exit the EU, we should not abandon these values. On the
contrary, these values should drive everything we do in these uncertain times. That is why, over
the summer, Labour reached an agreed position that transitional arrangements on
the same basic terms that we currently have with the EU are in the national
interest. For Labour that means that during the transitional phase, we would
remain in a customs union with the EU and within the Single Market.

The
Government on the other hand spent their summer squabbling in public. So
dysfunctional had it all become, that the Prime Minister had to fly to Florence
on Friday, only to accept Labour’s position on transitional arrangements. Let’s
see if that survives contact with Tory party conference.

But
let’s not be fooled by what the Prime Minister said in Florence. All she has
done is to delay the cliff edge. All her ideological red-lines remain. She
still prioritises arbitrary immigration targets over jobs and the economy.  She has no answer to fundamental questions in
Northern Ireland. And she still insists – in spite of all the warnings – that
no deal is a viable option.

The
Labour Party rejects that approach. If we were in Government, we would build a
new progressive partnership with the EU. We would negotiate a final deal that
ensured continued co-operation and collaboration with our EU partners in all
fields. And a final deal, that retained the benefits of the Customs Union and
the Single Market. Options for achieving this should not be swept off the
table.

Subject,
of course to negotiations, remaining in a form of customs union with the EU is
a possible end destination for Labour.

We
are also flexible as to whether the benefits of the Single Market are best
retained by negotiating a new Single Market relationship or by working up from
a bespoke trade deal. No rash, ideological red lines preventing a sensible
deal. No fantastical, ‘blue sky’ proposals.
A pragmatic approach. Labour are now the grown-ups in the room. We stand
ready to take charge of the negotiations. Not acting for narrow political gain.
But in the national interest.

Conference,
the way the Tories are handling Brexit tells you a lot about their competence –
or should I say incompetence.  But it
also tells you about their character. About their dogmatic disregard of the
national interest; about their sheer sense of entitlement; about their
post-imperial delusions; about their willingness to put other people’s jobs at
risk.

Our
country today is so much better than our Government. This is a country yearning
for change. Theresa
May – and whichever Brexiteer replaces her – cannot deliver that change. The old
politics and the Tory old guard have had their day.

We need a transformative Labour Government. Not just
to break the impasse in Brexit negotiations and to deliver a progressive new
partnership with the EU – vital though that is.
But to
tackle the wider injustices and inequalities we see all around us. To give
hope that our society, our public services and our economy don’t have to be
like this. That we can build a better, fairer and more
inclusive Britain.

That’s why I came into politics. That is why you
are in this hall. It’s why Jeremy has been able to mobilise 600,000
members …and inspire the support of over 12 million people. It’s why the
clock is ticking for this Prime Minister and this Government.

We
have come a long way in the last year. Now is the time for us to lead. To bring
a divided country back together. To mend our broken politics. This is Labour’s
opportunity. This is Labour’s responsibility. And, working together, this
can be Labour’s achievement.

Delivering
a Government for the many, not the few.

Ends

Glenis
Willmott MEP, Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party, speaking at the
Labour Party Conference in Brighton today, said:

***CHECK
AGAINST DELIVERY***

Conference,
this is my final speech as Labour’s Leader in the European Parliament. Next week
I will be retiring as an MEP. And while I must sadly, inevitably, talk about
Brexit, perhaps you can indulge me for a minute in a little nostalgia.

Look
back with me to a simpler time. Before the Tories’ EU referendum divided our
country. When Britain was known around the world for its values of tolerance
and fairness at home and for its international leadership on the global stage.

It
was a time when if Britain’s negotiations went badly in Brussels, all we had to
fear – if you believed the papers – was quieter hoovers and slightly straighter
bananas.

It
is not that long ago, but it feels like a different world to today. And while
you can still find bendy bananas on the shelves of our supermarkets, a lot of
changes did come through our membership of the EU, that have made Britain a
better place.

Now,
we might not have not solved all the problems facing our country. but I am
proud of the work of Labour’s MEPs who have, working through the EU, helped in
the fight to overcome them:

·        
Better
workers’ rights, such as equal pay for part-time workers and guaranteed paid
holiday;

·        
Investment
in poorer parts of the country at a time when the Tory government was unashamed
in its disregard for our industrial communities;

·        
Environmental
standards making the products we buy safer and helping to clean up our beaches
and the toxic air in our cities;

·        
Improved
financial regulation, to tame the casino capitalism that led to the last global
financial crisis.

Conference,
I never claimed the EU was perfect, but as we now prepare to leave, we need to
remember the victories we have won. Because let us be in no doubt: many of the
politicians who are leading our country through the EU exit door want to leave
those rights and protections behind.

It
is one of the things they always hated about the EU – their desire for a
free-market free-for-all has been tempered by European values of social justice
and equality, by a belief in government stepping in to help the most
vulnerable.

And
as our country enters its most important negotiations in my lifetime, there is
a real danger that Britain will plummet out of the European Union with no deal
in 18 months.

And
no deal is not better than a bad deal: our country will become poorer; jobs
will be lost; whole sectors of the economy will grind to a halt.

It
is more than a year since the EU referendum. Six months since the triggering of
Article 50. So it is a good moment to take stock of those Brexit promises.

Remember?
International trade deals ready to go; British trade with Europe to be
guaranteed. Nobody, be they EU citizens in Britain or Brits abroad need worry
about their status.

Conference,
the government is no nearer to moving forward on these issues than it was when
Theresa May first entered Downing Street.

Now,
the government will claim the problems lie with the EU. Theresa May has called
on EU leaders to be creative and to show more imagination.

But
our colleagues in Europe simply see a government stuck in a world of its own
imagination: an expectation that we be released from the rules of European
trade, but then just continue to trade like we used to; the idea of putting up
a new customs border that both exists and doesn’t exist at the same time.

Conference,
it’s not creative, it’s science fiction. And I’ll tell you something else
that’s science fiction: the outrageous claim that our NHS will get an extra
£350 million a week because of Brexit. It isn’t true. It was never true. Shame
on you Boris Johnson.

Conference,
I raise these examples because there is a danger that the prime minister leads
the country into Brexit in the same failed way she led her party into the
General Election.

Back
in May and June, Theresa May kept proclaiming herself to be a strong and stable
leader, when all around her could plainly see she was anything but. She was the
only person left believing her own propaganda. And once again her strategy is
failing.

She
chose to start negotiations on a note of confrontation putting her party before
the country. She tried to regain lost trust with her speech in Florence, yet
all can see that her government policy is still just broad aspiration at best.

From
manufacturing to medicine, financial services to food processing, sector after
sector of our economy is facing uncertainty. Investment decisions are delayed.

So
let’s be clear: the government’s fly-by-night negotiating strategy is a threat
to jobs, it is a threat to tax revenues, and, in undermining the economy of our
country, it is a threat to the future of our public services as well.

Conference,
I’m not going to stand up on this stage and tell you that I think Brexit is the
answer to our country’s problems. I don’t. I put my heart and soul into
campaigning in the referendum for Britain to stay in the European Union, to
maintain our alliances, to protect our trade and the jobs that depend on it. It
is what I think would have been best for the country. But, and it really does
pain me to say this, we lost.

And
just like after any electoral defeat, we need to pick ourselves up, look at the
challenges facing our country, and begin the next campaign.

So
now Labour MEPs are looking ahead to what will probably be their final vote:
sometime in the next 18 months the European Parliament will have to decide
whether to approve – or not – the final Brexit deal.

And
on behalf of my Labour colleagues, and on behalf of our sister party colleagues
across Europe, I can tell you:

·        
There
will be no backing for a deal that undermines the peace process in Northern
Ireland;

·        
There
will be no backing for a deal that fails to give peace of mind to EU citizens
in Britain and Brits who have made their home abroad;

·        
And
there will be no backing for a deal that opens the door to attacks on workers’
rights and safety standards.

So
conference, as the Brexit talks continue, let’s stand united in holding the
Tories’ feet to the fire. In challenging the heartlessness of the right-wing
vision for Brexit Britain. And let’s stand united as Labour campaigns as the
true voice of our country.