Labour

Ian Lavery MP, Chair of the Labour Party, speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton today, said:

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Conference, colleagues, brothers and sisters. We nearly did it! Who would have thought this time last year that we would be here, having been a hair’s breadth away from having the keys to Downing Street?

The snap general election, that Mrs May said wouldn’t happen. saw us do something that political pundits said was impossible.

·         Winning the support of nearly 13 million people – our best vote for 20 years. 

·         Achieving the biggest increase in Labour’s share of the vote since 1945.

·         Denying the Tories an overall majority.

·         Turning the tide in Scotland and gaining six seats

·         Achieving our best share of the vote in Wales for 20 years

·         Achieving our highest share of the vote in England since 1966. And winning some seats we have never won, and only imagined winning in our wildest dreams.

Conference, we achieved something special with an unashamed message of hope

Just over a year ago Theresa May was swept to the leadership of the Tories and the country without being elected – even by Tory Party members. So emboldened was Mrs May, that the architect of Tory austerity, George Osborne, was kicked out of cabinet like a dog in the night.

What a contrast to now – denied a mandate by the great British public. So embattled is Mrs May that she is being led a merry dance by bungling Boris. And so chaotic is the Tory Party that its members believe the best choice to replace Mrs May is Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Can you imagine Jacob Rees-Mogg leading this country? It would be funny if it was not so serious. But the danger is the people of these countries will pay for the Tory chaos with their jobs, and we can’t let it happen. And that’s why it’s so important that we build on the achievements of our election campaign.

And that’s why we must continue to campaign – so when the next election is called. We are in pole position in the race to Downing Street. This is no pipe dream; this is political reality

In April, the Tories and most of the media expected Labour majorities to crumble and for the Party to be destroyed as an electoral force. On election night, Andrew Marr said “no one expected Corbyn to be such a good campaigner.”  Really Andrew? No one? Where have you been? But Jeremy would be the first to say the campaign was not a one-person show.

What a great campaign Labour waged. From the members who went out knocking doors and handing out leaflets, to the staff and volunteers who came together as one team at Southside. From the trade unions who mobilised their members, to the teams in our offices in Wales and Scotland and every region. Everyone deserves to give themselves a pat on the back.  And a special thanks to those who came along to our rallies, across the UK.

Who made politics exciting again and contributed to an atmosphere of change? The statistics speak for themselves. They’re in the report. But I’ll mention just a few.

Huge increases in our social media reach – for example, Labour’s Facebook ‘likes’ increased 44% to nearly a million and Jeremy’s rose 31% to 1.2 million. We came of age digitally in this election. A fantastic voter registration campaign that saw more than two million visit the electoral commission’s voter registration site. Four million visitors to Labour’s website. Eight million people watching our Party-political broadcast on the NHS on TV – that’s two million more viewers than the Great British Bake off!

And none of this could have been done without cash to match the Tories. In just six weeks, our supporters gave nearly £5m in donations, averaging £19 – that’s more than a quarter of a million donations. And that’s on top of £4m donated by our trade union affiliates. It was a truly amazing campaign. Positive, hopeful, funded by the many.

And what a contrast with the Tories. Theirs was a campaign funded by a handful of super-rich donors. With a leader who was hiding from the voters. And a manifesto that failed even to give the electorate the courtesy of some costings. And, as the polls narrowed, the bankruptcy of the Tories was plain to see – all they could do was escalate their scurrilous personal attacks – above all, on Jeremy, on John, and on Diane.

Diane – let’s take a moment to consider what you had to put up with. According to Amnesty International, you were the target of 45% of all the twitter abuse directed at female MPs. The Tories have questions to answer – they deliberately targeted you and spent a fortune smearing you. But you responded with dignity and discipline and your own constituents in Hackney North and Stoke Newington rewarded you – with a thumping 35 thousand-plus majority.

Conference, the Labour Party has had a massive impact since the election. Two weeks after the election, on the back foot, the Tories’ Queen’s Speech made no mention of:

·         Scrapping the winter fuel allowance for millions of pensioners.

·         Of ditching the triple lock protecting the value of pensions.

·         Of a dementia tax on social care.

·         Of taking free meals away from younger primary school children.

·         Of new grammar schools.

·         Or of unbanning fox hunting.

If this is what we can achieve in opposition, imagine what we could achieve if we had the keys to Downing Street

We would start building a Britain for the many not the few, by:

• Introducing     a £10 living wage by 2020.
• Banning     zero hours contracts.
• Introducing     free schools means for all primary school children.
• Scrapping     tuition fees and reinstating maintenance awards.
• Giving     the NHS the money it needs.
• Tackling     the crisis in social care.
• Scrapping public sector pay     cap.
• And putting trade union rights     at the heart of our agenda.

Unlike the Tories, everything we promised in our manifesto was fully costed. And, unlike the Tories, we also had a plan for rebuilding the economy,  a plan for investing in sustainable growth, for investing to create the wealth and decent jobs that would underpin a fairer society.

The Tories have been – and continue to – giving away tens of billions of pounds through cuts in corporation tax, capital gains tax and other tax breaks for big business and the very wealthy. They say it’s to incentivise investment. But that hasn’t happened. In every single year of the last seven years under the Tories, capital investment as a percentage of GDP has been lower than the average under the last Labour Government. So, the Tory tax breaks for the rich are not only unfair. They are also not working.

Conference, this is why we cannot afford to rest on our laurels. Denying the Tories a majority was a great achievement, but it’s no substitute for winning power. 13 million people voted for a message of hope in June. Millions more can be won over to our cause.

It doesn’t have to be like this, there is always an alternative. By stepping up our campaigning and mobilising our membership. We can take our message of hope to every city, every town and every village across this country. A united Party, living our own values of solidarity to transform society. It is high time we invested in people and began to instil hope and aspiration.

Conference, together we will build an economy that works for all, a country where no one is held back.

A society for the many, not the few

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

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

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

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

BUT there’s someone on my mind this week.

Someone we’re missing.

That’s Mary Turner.

Mary was the very best of the Labour movement.

Passionate about social justice.

Driven by her values.

We miss her. I miss her.

We honour her memory.

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

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

Without trade unions:

no limits on working hours,

no rest breaks,

no paid holidays,

no safety on the building site or factory floor.

But there’s something more.

Mary Turner knew it:

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

Our founders in 1900 knew it.

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

To form governments and deliver policies.

The welfare state.

The United Nations.

Comprehensive schools.

The Open University.

A national minimum wage.  Sure Starts for the children.

And the greatest achievement of any government:

the National Health Service.

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

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

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

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

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

Battersea,

Bedford,

Plymouth,

Cardiff North,

and Portsmouth South.

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

And Labour is back in Scotland.

Winning seven seats, with six gains from the SNP.

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

More Labour MPs from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds,

More Labour MPs with disabilities,

More LGBT Labour MPs.

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

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

Labour had more than 1.2 million shares on Facebook.

We reached over 29 million unique Facebook users.

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

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

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

Victory next time is in sight.

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

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

Bournemouth, Blackpool and Bolton

Crawley, Carlisle and Copeland

From Hastings to Harrow…

From Southampton to Southport…

Aberconwy to Arfon…

Glasgow,

Rutherglen,  

The Western Isles,

Kirkcaldy,

Edinburgh and all points in between.

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

New members joining with veterans.

Young with old.

That’s what I call real progress.

That’s what I call real momentum.

A united party, on the road to victory.

Let me turn to the Labour Party staff.

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

They are the best in the business.

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

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

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

This conference thanks you, for everything you do.

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

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

North Somerset,

Thanet,

Suffolk…

and Airdrie.

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

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

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

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

And while I am happy to debate it,

I will not give an inch,

nor make an apology,

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

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

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

So this is today’s Labour.

Growing in size and confidence.

Financially secure.

Reaching into the Tory heartlands.

In contention to be the next Government.

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

education,

on health,

on social care,

on crime,

on transport,

on the environment,

on housing, and especially

on Brexit.

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

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

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

no majority,

no unity,

no authority.

But that doesn’t stop them.

They think they’re born to rule.

So who is going to stop them?

Not the Lib Dems.

Not UKIP.

Not the SNP.

And definitely not the DUP.

Who is going to stop them?

We are.

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

legalising fox hunting….

building more grammar schools….

Scrapping free school meals…

Ending the winter fuel payment….

And imposing a Dementia Tax.

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

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

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

Imagine the Britain our children and grandchildren would inherit.

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

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

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

I propose only one improvement.

It’s a small thing.

It’s not much to ask.

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

and run on time;

Let’s nationalise Southern Rail!

Enjoy conference, and thank you.

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

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

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

We all wish you a speedy recovery, Chris.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s Welsh Labour delivering in Government.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

·         And 20,000 more affordable homes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Government that actually cares about the future.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Empowering communities and rebuilding local institutions and local services.

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

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

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

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

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Good morning conference.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Because you cannot keep the nation secure on the cheap.

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

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

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

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

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

What makes us free is what makes us safe.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No more outsourcing to the private sector.

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

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

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

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

They ALL deserve justice

Another vital Home Affairs issue is IMMIGRATION.

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

The Tories have weaponised immigration.

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

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

Labour will put an end to indefinite immigration detention.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conclusion

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