英国工党领袖埃德·米利班德在2013年工党年会上的演讲
It’s great to be in Brighton. AndI want to start by thanking somebody from the bottom of my heart for thekindest of words. Not Justine …oh, I would like to thank her, a round ofapplause for Justine please, ladies and gentlemen. Not my mum … but a womancalled Ella Philips. It was local election day, Ella rode past me on her bike,she fell off …it’s not funny! I helped her up and afterwards she called mesomething I had never been called before: she said I was an “action hero”. Whyare you laughing? She said I was an action hero “who mysteriously appeared outof nowhere”. And she said, “What added to all the confusion was that Ed wasactually attractive and not geeky at all”. I promise you, she did say that. Shesaid, “Even the way he appeared was suave”. I don’t know why you find this sofunny, friends. “He was dressed casually, but he had style”. Sounds quite me,doesn’t it? Now I was pretty pleased with this, as you can tell, until somethingdawned on me: Ella was concussed. She was badly concussed. In fact, she herselfsaid, “I was seeing things because I was still in quite a daze”. Well, Ella,you are not kidding. But let me say, Ella, if you are watching today, thankyou, you have made my year.
I want to start today with thesimplest of thoughts. An idea that has inspired change for generations. Thebelief that helped drive us out of the Second World War and into that greatreforming government of 1945. An ambition that is more important now than ithas been for decades. An emotion that is felt across our country at kitchentables every night. A feeling that is so threatening to those who want to keepthings as they are. Words that are so basic and yet so powerful, so modest andyet so hard to believe. Six simple words that say: Britain can do better thanthis. Britain can do better than this; we are Britain, we are better than this.Are you satisfied with a country where people are working for longer for less,year after year? Are you satisfied with a country divided losing touch with thethings we value the most? Are you satisfied with a country that shuts out thevoices of millions of ordinary people and listens only to the powerful? Are yousatisfied with a country standing apart as two nations? Well I am notsatisfied. We are Britain, we are better than this. And we have to rebuild anewOne Nation. An economy built on your success, a society based on your values, apolitics that hears your voice – rich and poor alike – accepting their responsibilitiestop each other. One Nation, we are going to make it happen, and today I amgoing to tell you how.
I want to start with leadership.Leadership is about risks and difficult decisions. It is about those lonelymoments when you have to peer deep into your soul. I ran for the leadership ofthis party, it was really hard for my family, but I believed that Labour neededto turn the page and I was the best person to do it. I when I became leader Ifaced a decision about whether we should stand up to Rupert Murdoch. It wasn’tthe way things had been done in the past, but it was the right thing to do so Idid it. And together we faced them down. And then the other week I faced aneven bigger decision about whether the country should go to war. The biggestdecision any leader faces, the biggest decision any Parliament faces, thebiggest decision any party faces. All of us were horrified by the appallingchemical weapons attacks in Syria, but when I stood on the stage three yearsago, when I became your leader, I said we would learn the lessons of Iraq. Itwould have been a rush to war, it wasn’t the right thing for our country. So Isaid no. It was the right thing to do. You see, the real test of leadership isnot whether you stand up to the weak, that’s easy; it’s whether you stand up tothe strong and know who to fight for. And you know I am reminded of a storyback when I was starting out, standing to be an MP in Doncaster, with a womancalled Molly Roberts. Molly was in her seventies, and there I was candidlytrying to get her vote, sitting in her front from sipping a mug of tea. And shesaid to me, “How can you, who weren’t brought up in this area, possiblyunderstand the lives of people here, their hopes and their struggles?” It wasthe right question, and here is the answer. For me it lies in the values I wasbrought up with. You see in my house it was my mum that taught me these values.About the importance of reaching out a listening to people, of understandingtheir hopes and their struggles. She is the most patient, generous person Ihave met in my whole life. And she taught me never to be contemptuous ofothers, never to be dismissive of their struggle. Now she was teaching me alesson of life. And some people will say, ah yeah but you have to leave decencybehind when it comes to politics. Well I say they are wrong, because only ifyou reach out and listen can you do the most important thing a leader can do,the most important qualification in my view for being Prime Minister. Only thenwill you have the ability to walk in the shoes of others and know who to fightfor, whoever your opponent, however powerful they are, guided by the only thingthat matters: your sense of what is right. This is what I believe, this iswhere I stand, this is the leadership Britain needs.
And when I think about who weneed to fight for I think about all the people I have met over the last year. Ithink of the people Britain and their enormous and extraordinary spirit. Ithink of our troops, serving so bravely all around the world. Let us paytribute to them today. You know I have seen in Afghanistan those young men andwomen, young men and women who are young enough to be my son or daughterserving our country, and it is a truly humbling experience. And the events of thelast few days in Kenya remind us of the importance of being ever-vigilantagainst terrorism at home and around the world. I think of the brave men andwomen of our police force, who serve with so little credit each and every dayfor our country. Let us thank them for what they do. And then I think of allthe people I have met over the last year. During the local election campaign Idid something unusual. I went to town centres, market squares and high streetsand I stood on a pallet – not a soapbox, but a pallet. And I talked to peopleabout their lives. I remember this town meeting I had in Cleverly. It was justcoming to the end of the meeting and this bloke wandered up. He was incrediblyangry. It’s a family show so I won’t exactly repeat what he said. He was soangry he wouldn’t give me his name, but he did tell me his story about how hespent the last ten years looking after his disabled wife, and then another fouryears looking for a job and not finding one. He was angry about immigration andsome people in the crowd booed him. But actually he wasn’t prejudiced, he justfelt the economy didn’t work for him. And then I think about the two markettraders I met in Chesterfield, standing by their stalls, out in all weathers,working all hours, and they said look this country just doesn’t seem to berewarding our hard work and effort. There seem to be some people gettingsomething for nothing. This society is losing touch with our values. And then Ithink about this beautiful sunny spring day I spent in Lincoln. And the face inthe crowd, this young woman who said she was an ambulance controller. So proudto be working for our National Health Service. And so proud too of her youngson. Because she was a single parent, nineteen years old, and what she said tome was, “Why does everybody portray me as a burden on the system? I am not aburden on the system, I am going out, I am doing the right thing for thecountry, why doesn’t anyone listen to my voice?” And then I think about thisscaffolder I met just around the corner from where I live. I was just comingback from a local café I’d been at. He stopped in me the street, he said to me,“Where’s your bodyguard?” I said I don’t have one, but that’s another story. Hetold me his story. And what he said to me was “look, I go out, I do the work, Igo all around the country, again out in all weathers, I earn a decent wage, butI still can’t make ends meet”. And he said to me, “Is anyone ever going to doanything about those gas and electric bills that just go up and up, faster thanI can earn a living?” He wanted someone to fight for him. Now if you listen tothese stories – four of millions of the stories of our country – and you haveyour own, and your friends and family, what do you learn? All of these peoplelove Britain, they embody its great spirit, but they all believe that Britaincan do better than this. Today I say to them and millions of others you’reright, Britain can do better than this, Britain must do better than this,Britain will do better than this with a government that fights for you.
But for Britain to do better thanthis we’ve got to understand why we got here, why things are so tough at themoment even while they tell you there is a recovery and why unless we putthings right it will only be a recovery for the few. Now what I’m about to tellyou is the most important thing I’m going to say today about what needs tochange about our country. For generations in Britain when the economy grew themajority got better off. And then somewhere along the way that vital linkbetween the growing wealth of the country and your family finances was broken.This is, this goes beyond one party or one government. It is more important toyou than which party is in power, even more important than that. You see, when Iwas growing up in the 1980s, I saw the benefits of growing prosperity, peopleable to buy a house, a car, even a second car, go on a foreign holiday theirgrandparents would never have dreamed of. Not spend all their hours at work,able to spend time with kids, not working all the hours that god sends, have asecure pension in retirement and also believe that their kids would have abetter life than them. That feels a long way away from where Britain is todaydoesn’t it and that is because it is. You see, somewhere along the way thatlink got broken. They used to say a rising tide lifts all boats, now the risingtide just seems to lift the yachts. Now I say this to the people of Britain. IfI were you I wouldn’t even take a second look at a political party unless theymake this their central defining purpose because your future depends on it.Your children’s future depends on it. Britain’s future depends on it. I say weare Britain we can do better than this.
Now I have got a question for youladies and gentlemen, do the Tories get it?
[Audience: No]
Oh come on, I didn’t hear you, dothe Tories get it?
[Audience: No]
Ok that is better. They don’t getit do they. I want to say this. I understand why three and a half years agosome people might have thought that David Cameron did get it and that is whypeople voted for him at the last general election. But they voted for changeand I don’t believe they got the change that they were voting for. Let me justexplain it this way: next week we are going to see David Cameron resuming hislap of honour for how brilliantly he’s done as Prime Minister. Claiming creditfor his enormous achievements, how he has saved the economy as they put it. Nodoubt he’ll even be taking off his shirt and flinging it into the crowdexpecting adoration from the British people like he did recently on holiday andmaybe I should make this promise while I’m about it, if I become Prime MinisterI won’t take my shirt off in public, I mean it is just not necessary is it.I’ll try and keep the promise. Anyway, back to David Cameron, so he is going onthis lap of honour, everything is brilliant, he’s saved the economy, GeorgeOsborne, he deserves the garlands as well, you know, aren’t they brilliant.Come on. The slowest recovery in one hundred years. One million young peoplelooking for work. More people on record working part-time who want full timework. More people than for a generation out of work for longer. The longestfall in living standards since 1870. That is not worthy of a lap of honour.That is worthy of a lap of shame and that is the record of this government.
He does have one record thoughbut I don’t think it credits a lap of honour. He has been Prime Minister for 39months and in 38 of those months wages have risen more slowly than prices. Thatmeans your living standards falling year, after year, after year. So in 2015you’ll be asking am I better off now than I was five years ago? And we alreadyknow the answer for millions of families will be no. You’ve made the sacrifices,but you haven’t got the rewards. You were the first into the recession but youare the last one out. Now of course it would have taken time to recover fromthe global financial crisis whoever was in power. But when these Tories tellyou that the pain will be worth the gain, don’t believe them. They can’t solvethe cost of living crisis and here is why. The cost of living crisis isn’t anaccident of David Cameron’s economic policy it is in his economic policy. Letme explain why. You see he believes in this thing called the global race, butwhat he doesn’t tell you is that he thinks for Britain to win the global raceyou have to lose, lower wages, worse terms and conditions, fewer rights atwork. But Britain can’t win a race for the lowest wages against countries wherewages rates are pennies an hour and the more we try the worse things will getfor you. Britain can’t win a race for the fewest rights at work against thesweat shops of the world and the more we try the worse things will get for you.And Britain can’t win a race for the lowest skilled jobs against countrieswhere kids leave school at the age of 11. And the more we try the worse thingswill get for you. It is a race to the bottom. Britain cannot and should not winthat race.
You see it is not the lowachievements of these Tories that really gets me. That is bad enough. It istheir low aspirations; it is their low aspirations for you. It is their lowaspirations for Britain but their high hopes for those at the top. The Citybonuses are back. Up 82% in April alone thanks to the millionaire’s tax cut. Sowhen they tell you the economy is healing, that everything is fixed, justremember, they are not talking about your life, they are talking about theirfriends at the top. That is who they are talking about; it is high hopes forthem. And every so often you know the mask slips doesn’t it. The other day aman they call Lord Howell, he was I think their advisor on fracking at onepoint… There is nothing funny about that. He said it was wrong to frack in someareas but it was ok in others, it was ok in the North East of England becausehe said, and I quote ‘it was full of desolate and uninhabited areas.’ In onecasual aside dismissing one whole region of the country. Let’s tell theseTories about the North East of England and every other part of Britain. Peoplego out to work. They love their kids. They bring up their families. They carefor their neighbours. They look out for each other. They are proud of theircommunities. They are proud of their communities. They hope for the future. TheTories call them inhabitants of desolate areas. We call them our friends, ourneighbours, the heroes of our country. They are fed up of a government thatdoesn’t understand their lives and a Prime Minister who cannot walk in theirshoes. We are Britain, we are better than this.
Now, to make Britain better wehave got to win a race to the top, not a race to the bottom. A race to the topwhich means that other countries will buy our goods the companies will come andinvest here and that will create the wealth and jobs we need for the future butwe are not going to be able to do it easily. It is going to be tough and let mejust say this friends. You think opposition is tough, you should trygovernment. It is going to be tough; it is not going to be easy. And I’m notgoing to stand here today and pretend to you it is. We are going to have tostick to strict spending limits to get the deficit down. We are not going to beable to spend money we don’t have and frankly if I told you we were going toyou wouldn’t believe me, the country wouldn’t believe me and they would beright not to believe me. But we can make a difference. We can win the race tothe top and let me tell you how. It is about the jobs we create, it is aboutthe businesses we support, it is about the talents we nurture, it is about thewages we earn and it is about the vested interests that we take on. Let mestart with the jobs of the future. The environment is a passion of mine becausewhen I think about my two kids who are 2 and 4 at the moment and not talkingthat much about the environment, more interested in The Octonauts. There’s aplug. In 20 years’ time they’ll say to me ‘were you the last generation not toget climate change or the first generation to get it?’ That is the questionthey’ll be asking.
But it is not just aboutenvironmental care. It is also about the jobs we create in the future. You seesome people say, including George Osborne, that we can’t afford to haveenvironmental at a time like this. He is dead wrong. We can’t afford not tohave an environmental commitment at a time like this. That is why Labour willhave a world leading commitment in government to take all of the carbon out ofour energy by 2030. A route map to one million new green jobs in our country.That is how we win the race to the top. And to win that race to the top we havealso got to do something else, we’ve got to support the businesses of thefuture. Now many of the new jobs in the future will come from a large number ofsmall businesses not a small number of large businesses. And this is reallyimportant. If you think 15 years ahead, the rate of change and dynamism is sogreat that most of the new jobs that will be being done will be by companiesthat don’t yet exist. Now that changes the priorities for government. When thisgovernment came to office, since they came to office they cut taxes for largebusiness by £6 bn but raised taxes on small businesses. Now I don’t think thatis the right priority. Yes we need a competitive tax regime for largebusinesses but frankly they’ve short-changed small business and I’m going toput it right. If Labour wins power in 2015 we will use the money that thisgovernment would use to cut taxes for 80,000 large businesses to cut business ratesfor 1.5 million businesses across our country. That is the way we win the raceto the top. One Nation Labour. The party of small business. Cutting smallbusiness rates when we come to office in 2015 and freezing them the next yearbenefitting businesses by at least £450 a year. That is how we win the race forthe top friends, and to win that race to the top we’ve also got to nurture thetalents of the next generation. The skills of people. There are so manybrilliant businesses in our country who provide amazing training for theworkforce, but look, we have got to face facts, leading businesses say this tome too which is there aren’t enough of them and we have got to work to changethat so we will say if you want a major government contract you must provideapprenticeships for the next generation. And we’ll also say to companies doingthe right thing, training their workforce that they will have the power to calltime on free-riding by competitors who refuse to do the same. That’s how we winthe race to the top friends.
It’s not just business that hasto accept responsibility though, it’s young people. We have a tragedy in thiscountry. Hundreds of thousands of young people who leave school and end up onthe dole. We’ve got this word for it haven’t we? NEET: Not in educationemployment or training. Behind that short word is a tragedy of hundreds ofthousands of wasted lives. If the school system fails our young people theyshouldn’t be ending up on benefits. They should be ending up in education ortraining so they can get back on the road to a proper career. That requiresthem to accept responsibility but it requires government too to accept ourresponsibilities for the next generation in Britain, and that’s what we’ll do.
But to win the race to the top we’vealso got to take advantage of the talents of Britain’s 12 million parents.Justine and I had one of the great privileges in any parent’s life this year,which was taking our son Daniel to his first day at school. He was nervous atfirst, but actually pretty soon he started having fun; it’s a bit like beingleader of the Labour Party really. Well it’s not exactly like being leader ofthe Labour Party. But look, for so many parents in this country the demands ofthe daily school run, combined with their job are like their very own dailyassault course and we’ve got to understand that. Because we can’t win the raceto the top with stressed out parents and family life under strain – we’ve gotto change that.
In the last century, schoolsstayed open till mid-afternoon and that was okay back then because one parentusually stayed at home. But it’s not okay now: that’s why we want every primaryschool in Britain to have the breakfast clubs and after school care thatparents need and that’s what the next Labour government will do.
To win the race to the top we’vealso got to deal with the issue of low pay. The National Minimum Wage, one ofthe last Labour government’s proudest achievements, friends. But we have toface facts: there are millions of people in this country going out to work,coming home at night, unable to afford to bring up their families. I just thinkthat’s wrong in one of the richest countries in the world. The next Labourgovernment must write the next chapter in dealing with the scourge of low payin this country. And to do that though, we’ve got to learn lessons from the waythe minimum wage came in, because it was about business and working people,business and unions working together in the right way so we set the minimumwage at the right level and we’ve got to do the same again. The minimum wagehas been falling in value and we’ve got to do something about it.
There are some sectors, and Idon’t often say anything nice about the banks but I will today, there are somesectors which actually can afford to pay higher wages, and some of them are – aliving wage in some of the banks. So we’ve got to look at whether there aresome sectors where we can afford a higher minimum but we’ve got to do it on theright basis – business and working people working together. That’s what we willdo: the next Labour government will strengthen the minimum wage to make workpay for millions in our country. That’s how we win the race to the top.
And to win that race to the topwe’ve got to call a halt to the race to the bottom, between workers alreadyhere and workers coming here. I’m the son of two immigrant parents. I’m proudof the welcome Britain gave me and my family, and we’ve always welcomed peoplewho work, contribute and are part of our community. Let me say this, if peoplewant a party that will cut itself off from the rest of the world, then let mesay squarely: Labour is not your party. But if people want a party that willset the right rules for working people then Labour is your party, the only partythat will do it. Employers not paying the minimum wage and government turning ablind eye – it’s a race to the bottom; not under my government. Recruitmentagencies hiring only from overseas – it’s a race to the bottom; not under mygovernment. Shady gang masters exploiting people in industries fromconstructing to food processing – it’s a race to the bottom; not under mygovernment. Rogue landlords, putting 15 people in tied housing – it’s a race tothe bottom; not under my government. And our country, sending out a message tothe world that if you need to engage in shady employment practices, thenBritain is open for businesses? It’s a race to the bottom; not under mygovernment. And in case anyone asks whether this is pandering to prejudice,let’s tell them, it isn’t. It’s where Labour has always stood – counteringexploitation, whoever it affects, wherever they come from. We’ve never believedin a race to the bottom, we’ve always believed in a race to the top, that isour party.
And to win the race to the topwe’ve also got to take on the vested interests that hold our economy back. Inthe 1990s we committed to a dynamic market economy. Think of those words:‘dynamic, ‘market’, ‘economy’. And then think about this, what happens whencompetition fails? What happens when it just fails again and again and again?Then government has to act. Train companies that put the daily commute out ofreach. Payday lenders who force people into unpayable debt. Gas and electriccompanies that put prices up and up and up. It’s not good for an economy. It’snot a dynamic market economy when one section of society does so well at theexpense of others. It’s bad for families, it’s bad for business and it’s badfor Britain too.
Now some people will just blamethe companies but actually I don’t think that’s where the blame lies. I thinkit lies with government. I think it lies with government for not having had thestrength to take this on. Not having stood up to the powerful interests. Nothaving the strength to stand up to the strong.
Take the gas and electricitycompanies. We need successful energy companies, in Britain. We need them toinvest for the future. But you need to get a fair deal and frankly, there willnever be public consent for that investment unless you do get a fair deal. Andthe system is broken and we are going to fix it.
If we win the election 2015 thenext Labour government will freeze gas and electricity prices until the startof 2017. Your bills will not rise. It will benefit millions of families and millionsof businesses. That’s what I mean by a government that fights for you. That’swhat I mean when I say Britain can do better than this.
Now the companies aren’t going tolike this because it will cost them more but they have been overcharging peoplefor too long because of a market that doesn’t work. It’s time to reset themarket. So we will pass legislation in our first year in office to do that, andhave a regulator that will genuinely be on the customers’ side but also enablethe investment we need. That’s how Britain will do better than this.
So, making Britain better thanthis starts with our economy – your economic success as a foundation forBritain’s economic success. But it doesn’t just stop there it goes to oursociety as well. I told you earlier on about those market traders inChesterfield and how they felt that society had lost touch with their values. Ithink what they were really saying was this: that they put in huge hard workand effort, they bring up their kids in the right way and they just feel thattheir kids are going to have a worse life than them. And nowhere is that moretrue than when it comes to renting or buying a home.
There are 9 million people inthis country renting a home, many of whom who would want to buy. 9 million people- we don’t just have a cost of living crisis, we have a housing crisis too. In2010 when we left office there was a problem. There were one million too fewhomes in Britain. If we carry on as we are, by 2020 there will be two milliontoo few homes in Britain. That is the equivalent of two cities the size ofBirmingham. Wave got to do something about it and the next Labour governmentwill. So we’ll say to private developers, you can’t just sit on land and refuseto build. We will give them a very clear message – either use the land or losethe land, that is what the next Labour government will do.
We’ll say to local authoritiesthat they have a right to grow, and neighbouring authorities can’t just stopthem. We’ll identify new towns and garden cities and we’ll have a clear aimthat by the end of the parliament Britain will be building 200,000 homes ayear, more than at any time in a generation. That’s how we make Britain betterthan this.
And nowhere do we need to put thevalues of the British people back at the heart of our country more than in ourNational Health Service, the greatest institution of our country. You know Ihad a letter a couple of months back from a 17 year old girl. She was sufferingfrom depression and anxiety and she told me a heart-breaking story about howshe had ended up in hospital for 10 weeks. Mental health is a truly one nationproblem. It covers rich and poor, North and South, young and old alike andlet’s be frank friends, in the privacy of this room; we’ve swept it under thecarpet for too long. It’s a bit of a British thing isn’t it; we don’t like totalk about it. If you’ve got a bad back or if you’re suffering from cancer youcan talk abbot it but if you’ve got depression or anxiety you don’t want totalk about it because somehow it doesn’t seem right – we’ve got to change that.It’s an afterthought in our National Health Service.
And here’s a really interestingthing – so you might say, it’s going to be really tough times Ed, you told usthat before. You said there would be really difficult decisions in government,and that’s true, so how are you going to make it work? Well here’s the thing,the 17-year-old said in that letter, look if someone had actually identifiedthe problem when it started three years earlier I wouldn’t have ended up inhospital. I wouldn’t have ended up costing the state thousands of pounds andthe anguish that I had. So it’s about that early identification and talkingabout this issue.
And if it’s true of mentalhealth, it’s true in an even bigger way about care for the elderly. There’s somuch more our country could be doing for our grandmas and granddads, mum anddads, nuclease and aunts. And it’s the same story. Just putting a £50 grab railin the home stops somebody falling over, prevents them ending up in hospitalwith the needless agony, and all of the money that it costs. The 1945 Labourgovernment, in really tough times, raised its sights and created the NationalHealth Service. I want the next Labour government to do the same, even in toughtimes, to raise our sights about what the health service can achieve, bringingtogether physical health, mental health, and the care needs of the elderly: atrue integrated National Health Service. That’s the business of the future.
But we don’t just need to improvethe health service, friends; we’ve got to rescue it from these Tories. And theLiberals too. Now look, before the election, I remember the speeches by DavidCameron. I remember one where he said the three most important letters to himwere NHS. Well he has got a funny way of showing it, hasn’t he? And when theycame to office, they were still saying how brilliant was in the health service,how the health service was doing great things and the doctors and nurses and soon. Now have you noticed they have changed their tune recently? Suddenly theyare saying how bad everything is in the NHS. Now the vast majority of doctorsand nurses do a fantastic job. Sometimes things go wrong. And when they do, weshould be the first people to say so. But hear me on this. The reason DavidCameron is running down the NHS is not because the doctors and nurses aren’tdoing as good a job as they were before. It is because they have come to arealisation that the health service is getting worse on their watch and theyare desperately thrashing around trying to find someone else to blame. Blamethe doctors, blame the nurses, blame the last Labour government. That is whatthey are doing. Well let me tell you about the record of the last Labourgovernment. When we came to office there were waiting time targets of 18 monthsthat were not being met, when we left office there were waiting time targets of18 weeks that were being met. When we came to office there was an annual winterA&E crisis, when we left office the people had A&E services they couldrely on. When we came to office there were fewer doctors and nurses, we whenleft office more doctors and nurses than ever before. And when we came tooffice people said well the health service, it was a good idea in previous generationsbut I don’t really believe it will be there in the next, and we left officewith the highest public satisfaction in the history of the health services. Yesfriends, we did rescue the National Health Service. So when you hear DavidCameron casting around for someone to blame for what is happening in the NHSjust remember it is not complicated, it’s simple, it’s as simple as ABC: whenit comes to blame, it is Anyone But Cameron. We know who is responsible, thetop-down reorganisation that nobody voted for and nobody wanted, the abolitionof NHS Direct, the cuts to social care, the fragmentation of services. We knowwho is responsible for thousands of fewer nurses, we know who is responsiblenot just for an annual A&E crisis, but an A&E crisis for all seasons.It is this Prime Minister who is responsible. So friends it is the same oldstory, we rescue the NHS, they wreck the NHS and we have to rescue it all overagain. And that is what the next Labour government will do.
Right, I have explained to youhow we can make Britain better by changing our economy and changing oursociety, and now I want to talk about how we change our politics. And here isthe bit you have all been looking forward to: party reform. Now look let me sayto you, change is difficult, change is uncomfortable. And I understand whypeople are uncomfortable about some of the changes, but I just want to explainto you why I think it is so important. With all of the forces ranged againstus, we can’t just be a party of 200,000 people. We have got to be a party of500,000, 600,000, or many more. And I am optimistic enough – some might sayidealistic enough – to believe that is possible. And the reason it is possiblein our party is the unique link we have with the trade unions. The unique link.I don’t want to end that link, I want to mend that link. And I want to hear thevoices of individual working people in our party, louder than before. Becauseyou see, think about our history. It is many of you who have been telling usthat actually we haven’t been rooted enough in the workplaces of our country.And that is what I want to change. And that is the point of my reforms. See myreforms are about hearing the voices of people from call centre workers toconstruction workers, from people with small businesses to people working insupermarkets at the heart of our party. Because you see it is about my view ofpolitics. Leaders matter, of course they do, leadership matters, but in the endpolitical change happens because people make it happen. And you can’t be aparty that properly fights for working people unless you have working people atthe core of your party, up and down this country. That is the point of myreforms. And I want to work with you to make them happen so that we can makeourselves a mass-membership party. Friends, let’s make ourselves truly thepeople’s party once again.
But to change our politics wehave got to a lot more than that. We have got to hear the voices of people thathaven’t been heard for a long time. I think about our young people, theirtalent, their energy, their voices. The voices of young people demanding a job,the voices of young people who demand that we shoulder and don’t shirk ourresponsibilities to the environment. The voices of gay and lesbian young peoplewho led the fight and won the battle for equal marriage in Britain. And thevoices of young people, particularly young women, who say in 2013 the battlefor equality is not won. You see they are not satisfied that 33% of Labour MPsare women, they want it to be 50% and they are right. They are not satisfiedthat 40 years after the Equal Pay Act, we still do not have equal pay for workof equal value in this country. They are not satisfied and they are right. Andthey are not satisfied that in Britain in 2013, women are still subject toviolence, harassment, and everyday sexism. They are not satisfied and they areright. Friends, let’s give a voice to these young people in our party. Andlet’s give a voice to these young people in our democracy, let’s give the voteto 16 and 17 year olds and make them part of our democracy.
But you know we have got to winthe battle for perhaps the most important institution of all, our UnitedKingdom. Friends, devolution works. Carwyn Jones, our brilliant First Ministerof Wales, he is showing devolution works. And let’s praise the leadership ofour Scottish Joanne Lamont for the brilliant job she is doing against AlexSalmond. Now that referendum on September the 18th 2014, it is going to beconducted on the basis of fact and figures and arguments and counterarguments,but I have a story I want to tell you which I think says even more. It’s thestory of Cathy Murphy. Cathy Murphy lives in Glasgow, she worked in the localsupermarket. In 2010, Cathy was diagnosed with a serious heart problem, but shecame to Labour conference nonetheless in 2011 as a delegate. She fell seriouslyill. Her family were called down from Glasgow. The doctors said to her that tosave her life they’d have to give her a very long and very risky operation. Shehad that operation a few weeks later at the world-leading Liverpool Broadgreenhospital. Cathy pulled through. She went back to Glasgow some weeks later. Shecomes back down to Liverpool every six months for her check-up. Now she said tome the nurses and doctors don’t ask whether she is English or Scottish, thehospital doesn’t care where she lives. They care about her because she isScottish and British, a citizen of our United Kingdom. Friends, Cathy is withus today, back as a delegate. Where is she? Cathy’s here. Friends, I don’t wantCathy to become a foreigner. Let’s win the battle for the United Kingdom.
So I have talked to you todayabout policy and what a Labour government would do, how it would make Britainbetter and win a race to the top in our economy, put our society back in touchwith people’s values and change our politics so it lets new voices in. But thenext election isn’t just going to be about policy. It is going to be about howwe lead and the character we show. I have got a message for the Tories today:if they want to have a debate about leadership and character, be my guest. Andif you want to know the difference between me and David Cameron, here’s an easyway to remember it. When it was Murdoch versus the McCanns, he took the side ofMurdoch. When it was the tobacco lobby versus the cancer charities, he took theside of the tobacco lobby. When it was the millionaires who wanted a tax cutversus people paying the bedroom tax, he took the side of the millionaires.Come to think of it, here is an even easier way to remember it: David Cameronwas the Prime Minister who introduced the bedroom tax, I’ll be the PrimeMinister who repeals the bedroom tax.
You see here is the thing aboutDavid Cameron. He may be strong at standing up to the weak, but he is alwaysweak when it comes to standing up against the strong. That is the differencebetween me and David Cameron, so let’s have that debate about leadership andcharacter, and I relish that debate. And we know what we are going to see fromthese Tories between now and the general election, it is the lowest form ofpolitics, it is divide and rule. People on benefits versus those in work.People in unions against those outside union. People in the private sectorversus those in the public sector. People in the north against those in thesouth. It is the worst form of politics. Like sending vans into areas ofBritain where people’s mums and granddads have lived for years, generations,and telling people to go home. I say we are Britain, we are better than this.Telling anyone who’s looking for a job that they are a scrounger. However hardthey are looking, even if the work is not available. I say we are Britain weare better than this. So come on. So David Cameron I have got a message foryou. You can tell your Lynton Crosby, it might work elsewhere, it won’t workhere. We’re Britain, we’re better than this.
Friends, the easy path forpolitics is to divide, that’s the easy part. You need to know this about me, Ibelieve in seeing the best in people, not the worst. That’s what I am about.That’s how we create One Nation. That’s how we make Britain better than this.That’s how we have a government that fights for you.
Now, it is going to be a bigfight between now and the general election. Prepare yourself for that fight.But when you think about that fight, don’t think about our party, think aboutour country. I don’t want to win this fight for Labour; I want to win it forBritain. And just remember this, throughout our history, when the voices ofhope have been ranged against the voices of fear, the voices of hope have wonthrough. Those who said at the dawn of the industrial revolution that workingpeople needed the vote and they wouldn’t wait – they knew Britain could bebetter than this, and we were. Those that said, at the birth of a new century,those who said at the birth of a new century that working people needed a partyto fight for them and the old order wouldn’t do – they knew Britain could bebetter than this, and we were. Those who said at our darkest hour in the SecondWorld War that Britain needed to rebuild after the war and said ‘never again’,they knew Britain could be better than this, and we did. Those who said, as the20th Century grew old, that the battle for equality was still young; they knewBritain could do better than this, and we did.
And so now it falls to us, tobuild One Nation, a country for all, a Britain we rebuild together. Britain’sbest days lie ahead. Britain can do better than this. We’re Britain, we’rebetter than this. I’ll lead a government that fights for you.
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