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英国工党领袖埃德·米利班德在2013年工党年会英语演讲稿
It’s great to be in Brighton. AndI want to start by thanking somebody from the bottom ofmy heart for thekindest of words. Not Justine …oh, I would like to thank her, a round ofapplausefor Justine please, ladies and gentlemen. Not my mum … but a womancalled Ella Philips. It waslocal election day, Ella rode past me on her bike,she fell off …it’s not funny! I helped her upand 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 appearedoutof nowhere”. And she said, “What added to all the confusion was that Ed wasactuallyattractive and not geeky at all”. I promise you, she did say that. Shesaid, “Even the way heappeared 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 cantell, until somethingdawned on me: Ella was concussed. She was badly concussed. In fact, sheherselfsaid, “I was seeing things because I was still in quite a daze”. Well, Ella,you are notkidding. 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 forgenerations. Thebelief that helped drive us out of the Second World War and into thatgreatreforming government of 1945. An ambition that is more important now than ithas beenfor decades. An emotion that is felt across our country at kitchentables every night. A feelingthat is so threatening to those who want to keepthings as they are. Words that are so basicand yet so powerful, so modest andyet so hard to believe. Six simple words that say: Britaincan do better thanthis. Britain can do better than this; we are Britain, we are better thanthis.Are you satisfied with a country where people are working for longer for less,year afteryear? 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 andlistens only to the powerful? Are yousatisfied with a country standing apart as two nations? WellI am notsatisfied. We are Britain, we are better than this. And we have to rebuild anewOneNation. An economy built on your success, a society based on your values, apolitics that hearsyour voice – rich and poor alike – accepting their responsibilitiestop each other. One Nation, weare 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 aboutthose lonelymoments when you have to peer deep into your soul. I ran for the leadership ofthisparty, it was really hard for my family, but I believed that Labour neededto turn the page and Iwas the best person to do it. I when I became leader Ifaced a decision about whether weshould stand up to Rupert Murdoch. It wasn’tthe way things had been done in the past, but itwas the right thing to do so Idid it. And together we faced them down. And then the otherweek I faced aneven bigger decision about whether the country should go to war. Thebiggestdecision any leader faces, the biggest decision any Parliament faces, thebiggestdecision any party faces. All of us were horrified by the appallingchemical weapons attacks inSyria, but when I stood on the stage three yearsago, when I became your leader, I said wewould learn the lessons of Iraq. Itwould have been a rush to war, it wasn’t the right thing forour country. So Isaid no. It was the right thing to do. You see, the real test of leadership isnotwhether you stand up to the weak, that’s easy; it’s whether you stand up tothe strong andknow 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 herseventies, and there I was candidlytrying to get her vote, sitting in her front from sipping amug 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 rightquestion, and here is the answer. For me it lies in the values I wasbrought up with. You see inmy house it was my mum that taught me these values.About the importance of reaching out alistening 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 contemptuousofothers, never to be dismissive of their struggle. Now she was teaching me alesson of life. Andsome 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 mostimportant thing a leader can do,the most important qualification in my view for being PrimeMinister. Only thenwill you have the ability to walk in the shoes of others and know who tofightfor, whoever your opponent, however powerful they are, guided by the only thingthatmatters: your sense of what is right. This is what I believe, this iswhere I stand, this is theleadership Britain needs.
And when I think about who weneed to fight for I think about all the people I have met overthe last year. Ithink of the people Britain and their enormous and extraordinary spirit. Ithinkof our troops, serving so bravely all around the world. Let us paytribute to them today. Youknow I have seen in Afghanistan those young men andwomen, young men and women who areyoung enough to be my son or daughterserving our country, and it is a truly humblingexperience. And the events of thelast few days in Kenya remind us of the importance of beingever-vigilantagainst terrorism at home and around the world. I think of the brave menandwomen 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 lastyear. 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 Italked to peopleabout their lives. I remember this town meeting I had in Cleverly. It wasjustcoming to the end of the meeting and this bloke wandered up. He was incrediblyangry. It’sa family show so I won’t exactly repeat what he said. He was soangry he wouldn’t give me hisname, but he did tell me his story about how hespent the last ten years looking after hisdisabled wife, and then another fouryears looking for a job and not finding one. He was angryabout 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 Imet in Chesterfield, standing by their stalls, out in all weathers,working all hours, and they saidlook this country just doesn’t seem to berewarding our hard work and effort. There seem to besome people gettingsomething for nothing. This society is losing touch with our values. Andthen 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 ourNational 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 burdenon the system? I am not aburden on the system, I am going out, I am doing the right thing forthecountry, why doesn’t anyone listen to my voice?” And then I think about thisscaffolder I metjust around the corner from where I live. I was just comingback from a local café I’d been at. Hestopped 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 dothe work, Igo all around the country, again out in all weathers, I earn a decent wage, butI stillcan’t make ends meet”. And he said to me, “Is anyone ever going to doanything about thosegas and electric bills that just go up and up, faster thanI can earn a living?” He wantedsomeone to fight for him. Now if you listen tothese stories – four of millions of the stories of ourcountry – and you haveyour own, and your friends and family, what do you learn? All of thesepeoplelove Britain, they embody its great spirit, but they all believe that Britaincan do betterthan this. Today I say to them and millions of others you’reright, Britain can do better thanthis, Britain must do better than this,Britain will do better than this with a government thatfights for you.
But for Britain to do better thanthis we’ve got to understand why we got here, why thingsare so tough at themoment even while they tell you there is a recovery and why unless weputthings right it will only be a recovery for the few. Now what I’m about to tellyou is the mostimportant thing I’m going to say today about what needs tochange about our country. Forgenerations in Britain when the economy grew themajority got better off. And then somewherealong the way that vital linkbetween the growing wealth of the country and your family financeswas broken.This is, this goes beyond one party or one government. It is more important toyouthan which party is in power, even more important than that. You see, when Iwas growing up inthe 1980s, I saw the benefits of growing prosperity, peopleable to buy a house, a car, even asecond car, go on a foreign holiday theirgrandparents would never have dreamed of. Not spendall 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 thanthem. 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 allboats, now the risingtide just seems to lift the yachts. Now I say this to the people of Britain. IfIwere you I wouldn’t even take a second look at a political party unless theymake this theircentral 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 anda half years agosome people might have thought that David Cameron did get it and that iswhypeople voted for him at the last general election. But they voted for changeand I don’tbelieve they got the change that they were voting for. Let me justexplain it this way: nextweek we are going to see David Cameron resuming hislap of honour for how brilliantly he’sdone as Prime Minister. Claiming creditfor his enormous achievements, how he has saved theeconomy as they put it. Nodoubt he’ll even be taking off his shirt and flinging it into thecrowdexpecting adoration from the British people like he did recently on holiday andmaybe Ishould make this promise while I’m about it, if I become Prime MinisterI won’t take my shirt offin public, I mean it is just not necessary is it.I’ll try and keep the promise. Anyway, back toDavid Cameron, so he is going onthis lap of honour, everything is brilliant, he’s saved theeconomy, GeorgeOsborne, he deserves the garlands as well, you know, aren’t theybrilliant.Come on. The slowest recovery in one hundred years. One million youngpeoplelooking for work. More people on record working part-time who want full timework. Morepeople than for a generation out of work for longer. The longestfall in living standards since1870. That is not worthy of a lap of honour.That is worthy of a lap of shame and that is therecord of this government.
He does have one record thoughbut I don’t think it credits a lap of honour. He has beenPrime Minister for 39months and in 38 of those months wages have risen more slowly thanprices. Thatmeans your living standards falling year, after year, after year. So in 2015you’ll beasking am I better off now than I was five years ago? And we alreadyknow the answer formillions of families will be no. You’ve made the sacrifices,but you haven’t got the rewards. Youwere the first into the recession but youare the last one out. Now of course it would have takentime to recover fromthe global financial crisis whoever was in power. But when these Toriestellyou that the pain will be worth the gain, don’t believe them. They can’t solvethe cost ofliving crisis and here is why. The cost of living crisis isn’t anaccident of David Cameron’seconomic policy it is in his economic policy. Letme explain why. You see he believes in this thingcalled the global race, butwhat he doesn’t tell you is that he thinks for Britain to win theglobal raceyou have to lose, lower wages, worse terms and conditions, fewer rights atwork. ButBritain can’t win a race for the lowest wages against countries wherewages rates are pennies anhour and the more we try the worse things will getfor you. Britain can’t win a race for thefewest rights at work against thesweat shops of the world and the more we try the worse thingswill get for you.And Britain can’t win a race for the lowest skilled jobs against countrieswherekids leave school at the age of 11. And the more we try the worse thingswill get for you. It is arace 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 badenough. It istheir low aspirations; it is their low aspirations for you. It is their lowaspirations forBritain but their high hopes for those at the top. The Citybonuses are back. Up 82% in Aprilalone thanks to the millionaire’s tax cut. Sowhen they tell you the economy is healing, thateverything is fixed, justremember, they are not talking about your life, they are talking abouttheirfriends at the top. That is who they are talking about; it is high hopes forthem. And everyso often you know the mask slips doesn’t it. The other day aman they call Lord Howell, he was Ithink their advisor on fracking at onepoint… There is nothing funny about that. He said it waswrong to frack in someareas but it was ok in others, it was ok in the North East of Englandbecausehe said, and I quote ‘it was full of desolate and uninhabited areas.’ In onecasual asidedismissing one whole region of the country. Let’s tell theseTories about the North East ofEngland and every other part of Britain. Peoplego out to work. They love their kids. They bringup their families. They carefor their neighbours. They look out for each other. They are proud oftheircommunities. They are proud of their communities. They hope for the future. TheTories callthem inhabitants of desolate areas. We call them our friends, ourneighbours, the heroes of ourcountry. They are fed up of a government thatdoesn’t understand their lives and a PrimeMinister 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 comeandinvest here and that will create the wealth and jobs we need for the future butwe are notgoing to be able to do it easily. It is going to be tough and let mejust say this friends. You thinkopposition is tough, you should trygovernment. It is going to be tough; it is not going to beeasy. And I’m notgoing to stand here today and pretend to you it is. We are going to havetostick to strict spending limits to get the deficit down. We are not going to beable to spendmoney we don’t have and frankly if I told you we were going toyou wouldn’t believe me, thecountry wouldn’t believe me and they would beright not to believe me. But we can make adifference. We can win the race tothe top and let me tell you how. It is about the jobs wecreate, it is aboutthe businesses we support, it is about the talents we nurture, it is aboutthewages we earn and it is about the vested interests that we take on. Let mestart with thejobs of the future. The environment is a passion of mine becausewhen I think about my twokids who are 2 and 4 at the moment and not talkingthat much about the environment, moreinterested in The Octonauts. There’s aplug. In 20 years’ time they’ll say to me ‘were you thelast generation not toget climate change or the first generation to get it?’ That is thequestionthey’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 haveenvironmentalat a time like this. He is dead wrong. We can’t afford not tohave an environmentalcommitment at a time like this. That is why Labour willhave a world leading commitment ingovernment to take all of the carbon out ofour energy by 2030. A route map to one million newgreen jobs in our country.That is how we win the race to the top. And to win that race to thetop 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 asmall number of large businesses. And this is reallyimportant. If you think 15 years ahead, therate of change and dynamism is sogreat that most of the new jobs that will be being done willbe by companiesthat don’t yet exist. Now that changes the priorities for government. Whenthisgovernment came to office, since they came to office they cut taxes for largebusiness by £6bn but raised taxes on small businesses. Now I don’t think thatis the right priority. Yes weneed a competitive tax regime for largebusinesses but frankly they’ve short-changed smallbusiness and I’m going toput it right. If Labour wins power in 2015 we will use the money thatthisgovernment would use to cut taxes for 80,000 large businesses to cut business ratesfor 1.5million businesses across our country. That is the way we win the raceto the top. One NationLabour. The party of small business. Cutting smallbusiness rates when we come to office in2015 and freezing them the next yearbenefitting businesses by at least £450 a year. That ishow we win the race forthe top friends, and to win that race to the top we’ve also got tonurture thetalents of the next generation. The skills of people. There are so manybrilliantbusinesses in our country who provide amazing training for theworkforce, but look, we have gotto face facts, leading businesses say this tome too which is there aren’t enough of them and wehave got to work to changethat so we will say if you want a major government contract youmust provideapprenticeships for the next generation. And we’ll also say to companies doingtheright thing, training their workforce that they will have the power to calltime on free-riding bycompetitors 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 atragedy in thiscountry. Hundreds of thousands of young people who leave school and end uponthe dole. We’ve got this word for it haven’t we? NEET: Not in educationemployment ortraining. Behind that short word is a tragedy of hundreds ofthousands of wasted lives. If theschool system fails our young people theyshouldn’t be ending up on benefits. They should beending up in education ortraining so they can get back on the road to a proper career. Thatrequiresthem to accept responsibility but it requires government too to acceptourresponsibilities 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 12million parents.Justine and I had one of the great privileges in any parent’s life this year,whichwas taking our son Daniel to his first day at school. He was nervous atfirst, but actually prettysoon he started having fun; it’s a bit like beingleader of the Labour Party really. Well it’s notexactly like being leader ofthe Labour Party. But look, for so many parents in this country thedemands ofthe daily school run, combined with their job are like their very own dailyassaultcourse and we’ve got to understand that. Because we can’t win the raceto the top withstressed 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 thenbecause one parentusually stayed at home. But it’s not okay now: that’s why we want everyprimaryschool in Britain to have the breakfast clubs and after school care thatparents need andthat’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 NationalMinimum Wage, one ofthe last Labour government’s proudest achievements, friends. But wehave toface facts: there are millions of people in this country going out to work,coming home atnight, unable to afford to bring up their families. I just thinkthat’s wrong in one of the richestcountries in the world. The next Labourgovernment must write the next chapter in dealingwith the scourge of low payin this country. And to do that though, we’ve got to learn lessonsfrom the waythe minimum wage came in, because it was about business and workingpeople,business and unions working together in the right way so we set the minimumwage atthe right level and we’ve got to do the same again. The minimum wagehas been falling in valueand we’ve got to do something about it.
There are some sectors, and Idon’t often say anything nice about the banks but I willtoday, there are somesectors which actually can afford to pay higher wages, and some of themare - aliving wage in some of the banks. So we’ve got to look at whether there aresome sectorswhere we can afford a higher minimum but we’ve got to do it on theright basis – business andworking people working together. That’s what we willdo: the next Labour government willstrengthen the minimum wage to make workpay for millions in our country. That’s how we winthe race to the top.
And to win that race to the topwe’ve got to call a halt to the race to the bottom, betweenworkers alreadyhere and workers coming here. I’m the son of two immigrant parents. I’mproudof the welcome Britain gave me and my family, and we’ve always welcomed peoplewhowork, contribute and are part of our community. Let me say this, if peoplewant a party thatwill 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 yourparty, the only partythat will do it. Employers not paying the minimum wage and governmentturning ablind eye - it’s a race to the bottom; not under my government. Recruitmentagencieshiring only from overseas – it’s a race to the bottom; not under mygovernment. Shady gangmasters exploiting people in industries fromconstructing to food processing - it’s a race to thebottom; not under mygovernment. Rogue landlords, putting 15 people in tied housing - it’s arace tothe bottom; not under my government. And our country, sending out a message totheworld that if you need to engage in shady employment practices, thenBritain is open forbusinesses? It’s a race to the bottom; not under mygovernment. And in case anyone askswhether this is pandering to prejudice,let’s tell them, it isn’t. It’s where Labour has alwaysstood – counteringexploitation, whoever it affects, wherever they come from. We’ve neverbelievedin 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 oureconomy back. Inthe 1990s we committed to a dynamic market economy. Think of thosewords:‘dynamic, ‘market’, ‘economy’. And then think about this, what happenswhencompetition fails? What happens when it just fails again and again and again?Thengovernment has to act. Train companies that put the daily commute out ofreach. Paydaylenders who force people into unpayable debt. Gas and electriccompanies that put prices up andup and up. It’s not good for an economy. It’snot a dynamic market economy when one sectionof society does so well at theexpense of others. It’s bad for families, it’s bad for business and it’sbadfor Britain too.
Now some people will just blamethe companies but actually I don’t think that’s where theblame lies. I thinkit lies with government. I think it lies with government for not having hadthestrength to take this on. Not having stood up to the powerful interests. Nothaving thestrength to stand up to the strong.
Take the gas and electricitycompanies. We need successful energy companies, in Britain. Weneed them toinvest for the future. But you need to get a fair deal and frankly, there willneverbe public consent for that investment unless you do get a fair deal. Andthe system is brokenand we are going to fix it.
If we win the election 2015 thenext Labour government will freeze gas and electricityprices until the startof 2017. Your bills will not rise. It will benefit millions of families andmillionsof businesses. That’s what I mean by a government that fights for you. That’swhat Imean 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 havebeen overcharging peoplefor too long because of a market that doesn’t work. It’s time to resetthemarket. So we will pass legislation in our first year in office to do that, andhave a regulatorthat will genuinely be on the customers’ side but also enablethe investment we need. That’show Britain will do better than this.
So, making Britain better thanthis starts with our economy – your economic success as afoundation forBritain’s economic success. But it doesn’t just stop there it goes to oursociety aswell. I told you earlier on about those market traders inChesterfield and how they felt thatsociety had lost touch with their values. Ithink what they were really saying was this: that theyput in huge hard workand effort, they bring up their kids in the right way and they just feelthattheir kids are going to have a worse life than them. And nowhere is that moretrue thanwhen it comes to renting or buying a home.
There are 9 million people inthis country renting a home, many of whom who would want tobuy. 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 inBritain. If we carry on as we are, by 2020 there will be two milliontoo few homes in Britain. Thatis the equivalent of two cities the size ofBirmingham. Wave got to do something about it andthe next Labour governmentwill. So we’ll say to private developers, you can’t just sit on landand 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 authoritiescan’t just stopthem. We’ll identify new towns and garden cities and we’ll have a clear aimthatby the end of the parliament Britain will be building 200,000 homes ayear, more than at anytime 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 ourcountry more than in ourNational Health Service, the greatest institution of our country. Youknow Ihad a letter a couple of months back from a 17 year old girl. She was sufferingfromdepression and anxiety and she told me a heart-breaking story about howshe had ended upin 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 liketotalk about it. If you’ve got a bad back or if you’re suffering from cancer youcan talk abbot itbut if you’ve got depression or anxiety you don’t want totalk about it because somehow itdoesn’t seem right – we’ve got to change that.It’s an afterthought in our National HealthService.
And here’s a really interestingthing – so you might say, it’s going to be really tough timesEd, you told usthat before. You said there would be really difficult decisions in government,andthat’s true, so how are you going to make it work? Well here’s the thing,the 17-year-old said inthat letter, look if someone had actually identifiedthe problem when it started three yearsearlier I wouldn’t have ended up inhospital. I wouldn’t have ended up costing the statethousands of pounds andthe anguish that I had. So it’s about that early identification andtalkingabout 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, mumanddads, nuclease and aunts. And it’s the same story. Just putting a £50 grab railin the homestops 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 itssights and created the NationalHealth Service. I want the next Labour government to do thesame, 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: atrueintegrated 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 fromthese Tories. And theLiberals too. Now look, before the election, I remember the speeches byDavidCameron. I remember one where he said the three most important letters to himwereNHS. Well he has got a funny way of showing it, hasn’t he? And when theycame to office, theywere still saying how brilliant was in the health service,how the health service was doing greatthings and the doctors and nurses and soon. Now have you noticed they have changed theirtune recently? Suddenly theyare saying how bad everything is in the NHS. Now the vastmajority of doctorsand nurses do a fantastic job. Sometimes things go wrong. And when theydo, weshould be the first people to say so. But hear me on this. The reason DavidCameron isrunning down the NHS is not because the doctors and nurses aren’tdoing as good a job as theywere before. It is because they have come to arealisation that the health service is gettingworse on their watch and theyare desperately thrashing around trying to find someone else toblame. Blamethe doctors, blame the nurses, blame the last Labour government. That iswhatthey are doing. Well let me tell you about the record of the last Labourgovernment. Whenwe came to office there were waiting time targets of 18 monthsthat were not being met, whenwe left office there were waiting time targets of18 weeks that were being met. When we cameto office there was an annual winterA&E crisis, when we left office the people had A&Eservices they couldrely on. When we came to office there were fewer doctors and nurses, wewhenleft office more doctors and nurses than ever before. And when we came tooffice peoplesaid well the health service, it was a good idea in previous generationsbut I don’t really believeit will be there in the next, and we left officewith the highest public satisfaction in the historyof the health services. Yesfriends, we did rescue the National Health Service. So when you hearDavidCameron casting around for someone to blame for what is happening in the NHSjustremember it is not complicated, it’s simple, it’s as simple as ABC: whenit comes to blame, itis Anyone But Cameron. We know who is responsible, thetop-down reorganisation that nobodyvoted for and nobody wanted, the abolitionof NHS Direct, the cuts to social care, thefragmentation of services. We knowwho is responsible for thousands of fewer nurses, we knowwho is responsiblenot just for an annual A&E crisis, but an A&E crisis for all seasons.Itis 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 Labourgovernment will do.
Right, I have explained to youhow we can make Britain better by changing our economyand changing oursociety, and now I want to talk about how we change our politics. And hereisthe bit you have all been looking forward to: party reform. Now look let me sayto you, changeis difficult, change is uncomfortable. And I understand whypeople are uncomfortable aboutsome of the changes, but I just want to explainto you why I think it is so important. With all ofthe forces ranged againstus, we can’t just be a party of 200,000 people. We have got to be aparty of500,000, 600,000, or many more. And I am optimistic enough – some mightsayidealistic enough – to believe that is possible. And the reason it is possiblein our party is theunique link we have with the trade unions. The unique link.I don’t want to end that link, Iwant 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 beentelling usthat actually we haven’t been rooted enough in the workplaces of our country.Andthat is what I want to change. And that is the point of my reforms. See myreforms are abouthearing the voices of people from call centre workers toconstruction workers, from people withsmall businesses to people working insupermarkets at the heart of our party. Because you see itis about my view ofpolitics. Leaders matter, of course they do, leadership matters, but in theendpolitical change happens because people make it happen. And you can’t be aparty thatproperly fights for working people unless you have working people atthe core of your party, upand down this country. That is the point of myreforms. And I want to work with you to makethem happen so that we can makeourselves a mass-membership party. Friends, let’s makeourselves truly thepeople’s party once again.
But to change our politics wehave got to a lot more than that. We have got to hear thevoices 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 voicesof young people who demand that we shoulder and don’t shirk ourresponsibilities to theenvironment. The voices of gay and lesbian young peoplewho led the fight and won the battlefor equal marriage in Britain. And thevoices of young people, particularly young women, whosay in 2013 the battlefor equality is not won. You see they are not satisfied that 33% of LabourMPsare women, they want it to be 50% and they are right. They are not satisfiedthat 40 yearsafter 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 andthey areright. Friends, let’s give a voice to these young people in our party. Andlet’s give avoice to these young people in our democracy, let’s give the voteto 16 and 17 year olds andmake them part of our democracy.
But you know we have got to winthe battle for perhaps the most important institution ofall, our UnitedKingdom. Friends, devolution works. Carwyn Jones, our brilliant First MinisterofWales, he is showing devolution works. And let’s praise the leadership ofour Scottish JoanneLamont for the brilliant job she is doing against AlexSalmond. Now that referendum onSeptember the 18th 2014, it is going to beconducted on the basis of fact and figures andarguments and counterarguments,but I have a story I want to tell you which I think says evenmore. It’s thestory of Cathy Murphy. Cathy Murphy lives in Glasgow, she worked in thelocalsupermarket. In 2010, Cathy was diagnosed with a serious heart problem, but shecame toLabour conference nonetheless in 2011 as a delegate. She fell seriouslyill. Her family werecalled down from Glasgow. The doctors said to her that tosave her life they’d have to give her avery long and very risky operation. Shehad that operation a few weeks later at the world-leadingLiverpool Broadgreenhospital. Cathy pulled through. She went back to Glasgow some weekslater. Shecomes back down to Liverpool every six months for her check-up. Now she said tomethe nurses and doctors don’t ask whether she is English or Scottish, thehospital doesn’t carewhere she lives. They care about her because she isScottish and British, a citizen of our UnitedKingdom. 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 itwould make Britainbetter and win a race to the top in our economy, put our society back intouchwith people’s values and change our politics so it lets new voices in. But thenext electionisn’t just going to be about policy. It is going to be about howwe lead and the character weshow. I have got a message for the Tories today:if they want to have a debate about leadershipand character, be my guest. Andif you want to know the difference between me and DavidCameron, here’s an easyway to remember it. When it was Murdoch versus the McCanns, he tookthe side ofMurdoch. When it was the tobacco lobby versus the cancer charities, he took thesideof the tobacco lobby. When it was the millionaires who wanted a tax cutversus people payingthe bedroom tax, he took the side of the millionaires.Come to think of it, here is an even easierway to remember it: David Cameronwas the Prime Minister who introduced the bedroom tax, I’llbe the PrimeMinister who repeals the bedroom tax.
You see here is the thing aboutDavid Cameron. He may be strong at standing up to theweak, but he is alwaysweak when it comes to standing up against the strong. That is thedifferencebetween me and David Cameron, so let’s have that debate about leadershipandcharacter, and I relish that debate. And we know what we are going to see fromthese Toriesbetween 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 inthe private sectorversus those in the public sector. People in the north against those inthesouth. It is the worst form of politics. Like sending vans into areas ofBritain where people’smums and granddads have lived for years, generations,and telling people to go home. I say weare Britain, we are better than this.Telling anyone who’s looking for a job that they are ascrounger. However hardthey are looking, even if the work is not available. I say we are Britainweare better than this. So come on. So David Cameron I have got a message foryou. You cantell your Lynton Crosby, it might work elsewhere, it won’t workhere. We’re Britain, we’re betterthan this.
Friends, the easy path forpolitics is to divide, that’s the easy part. You need to know thisabout me, Ibelieve in seeing the best in people, not the worst. That’s what I am about.That’show we create One Nation. That’s how we make Britain better than this.That’s how we have agovernment that fights for you.
Now, it is going to be a bigfight between now and the general election. Prepare yourself forthat fight.But when you think about that fight, don’t think about our party, think aboutourcountry. I don’t want to win this fight for Labour; I want to win it forBritain. And just rememberthis, throughout our history, when the voices ofhope have been ranged against the voices offear, the voices of hope have wonthrough. Those who said at the dawn of the industrialrevolution that workingpeople needed the vote and they wouldn’t wait - they knew Britaincould bebetter than this, and we were. Those that said, at the birth of a new century,those whosaid at the birth of a new century that working people needed a partyto fight for them and theold order wouldn’t do – they knew Britain could bebetter than this, and we were. Those whosaid at our darkest hour in the SecondWorld War that Britain needed to rebuild after the warand 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 coulddo 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 thanthis. I’ll lead a government that fights for you.
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