27/09/2016 - Live Afternoon Session Labour Party Conference

The OECD education division, the education policy institute,

education data lab, the fair education alliance, the vice

Chancellor of Oxford University and even Ofsted, sir Michael Wilshaw

have slammed these divisive proposals? And why? Are they against

success? They're opposed to selective schools because all the

evidence show that is children educated at grammar schools do no

better than they would have done had they gone to a comprehensive. But

those children in selective areas who do not pass the test do much

worse academically then they would have done in an inclusive

comprehensive school. We started phasing out grammar schools in the

1960s as parents became increasingly upset when their children failed the

test. Leaving them scarred for life, feeling second class, and second

rate. What parent wants that for their child? If we don't want it for

our own children, why would we want it for other people's children?

Conference, look at Kent, one of the country's few remaining grammar

school areas where children from low income families get significantly

worst examination results than in any other County in England. Grammar

schools have on average 3% of children on free school meals,

compared to 18% nationally. They are stuffed with the children of those

who can afford the years of tutoring necessary to pass the test. They

have very, very few, if any, children with special educational

needs and disabilities, but disgracefully the Government's Green

Paper has absolutely not one word, nothing at all to say about these

children or the future they might expect from a selective education

system. Kent and other selective areas let down thousands of children

every year and they've done it now for 50 years. This has to stop.

APPLAUSE Because conference, poor children

don't need a grammar school place. What they need is to stop being

poor. APPLAUSE

Four million children are living in poverty, that's nine in every class

of 30 children. And disgracefully two-thirds of those children are

from working families. We need a Government committed to ending child

poverty and the scourge of low pay. That means we need a Labour

Government. APPLAUSE

People have speculated as to why Theresa May has made this decision.

Perhaps it's because it covers up the real crisis that is happening in

our schools under the Tories. A crisis of teacher recruitment and

retention, a crisis of funding with massive real term cuts to school

budgets and not enough places. A crisis that sees free schools

opening up in the wrong areas, a crisis where academy chains rip off

taxpayers and children in their schools by turning backs on children

in most in need because academy chains won't risk their brand with a

poor set of results. Yet despite this crisis Theresa May is lavishing

?50 million of our money on persuading existing grammar schools

to expand. But by opening the flood gates to a new generation of grammar

schools the Government is backing itself into yet another unnecessary

and unwanted school reorganisation in England that will cost billions.

While schools can't afford to keep teachers and teaching assistants or

provide essential resources, it seems money is no object when it

comes to carrying through a cynical policy to distract us and to appease

the right-wing of her own party. Conference, let me end by saying

this, had Ken Purchase would here today he would be urging you to

support this motion and fight for the high quality comprehensive and

inclusive education all our children deserve. Conference, I move.

APPLAUSE Conference, chair, delighted to be

seconding the motion 10 opposing the expansion of grammar schools and

selection in education. I am a first time delegate and first time speaker

to conference. Thank you. I would also like to say I attended a

comprehensive school that set me up for life and I am proud to have been

a teacher for over ten years in comprehensives in the East Midlands.

APPLAUSE On that, I would like to begin by

paying tribute to our teachers, all those who work in our schools but

particularly our teachers, a group of dedicated professional and

experts who are never consulted thanked or listened to by this

Government. This motion... APPLAUSE

This motion opposes grammar schools but it could easily be worded to

oppose the imposition of secondary modern schools as Sarah just said on

our children, on our teachers and our communities because this is what

it is, it's a return to selection, segregation and division in both our

schools and in our communities. It's a fantasy trip back to the past.

Back to the 1950s. An era before the Fab Four even thought up Sergeant

Pepper, before England had won a World Cup and before Anthony

Crossland had become Secretary for education. We are governed by a

party who favours is heing Gray -- - let's make it clear, conference, by

every possible measure of pupil achievement comprehensive schools

have been a success and they've served our children well. They're

based on the ideas of inclusion, solidarity and social justice.

APPLAUSE These are Labour values, these are

our values. It's why I became a teacher and I hope it's why people

are sat here. Conference, the myth of a golden age of education is

that, it's a myth. It's never existed. As I have said, our

comprehensives achieved far more than grammar schools ever did in the

past. And the mantra that selection will improve life chances of

disadvantaged children goes against all available statistical evidence

and ignores many of our children. The recent education White Paper, I

don't know if people have read it, it was absolutely silent about

children on special needs. Because they don't fit in with the

regressive, divisive vision of education this Government has. They

don't appear to matter. Well, I can tell you they matter to me, they

matter to teachers and should matter to you.

APPLAUSE Our schools are facing significant

challenges as we have just heard. Fewer teachers, far fewer resources.

Importantly our cities and councillors need the ability to plan

for education properly and we need to establish new schools that are

accountable to the local community for the way they spend their money

and the way they look after pupils. Conference, we as a party supported

comprehensive education and the ideals behind it. We need to send a

message today to reject the politics of segregation, social exclusion and

division. We need a school system for the 21st century, not the 1950s.

Conference, I second this motion. APPLAUSE

Thank you, delegate. Let me say it first! We are now

going to open the debate to the floor. If we can take notice of our

two speakers who went on time and each of you say a little bit less we

will get more people in. OK, let me have a look. The guy there waving,

is it an um agree la? I can't see. -- an umbrella.

Where am I going? Let me have a look. A woman, a woman. The woman

with the black and orange scarf. The woman there in the red jacket.

If it's red. I will take some more later.

Good afternoon. I am proud to be a first time delegate from west

Oxfordshire. APPLAUSE

Thank you. I am also proud to be adopted as the Labour candidate to

replace David Cameron in The by-election. Thank you. And make a

date as 20th October and you are all invited. Through Cameron you may

have a distorted view of Whitby as a home of prif lem. It isn't. We face

the same inequality as the rest of the country, lack of investment,

failing roads, cuts to buses, countryside and communities under

threat from developers and landowners, cuts to the NHS, house

prices out of control. And this is because of Tory councils, a Tory Lib

Dem coalition and then a Tory Government, a toxic combination. But

we are fighting back. Over the last five years Labour has won seat after

seat on our councils and we now have amazing councillors across west

Oxfordshire all working in their communities. Since May 2015, and

particularly since Jeremy Corbyn became our leader, our membership

has grown hugely and we now have many more members in Whitby than the

Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and in fact more than all of the other

parties put together -- Witney. So, we have never been in such a strong

position to make a positive change to our towns and villages. Just as

well, because these grammar school proposals are a disaster for us.

Oxfordshire has no grammars. Instead we have a network of brilliant

comprehensive schools like the comprehensive I am proud to have

gone to. My own children go to a school in Witney where my wife

teaches English and I am a governor. Cuts in funding have bitten deeply,

particularly into school support and 6th form funding. But grammar

schools is another thing still. It would set school against school and

involve introducing the 11-Plus, a pointless and unfair segregation of

friend from friend, and brother from sister. It would turn our high

schools into secondary moderns and reduce choices in subjects and the

put our 6th forms at risk and lead to certain closures. It will imperil

some of our neighbourhood schools and damage community links. It will

lead to more bussing of children across the district which is a

diviceful and wasteful andingivity T will worsen teacher recruitment and

retention crisis and overturn primary alliances and into school

working to the detriment of our children and further stretch our

worsening finances and it will lower levels of achievement.

The evidence shows it will lower levels of achievement. That is why

Oxfordshire County Council, supported by others from all

parties, voted against segregation in our schools are just last week.

So let's get every local authority in England to follow suit. Contact

Oxfordshire Labour to find out how and get it through your councils

now. We cannot allow this to happen so join me in the by-election and

let's use our campaign to stop this crazy proposal to divide our

education system. Conference, I am pleased to support

this motion because it ends with the word professionals, a term which

includes all staff that work in schools. It is teachers and

assistants working with children every day who know the impact

testing can have on a child's self-esteem. I've sat next to pupils

crying over a test. They don't know where to begin because they either

have special needs or England is not their first language. All children

deserve a high-quality education which does not separate them into

those that can and cannot do tests. The 11 plus is another test on

children, who are already tested too much in this country. Education

should be inclusive, where children from all backgrounds and abilities

socialise and play together and learn from each other. A generation

risks being let down and stops mobility dead in its tracks. People

talk about claiming the social mobility ladder but when inequality

is growing, the gaps between the rungs are getting wider. Research

has shown that areas with grammar school disadvantage the brewer and

help only the richest of children. I don't care that Theresa May went to

grammar school, policies should be based on evidence. For too long

we've seen too many Tory educational policy wins, from academies to free

schools. We have a Prime Minister without a manifesto commitment

bringing back grammar schools. It is no surprise they are showing their

true colours and advocating this in schools. Theresa May like to use

phrases like freedom of choice but there is no choice. Communities

deserve properly funded comprehensive schooling for all

children. If we want an inclusive and equal society then it must start

with an inclusive and equal education system.

I'm going to choose another three before the next speaker. The woman

in the green there. The woman in the red there? This guy here. I'm coming

back. First-time speaker at conference. Conference, there are 12

secondary schools in Southend and a third of them are grammar schools.

So popular and successful that the majority of children that attend

them don't even live in Southend. Some children travel 30 miles to

come to those schools. Grammar schools and wondering whether your

kids are going to go to one dominates the education culture in

Southend-on-Sea. I've been doing this for ten years and in those ten

years I've seen absolutely no evidence that children do

exceptionally well at our grammar schools. Only that are grammar

schools will only accept children that they know will do exceptionally

well. Conference, every child, regardless of their academic

ability, their postcode or their parents's wealth deserves a good

school but more grammar schools does not equate to this. All they deliver

are more failing comprehensives. Theresa May thinks grammar schools

deliver excellent exam results and on the surface they do. But when

every comprehensive in town has all the academically exceptional

children, they are siphoned off and sent elsewhere to school, you don't

need and a star in maths to work out that is going to skew your exam

results statistics. Excuse them for grammar as well as comprehensive

schools. is not causality, it is nothing more

than correlation. You would think a grammar school girl would know the

difference. Tories have the audacity to suggest their support is about

parent choice and ending the practice of the wealthy are moving

specifically to get into an outstanding school. But, conference,

no child in Southend chooses a grammar school. The grammar schools

choose the children. Nobody in Southend moves because they need

more grammar school places. They move because there was a shameful

lack of outstanding comprehensive places. Grammar schools cherry pick

academically... I'm sorry, you need to wind up. They believe they are

exceptional but show me a school that welcomes all the students from

its community and supports every single one of them to reach full

potential. That is what I call an outstanding school.

Nicole Brailsford from Unison. I'm here to tell you about a Labour

council that has likened itself to Margaret Thatcher. That is Derby

City Council. They are treating 2700 people this way. School support

staff, admin workers, kitchen staff, caretakers, supervisors, and 200 of

them travelled here today from Derby on their seventh week of action to

appeal for your support and I think they deserve your support.

These are low-paid workers, mostly women, hit with salary cuts of

?6,000 per year. A quarter of their salary with no protection all

because allegedly the system is being made fairer. What is happening

is anything but. 2700 staff moved on to term time only contracts which

means weeks and months without pay with rising debt unable to make ends

meet. Support staff are among the lowest paid workers yet they are

paid the price of continued government spending cuts. The

squeeze on finance... Penalising the lowest paid workers in society is

wrong. It is not just the teaching assistants. Teachers could not teach

without assistance and parents are horrified at the way they are being

treated, and the children who rely on the workers to care for them are

bound to supper. They deserve better than this and so do we. It is not

just happening in Derby but also Durham, also a Labour council,

hitting low-paid woman with eye watering pay cuts. They need to

think again on the strikes will continue. But they must also end the

squeeze on school budgets and alone teaching assistants to negotiate

their pay nationally like teacher pay. We need a national deal for

school support staff with proper pain conditions. -- paying

conditions. They do so much for us, it is the very least we can do for

them. Judy Wilson, first-time speaker at

conference. I'm delighted to speak in this debate as a motion was

narrowly beaten in the selection meeting. Let there be no mistake,

the government policy of forced a categorisation has failed to raise

standards -- academies Haixun 01 -- Academy transformation. Arranging

the classroom furniture does not have a difference. Free schools have

not covered themselves in glory. The threat of going back to grammar

schools smacks of desperation and many Tory backbenchers also share

our views on this. We need to mobilise on all levels of our party.

We need to provide them with a voice. Work with trade unions and

schools. In Bristol, we start on Saturday in

the city centre. I know that you will support this. Will you go back

and organise in your communities? Let's mobilise our members. Show the

government what a Labour Party with more than half a million members can

do. I only have time for one more speaker. On the basis of my own

health and safety going to pick the guy with the hard hat as long as he

lets me have it after he speaks. Conference... Martin Bailey,

Vauxhall CLP. I went to grammar school. Social mobility nurtured me.

But we do not need grammar schools. It's taken me a long time to come to

this conclusion. I am a product of grammar schools. On paper I should

be a poster child for the movement, born in a statistically deprived

neighbourhood yet here I am, a law graduate working in the City of

London. Birmingham is full of grammar schools.

I wondered how could anyone argue they're a bad thing. The I looked at

my friends and we were all doing well. We all went to university and

have careers anagramer school gave us choices. My mum said she didn't

care whatever career I do as well as I choose to do it and that's what my

grammar school gave me, choices, I loved my time there, I am not going

to pretend I didn't. I realise as aget older I look at fren and family

members who have struggled and didn't pass the 11-Plus and realise

there is a problem here. Birmingham grammar schools, it's

overrepresented by kids that aren't. Kids from household whose parents if

they hadn't got into grammar school could have sent them to private

school and probably would have and kids you know were coached to take

that test. A local comprehensive in Birmingham, 90% of students don't

have English as a first language. Compared to a national average of

12%. 76% get free school meals but they're an outstanding rated school

now. Their GCSE results were just 17% in 2004. I used to feel sorry

for the kids that went there. Now they're storming ahead of the

average and improve year on year. It's taken a lot of hard work by

parents, teachers, support staff, Labour councillors and new grammar

schools absolutely threaten that success. Diverting much needed

resources in terms of money, teachers and well performing pupils

who help support the rest of their pierce and this gives schools like

Holt a real possibility of falling back to the bad days. For the few

from yoors like mine grammar schools worked. For most in my neighbourhood

they didn't and don't. They take away precious resource from

comprehensive schools that need it and serve communities. In Lambeth

where I now live and we don't have a single grammar school every one of

our secondary schools are rated good or outstanding and that's taken hard

work by our community, our Labour council to maintain that and could

all be wiped away overnight. The fact the Tories have promised

reserve free school meal places for qualifying kids know they know at

heart it doesn't promote social mobility on this scale that it

suggests. With Labour in Government we can promise a world class

education to every child, not just those who can work out what shape

comes next in a pattern on a cold November morning. Conference,

support this motion. Thank you. Next speaker.

Conference, I am a delegate from Coventry south and I would like to

thank my colleagues over there for collecting me when I spectacularly

disappeared from view. APPLAUSE It wasn't a deliberate

attempt to try to get on this stage, honestly. OK. Breathe. Suicide is

the biggest killer of men under the age of 45. That's a lot of children

who are impacted by something happening to their fathers, to their

uncles, to their step-fathers or a significant male carer in their

family. A review by the Samaritans in 2012 emphasised middle aged

working class men are a particularly high risk of suicide. Suicide

happens because of unemployment, debt, breakdown in social and family

relationships, and again how are the children going to cope with this

particularly when we have the pressures of an education service

decimated by the Tories? And historical culture of masculinity.

These are things we all know too well. Across the West Midlands we

have seen unemployment, debt and family breakdowns all rising as a

direct consequence of this Tory Government's continued austerity.

But conference in Coventry we are doing something about it. We have an

initiative started bay mental health nurse. It's targeted at men

primarily in sporting venues to raise awareness of mental health

support and reduce male suicide by encouraging men to talk about their

feelings. We are telling men that talking about it is not a sign of

weakness. It takes balls to talk. And conference I am proud that my

own trade union Unite are part of this campaign. With others including

local NHS services, local sports teams and voluntary organisations,

including Coventry and Warwickshire Mind. Our member of parliament in

Coventry north-east has sponsored an early day motion in support of the

male targeted mental health awareness and suicide prevention

campaign thchlt has the support of all three Coventry MPs, including my

own. What can you do? Conference, I am asking every person here to make

sure that their MP has signed the early day motion supporting the

campaign and say to any one out there, you are not alone. There is

support and our movement is one of solidarity. It takes balls to talk.

Thank you conference for allowing me to speak.

APPLAUSE Delegates, I have a point of order.

Hello. Point of order was that we had a former MP, we had me, a young

person currently in education and even a man who had the experience of

going to a grammar school. The chair looked in that direction but no

speaker from that end of the room was chosen. Thank you very much.

Just to tell you, we had seven speakers, two from trade unions,

five from CLPs, it wouldn't be possible to take somebody from the

two nations and the nine regions, that would have been 11 in the

debate. We try and have a balance of that. Sometimes it doesn't work.

Sometimes it does. But there isn't enough time. Listen, the debate has

finished. You have raised your point of order. I have given you an

explanation and I am going to move on.

APPLAUSE The last thing I would say on that

point, there is a seminar at 4.00 today you might want to feed the

points in that you would have made in the speech. OK. Now, delegates, I

am very pleased to welcome Angela Rayner, the Shadow Secretary of

State for Education and Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities.

Thank you, Angela. APPLAUSE

Good afternoon conference. It's an honour for me to stand before you

today as a Shadow Secretary of State for Education.

APPLAUSE To some it is a surprise. Some

Tories look down their noses at me because as you can hear, I wasn't

born with a plum in my mouth. I get snobbery too from pun kits and

commentators, from hate-filled trolls on social media. Some of the

Tories say she left school at 16, she doesn't have a university

degree. What does she know about education? Well, I say I might not

have an academic degree, but I have a Masters in real life.

APPLAUSE Conference, I understand that every

parent wants the best for their child because I want the best for my

children too. I tell you, as a northern working class mum I won't

accept anything less for my children and for your children.

APPLAUSE Conference, I left school at 16

pregnant and with no qualifications. Some may argue I was not a great

role model for today's young people. The direction of my life was already

set. You know what, conference, something happened. Labour's Sure

Start centres gave me and my friends and their children the help and

support that we needed to grow and develop.

APPLAUSE They changed the lives of three

million children and their parents. The Tories have now closed more than

800 Sure Start centres and there's more to come. Shutting the door in

the faces of our children and their parents. Conference, unlike the

Tories, Labour will never turn our backs on our children and their

families. We'll never put political dogma before the ambition of every

parent to do their best for their children.

APPLAUSE Because excellent child care changes

lives for the better. As it did for my eldest son Ryan and for my two

youngest boys and for me. That's why I am proud to announce today

Labour's new child care tax force to help us transformerlily years

provision for every family in the 21st century. -- transform early.

And I am absolutely delighted that the assistant General Secretary of

Unison has agreed to chair that taskforce working with Labour's

Shadow Educational team and child care experts. Our aim will be to

provide the care and support for every child to fulfil their

potential and to help parents back to work. Access to affordable high

quality child care and early years learning is one of the most

effective drivers for social mobility. Conference, getting it

right will improve the life chances of countless children across the

country. That must be our mission. APPLAUSE

Conference, the new Prime Minister has talked a lot about a metitcracy.

It's a pit She's A Character didn't appoint her Cabinet on merit. But

conference, Theresa May is talking about mertocracy. Let me tell her

that every single child has merit. That is why I will fight with every

breath in my body against the new grammar schools. Conference, she's

not produced a single scrap of evidence that grammar schools can

help social mobility. Selection or segregation as it should be called,

entrenches division and increases inequality. Conference, it's not

just me who says this. The Institute of Fiscal Studies, the chief

inspector of our schools for Ofsted, the National Association of Head

Teachers and even those well-known socialists at the Times and The

Spectator agree. APPLAUSE

Even David Cameron called it completely delusional. So,

conference, what about the children segregated after failing the

11-Plus, what do they say? 19-year-old Eleanor is amongst the

many who have written to me and she said the deeply damaging effect that

the 11-Plus had on my self-esteem and my confidence has still not left

me. I was marked with the stigma of going to a stupid school, a

secondary modern. I was surrounded with bright and capable children.

Children who could have excelled and yet believed ourselves to be

failures. Conference, this Government is telling fairytales

about social mobility and opportunity. Selection is toxic.

It tells a clever child they are stupid. Strip the child of

self-esteem and embedded inequality. Every child can succeed and no child

should be left out or left behind. You've heard it before. Tony Blair

spoke about education, education, education. Tulisa may want

segregation, segregation, segregation.

Conference, I'll Labour Party will fight for it, starting on Saturday

when we launch the campaign against more grammar schools. We will take

the fight to the Tories. I appeal to everyone, all my colleagues, because

together we can defeat this. But, conference, we must deal with the

feelings in our existing school system. -- failings. Every academy

must be fully accountable to the local communities they serve.

No more fat cat pay cheques to consultants and self appointed

bureaucrats. Every single penny bureaucrats. Every single penny

spent on providing the best education for all our children. The

Prime Minister has said nothing about the half a million children in

classes which are far too big or the crisis in teacher recruitment and

retention or of the deep cuts in the school budget for the first time in

nearly two decades. Tory dogma causing untold damage. As someone

who relied on further education when I left school I know that it can

develop people into active, engaged, achieving citizens. That's why I'm

proud we've pledged to bring back educational maintenance allowance.

Because, we know that Yemeni helps young people to stay in education

and get better grades. Labour will bring back maintenance grants for

low and middle income students. It's an absolute national scandal

that students graduate today with 44,000 pounds in debt. The current

system is in chaos and we need to sort it. Conference, our aim must be

to make higher education affordable and accessible to all but we must

also recognise University is not the right place for every teenager. I

want to see a Labour government put as much effort into expanding

vocational education as we did with higher education. With our country

facing a skills gap we need to equip young people with the expertise and

ability Britain needs so that snobbery about vocational education

must end. No matter what people say Labour is the party of social

mobility, helping everyone get on in the life, reaching their full

potential. We are the party of comprehensives, of the open

University, it was Labour which founded that.

We are the party of access to the best education for all. Enabling

every child to go as far as their talents and ambition can take them.

These are the values we hold dear, one party united, one Labour.

Angela, thank you for that wonderful contribution to conference. We move

on to the energy debate and we have the contemporary... Could cities of

London be to second. Gary Smith, GMB, moving on energy. Our country

is facing a crisis in energy of leadership and ambition. If you're

leaving the hall please do it quietly and show some respect to the

delegates. For too long our leaders have dodged the complex questions

about how we keep the lights on today and into the future. How we do

that in an affordable way at the same time as tackling the critical

threat of climate change. We've suffered because time and time again

short-term political choices have won out over a long-term national

interests. It happens before and it's happening again. Take a look at

the Tories and their shambles about it. Building a nuclear power station

has been on the cards for years. This will be a key component of the

power we need for decades to come. Quite simply, without Hinkley point,

someone's lights are going out. That could be you, your family, your

local hospital... It is that crucial. But it seems the Prime

Minister did not get the memo. What did we get? Dithering and delay. The

future of thousands of workers up and down the country were put at

risk. It was George Osborne who called it when he said it is a

wobble. If you are a Prime Minister you don't get the luxury of wobble.

You must know what you're doing for our country and get on with it. That

is what is called leadership. Conference, Britain needs investment

and energy and a strategic plan for the sector. What we have is a shabby

mess. How can it be right that our own government has allowed power

stations and electricity cables to be flogged off to foreign investors?

That is a betrayal of our national interests. It's the same mess in

renewables. They have such a vital part to play with the potential to

provide new jobs and training in working-class areas. But the void of

an industrial strategy the renewable sector is a story of missed

opportunities and job losses. We see German and Danish manufactured wind

turbines being brought over in Dutch barges and connected with Chinese

cables. You tell me how that helps the workers in Scotland I represent.

I do have to tell you that we as a movement do need to tackle the issue

of how we fund the renewables sector. At the moment, renewable

subsidies are a flat tax on our bills. Subsidising big energy, that

is against everything we stand for. I'm a proud member of our union, a

union formed by gas workers. I started as an apprentice. Gas will

remain a central part of the energy we use in this country for decades

to come. Our phones are heated by gas because it is four times cheaper

than electricity. The people of our country depend on gas. Our chemicals

industries cannot operate without it. We must confront difficult

questions about where we get our gas from. There is gas arriving from

America to Scotland. That is not good for the environment. Buying it

from regimes with an appalling human rights record cannot be ethical.

Instead of posturing, we need a proper grown-up national

conversation about energy. This means using all options. You know,

conference, other countries are getting it wrong. Germany's decision

to move away from nuclear may have delighted some but the truth is, CO2

emissions are going up because renewables cannot replace all the

power that was lost. We've been burning the dirtiest call. Can you

wind up? Plu-mac Labour has an historic opportunity to show the

British people that we are the ones that can develop the leadership and

ambition. Support the motion. I am a first time del dpat speaker

from Westminster. It's at delight to put the environment on the agenda. I

want to put it on the agenda for three reasons. First of all, because

climate change impacts the most vulnerable people all across the

world. I think it's crucial that we start to lead the conversation in

Britain on changes that really impact people who are the most

vulnerable in the most difficult situations both abroad and here in

Britain. We need to make it so the srier suspect a Labour issue and

that it's a key Labour policy. -- environment is a Labour issue. The

energy policy can also be a positive thing. If we develop an energy

policy which has lots of renewable components that can lead to building

more jobs and good jobs. Which will be better for the economy. This is a

contemporary motion. When we first drafted the motion at the City of

London and Labour branch we were aware that although the USA and

China had ratified the motion, Theresa May still hadn't. So

although she's since said she's going to ratify it, this motion

calls on her to ratify it immediately. We need an

international serious approach to tackling this and after Brexit we

can't just sink into an island mentality. We need to believe in

co-operating to solve the environmental crisis. The third

reason I think this is really important motion and the environment

and a reasonable energy policy should be on the agenda is people

care about the environment, people talk about this important issue, I

am glad this motion brings that to the conversation. Last of all, with

my City of London Labour branch hat on I have to mention the local

elections we are facing next March. The only local elections happening

in London and we had the first ever City of London councillor in 2013.

We are going to take the fight to the Tories in the City of London and

of course that is also going to have responsible energy politics. Thank

you. APPLAUSE

Conference, I now only have time for two speakers in this debate. I am

going to go over there, so I don't get myself into trouble. The lady

there. And the lady there.

Thank you. Thank you, chair, thank you

conference. Unite speaking in support, this motion rightly

condemns the Government for its failure to build a cohesive energy

policy. It also calls for a plan, a plan that balances environmental

concerns with the need to tackle fuel poverty as well as job security

and creation. Conference, Unite supports investment in renewable

energy and condemns Government cuts in support to the renewable sector.

Unite with many others supports a balanced energy policy that provides

security of our energy supply and this includes investment in carbon

capture and storage and nuclear. Conference, Unite produced a

campaigning document, meeting the climate challenge. It sets out what

we want, a just transition, not just words, but an implementation that

recognises our role as a trade union is to protect and support our

members, their families and communities linked to the industries

affected. Conference, after the Government's dithering, the decision

to approve the go ahead for Hinklen Point has been made and it's ended a

period of agonising uncertainty. Unite members are keen to start work

in the country's first nuclear power station for a generation and it will

herald an economic boost for the West Country, creating thousands of

skilled jobs, including 500 much needed apprenticeships in the

construction phase alone. Young men and conference, yes, young women

apprentices promised good quality apprenticeships and the opportunity

to earn while they learn. Let's not forget the role that this project

and others can play in respect of much needed infrastructure and

investment in the UK to support other parts of our economy. We and

Labour will press the Government, EDF and the contractors to make

maximum use of British-made materials such as British steel so

that the benefits flow into the wider UK economy. Unite and other

trade unions involved secured a ground-breaking and binding

agreement for decent working conditions and employment practices

and importantly, including transparent employment, so that any

suspicion of blacklisting can be nipped in the bud. Conference, just

to depart from my speech for a moment, just this morning I received

a letter from a Croatian brother in an energy related construction site,

forced to hand over half of his pay and he wrote, I was not the member

of your trade union because my employers did not allow that. It was

forbidden for us. The employer told us if we became members of trade

union we're going to lose our job and we're going to be fired. He

apologised for his English. But he didn't have to apologise because you

know what in this hall we speak his language and it's called solidarity.

APPLAUSE It was that solidarity that won for

our Bulgarian and Portuguese workers equal pay when our Unite members at

oil refineries got them ?48 from - finishing now, to ?125 back--

backdated. That's solidarity. We want a fair deal for all. Thank you,

conference. Thank you, Gail. Thank you, conference. I am going to

be controversial here. I cannot support this. I am sorry. We have

pledged to secure our environment by using our national investment bank

to invest in public and community owned energy schemes. We can not go

down the nuclear route if we are to back this up and this is where the

jobs of the future will be created. APPLAUSE

We will deliver clean energy and curb energy rises for households.

The Government has dithered about Hinkley point, we know what happens

in the nuclear industry. When there is any nuclear project ever kept

within a projected budget or projected time scale? Also, it will

take so long that by the time it does come on it will be out of date.

August 2016, Sellafield nuclear plant, decommission cleanup costs

are estimated to be ?70 billion. That's now and they're escalating

every year. There's still no definitive plan on how we are going

to get rid of the waste or store the waste for hundreds of years which it

will need. Renewable energy around the planet now in several countries

is at 100%. Denmark 40% all the time. 140% regularly. Lower Austria

100%. Orkney Islands 100%. Germany, most days 78%, from renewable

energy. What are we thinking of? While we invest in renewables, also

North Sea gas say they is still 30 years left of North Sea gas, it just

needs investment. That can run alongside our renewable programme.

We have pledged to ban fracking and proposals to. It is not used in

other countries because it's so expensive. It is so expensive. Our

long-term energy needs are tidal power. Tide goes in, tide goes out.

Solar power. Air source power. Ground source power. Wind power. How

much water have we got in this country? It will create tens of

thousands of those jobs, those transitional jobs, they'll be spread

across the country, in every community with community energy

schemes. We can go 100% renewable. We can do it. Thank you.

APPLAUSE Thank you, delegates. Conference, I

am now delighted to introduce the man who beat an incumbent against

the odds in May to become mayor of Bristol. Conference, please welcome

Marvin Rees. APPLAUSE

Thank you very much for a really warm welcome. Conference, Bristol

has consistently been voted one of the best places to live. It's a city

full of green space, a vibrant culture, known for its colourful

houses, bridges, hot air balloons and Ba Banksy and it's a great city,

it's a wealthy city. All this is true. But that's not the whole

truth. There is another Bristol, one that tourists and even some of our

citizens never see, the city of poverty and inequality. 42 areas

listed among the most 10% most deprived in England. 16% our

regulars dents living in deprivation and -- residents. Bristol west has

among the highest number of PLDs per head and Bristol south has one of

the lowest rates of people going on to higher education. Bristol is not

unique in these challenges. But this is the injustice, and liability that

a Labour leadership in a city can take on. I will lead the city for

every citizen and build a city where nobody is left behind.

APPLAUSE A city of opportunity built on

fairness and inclusion. A resilient city, both environmentally and

socially. Where social mobility, rather than social immobility is the

norm. Educational outcomes and employment opportunities are not

determined by parental background. At the core of my delivery will be

housing. I have promised to build 2,000 homes a year by 2020 with at

least 800 of these affordable. I have also committed to investing...

That's all right! I have committed to investing in the mental health of

all primary age children to build resilience and tackle race and

gender pay gap. APPLAUSE

But here is the challenge. That the dominant political narrative in the

UK has been centrally focussed on Westminster and London. But that is

shifting. People are increasingly realising that cities are real. It

is cities who are often the immediate power shaping people's

lives. The impact of city Government is too easily misunderstood and

undervalued in our country, even by us. But if you look closely you can

see Labour in power. There are ten core cities outside of London and

Labour leads all of them. Bristol, obviously. Glasgow, Birmingham,

Nottingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle, Cardiff, Manchester and

of course obviously here in Liverpool. 19 million people live in

these city regions and together we deliver a quarter of the national

economy. For 2020 or when the election is, our party will be

judged, not only on what the National Party does in opposition,

but on what Labour cities do in power.

APPLAUSE So this makes devolution a key

challenge and an opportunity for Labour. Devolution is crucial to

giving city leaders the space, the resources and the powers they need

to get things done. And it's a pathway to investment in the city

infrastructure and to bring politics closer to people. In recent months I

visited Washington DC with operation black vote, I spoke to the gathering

of the US black mayors, I visited New York City and met with the

mayor. I attended the global parliament of mayors. One thing is

clear, that the City leaders around the world, including mayors, are

saying that cities are not merely a topic to be discussed. We are a

layer of governance and we need our place at the decision-making tables,

the space to forge partnerships with cities and other bodies around the

world, to operate effectively in a post-national world. We are doing

things differently in Bristol. We know the council cannot deliver

working alone. The complex issues that matter from congestion, to

sustainable development, to how we do economic development without gent

triification can only be tackled all by organisations working together

towards shared priorities. We have connected with the other powers in

my city, with business, with our unions, with the NHS, with our

emergency services, with the education secretary are to, with

sports organisations and voluntary sector. Our ultimate aim is to work

together to right a Bristol -- write a Bristol plan, a plan for the city

that all partners invest in and deliver collectively. To take a

strategic approach to the priorities and identify both what you can do

for your city, and importantly, what the city can do for you.

Organisations want to be involved and have a place in city leadership.

Our city has for too long seen itself as a provider of services

rather than what we need to become, are forced to bring the city

together. Leave here today knowing that Labour is in power and working

with you, we will deliver. Thank you, conference, and thank you

for that speech. Jonathan Ashworth will now address us. Welcome.

It's a pleasure to speak from the same podium as which we've just had

inspirational speeches. I will not be able to match their eloquence. I

first came to the Labour Party conference in 1996. I was 17, a

working-class son of Salford Casino croupier who was active in the GMP

section of the branch. I was a steward on the door checking the

passes. Today, I'm honoured, privileged, proud that 20 years

later, I'm here as a member of your Shadow Cabinet. It's a great

responsibility. I will do all I can to secure our party victory at the

next general election. Last year, our leader asked that I work with

all you on our campaigns against the Tory Government. Back then, David

Cameron was Prime Minister, George Osborne was Chancellor, Iain Duncan

Smith, remember him? He was the pension secretary. They wanted to

cut benefits for disabled people, slash tax credits for millions of

families. We fought back and we defeated them. Doesn't that show you

what we achieve when fully effective in Parliament, United, working

together, taking on the Tories and in touch with our constituents? Now

we have a new Prime Minister and cabinet and they tell us they are

the friends of ordinary working-class people. Fine words but

it's by their deeds they be known. A Prime Minister and Cabinet who have

an economic policy to slash public services, cut support for those on

lower and middle incomes to fund tax cuts for the rich, a Prime Minister

who appoints David Davis as Brexit Minister, a man who brandished the

social chapter as job destroying. A man who brings back Liam Fox and

called the minimum wage and mistake. A Prime Minister who appoints Doctor

Fox and Mr Davis is no friend of ordinary working-class people. Not

all the ministers have changed. Jeremy Hunt is still there. A man

who's not met a junior doctor he won't pick a fight with. Conference,

a Prime Minister who keeps in place Jeremy Hunt is no friend of the

National Health Service. By the way, Doctor Fox, David Davis, and Boris

Johnson, don't think we've forgotten. You promised us this

money, have the grace to admit you lied to the British people. Deliver

it. The Prime Minister also likes to talk of compassionate conservatism.

It is not compassionate or fair. It is not on the side of the many. He

is dividing children at 11. Parents want the very best every child, not

the return to the plus. We will not yield or equivocate. We will fight

these plans every step of the way. Whatever the rhetoric, the reality

of the Tories in government is clear. No plans for Brexit, and NHS

in crisis, the climate change Department scrapped, rising poverty,

the return of the 11 plus, fixing constituency boundaries. They can

change the person at the top and appoint a new cabinet but it is

clear it is still the same nasty Tory party and we will take them on

at every turn. We've got a job to do. We speak for those with no

voice. We remember those too often forgotten. We challenge the

fundamental unfairness. We seek a society built around human needs and

wants. We tackle Savage inequalities that scar society. We don't meekly

accept that our fellow citizens should rely on zero hours contract

or tolerate an economy where men and women still need to pick up a food

parcel to feed their family. This week as John McDonnell said

yesterday, reaffirm a very simple principle that this movement has

long stood for. When men and women work for a living they should be

paid a genuine living wage. When confronted with abuses like

we've seen at Sports Direct or the abuses we've seen unless Leicester

where I've been working with the Baker's union, we don't shrug our

shoulders like the Tories do. We don't abdicate responsibility. We

see that there is a far-away -- fairer way and we will ensure

everyone has the dignity they deserve. Because we all know that

housing deprivation drives so much of the grotesque inequality we see

around us, the Tories spend ?9 billion per year lining the pockets

of private landlords. It does not work. Isn't it time, as we have

committed, to start building Council houses to provide decent homes for

everybody who needs one? Our crusade for social justice does not stop at

our borders. We align ourselves with the poorest of the world. So we have

a warning for treason may. We will not acquiesce in any attempts to cut

development spending and betray the poorest people of the world. We

speak firmly against large-scale tax avoidance because when governments

tolerated it is ordinary people and the brewer of the world who pay the

price. So rather than closing sure start, let's start closing tax

loopholes. Crackdown and deliver tax Justice. We are in the Labour Party

because we dream of a better world and, crucially, we know that a

better world is possible. In dreams begins responsibilities. When this

conference ends our responsibility is to scatter across our

communities, speak to people, listen to people and ensure this party is

elected for the people. Our responsibility also is to unite,

conference, and that means remembering all opponents don't Wear

red Labour rosettes, the Wear red, green, purple rosettes. That is

where we need to focus. Every progressive reform ever put on the

statute books was because of this party winning elections. That is why

I've travelled 5000 miles, campaigning with you on the

doorstep. Listening to people in your communities. People do not just

want sympathy, they want us in government to change their lives. I

met a man Southampton who fears he will lose his family home where he

grew up with his children. I've met students shackled by huge debt.

Pensioners I met in Nottinghamshire struggling to pay the Electric,

worried for their grandchildren who cannot afford or find decent secure

jobs. The man in my Leicester constituency who have serious health

problems. He was disallowed yesterday, he was sanctioned on GSA,

lost his home and slept rough in the local park. In their names and

thousands like them, let's pledge ourselves to a united effort, to

rebuild and seek that brighter and better day. Keep the faith with our

Labour values, leave the sneers and slurs to our opponents. Optimism

always defeat the spear and for the country and the people we serve, I

will never give up. We will never give up, Labour never gives up.

Thank you. Jonathan you started by saying you

were not as inspirational, but I think you did it for us here.

Absolutely wonderful. Thank you. Conference, we now move on to our

final speaker of the day. I'm pleased to welcome the deputy leader

of the Labour Party, Tom Watson. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for

being here in this great city at this historic gathering of the

greatest movement for social change our country has ever known. It's a

privilege to address you. Thank you. I'd better get the difficult stuff

out the way. Saturday's results. Whatever you think of that man,

whatever he has done, how can Ed Bowlby bottom of the leaderboard on

Strictly Come Dancing? -- Ed balls. It is a hotbed of media obsessed

pre-madonnas and harsh criticism. You would think after a decade in

Parliament, he would have done better than that. Disappointed, to

be honest. Whereas, I have always aimed to be outstanding in my field.

Except when at quite a critical point I was just out, standing in a

field. Meanwhile, the Lib Dems are trying to get back on the field,

pitching to our supporters. Tim Farron has been telling people that

only the Lib Dems can provide strong opposition. Well, I do admire your

ambition. But you've only got eight MPs! You could not be the strong

opposition in a BAFTA and twirling contest. Theresa May, well, on some

issues I've got time for her. This is not a joke. It is a serious bit.

As Home Secretary, during my campaign for the truth on child

sexual abuse she tried to do the right thing. If she really does

force an enquiry into the conduct of South Yorkshire Police at Orgreave

she will not just have my support but the hall Labour movement behind

her. On that one issue. She deserves recognition for becoming Britain's

second woman Prime Minister. We cannot afford for that to be

something the Tories keep doing but we don't. A Labour woman as Prime

Minister is long overdue. So I'd be had no ill will. To be honest. I

feel sorry for her. Poor Theresa May is left wondering

where everybody went. I would like to be able to tell that you Britain

is safe in her hands. That the savage cuts and falling wages and

exploitive work practices are behind us. That now, as others have said,

we have a grown-up in charge. But I am afraid I can't. I have seen up

close what it takes to be a Prime Minister. And I have seen what it

takes out of you. And Theresa May hasn't got what it takes. Hinkley

Point, as Gary Smith said, it was on, it was off,en then it was on

again. This is an enormous national infrastructure project involving a

French company firm and ?6 billion of Chinese investment. It's not a

game. Grammar schools. First they were an ambitious, then a cast iron

guarantee, then a consultation. At PMQs when Jeremy asked her to set

out her principles behind a plan, she dodged him. When he challenged

her to provide evidence it would boost social mobility she ducked it.

When he demanded to know which experts backed her, she weaved away.

Ducking and diving, it's not what you want from a Prime Minister. On

the northern powerhouse, Heathrow, the single market, the best system

of fair but firm immigration, time and time again we have seen the same

shambolic prevarication. Theresa May or Theresa May not. Who knows. But

everyone knows But everyone knows you can't run a country like that.

Conference, it will take time. Those press barons will be on her side,

for now. But if we stay focussed and disciplined and determined then

gradually the country will see what we can already see, that she just

isn't up to the job. Think about this. Theresa May has no mandate

from the voters. She has no mandate from the members of the Conservative

Party. She doesn't even have a mandate from a majority of her own

MPs. Nobody has voted for Theresa May to be Prime Minister. That's a

pretty flimsy basis on which to try and hold the Tories together, never

mind the country. And yet the global issues we face are so huge and

complex, Syria, the refugee crisis, Brexit, Isis, challenges to test the

most experienced leader. But ask yourselves this question, who would

look into the bloody labyrin tt of Syria and the plight of Europe's

huddled masses and conclude this time of crisis calls for just one

man, get me Boris Johnson. LAUGHTER

Boris Johnson. Hillary Clinton's famous test was who do you want

answering that red emergency phone at 3.00 am? I dread to think what

Boris Johnson is up to at 3.00am. APPLAUSE

The Tories tell us we are not serious about national security. He

is a bounder and a joker but these are serious issues. So let me be

clear, we are an internationalist party. Our collective principles

extend across national boundaries. The Labour family is a global

family. On Brexit, we will respect the views of the British people. But

we will not let Theresa May and her colleagues hide behind the British

people. MrsMay, you're the Prime Minister. You say Brexit means

Brexit. But nobody knows what that means. It's a clever soundbite. But

a cowardly one. You can - you can't duck this responsibility. People

want to know their jobs and livelihoods are safe, that their pay

and conditions won't be worn away, they want to know what's happening

with immigration. Don't play words games with our future, MrsMay. It

seems every day brings new things we weren't told in the referendum.

Visas to visit Europe now. Imported inflation. Fear and uncertainty for

EU citizen who is made their lives here. And a new European army that

we are not part of. Something the UK's always previously blocked. But

which we can't block any more. Donald Trump wants the USA to look

at pulling out of NATO. So, MrsMay, where does that leave the defensive

alliance that has kept Europe safe for 70 years? Well, it leaves Labour

reaffirming our commitment to NATO. A socialist construct as our defence

spokesman Clive Lewis reminded us yesterday, and trying to persuade

our EU colleagues to do the same. And having the same conversation

with the Americans. And what's the PM's answer to these intricate new

uncertainties? Brexit means Brexit. Well, thanks!

LAUGHTER On Monday, John McDonnell and Emily

Thorneberry announced in Government Labour would replace EU regional

funding beyond 2020. Bringing vital certainty to so many voluntary

sector and academic institutions worried about their survival. Labour

clarity compared to Philip Hammond's hedges and half-promises, effective

opposition, showing the Tories up for the charlatans they are. If I am

honest, it hasn't always felt like that this summer. These haven't been

the best few months of my 30 years in the Labour Party. We can't afford

to keep doing this. More importantly...

APPLAUSE And, more importantly, the country,

the people we stand for, the millions the Tories leave behind

every day, they can't afford us to keep doing this. I am sure there's

going to be an early general election. The more often Theresa May

says it won't happen, the more certain I am that it will. Comrades,

we need to be ready, we need to stand together as one Labour

movement, millions strong and utterly united. Let's get behind

John Tricket as he masterminds our election campaign. Let's put our

differences aside, link arms with our brothers and sisters in Labour,

turn and face the Tories and fight. It's time for Labour to get back to

business. Time to get the band back together. We have got to get back on

the phones. Out on the doorstep, using our excellent new canvassing

app by the way. APPLAUSE Vp We have to start

listening to voters again. We owe the British people, our people, an

alternative to a Government that doesn't care and a Prime Minister

they didn't vote for. You keep hearing that Labour can't win, well,

we can and we will and I will tell you how we're going to win. We're

going to win through local Government. Because that's how we

always win. APPLAUSE

Our councillors are the engine of Labour's electoral machine. It's

Labour councillors all over the country who are our leaders and

ambassadors in local communities. Our councillors and our trade

unions, these are the rocks our movement is built on, always have

been, always will be. And only next May we're going to fight tooth and

nail to win councillors across our Shire Counties and we're going to

win mayoral elections in Greater Manchester, the West Midlands, and

Liverpool city region, to match that spectacular victory won in London by

Sadiq Khan. What a champion he is. What an outstanding representative

of our great national capital and our historic Socialist Party.

Winning elections in one of the most dynamic cities on earth. In Bristol,

marvellous Marvin who you just heard from, what a hero. And Andy Burnham

and others are going to follow the example and car win in Wales.

Reminding people what Labour governments look like. How

innovative and radical can we be? How growth and prosperity, social

justice and fairness all go hand in hand under Labour. And not just

doing the right thing, not just compassion, but doing the thing

right, competence, when we are in Government we got things done. We

built hospitals and schools, recruited teachers and doctors and

nurses. We fixed the economy and made it for a decade, but the shape

of the challenges never stops changing so the shape of our

solutions must change too. If you think the world's changed a lot in

the last 25 years, it's nothing to what will happen in the next 25. New

automated technologies are fusing the internet, creating models of

work and jobs we haven't seen before. Daily we hear about machines

doing things thought only humans could do, driving cars, drafting

contracts, even writing music. It's been called the fourth industrial

revolution. A new era of fast technology driven change, which will

transform the world we pass to our children. The potential is enormous.

It's deep human progress, huge swathes of things we can get done

without doing them ourselves, it's a good thing. But it certainly won't

feel like that if you are the one whose job is shrinking and your pay

with it. People whose grandparents were time served trade unionists are

now working 60 hour weeks below the minimum wage without support from a

union. It's the dark side. If you think of the UK as a pie chart since

2009, the slice that goes to workers as wages has fallen relative to the

slice that goes to the capital owners as profit. Labour seems to be

diminishing relative to capital. It's there in that blockbuster book,

in the next Labour Government we must judge ourselves on our ability

to redraw that pie chart. The problems of inequality aren't new,

but the solutions will need to be. I put together an Independent

Commission on the future of work to start influencing policy right now

from opposition. It will be chaired by Helen MountfordQC and a

team. We will feed into John Tricket's work on building a

targeted industrial strategy and will report back to you next year.

By definition, Labour is the party of work. And we are also the party

of growth. We have to be. As John McDonnell so deftally set out in his

speech Labour is market Socialist Party, we understand and work with

the market but don't worship it. The idea logical blinkered belief that

markets are the answer to everything is the Tories' big blind spot. We

know that. But of itself the market is not the problem either. Something

markets are good at, others not. But they always need enlightened

intervention to make them work. Unfetterred markets ogi. That's why

there is competition law. The lower end paid of the labour market never

produces by itself outcomes acceptable in a decent society.

Without regulation, the Labour market just squeezes the price of

work down and down until the people at the bottom are crushed. That's

why we have a minimum wage. It's why John McDonnell was so right

yesterday that we need a real living wage, that real people can afford to

live on. It's why we had an agricultural Wages Board for 65

years until the Tories scrapped it. Why zero hours contracts are such a

rapidly growing instrument of exploitation. Because they're

allowed. So come on Theresa May, if you actually care about a decent

society, let's have zero hours contracts sorted now.

Workers should have rights in a decent society, a proper contract,

property, and the right to organise. As John told the BBC yesterday,

Labour will create an entrepreneurial state that works

with the wealth creators, the workers and the entrepreneurs. He

understands as the Tories don't that you need both good government and a

strong private sector to make a successful society. It's just a

fact. Look what happens when you get it right. The 11 years of Labour

government between 1997 and 2008 were completely unbroken period of

economic growth. We made the economy work like never before or since and

we lifted 500,000 children out of poverty and 500,000 pensioners out

of poverty and gave millions of workers the decency of a national

Minimum Wage, and introduced a radically redistributive system of

tax credits. Free TV licences, free bus credits, more than 100 new

hospitals, 200,000 new doctors, teachers, police officers,

firefighters, bringing waiting lists down, crime down, more than doubling

our overseas aid budget. I could go on. I could go on all afternoon

about what we achieved. We have the space to do good things. Not just

economically but imaginatively. Social Democratic governance started

to feel normal to the people of Britain. I don't know why we've been

focusing on what was wrong with the player and Brown governments but

trashing our record... We want to win elections like that. -- we will

not win elections like that and we need to win elections.

The Prime Minister could call one next week. Now is the time to be

proud of our party. We've got to believe we can win and remember how

much we can achieve when we do. In the past. Jeremy, I don't think she

got the unity memo. In the past, big business is work to

easily cast as predators. We meant to say that we will never stand up

to the abuse of corporate power more than now, but we ended up sending

anti-business. We are not and never have been. Capitalism is not the

enemy, money is not the problem, business is not bad. The real world

is more complicated than that, as any practical trade unionist will

tell you, businesses are where people work, the private sector is

what generates the money to pay for our schools and hospitals. We cannot

afford the best health service in the world because of prosperity.

That is a fact and we forget it at our peril. I don't say this because

it's what wins elections, I see it because it true. People will know it

is true. That is why it wins elections. The British people need

that from us. We are in the seventh year of a Tory government and the

last time that happened I looked around and it was 17 years. I was 30

when I finally got back into power and I've been seven years old when

Labour previously won a general election. I never got over growing

up under Thatcher and that is not what I want for my children or

anyone's children. We cannot let that happen again, we cannot let

down today's seven-year-olds. We cannot let them work all hours. We

must be a game. That is what we are at our corner. The party of Britain,

of the real British values. Compassion. Alongside enterprise and

independence. This is no nation of ideologues. That is our advantage

over the Tories. They are blinded by money and power. The old lady next

door, your neighbour's children, that migrant family working 60 hours

a week, they can go hang to the Tories, other people don't matter to

them. That's not the British way. British people want a fair chance,

they want their hard work rewarded, but they also care what happens to

the other children in the class, the other people at the bus stop, the

others waiting for a life-saving operations. That is who the British

people. They look like us and it is our job to show them that we other

natural party for them. We need to do that again. Get out on the

streets and start telling the story of Labour. A great party of ordinary

men and women. You can make the world better if they give us the

chance. Thank you, delegates. What a

wonderful afternoon we've had and some inspirational speakers as well.

That's why we are in the Labour Party and so proud of what we do. We

will move to the votes today. Can you settle down? The first vote is

on grammar schools. Can I see all those in favour... That is clearly

carried. Sorry, I have to take those against but I would not expect it.

Any against that? Thank you. Next is on energy moved by the GMB. Can I

see those in favour? Thank you. And any against? That is clearly

carried. Next, the children and education annual report. Can I see

those in favour? Thank you. Anyone against? That is overwhelmingly

carried. Finally, the children and education priorities issue document,

can I see those in favour? Thank you. Anyone against? That is clearly

carried. Tomorrow, for the leader's speech tomorrow afternoon, please

note that you can leave your suitcases, please do not bring them

to the centre. Thank you. Can we settle down, I am about to announce

the results of the card votes. The results are as follows. Resolution

one was carried. Resolution two was submitted by Ashfield and was also

carried. Resolution for submitted by... Was

not carried. Resolution five on the right to refer back part of a policy

document submitted by Sheffield was carried. Full details of the results

including the breakdown between constituencies and affiliates will

be available tomorrow. Thank you for your patience today. We run over a

slightly. Conference reconvenes at 1030 in the morning.