Jeremy Corbyn Speech Election 2017

Welcome to Hull, the city I am proud to call home. The city I hope to

represent in Parliament and the city that has the distinction of being

the UK's City of Culture 2017. From the freedom festival to the

newly fushished gallery, to the truck company, from our university

to our museums. Hull is a cultural centre and City of Cultural status

is adding to our national and international representation. We

have so much to look forward to in Hull. Whatever your tastes we have

the BBC One big weekend, the Proms, the Turner Prize, the royal

Shakespeare's visit. Hundreds of events across the four themeds? .

That makes Hull the perfect place for Labour to launch its pledges. A

creative future for all. So, I am very pleased to introduce and to

welcome back to Hull the deputy Leader of the Labour Party and

Labour's Shadow Secretary of State for culture rks, media and sport Tom

Watson. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. It is

fantastic to be back. Emma, thank you for that excellent introduction.

I used to live in Hull and I have very great and fond memories of the

stismt indeed, I went back to visit some of my former haunts last night.

Do any of you know the small music venue called the Adelpy. Paul

Jackson still runs it. Last time I was there was 25 years ago. He said

to me, are you going to try and blag your way in for free, like you used

to? Not a lot changes. Actually it did change, because I paid ?3 to get

in last night. I saw three acts. Now that is culture for the people. ?3

for free bands. I saw an act called Katie Spencer, who had such a

distinguishing guitar playing style, it reminded me of the first time I

ever heard John Martin play. If you want to see an up and coming artist

look for Katie Spencer. What is the point I am trying to make? The point

I am trying to make is those of us who have lived here always knew that

Hull was a City of Culture. But it is just... That is Katie

Spencer's agent on the phone! It is fantastic it's been finally made

official. And I am immensely proud of this city. I am immensely proud

to be Shadow Culture Secretary. Jeremy and I share an ambition to

ensure that millions of people who want to enjoy arts and culture have

the opportunity to do so. We are here today to hear Jeremy outline

Labour's vision for the arts and the creative industries. That is if Carl

can switch his phone off in time for us all to hear the speech! I am sure

everyone in this room knows how important this sector is. Just for

the avoidance of doubt, the creative industries contribute ?84 billion a

year to our economy. They provide 2 million jobs. Art council figures

show every pound of public investment returns ?5 in tax

contributions from the sector as a whole.

The creative industries can regenerate whole communities. This

city knows this better than most. With Labour in power, Hull has seen

the benefits of investment in culture and the arts and how that

can drive regional economic growth and regeneration. The creative

industries will be judged on the amount of revenue they generate. But

there's another measure that's less easy to quantify. And that is the

benefit of more people reading, listening to music, painting,

visiting galleries or exploring our heritage. The unique things that

Britons create give our nation a particular way of speaking to the

world. An influence that doesn't come from military power or economic

success alone. But from what people love about us.

When it comes to the cultural sector, we are admired around the

plan et. We have global clouds beyond our size. And whatever

uncertainty lies ahead, we can be at the heart of a global culture. Now

our economy is set to be transformed by automation. And we need to

respond to that by becoming a more creative nation and teaching arts

and culture is one way to do that. And even more important than that,

is the way arts let us talk to the world. It is the way arts let us

talk to each other. I believe access to the arts and culture is

profoundly civilising. They broaden our horizons. They help us

understand each other. To be more tolerant of each other's

differences. They help us build communities and right now n the

midst of the upset and division that the referendum caused, it feels like

we very much need that. It feels like we need the shared experiences

this sector provides. The things we all watch, we make, listen to. The

museums we visit. The art galleries we go to. The video games we play.

And when I first got the job as Shadow Secretary I read the speeches

of Jenny Le, the first ever arts minister. She believed access to the

arts was as fundamental to our health and happiness as the National

Health Service. I agree with her. The Tories, not so much. The arts

and culture are always one of the things they target. Art council and

local authority spending on culture and the arts has fallen by hundreds

of millions of pounds since the Tories came to power in 2010. And

the past seven years has seen arts and culture systematically removed

from our education system, leading to a collapse in the numbers of

students taking art, music and drama.

Under a Labour government, arts and culture will be getting the funding

they need to prosper. 1 billion cultural capital fund will let us

upgrade existing facilities, and one of the great things about this job

is the people you meet and the places you get to visit. I have met

kids in new who have been given free music lessons thanks to a Labour

mayor. I have visited the Whitworth Gallery in Manchester and saw rows

of parked up in arms because it is so popular with mothers and their

young children. A Labour government will replace the creative industries

at the heart of our industrial strategy, leaving... So that when we

leave the European Union it will put the creative industries first. And a

Labour government will put inclusivity at the heart of all we

do. Access to arts and culture, the opportunity to pursue a career

creating something they love... These things should be available to

everyone, not just the privileged few. I'm going to pass you on to

someone who knows just how important access to the arts and culture can

be. She is someone I have admired from afar for long time. She's one

of our finest actors and she's incredibly brave. Please welcome

Samantha APPLAUSE. You'll have to excuse me,

I've never done anything like this before but I think now the time. I

am going to read off this. I am really thrilled to be here today in

Hull, the UK's city of culture 2017 to introduce Labour pledges for the

arts and creative industries, and I'm especially pleased that Labour a

sporting access to the arts for all at the heart of its pledges. The

creative arts have so much to offer us all, whether as audiences or as

creators. We have all had our lives enriched by a song or the poem, a

novel or a dramatic performance, even an image, a painting. Art is

not an afterthought to what elections are fought over, art is

what makes our lives worthwhile, it's a political issue. Every time a

museum, gallery or library closes down or a child is denied the chance

to study and artistic subject, or a young person with talent as to

abandon a promising career in theatre or music because they cannot

afford to support themselves, that is a loss to all of us. I come from

a working-class background, and without drama teachers at school and

the inspiration they gave me, and the opportunities they opened up in

my life, my life would have been very different. I certainly wouldn't

have been here today, and I couldn't have had the career I have had if my

talents had not been identified and spotted and supported at a really

early age. There are young people growing up today who have huge

artistic talent, but who don't have the support they need to develop it

properly. Artistic careers should not be restricted to those with the

most family wealth behind them or those who go to the most expensive

schools, and that is why it is so important that Labour's policies to

make sure children have the opportunity to study artistic

subjects in school and to build up our cultural institutions so that

everyone can use them are put into effect. That is why I am Labour, and

I hope you are too. Please welcome the leader of the Labour Party, Mr

Jeremy Corbyn. APPLAUSE Samantha, thank you for the

introduction, thank you for your talent and the way you inspire so

many young actors to achieve what you have achieved.

We are really honoured and proud you are here today to launch our

cultural manifesto. Thank you very much indeed.

APPLAUSE. I look forward to you joining

Carlisle and Diana as three brilliant representatives of Labour

for Hull, thank you for being here today. I also want to thank Tom

Watson, a former Hull university student, I cannot claim to be that

but he will be an absolutely brilliant secretary of the state for

culture, media and sport in the next government because he is totally

dedicated to the brief he has got and the determination that culture

should be there for everyone. Thank you for what you said this morning

and everything you are doing in this campaign. Actually there could be no

better place to launch our cultural manifesto, and during the hour after

the general election was announced, Tom and I put our heads together and

said culture launch will be in Hull, and it is, and we are here. It is

Labour's guarantee of culture for all and it is right we are here. In

the last Labour government, Andy Burnham was impressed by how

Liverpool had been transformed after being made the European city of

culture, and I was in Liverpool over the weekend and we had an incredible

music event over the water in the Wirral. 20,000 people turned up to a

football stadium to enjoy music. That is the mixture of sport and

music and inspiration of so many people. Andy proposed the idea that

every four years we should have a UK city of culture. He was unable to

guarantee that speakers in an election campaign don't lose their

voice, and thanks to the brilliant bid put forward by Hull City

Council, Hull was chosen to be the city of culture. Congratulations to

Hull, well done on the bid you have put forward. These things don't

happen by accident, they happen with very, very hard work by a lot of

people. Hull had hoped to encourage an extra million people to visit

Hull during 2017. One third of a million visited in the first week,

and I'm not surprised - look at what we have offered. Anyone arriving at

Hull Station, the first thing you see is a replica of Amy Johnson's

plane made by prisoners to help them learn new skills, which is excellent

for anyone in prison, but also as a gift to this wonderful city in

memory of one of its favourite daughters, Amy Johnson. Well done

Hull, well done to the prisoners, well done to Amy Johnson. A 200 foot

wind turbine blade made locally went on display in Queen Victoria Square.

The poppies had 450,000 visits in two months, and finally you created

the Sea of Hull by encouraging 3000 local people... Yes, it is very

broad-minded... To strip naked, paint themselves blue, and be

photographed in the early hours of Saturday morning. These photos taken

by a brilliant photographer, Spencer to Nick, are now on display in the

refurbished Ferens Art Gallery. So in a very nice way, the people of

Hull made an exhibition of themselves. I would like to thank

Labour council leader Steve Brady for his hard work in helping deliver

the city for culture. APPLAUSE Steve, well done you and

your colleagues and well done Martin Green also for the hell people to to

achieving this because this is a team that achieved something

brilliant for the city. We can see what transformative

powers of culture have done for Hull, not just attracting visitors

in creating world-class cultural events, but here in Humber Street

where a former fruit market is being regenerated into a thriving cultural

hub, creating new businesses and jobs. The new Humber Street

contemporary art gallery next door has seen 60,000 visits in the first

six weeks. It's estimated that being the UK city of culture will bring

?60 million in economic boost to the city of Hull this year alone, that

is an achievement everybody should be very proud of. And this city that

has done so much for this country, brought so much art and poetry and

inspiration, is a model we can all learn from. And now Labour wants to

replicate what we have seen in Hull across the rest of Britain. Here is

why. Our music industry alone contributes ?4 billion to our

economy each year, but every Adele has to start somewhere. Small the

news and larger ones give artists the first break as they learn their

craft. -- small venues. But over the last ten years in London alone, 40%

of small venues have closed. That means there is nowhere for budding

musicians to perform, there is a loss of rehearsal space. Where are

the next generation of musicians going to come from if we take away

the facilities now? This Conservative government has made

matters even worse. Since 2010, they have slashed 48 million funding for

the arts councils in England, Wales and Scotland. There is creativity in

everyone. Labour's mission will be to set that creativity free. We need

to give people the opportunity for all the creativity to flourish, so

today we unveil our cultural manifesto, which sets out a bold and

inspiring programme to encourage creativity. We are pledging ?1

billion to launch a new cultural capital fund to support our world

leading cultural industries that have been savaged by Conservative

cuts. We will end austerity to boost creativity. It will be amongst the

biggest arts infrastructure funding ever created, it will boost arts,

theatre and literature, upgrading our cultural infrastructure for the

digital age and supporting our economy. It will also invest in

creative clusters across the country based on a similar model to business

enterprise zones. I don't want to see just one city benefit from this

transformative powers of culture every four years. Our cultural

capital fund will help many more towns and cities benefit all round.

The fund will be administered by the arts Council, a Labour generation,

over a five-year period and helped transform our country's cultural

landscape. We will also protect and invest in music venues to support

grass roots and professional music, ensuring a healthy music industry

right across the country in every town and city. Labour will review

the business rate system to make it fairer to organisations like music

venues. This is actually very important, very practical help we

can give, extending the thousand pound pub relief to help small music

venues which are suffering from extraordinary rate rises at the

present time. We will also maintain something that we are very proud of

in the Labour Party, and what Kris Smith achieved when he was our

Secretary of State in 1997. We will maintain free museums and invest in

our heritage sector. APPLAUSE I remember Chris explained

to me how he went to the National museums after they had been made

free and suddenly everybody could be there.

Before that they couldn't. Our national heritage is National for

everybody, not just those that can afford it.

The heritage sector is central to both the identity and economy of

local communities across the country because access to culture is vital

for the emotional and intellectual growth of all our people, but

especially important for young people. We want to unleash the

potential of every young person, not just through education in the normal

school setting, but also through culture, in every of us there is a

poet, writer, a singer of songs, an artist, a creative thinker. But too

few of us are able to fulfil any kind of artistic ambition. Under the

Conservatives it's getting worse. Per-pupil funding for schools will

be cut for the first time in a generation.

Forced to send out begging letters to parents for donations to keep the

schools running. This is a shameful state of affairs. So, we will be, in

addition to properly funding our schools, scrapping tuition fees and

introducing universal free school meals in our primary schools,

something pioneered here in Hull. But we will go further...

Labour will introduce an arts pupil premium that will allow every

primary school child in England the chance to learn a musical

restaurant, take part in drama -- instrument, take part in drama, have

regular access to galleries and museums. Labour will not only feed

our children's stomachs, but feed their minds and unleash their

creativity. The arts pupil premium will provide

?165 million per year to boost creative education and ensure arts

facilities in state schools match standards found only now in many

private schools. We will deliver a creative future

for all and a culture for the many, not the few. But we need your help.

If people want to see these transformative changes, then they

have to be able to vote. Those who are not on the register have 12

hours, 26 minutes to get registered. 12 hours, 26 minutes. It will take

you two minutes. Since the election was called, more than two million

people have registered to vote. 40% of them aged between 18-24.

So, my message is simply this - if you are being held back, and want to

lead a richer life, then get registered and have your say.

We can stop a Conservative Government that wants to pit the old

against the young. And replace it with a Labour Government that offers

hope and unity. A Government for the many, not the

few. A Government that ensures that

culture is for all. And I'm very proud of the manifesto we're putting

forward. I'm very proud of the culture and creative part of this

manifesto. This country is so brimming with talent.

Let's let that creativity, that talent, that genius be unleashed.

Because culture is for the many, not the few. Thank you very much indeed.

Well, before we start the questions, I'd just like to say this, in 2011,

when we became the administration in Hull, it was a question of either

managing decline or going for growth.

And the sensible thing, the most sensible thing to do, we knew quite

well was to go for growth. Growth produces jobs. It gives hope to the

people. And part of that, we got together with business, with the

voluntary sector, with the arts community and we developed that plan

and I can say this, that in four years, that plan and all the things

that we had in that plan has succeeded. We plan to get 7500 jobs

in a ten-year period, we've achieved that in four years.

That is everybody in Hull working together. It is what was needed. We

needed that Hull and the futures for our young people. What we've seen,

what we are seeing now is an upsurge in regeneration and investment.

Never before seen in this City. Just in the last 18 months announcements

and actual now developments have occurred to the tune of just under

?3 billion in this city. A total transformation of the city centre,

where people are so proud to come into. There are art galleries. We've

expanded the offer to the public. We've increased the hours of our art

galleries and the other cultural things in this city, so we have not

gone in to decrease or to close down. We have increased. And through

that, we're now seeing a huge number of jobs created in the city centre

alone. And I just have to say this, if anybody doubts that the City of

Culture should actually stop, come to Hull and see the reasons why it

should go on. I'm going to take questions now from the media and the

first one is from the Press Association.

George Osborne has tweeted to say the Tories will U-turn on their

social care policy and they will introduce a social care cost cap. I

want to get your reaction to that. That was George Osborne, was it? Did

that come from the Tory central office or from The Evening Standard?

It's going to be in The Evening Standard.

I would suggest to you that he probably knows. We will take them in

threes and Rachel from RTV. Good morning.

Labour have been running education in Wales since 2011 and yet tuition

fees there are the same as in England, ?9,000 aer. Why should

students in England trust you on tuition fees? And Kier, from the

Daily Mirror. Morning. The last two sets of

opinion polls have been single dig get-leads for the Tories. What do

you think is behind that? And do you think you can keep going? OK. Thanks

for your questions. A Tory U-turn on social care would be extremely

welcome, because I want this country to face up to its responsibilities

to those who need care, either frail elderly, those with special needs,

those with severe disabilities, those with learning difficulties and

our proposals are that we will refund social care, putting

emergency money into it now, so those million people waiting for

social care don't wait and we won't get involved in this horrible policy

the Tories are putting forward, which will actually damage families

and family income, damage people, break up relationships, all kinds of

horrible things will happen from their very dangerously ill thought

out social care policy. And if George Osborne is at last doing

something useful in his life of supporting proper funding of social

care, then thank you, George, for that. And I urge him to read very

carefully what's in our manifesto on social care. Rachel, thanks for your

point. We put forward a very clear funded and credible policy of what

we'll do on university fees. We do so because if we carry on with this

process of ever rising fares and under Conservatives the threat of

lifting the cap all together, then what happens is two things. One is

those that have achieved enough to get into university, gone through

university, leave with debts of often ?50,000 and more than that.

And if they earn more than ?21,000 they have to start repaying it, but

the debt is still there for a long time after that.

I'm determined that university education should be available for

all. And that is why we've gone into this in a lot of detail, after a lot

of debate and discussion and looked at it and decided, yes, we will make

this offer of removing the university fees, reinstating the

maintenance grant for those who need it at university and reinstating the

Educational Maintenance Allowance, so that young people can continue to

do A levels or vocational qualifications and have some degree

of independence and self-respect in what they are doing. We do that

because we want all young people to have the chance of going to

university. Since the fees have gone up to ?9,000 under the coalition

Government, the numbers of working class youngsters going to university

has declined. The number of university applications has started

to go down. Surely, we should be investing in our future. Somebody

who doesn't achieve the profession they want, nursing, teaching,

medicine in some other form, engineering - whatever it happens to

be, they lose out. But we as a society lose out because we've lost

a qualified person who can help improve our industries, improve our

services, improve our quality of life. We're determined to do it. And

we're going to do it when we've won the election on June 8th.

Kier, thanks very much for your question, I'm not commenting on any

polls that are going on. The only poll I am interested in is the one

on June 8th. What I would say is, the numbers of people who are

registered to vote in this election are extraordinary. The numbers of

people that are volunteering to help the Labour election campaign are

extraordinary. And the numbers of people making

small donations, average of ?22 to our election funds says something

about the popularity of the manifesto we put forward and the

views that are there in it. This election is obviously very

important. Very important for the future direction this country leads.

What I do is invite everyone to take part in conversations over the next

two weeks. Conversations about whether you want a Government that

continues to tax cutting corporations, tax cutting the

wealthiest in our society and continuing to underfund schools.

Underfund education, underfund social care, underfundamental

health. Deny the arts the support they need and deny industry the

investment it needs in a better infrastructure across the whole

country. So we get high-quality railway lines to every city,

including Hull. That we get good broadband, contact rate, access

rates all over the country. The Labour offer is about an expanding

economy, which will improve employment, improve wages and living

standards or a continuation of the grotesque levels of inequality that

exist in Britain. That's the Labour offer.

We will take questions from the audience. Any questions from the

audience? Jeremy, we have a society that we want, we have a society that

we want to be built on equality. I know that is what you are attempting

to deliver. Have you a keen message for younger voters, such as my two

daughters who are hoping to go to university and a son that wants to

get into qualifications that's a message of hope for them. I know our

policies are there. But it is key to us, as parents and as those who have

young people, still a few years off, but she's going to be there, but we

want to make sure that those young people and their parents understand

the real importance of why they need to vote Labour in June, because

we've got to win this election. This is a one-off. If we don't, we're

damaged. Not us, I'm talking about, as a

party, I'm talking about the country. How do we get by this and

how do we deliver? We have one of the best school music

services in the country, do you think your preset for every primary

school pupil will enable such centres of excellence to spring up

all over the country? Any further questions? Anybody in the audience?

Thank you. Lynn Davidson from the Sun. No, we don't boo journalists.

The Northern Ireland Secretary has challenged you today, he has asked

five questions on the IRA asking should IRA's murdered the condemned

unequivocally by IRA terrorists. If they are, would you unequivocally

condemned the IRA as terrorists? Thanks to James Brogan Shire for his

questions, I condemn all acts of violence in Northern Ireland from

well wherever they came. I spent the 1980s representing a constituency

with a large number of Irish people in it -- Northern Irish people in

it. We wanted justice and a solution. The first ceasefire helped

bring that about and helped bring about those talks which were

representative of all sections of opinion in Northern Ireland and the

Labour government after 1997 helped bring in the historic Good Friday

Agreement, the base of which was the recognition of the differing

cultural histories and values of Northern Ireland, and it stood the

test of time and it is still there. We have a devolved administration in

Northern Ireland, and I think we should recognise that the piece was

achieved by a lot of bravery both in the unionist community as well as in

the nationalist community. People that walked a very difficult extra

mile when they were under pressure from the communities not to do so,

both Republicans and unionists walked that extra mile and brought

the Good Friday Agreement and I think we should use this election is

thanking those that brought about the Good Friday Agreement.

APPLAUSE All of them. Those in Government at the time as well as

those who did so much on the ground, and Northern Ireland is a very

different place. We will be working with the devolved administration in

Northern Ireland as well as the Government of the Republic to make

sure wrecks it doesn't bring about a barbed wire border -- to make sure

Brexit doesn't bring about a barbed wire border. Of the other two

questions raised, thank you. This election is about two views and

visions of Britain. Either the absolute 21st-century cutting-edge

ideas put forward by the Conservative Party, which seemed to

revolve around restoration of fox hunting and selective education, or

our view which is one which is about giving opportunities for all. We

cannot go on being the lifeguard of industrial investment of all the

major industrial countries in the world. We cannot go on underfunding

crucial services and short-changing our young people who are offered

little except greater costs and greater debt and less opportunity.

And so we are not going into this awful game of setting off the young

against the old, saying to the young you have got to pay for the costs of

the older people, saying to the older people you are under some kind

of threat because of what we want to spend on education. In reality we

all depend on each other. Young people need the support and wisdom

of older people, older people need to be encouraged and infused by

younger people so our manifesto is for all. This is your chance. People

lay down their lives so that you might vote. Women's right to vote

came about because of the bravery of suffragettes and many others around

the time of the First World War, but it also started here in Hull. Mary

Wollstonecraft wrote the rights of women, and that is part of the

origins of that whole democratic movement. Hull has taught the world

a great deal and I tell the people this is your chance... Your chance

to vote in this election, your chance to express your democratic

view and I hope you will recognise we are determined unserious to

properly fund education, culture and the arts, properly invest in service

industry growth for the future so your skills, your genius can

contribute to a better quality of life for everybody. Please take part

in the election, but above all have that discussion, ask the difficult

questions of each other and everyone else between now and election day,

that is what an election should be about, proper debate and discussion,

and I'm enjoying every minute of it. APPLAUSE And on your point about

music, I congratulate Hull because of the traditions it has got in

culture and so many other things but also the way in which you have a

council which is serious about young people learning music. When young

people achieve things together it is quite inspiring, and it's the role

of local education authorities that is also important in this. I went to

the Royal Albert Hall to see a concert a couple of years ago,

absolutely brilliant. Huge orchestras of 100 children coming

together, you think how does the conductor manage it? But the joy of

those children there performing together. You go to libraries where

there are some reading projects and you see the joy of children who have

read six books, talked about it and felt inspired by it, carrying on

using the libraries so I want to rule that out across the country.

The areas seeing the theatres and libraries closed, schools with lack

of instruments and that kind of thing, it isn't going to cost a lot

of money in order to reinstate so much of that, and that is why Tom

and I are serious about this people arts premium to make sure everyone

gets a chance. Don't leave it just those whose parents are able to

spend enough money to get their children into private theatre

schools or private music lessons. Let's make it mainstream. Do well in

music, you do well in maths. It is part and parcel of our creativity

and our lives. I think what we have proposed today in Hull is something

that will transform the cultural landscape of this country in exactly

the same way the 1960s Labour government led by Harold Wilson and

the fantastic Minister of arts, Jennie Lee, transformed the ideas

and notions of culture. There is creativity in us all, rich or poor.

Thank you very much. APPLAUSE