Live Jeremy Corbyn Speech Election 2017

He's coming in five minutes. Let's give him a great welcome when he

comes. thank you for coming here today. I

am the Labour parliamentary candidate for Reading East. Reading

has two marginal seats. Reading East and Reading West. We're working hard

to win them. These are the sorts of seats Labour needs to win to form a

Labour government. I hope today having Jeremy here will lift our

spirits and take us forward in the battle for those seats. Apply to say

thank you to so much for Germany the coming and -- thank you for Germany

for coming. -- Jeremy Corbyn for coming. The leader of the laden two

Labour Party. Thank you. Thank you all for being

here. And thank you for your support. This man is going to be

your MP, a week on Friday. OK? But that means you've got to put a bit

of effort into making sure he does become your MP. Are you all up for

that? So it is campaigning, it is talking, it is getting that message

across. But I would also like to say a message of sympathy and sorrow to

Reading on not getting through in the football. As a very keen

football supporter, I know just how painful these things are. But I had

a good weekend. I was at the cup final with Arsenal. I wasn't

expecting any applause for that at all. Please don't go any further

with that particular line of discussion. This morning, we were

pointing out just what five more years of the Tory government will

do. That is the correct response,

billing, thank you. John Ashworth, and Lorraine and I presented a

document to our friends in the media about what a five years will be.

Think through the crisis that exists in almost every hospital in the

country at the present time. Think through the waiting lists to get

elective surgery. Think through the delays of A departments. Think

through those older people stuck the hospital bed and are unable to leave

because social care is not available. Think of millions of

people across the country waiting for a social care package that has

not come. Then think of our schools. Is it right that headteachers should

be encouraged to have collecting buckets at the school gate in order

to fund the school 's? Is it right that so many of our children come to

school hungry and go home angry as well? -- go home angry. And is it

right that children are in super-sized classes over 30, and the

teachers stressed out by this and many are sad leaving the press two

profession as a result of it. Then look at the underfunding of our

secondary schools, the loss of educational maintenance allowance,

meaning those students from working-class backgrounds did not go

on to college until we introduced them. And then think of the

university students, leaving the debt of ?50,000 or more because they

tried to get an education. What we are doing is simply pointing out

what another five years of the Tory government would mean. Five years of

underfunding, five years of cuts, five years of lost opportunities.

And the stress that causes to so many families, and young people. And

so, we are quite simply saying this: we have a programme and a manifesto

for the many, not the few. CHEERING And it is a carefully worked out

programme. It is a realistic programme and it is a fully costed

programme. And it will cost, yes, more in taxation. As the top end.

Corporation tax will go up a bit. And all those tax reliefs and

giveaways to the very rich will change. And we are doing this

because we believe it is time for a change in this country. We cannot go

on with the narrative that the next generation is always going to be

worked the Tuimavave -- you will have less housing, less

education, you will pay for more and more as you go through life. I just

don't accept that is correct. We are a wealthy country, we live in a

highly technical age. An age where almost anything is possible. If you

get the politics right to distribute the wealth and the opportunity

fairly, across all elements of society. CHEERING

But, in this country, we are not doing any of that. And so Angela

very proudly put forward her views and our plan on education. I am

proud of Angela Rayner. She had a difficult upbringing, didn't achieve

everything she wanted to orc is often at school. As she was helped

to achieve in life by a sure start, which was introduced by the last

Labour government. And I totally values education -- Angela totally

values education and the values it gives everyone. So we put forward

our plan. Firstly, 30 hours per week free childcare for two to four years

old children for the whole country. And that pre-school nursery places,

social interaction, play, is something that is so important.

Winning children together, all of them, for those places, and it will

be paid for and cost 4.8 billion extra pounds to do it. But I see it

is absolutely right to do that. Because it is an investment in the

futures of those children and, indeed, of all of us. Because

children that don't get those nursery places don't get those good

preschool facilities. Sadly, they are gladly two likely to achieve

less in primary, secondary, and less likely to get to university. I am

fed up of a country dominated by the postcode lottery of the wealth of

the apparent if you are likely to get to university or not. The waft

of -- the wealth of your parents. I

want it for all of our children. In primary schools, I mentioned hungry

children find it hard to learn. Children coming to school hungry,

many of them helped out by decent, wonderful teachers. Who dip into

their wallets and handbags in order to help the children at killing

matter out. It shouldn't ever be like

-- to help the children out. It shouldn't be like that. We will

introduce an pay for its free school meals that every child in every

primary school in the country. And the experience of those children

growing up together in school together, eating together, is surely

a message to them about our world, our society, that you work with each

other and you pay for it through taxation which is their end that it

falls a bigger burden on the riches, and the least burden on the the

arrest. That is surely basic social justice and Armando -- the least

burden falls on and we will fund our primary

schools. In this area, we will stand up to councils trying to close down

schools, particularly caught two -- Tory councils who don't

understand the passion people have for school. I want our students to

go on to college and do on and do A-levels and technical education and

make the best of our lives. That is why we will returned the educational

maintenance allowance which will allow children to say on after

school. And for those who go to university, we studied this very

carefully and it's a very big call and will cost a lot of money, we

believe it is right to end the university fee system and guarantee

support for every student going to university by ending university

fees. And people say to me, why are you doing all this? I'll tell you

this. If you are a child growing up in an unregulated, expensive private

rented flat somewhere, with six month assured short hold tenancy,

may be moving on, sometimes having to move primary school, you are not

likely to be achieving the unit in school. You take it on. And that

child does not achieve their potential. The new measure it in two

ways. They haven't become a doctor, engineer or tradesperson. I haven't

become what they wanted to be or what that ambition was. They lose

out dumber we lose out because we don't have the doctor or nurse or

engineer that we would have had if we engineered Derry invested in our

system. -- invested in our system. I am determined we will achieve

everything that Angelus Education is about learning the

important subject and the skills you need for life.

There's also the creative and imagination in all of us. You talk

to children. They dream all kinds of things. Paint the most extraordinary

things. As they get older, they might want to develop those skills.

Their musical ability. Sadly, too few schools have music, sadly, too

few towns are able to afford youth orchestras and music that goes with

it. So, we will fund a pupil arts premium for every child in every

school so they can all learn a musical instrument.

1960s established the Arts Council 1960s established the Arts Council

and Open University. We want to have a cultural fund for the whole

country so we do have local theatres, support all that cultural

activity. But we also recognise that young musicians need some space to

play and need some opportunity to develop their skills. Let's, as we

build a stronger economy, and protect our services, let's also

encourage that free spirit and imagination that's there in all of

us. Set the free to imagine the best they can for the future.

CHEERING And, our health service is to me,

the proudest achievement of the Labour Party. Up until the Second

World War, there was no universal free health system in Britain. There

was a patchwork of it. And, as Harry Leslie Smith describes, those that

couldn't afford an operation frankly died because of it. There are some

countries in the world, many in the world that still have that. If

you're in the United States, if you're lucky, you've got a good

insurance policy because your employer's paid for one for you. If

you're unlucky, you've no access to good health care at all. If you're

young Americans, you often have a chat in a bar about what kind of

health insurance policy you've got. We have a National Health Service

for a purpose and a reason. It was founded by people with vision. The

vision that health care should be a right, free at the point of use for

everybody. CHEERING

But, it is under threat. It is under threat because of underfunding. It

is under threat because of privatisation. It is under threat

because of the operations of the Health and Social Care Act put

through by the Conservatives with Liberal Democrat support during the

last Parliament. And so, we will guarantee investment for the NHS

over the lifetime of Parliament. We will also guarantee funding for

social care so that social care crisis is ended. We don't do this

lightly but we do it because we believe it. We believe in a health

service for all. We also believe you have to tackle the health

inequalities. Even if a town like Reading or any other town, you live

in place A, your life expectancy is a bit shorter than if you live

somewhere else. And you can do that all across the country. That's not

right. That's absolutely not right. We have to investment fairly all

across the whole country. But, at the moment, our NHS is in crisis.

Every hospital running into debts and overdraught. Every hospital

wondering how it can cope. A nurses and doctors stressed out

beyond belief with the situation they are facing. So, what John

Ashworth will do when we becomes the Health Secretary is look again at

the provision of A departments all over the country to make sure

they're there for everybody to reach.

CHEERING And there is another aspect to it.

If we continue this underfunding of social care, and if the Government

can't give an answer on how much they're going to take out of

somebody's value of their home or anything else, then I suggest people

look at the Labour alternative, which is to put money in now to end

the crisis in social care. CHEERING

And develop a national social care service. Because, as with all

aspects of public cuts, public spending cuts and austerity, who

pays the price? The poorest and most vulnerable. Who pays the price when

there isn't social care available, who has to give up their job to care

for somebody, a dis#5ib8ed child or an older person suffering dementia

or many other conditions, it is mainly the women in the household

who have to give up jobs or careers to care for somebody. We think, we

as a community, should take responsibility for it and properly

fund health and social care. CHEERING

And I am very determined on one aspect of the health service. That

is the crisis in mental health. One in four of us in this wonderful

meeting here today during our lifetime will suffer some kind of

mental health crisis. Deep stress, deep depression, many things. Some

of us will be well cared for and well treated and will feel able to

talk to others around it and get support. Others, sadly, will not.

Too many young people get into very dark places and take their own lives

because there's nobody there to support them. It's a crisis, it's a

tragedy. Anyone who's ever attended a funeral of a teenage who've taken

their own life whilst in deep stress would feel the hurt that the whole

family is going through as a result of it. It's no solution to cut the

number of mental health nurses. It's no solution to underfund our mental

health services. It's no solution not to have those emergency beds

available and treatment and support and therapy available very quickly.

And so, we will ensure mental health is properly funded. I'm looking

forward to appointing a minister solely to deal with mental health

and social care so we do deal with this crisis properly.

CHEERING Those are health and education, two

very crucial areas of our lives. Very crucial areas of what we're

offering in this election. But it's also about how our society develops.

How our economy develops. Because there is a gross imbalance. We've

six million people earning less than the living wage in Britain. We have

a million people on zero hours contracts not knowing what they're

income is from one week to the other. Waking up each morning,

staring at the phone, wondering if they've a text message offering them

work for the rest of the day. That is wrong. Noes necessary. Not really

very efficient. So, we will end zero hours contracts...

CHEERING We will introduce a living wage of

?10 an hour by 2020. CHEERING

And, we will guarantee rights at work from day one so that you can be

represented and we will not charge people for going to tribunals trying

to get justice. CHEERING

It's also about the kind of economy we develop in this country. It's how

we develop that economy. Because it is imbalanced, because there is a

need to negotiate with the European Union to corn tariff free trade

access to the European market, I'm absolutely determined to achieve

that so we can protect manufacturing industry and manufacturing jobs in

this country that have a supply chain in Europe and vice versa. We

are leaving the EU. But, I'm utterly determined we will achieve that

tariff-free access and we'll protect the rights and conditions that we

achieved through EU membership and we will protect the rights of all EU

nationals living here in remain living here permanently with their

families. CHEERING

But, for the economy to grow, it requires investment. It requires

investment in all parts of the country. That means a national

investment bank that's regionally based. So these wonderful hi-tech

start up businesses mushrooming along the Thames Valley should be

supported. I want sustainable industries. I want those clean,

green energy jobs of the future. They don't come out of thin air. A

national investment bank investing in those enterprises makes a big

difference and develops us as an economy for the future. We invest

less than any other industrialised country. For former mining or

steel-making areas who've seen precious little investment for a

very long time, we will put the money in there necessary to build

the infrastructure those areas need and give the job opportunities for

all of those people that live in those areas.

CHEERING So, when the Conservatives called

this election, they called this election thinking it was going to be

all over. They thought it was just a matter of the Prime Minister going

around the country and conveniently not mentioning the name of the party

that she leads... LAUGHTER It is called the Conservative Party

otherwise known as the Tory Party. I heard her once calling it the Knassy

party but I don't want to tread on family difficulties there! -- nasty

party. But something has happened over the last few weeks. There were

seven weeks for this election campaign. We're now less than ten

day, eight days away from the election itself. Do you know what's

happened? Thousands and thousands of people have heard our manifesto.

They've downloaded it. Read it, bought it, looked into it. Asked

questions with it, made contributions on how we could put it

forward. And thousands of people contributed to that manifesto

through our Labour Party membership, trade union membership and lots of

voluntary organisations that sent in lots of good ideas. It's a manifesto

that will transform this country. Because, it will be for everybody

not for the few. And for the first time, we'll roll back though whole

agenda which says you deal with the banging crisis of 2008 by making the

nurses, doctors, teachers, those on housing waiting lists or anyone at

the lower levels of pay in society pay the price for it. I say, enough,

let's invest in the future not pay the price of that austerity.

CHEERING And so, look around you. Look around

you at this wonderful gathering here today. We're young, we're old,

black, white, gay, straight, able, disabled. We're all kinds of things.

We're everybody. We are united in what we're trying to achieve. So,

we're not running this election campaign of pitting the older

generation against the younger generation. We're not running this

election campaign blaming minority X what happened to minority Y. We're

not running that kind of campaign. CHEERING

We're running a campaign which brings people together. We want a

society that brings people together. Do you know what, society's united

working together, there's nothing they can't achieve. There's nothing

they can't achieve in education, in health, in housing, in the creative

industries. All those things for the future. Another five years of a Tory

Government... What kind of housing? What kind of education? What kind of

health care? What kind of employment practices will be in the operation?

We know their strategy which is to give a further ?60 billion back to

the very richest in our society and the biggest corporations. Our

proposal is actually very modest. No tax rises at all for 95% of the

population. No increase in national insurance. But, increases and

chasing down tax avoidance and tax evasion in order to build the kind

of society we want in the future. So, in the last week of this

campaign, I ask you all to do this. Yes, knock on doors for our party.

Yes, identify all those that are going to vote for my friend here and

make sure they do. But also, don't do it in just a mechanical,

transactional way, have that conversation with people who may

have been misled by some of our newspapers about the role of our

party or the views I may or may not hold. But, have that conversation

and say what kind of society do you want to live in? Are you comfortable

that every night there are thousands of people sleeping on our streets

and begging round the railway stations? Are you comfortable that

there is such grow Esk levels of inequality in our society and

getting worse? Or, do you want to he will echt a Government that will do

something different with the support of the people which will develop the

health, housing, education and will provide opportunities for all? All

across the spectrum. So that we have a more cohesive and coherent society

in the future. And, for all the cynical commentators, do you know

what's happening is everywhere I go, all over the country, the rallies

get bigger, the crowds get bigger, the enthusiasm gets bigger, the

determination gets bigger... CHEERING

And, that gives us a chance to do something very, very special on June

8th. It's very odd that you have an election campaign where we go out

and talk to people all the time and the Prime Minister seems so have

difficulty in meeting anyone or having a debate. And so, there is a

debate in Cambridge tonight. I don't know what she's doing this evening,

but it's not far from London. I invite her to go to Cambridge and

debate her policies, debate her record, debate their plans, their

proposals and let the public make up their minds. Is it to be this?

CHEERING Or is it to be the opposite? More

cuts, closures, divisions, stress, and pressure. It's time to get out

there and get that message. It's time to get people fully behind our

message. It's time to vote Labour on eight June. Thank you very much!

CHEERING