25/09/2016 - Live Afternoon Session Labour Party Conference

This afternoon we will discuss the communities and transport sections

of the National policy Forum report and also have a report on Wales and

northern Ireland including a speech by Carwyn Jones.

At the end of the session we will be holding a tribute to remember Jo

Cox. Our first debate is on the community section of the national

policy Forum report which is on pages 20-23 and the priority issues

document on housing on pages 68-71. To move the report on behalf of the

National executive committee please welcome Jim Kennedy.

APPLAUSE Jim Kennedy, NEC and unite to move

the communities policy commission report.

Conference this is a big and busy commission. We are tasked with

looking at issues affecting communities and local government,

housing, environment, food and rural affairs, energy and climate change

and culture, media and sport. Prior to January 2016 these issues were

the property of two commissions, living standards and sustainability

and Stronger, Safer Communities. And recognising our wide remit I want to

thank the members of commission for the contributions. It has been

difficult on occasions and I know one or two commission members have

questioned the effectiveness of the input but I can assure them they are

integral to the work of the commission and we will deliver the

policies that take us into the next election. I would also like to thank

John Healey and Jon Trickett for the hard work but throughout the year

the, what has kept us on track as Adam Scott, the party policy

officer, saw a big thank you to him. We have five shallow secretaries of

state on the commission sought issues discussed include the

Government 25 year food and farming strategy, flooding, the Olympic

legacy of the housing benefit changes and Housing act, energy

prices, the BBC, Levenson enquiry, broadband roll out and the

Government's piecemeal devolution plans. The priority issue has been a

housing crisis in the UK. A subject I feel passionately about. I am the

product or a central London council estate and my estate was a real

community, not the version the Tories tried to poetry as some sort

of sink estate. Our home is what warm and welcoming, we have

affordable rents, security of tenure, not the short non-guaranteed

tendencies often used these days. We had our support network as well as

being well supported by the local authority. We all knew one another,

from the caretakers on the estate to those that lived in the sheltered

housing. We had a pride and where we lived, we were the embodiment of

community. That is what I had and that is what tens of thousands of

council tenants are fighting to preserve today in the face of the

lightest and most vicious attack on housing. The housing and planning

act. Even by Tory standards that act stands as one of the most spiteful

and malicious. It is -- it is to wipe social housing off the map. The

intent to cut 350,000 socially rented homes by 2020. They're

scrapping permanent secure tenancies for cultural and social housing

tenants. They will bulldoze council estates, destroying our communities,

and through means testing they are introducing a tax and social housing

tenants who struggled for years to improve the lives and now, just as

the reach a level of security, eight tracks of 15% of income is to

imposed. -- a tax. Many parents could face red increases from around

?1000 a year from next April -- rent increases. My family still hold the

our upbringing, today I am a proud housing association tenants and I

know the benefit of access to decent and affordable social housing. Our

council flat gave me a good start in life and unlike many today I was

fortunate to have that access to good housing and our aim must be to

give all people the same opportunities. Children living in

bad housing are almost twice as likely to suffer poorer health as

others. We must build homes that gives stability and good health of

our children and their families a sense of dignity and pride. As

Labour we must deliver that. Daily with you about the housing crisis,

home ownership at lowest level for 30 years and of course we recognise

people's aspirations to homeownership but let's be clear, it

is not going to be bad at homes or wimpy that solve the housing crisis,

the key driver for change must be access to affordable social housing

-- it will not be Barrett or Wimpy to solve the crisis. In 1970 local

authorities across the UK built or hundred and 75,000 new homes, by

2015 that figure had gone down to a shopping 3080. -- 170 5000. Councils

used to build around 100,000 homes a year but the election of Thatcher

and 79 the relentless decline in building began. Right to buy strep

housing stock away, never to be replaced and councils, the pride of

funding, -- deprived of funding outsourcing became the norm, robbing

councils of in-house construction workers and the ability to build our

own homes. The social and economic benefits of building homes are

widely recognised. Shelter has said for every ?1 spent on housing

construction and extra ?2 is generated in the economy. Given

those economic returns from investing in housing construction it

is clear that not only that not building social housing is

ideological social engineering. Investing in social house-building

not only bring immediate benefits to the exchequer it brings additional

income in the rental stream of current and future tenants. We know

were housing increases cost to the NHS, criminal justice system and

benefits bill but poorer housing also has an environmental cost.

Badly insulated or ill designed homes are difficult sheets,

increased overall fuel consumption and consequently have a negative

impact on environment. -- are difficult to heat. The environmental

agenda is something Labour should prioritise and demonstrate their

relevance to all citizens. We must go on making the case for building

social housing. It is overwhelming. We must also demand new standards

for the construction workers who will build our homes, standards that

include direct employment, anti-blacklisting agreements,

apprentices on all projects, working conditions safe in a notoriously

unsafe profession and fool worker engagement through trade unions.

These standards should not be a guide of voluntary code but a

pre-requisite in the procurement process. I know their differences

and how to approach the housing crisis but one thing is for certain,

it will not happen without our construction workers and it is time

they got the respect they deserve. APPLAUSE

Conference, the work of the community upon the commission is

vital and integral to Labour and I move the report.

Thank you. APPLAUSE

Why the our next Speaker is the Shadow Housing Minister Theresa

Pierce. APPLAUSE

Your it is an honour to stand here Shadow Housing Minister and with the

temper of brief including communities and local government but

it is a huge portfolio so I hope if you forgive me for the ground I will

not be able to cover this afternoon but first I want to say to Labour

councillors up and down the country thank you.

You and demanding responsibilities have been transferred to local

government but what the funds to deliver. The Labour run councils are

making a difference and I am proud of the ingenuity you are showing in

the face of difficult choices, finding new solutions, demonstrating

just one Labour can do in power. Councils like Derbyshire,

established a development company to build homes on some of its line for

key workers and the council will provide mortgages to. This is just

one example of many displayed by our councils who are a vital source of

Labour representation and increasing inspiration and policy, innovating,

forward-looking, credible policy. That in Labour in power in local

government. Next year we have imported me all me oral elections

including QM Merseyside both our Mayers and London and Liverpool have

hit the ground landing and one of the biggest issues they face is the

housing crisis. If anybody wants to know what the Government's housing

priorities right -- priorities lie it is there for everyone to see in

the housing bill. They are flawed and divisive act including an

all-out attack on social housing. It will be the loss of affordable

homes, fails to help those in the private rented sector, fails to

offer genuine help to those trying to get on the property ladder and

totally fails to help the increasing number of people up and down the

country facing homelessness. In truth, there is little of any merit

in this Tory Government's plan for housing. They have slashed housing

benefit payments to young people under 35, failed to build social

housing, allowing private sector rents to rockets and forced millions

into low insecure employment, making owner occupation impossible. Is it

any wonder 40% of adults understood before after living with their

parents was Mac and still be housing benefit bill continues to bloom. It

is currently running at 25 billion every year because millions are

forced into the private sector because there is no alternative. It

makes no economic sense whatsoever. This is not just a crisis. Not just

a crisis for the homeless or those living in overcrowded slums, it is a

crisis for all of us. The housing crisis is not just other bricks and

mortar, it is about people and their life chances. Without a stable home

education and health unaffected, and family cohesion can be shattered. It

is about the children under ten over the end of the primary school and

the teachers struggling to deal with classroom churn every month. It is

about the GPs who cannot build patient relationships because

patients in the thousands moved on and off the register is the shift

from one private rented home to another. It is about the children

growing up disaffected, unable to build the roots and childhood

friendships that are vital to the future self esteem and about the

isolation of the elderly who spent their whole lives in a street that

now has numerous houses of multiple occupancy and they are isolated and

no longer know their neighbours. Then there are all the family

struggling to meet next month's mortgage payment. Both living in

fear of being sick of losing their job losing your job should not mean

losing your home from men in adults. And councils surgeries are full of

families telling us they are living in damp in overcrowded conditions,

they tell us the accommodation is making the children ill and they

tell us they pay extortionate rent for all this. The flu infection,

they're desperate and they are. The Tories have no answers other

than building a few starter homes for those who could probably get on

the housing ladder anyway. So what would a Labour housing planning plan

look like? We would remove the shackles of local government. Labour

will commit to building over a million new homes in the next

parliament with half as social housing. APPLAUSE

And invest in the construction skills to tackle the skills shortage

and train up a generation. And through a national investment bank

and regional development banks, we would also provide necessary

infrastructure. In the private rented sector, ending tenancy is a

rising cause of homelessness, so we would change the rules on tenancies

so a three-year lease becomes the norm. Setting up a not-for-profit

letting agencies to promote longer term stable tenancies for

responsible tenants and good landlords. We would introduce a

national standard to ensure that private rented properties are fit to

live in. APPLAUSE We would reverse the government's

pay to stay policy and, following examples set by Wales and Scotland,

we will suspend the right to buy. APPLAUSE

The right to buy can only make any sense in a time of surplus. In a

time of shortage it makes no sense at all. The difference between us

and the Tories, they think housing is about property. We know it's

about homes, communities and life chances. So now the work begins, to

secure a Labour government to transform our country and the lives

of the people we seek to serve. Thank you. APPLAUSE

I'm now pleased to introduce Nick Forbes who will present a report on

the work of Labour in local government.

Thank you, conference. I'm honoured to be here, having been elected in

February to succeed Jim McMahon is the leader of Labour local

government. I congratulate Jeremy on his re-election as leader of the

party. Local government looks forward to working with Jeremy to

get him into Downing Street. In my role, I am privileged to work with

great people like Ann Lucas and Alex Perry who represent councillors on

the NEC. My deputies on the London greater authority, and all the

officers and authorities of the LGA Labour group and Association of

Labour councillors. I'm privileged to work with every one of our 7000

Labour councillors. It's Labour councillors who are out there giving

a voice to local communities, putting Labour values into practice.

Labour councillors, the campaigners, the door knockers, the fundraisers,

the builders, the protectors, the visionaries, the backbone of our

party and movement. And the foundation of Labour in local

government is solidarity. We rise together. We celebrate our successes

together. And in difficult times, we support each other. And there is no

doubt that we are in difficult times. The road back to government

is a long and hard one. Labour councils are the front line in the

battle against mindless Tory austerity. Labour councils have

faced cuts up to ten times deeper than those in Tory areas. And Labour

councils have stretched every sinew to shield the most vulnerable in our

communities from those cuts. Nationally, we campaigned against

the bedroom tax. Labour councils have stepped in with financial

advice and support through council tax relief schemes to ease the

burden. Nationally we exposed the unfairness of the Tory cuts agenda.

Labour councils have worked with community groups, the voluntary

sector and trade unions to find innovative ways of keeping vital

public services going. But there is another attack on the horizon. This

government is introducing a new right to buy policy, this time for

housing association tenants. It's to be paid for by a new levy on council

housing. The Tory how council house tax. It's the opposite of buy one

get one free for social housing. We lose one, and then we lose another

to pay for it. At a time when our need for affordable homes has never

been greater, the future of social housing has never been so much under

threat. They attack our council houses, conference, because we know

that they don't care about the people who live in them. It's a

shameless attack on the basic worth of an individual. The Tories simply

do not see the value in someone that needs a helping hand. Where we see

lost opportunity and ability, and are determined to put this right,

they see nothing but cost and a drain on resources. There is no

greater example of this and the failure of this government to sort

out the abomination, the disgrace, that is the Calle jungle -- Calais

jungle. Shut it down now, Miss -- Mrs May.

We will give these people the opportunity of a better life in

Britain. To stand by and to continue to ignore their suffering is a moral

outrage. Conference, Labour councillors stand on the front line

of these battles every day. In local government we have introduced a

living wage, created jobs and apprenticeships, brought together

universities, colleges and companies to boost innovation. Supported new

start-ups and given a hand to sole traders. Improved transport links

and extended broadband. Attracted global investment to towns and

cities. I'm particularly proud to have developed an agreement between

Labour local government and the trade unions. For the first time

ever, setting out clearly how we will work with each other in the

years ahead. So this is the road to Labour victories. Campaigning for a

better tomorrow while doing what we can to improve today. Shielding the

vulnerable now but investing for a better future. Giving voice to our

communities and offering opportunities for everyone to

succeed. Solidarity with each other and support for all who need it. The

world the Tories want is a dark one for those who don't stand tall at

the top. Our mission is to show in the darkest of times that Labour

local government is a beacon of hope, that things can, will, and do

change for the better under Labour. Thank you. APPLAUSE

Thank you, Nick. We will now move to debate on the community 's report.

Can I see those who want to speak and then I will take speakers in

rounds of three. I've got the lady with the red jacket at the front.

I've got the woman with the pink CAC paper. And I have got the chap

holding what looks like a blanket. Well, it does!

Good afternoon, conference. I'm the woman with the red jacket. I'm also

sometimes known as Judy billing and I'm vice chair of the Association of

Labour councillors representing the 7000 councillors that Nick referred

to earlier. Labour councillors are sometimes the unsung public face of

the Labour Party. In real places, with real people, doing ordinary

things in quite an extraordinary way. And sometimes doing

extraordinary things in a remarkably ordinary way. The way they conduct

themselves locally can really affect the way in which the Labour Party is

seen in both local and national elections, and I think we forget

that at our peril. Sometimes, although Nick has spoken about the

battles we fight everyday, and I thought, yes, I do fight battles

every day, but actually, sometimes we are also the kinder and gentler

face of the Labour Party, working constantly with the needs of

extremely vulnerable people. Refugees, people without homes,

people without jobs, food or income, looked after children and elderly

people, sometimes socially isolated and with complex care needs. They

don't want to hear us being angry and battling, although that's what

we have to do politically, but with them we have to present a kind and

caring social work side that Labour councillors do every day in their

communities. We can be one of several things in daily life. At the

moment we can be part of a Labour council. Nick has talked about the

great triumphs of Labour councils coping bravely and Indica Fatah play

with the awful legislation of the Tory government that does not help

their communities or the people they represent. Or we can be in

opposition, and I will come to that in a second, and in coalition

locally and nationally. Some colleagues have to deal with Ukip

councillors, can you imagine that? Some of you can. It's a disgusting

but hopefully temporary blip in the way we have to conduct ourselves in

local government. Do not minimise the complications, hurdles or the

impact on people's lives that we as Labour councillors can and do have,

whatever the obstacles put in our way. Sometimes we even managed to do

it with humour. I don't know how it happens but I have heard Labour

councillors laugh, maybe hysterically. The point I want to

make about opposition is that our one councillor in Huntingdon, our

two councillors in Brentwood, and our three councillors in Somerset,

are as of massive importance to the Labour Party as Manchester and

Durham with nearly 200 councillors between them. APPLAUSE

Because in whatever circumstances we operate, with a huge majority or a

tiny minority, we are dealing every day with education, where we provide

ever improving schools and results, not just in a time of grammar school

outrage, which is quite right that we should be outraged at such a

stupid suggestion in 2016, but local councillors are dealing with unfair

Tory local education policies every day, all the time. In housing we

have to provide for those who find the phrase affordable housing both

incomprehensible and laughable. Since some of us share our housing

backgrounds this afternoon, I was brought up in a flat my parents

rented in Paddington from a nice chap called Mr Rahman. In public

health week ensure public services do what they are meant to do in the

most appropriate places. On welfare rights we are campaigning and

working with people on an individual basis. We are desperate about

providing accessible transport to keep communities active, vibrant and

sociable, as people are meant to be, to enable participation in sport,

theatre, meeting and talking to others. And we provide and care

about clean villages, towns, cities and coastal areas, many of which are

suffering greatly at the moment. These things are the basic needs of

society is that we as local councillors struggle cheerfully, and

occasionally even with humour, to provide. Don't underestimate the

task, and please listen to what we have to tell you. Because we are

truly on the front line. Conference and party leadership, you ignore us

and our advice at your peril. APPLAUSE

Could afternoon. I want to say at first I am delighted the environment

is being included on the first day of the conference and not on the

last day like it normally is when everybody is going home. I would

like to put in a plea for giving a higher priority to environmental

issues within the large package we are looking at. The features that

come out about resource use across the planet are talking about us in

western Europe drawing on the resources of three planets to

maintain our living conditions at the moment. The Labour Party as an

international party is obviously opposed to the idea we would be

benefiting against people elsewhere in the world and it is also clear we

are drawing on the world's capital to achieve this kind of resource use

and it is not sustainable and we need to bring an end to it. Climate

change is one of the key issues in the whole thing of resource use. It

is about how we use the shared climate we all need to live on. And

we have enacted excellent climate change legislation in this country

and it has been largely pushed by the Labour Party. Ed Miliband did a

great job at the Department of imaging climate change and they are

doing a terrific job in Scotland are pushing that through locally. We are

trying to achieve an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050 and it

is a huge task and will not happen by us making small adjustments in

the way we live, it needs to be integrated into all areas of policy.

We need to have this issue of sustainable resources underlying

everything we do in the health and transport and communities and

industrial policy. I would make a plea for the Labour Party to think

about how we can achieve that. I would like to make to the messages.

One is we need more Government intervention to achieve these aims.

There has been a lot of discussion about how we can try and finesse

environmental outcomes through the free market, I do not think it is

going to ever work. The shared resources are not marketable, we

have attempted to try and create markets and it has been quite clumsy

and does not work. We need direct intervention.

APPLAUSE And the second thing is that point

again that sustainable resource use needs to underlying every area of

policy. That is a lot of discussion about

how to achieve more manufacturing in the UK, I think that is great but we

need to do this on a basis of sustainable use of resources and I

hope we will take that into account when looking at manufacturing. I

just wanted to say it is, this is an issue of environmental justice as

well. We need to take account of issues such as fuel poverty and our

shared polluted environment. Thank you.

. APPLAUSE

Before I asked the next Speaker to speak I will call three more

speakers. The living there in the front. There is a lady waving at me

there. Yes, you. And there is a chap with a hard hat there as well.

Conference, I am so proud to come here today to talk about

communities. Up and down our country our local councillors are working

hard to achieve the things we need to achieve when we are in opposition

and not in power to make people's lives tolerable through austerity. I

think this has been a real good report and I thank them from the

bottom of my heart for all of the hard work. However, delegates, I

think there is one key issue this report perhaps has missed out. Full

implementation of these proposals. How is it we get from where we are

now, and economy in tatters without the organisation to achieve the

things it needs to achieve to a society of prosperity? I say to you,

look at the Labour councils up and down the country which are turning

towards social enterprise and community interest companies. In

Croydon I am so proud that under Tony Newman we have begun to use

social enterprise to deliver on the things we need to deliver on. There

is nothing on socialist -- non-socialist about enterprise. I'd

remind you of the Glasgow builders who at the turn of the 20th century

saw the lack of housing and came together to provide it. If we create

the legal structures like community interest companies which allow for

non-profit companies to operate then we will see those successes. What we

need to do as Labour councils and as Labour authorities in the cities is

to begin to provide the funding. That is a capital market failure in

this country for non-for-profit companies because they do not offer

higher returns. My previous delegate spoke of the failures of the market,

that is a perfect example. If you want to change things now, not in

2020 but now, then we need to invest in social enterprise. If you are

genuinely committed to empowering the people in the communities we

represent them support social enterprise. Delegates, big

industries, big organisations are taking away from the power of

communities to solve problems in the way in which they want to. If we

want to solve the energy crisis we should look at having community

interest companies at the micro level generating energy for the

communities, it has been done in other countries. If we want to solve

the crisis in arts funding we should look to community interest companies

to provide the facility to do it. My fellow delegates, I call upon you to

support this. Look to the people and their harbour rather than always too

big organisations. Thank you. , APPLAUSE

Wendy Simon from Unison representing the largest union and local

government. There is almost universal consensus

that adequate provision of social care is one of the biggest

challenges that face us local government today. Also that social

care funding is in crisis. Central Government funding for local

authorities has been cut by 37% in real terms over the past spending

period. When the man increases are taken into account local authority

spending on adult social care has fallen by nearly one third sent

2010. The cup and central Government funding is only part of the story.

-- the cut. An increase in the man based on a growing and ageing and

poorer community adds to pressure. By 2020 - 2021 it is expected

spending on social care as a percentage of GDP will be barely

more than 0.5%. Although the national living wage is a step in

the right direction to the frugal living wage it has not been properly

funded. Better care funding is being held back until later in Parliament

when it is really needed now. The relationship between local

authorities and those that care for them is shaped by a dysfunctional,

sharing practices. The lack of certainty is frequently passed on to

the workforce in the form of zero our contracts. The vast majority of

councils in England are still commissioning 15 minutes home care

visits. That is an adequate funding for hourly rates and including

failure to tackle noncompliance of the minimum wage. -- inadequate

funding. Less than a quarter of councils in England and Wales make

it a contractual condition for care providers to pay for workers' travel

time. The widespread failure to pay home care workers for travel time is

significantly undermining care standards and condemning a large

proportion of the workforce to poverty. This sends out a message

that care workers do not deserve to be respected for their work. Not

paying travel time encourages the practice of home care workers

leaving voters over to cut down the amount of time they have to spend

working for free. Unison has been encouraging councils to improve the

delivery of the home care services by adopting the union's ethical care

charter. The charter was designed as a simple way for councils to improve

home care standards for those vulnerable people they are

responsible for and for the workers who provide the care. The charter is

a set of commitments that councils make which sets minimum standards

and ensure that there is continuity of care, ends 15 minute visits for

personal care and pays staff a living wage and ensures they are

paid for their travel time. 18 local councils in England, Wales and

Scotland have now adopted the ethical care charter and there are

many more who are considering the adoption. The charter has already

had positive results for both care workers and their users, for example

in one area Labour council found concrete evidence of improvement and

services, better staff recruitment and retention, improve take-up of

training and most importantly, better outcomes for service users.

Islington's council had similar positive feedback since the

introduction of the London living wage where turnover among staff fell

from over 10% to less than 3%. This is how Labour in power makes a

difference for service users, the workforce and the whole community.

What Unison wants to see as Labour councils hiring workers based on

ethical care charter. That is why we need to see the Labour Party locally

and nationally focused on winning in power. It is not good being in

opposition. Unison members need Labour and,. Let's all make it

happen. Thank you. APPLAUSE

Conference, I represent the region speaking on the communities debate

on housing. Make no mistake, the issue of housing is being used by

this Tory Government as a political weapon. Leading lights of the party

such as Margaret Thatcher and Dame Shirley Porter always viewed housing

as a front-line political issue. In Clegg's memoirs he quotes George

Osborne as saying, social housing bodies Labour voters. The recent

housing and planning act is a concerted attempt to eradicate

social housing in Britain. We are about to experience social

engineering on a massive scale. Housing associations will be forced

to sell the stock at huge discounts through the right to buy scheme,

local councils will be forced to reimburse the housing associations

by selling high value council property and the end result will be

no social housing. London's local authorities have enormous property

portfolios. Brent, one of the UK's most deprived areas, has a wholly

owned property portfolio worth in excess of ?2.2 billion. Over 2000

houses and 4000 flats. I'm modernised Victorian houses in Brent

will fetch over ?600,000, flats ?400,000. The neighbouring borough

of dealing has a wholly owned property portfolio of ?2.4 billion

that is what the Tories would like to get their hands on. These

valuable state assets, they are our assets and they were in twopenny

hands of property developers who are generally Tory party donors. -- they

will end up in the hands of property developers. The buyer option you

need cash it will not be social housing tenants who are bidding on

these properties. Those unfortunate tenant will be ushered into the arms

of unscrupulous landlords. They will need to be supported by housing

benefit and I'm sure you are way ahead of me by now, the housing

benefit goes into the pocket of the Tory property developer. Conference,

if we do not fight this social engineering we will see a return to

the slum landlord of the Victorian era. We do not even have to go back

that far. I am sure you heard the reaction before, most people don't

remember the rap Empire and that was a crime against human decency. Thank

you. APPLAUSE

Before I ask the next speaker to speak, I will call another round of

three, please. The lady in the black dress. The guy towards the back with

a CAC report and red time. And the woman over there sat down with the

CAC report. Hello, conference. So excited to be here. Gail Hodges,

West Lancashire Borough Council. We do need to keep climate change high

on the agenda as it is escalating at a rate that is even more than

predicted. A lot of us have seen this in communities up and down the

country with flooding. This next winter is predicted to be wetter and

warmer, so it's only going to get worse, so we must keep this on the

agenda. I would like to applaud Jeremy Corbyn's pledge to ban

fracking as part of Labour's new green agenda. APPLAUSE

I am pledging to massively increase renewable energy jobs creating tens

of thousands of sustainable jobs. Fracking is not compatible with

climate change prevention. We cannot keep looking backward to a polluting

and dirty fossil fuel industry threatening our health and

environment and has been rejected by communities across the UK. Can I ask

conference to get behind Jeremy's pledge, please. Thank you. APPLAUSE

Laura Pitcock from the Tyne Valley. Every single person should have a

home is a fundamental right. That right has too much been left in the

hands of the private market, a market that has been relaxed leaving

people in insecure tenancies, squalid conditions, 21st-century

slum landlords ignoring tenants please to remove mould and damp,

packing as many people into properties make sure properties

profits are large. That community housing should be a right, not a

monopoly bought and sold. As a movement we must stand firm and say

again and again that immigrants are not to blame for the housing crisis.

APPLAUSE It isn't the Syrian refugee that

prevents people from having a house, it's a government that doesn't care

and a government that has failed. Following the sell-off under

Thatcher, we have had decades of councils not building homes, leading

to a critical shortage. Because of government cuts, the housing stock

we do have, we are not able to maintain. The government does not

care about people who live in council homes. Fences are not fixed,

tenants wait months for basic repairs. These people pay their rent

and deserve an excellent standard of housing. The solution is so

frustratingly simple. We need a mass council housing building programme,

creating not only hundreds of thousands of homes, but thousands of

jobs for the construction sector in the process. And if we are direct in

this investment through local councils, we need public procurement

so we can make sure those jobs are good jobs with proper employment

rights and ensure the scandalous practice of blacklisting is

consigned to history. We welcome the MPF report saying that building

homes including more council homes will be a priority. It has to be at

the front and centre of our agenda as a Labour movement. We look

forward to being fully involved in this consultation. APPLAUSE

Conference, Jeff Cuthbert, police and crime commission for Gwent.

Policing is a very important part of community life. It is a key public

service like any other. But the police are not responsible for

policing alone. The reality is that it must work in partnership with

other key public service providers such as health, local government,

housing and transport. Plus, of course, the third sector, which

plays such an important role in sustaining the well-being of our

citizens and communities. All key public services in Wales are

devolved to the Welsh government, including the other emergency

services, except policing. Here I would disagree with some comments

that I know are going to be made later in the conference, that

policing is about law enforcement. Of course it is the job of the

police to catch the bad guys, nobody would deny that, it's part of the

core responsibilities. But policing is also about prevention and

reassurance. In Wales we have the well-being of future generations

act, and this futuristic act compels all be devolved public services to

work together through statutory public service boards with

sustainable development and the well-being of citizens at the heart

of everything they do. But policing is not devolved. So it cannot be

required as formal partners to contribute to the work of the public

service boards. Given that policing is key to the well-being of

citizens, this is a difficult problem that could undermine the

effectiveness of the public service boards. However, the police are

statutory invitees to the PSPs, so must be invited to take part in the

PSB's work. But there can be no compulsion. So far the attitude of

the four police and crime commissioners in Wales has been

positive. We will take up the invitation to get involved. However

a mass policing is devolved, we cannot be sure that future police

and crime commissioners will have the same attitude. There are very

important issues to be resolved prior to the devolution of policing.

These include funding arrangements, cross-border issues, serious

organised crime and counterterrorism. It would be wrong

to wait until devolution happens and then address these matters. The four

welsh PCCs are ready to work with the Welsh government and the UK

Government. Comrades, it is not sustainable longer-term to keep this

key public service as a reserved matter when all the other key

partners are resolved. I'm calling on the UK leadership to commit to

devolution of policing in Wales, as has happened already in the case of

Scotland and Northern Ireland. Wales is the only part of the UK where

Labour is in power. Our values of social justice and fairness must

prevail in all aspects of public service delivery. Thank you.

APPLAUSE I'm just going to take another round

of three before the next speaker talks. There is a guy with a

conference programme. There's a guy there with a purple bag. And a woman

there with a report. Yes please. Good afternoon, conference. I'm a

delicate of make a field PLP and a councillor in Tilsley. It's an

honour for me to be here today. Being here today is incredible part

of my long personal journey. It started 13 years ago in Pakistan. I

am where I am today because of Labour policies of tolerance,

fairness, diversity, multiculturalism, and above all,

belief in women without any distinction of colour, creed and

religion. APPLAUSE Conference, it's more important than

ever that we come together in unity as a party that is in power in 2020.

Today we are facing huge cuts on our public services, health and

education. We are bringing up a generation with no resources.

Unemployment is crippling our future. The passion of our youth is

fizzling out in disappointment. Our elderly and disabled are not getting

the care they deserve. As a country, we are divided and polarised more

than ever before. Emergency services are at the brink of collapse because

the Conservative government does not care about us and about communities.

But I'm still hopeful. I truly believe that only Labour values can

restore faith in diversity and multiculturalism. And unite us as a

country. Only Labour can ensure that innovation and progression by

redistribution of wealth. Social justice, only Labour can achieve

social justice, economic prosperity and equality. Only with Labour

values can communities thrive and our youth achieve what they aspire

for. But we will have to go back to the doorstep, we will have to go

back to the communities, and we will have to listen to people's needs. We

will have to take this passion out of this conference hall. -- this

passion. We have to take it out to the streets. We have to turn

adversity into an effective social and political movement. I believe

only the Labour Party and its values are a hope for the working class, a

hope for the disadvantaged, a hope for the disabled, a hope for the

immigrant, a hope for you, I hope for me, a hope for the nation, and a

hope for generations. APPLAUSE Good afternoon, conference, chair.

Alan Tate, Communication Workers Union. Speaking on the housing issue

in the communities document. As has been mentioned previously today by

numerous delegates, the UK's housing crisis is driven by lack of supply,

sending prices and rents out of control. The government's policy is

systemically worsening the crisis and placing the greatest burden on

the most vulnerable. We should not be surprised therefore that the High

Commission report is so damning and the equality and human rights

commission has noted that high proportion of ethnic minority

households in substandard housing, a disproportionate young people of age

16-24 in inadequate housing, a shortfall of housing for women and

children seeking refuge from domestic violence. The UK needs to

build 250,000 new homes each year to keep up with demand from a growing

population. The government's response to the crisis, the Housing

and planning Bill, is not fit for purpose. The government has,

however, consistently failed to meet the scale of the house-building in

this country. In the 12 months to December, 2015, 140 3500 houses were

built, more than 100,000 short of the number required. -- 140,000 500.

Families in low rent affordable housing with a combined income of

?35,000 or ?40,000 if you live in London, would be classified as high

income social tenants. Given the London living wage is roughly

?18,705 per annum, this policy labels those on low and middle

incomes as the rich and taxes them as though housing was a luxury item.

Paid to stay is typical of the government's denial of poverty and

attacks on working-class communities. Hard-working people are

expected to subsidise the lives of others well the government continues

to subsidise private landlords to an eye watering ?9 billion through

housing benefit. Analysis provided through local government Association

projects that over 70,000 households will earn above ?31,000 income

threshold, and outside of London, 40,000. Sorry, inside the capital.

Average monthly rent uplift will be ?72 outside London, and ?132 for

those living inside the capital, an average of ?1065 per year. The Mayor

of London, Sadiq Khan, made continual reference to his bus

driver father and seamstress mother during his successful campaign.

Based on that example, a bus driver in London with overtime will

typically earn in excess of ?24,000 per annum, and in seamstress on

overtime potentially earning up to ?22,000 per annum. Such an affected

household will see rent increases of just over ?1000 per annum, all of

which will go to pay the national debt, a debt caused by bankers, not

hard-working families struggling to make ends meet. APPLAUSE

We need to urgently campaign, comrades, to change this and suspend

this pernicious and damning bill that has been introduced by the

government. If we can't do that, then I would urge a Labour in

government in 2020 to make sure it is removed. Thank you. APPLAUSE

The key good afternoon, conference. I am a first time delegate at the

conference. It is great to be speaking on this issue as a young

Labour Party member, one who can be proud of our leadership and track

record of government and tackling the biggest threat that we face,

climate change. I want our generation to be the one to go from

the complete transformation of power stations polluting our atmosphere to

families and businesses sourcing their fuel from the local community,

breaking up the big six, Britain's clean, green energy revolution of

the 21st century. It sounds good but this bigger picture of our

sustainable planet is only achievable with changes that we as

Labour Party members can make happen from the grassroots up. It is about

making sure that we are convincing voters of the positive benefits of

climate change policy, showing how Labour lead can sue is like

Nottingham have reduced bills for residents and have installed solar

panels on 4000 homes. Steve Rather in Merseyside and Andy Burn in

Liverpool can make a real difference. And how leading up to

2020, a Labour led government can turn around ten years of government

failure by fully implementing all EU climate protection laws post Brexit,

insulating homes and putting an end to the public emergency that is 40

to 50,000 early deaths a year due to pollution, a national disgrace. As a

result of one decision in particular however, I would like to send a

direct message from this united Labour conference hall to someone

who I am sure will be watching this afternoon, our new Prime Minister.

Theresa May, posterity does not work. Scrapping an entire department

of state, our Department of Energy and Climate Change does not help but

will hinder your chances. A policy started in 2010 under David Cameron,

our children and grandchildren will look back in shame. Give us the

thousands of jobs that were promised. Skilled jobs which are

desperately needed right now like an working-class towns like mine of

Wigan. But also to build the foundations of an industry which

will create the jobs of the future, jobs which will keep families like

mine ticking over, families which do not even included yet but in decades

to come will and we will need a booming prosperous industry to rely

on to keep food on the table and the roof above our heads. Stop the

rhetoric on short-term ideological solutions and start giving our

country leading role once again in the fight against climate change,

one which we can all be proud of. APPLAUSE

I am just going to call another round of speakers. There is a guy in

an orange jacket who has been waiting very patiently. There is a

guy waving a white piece of paper there. Yes, you. And there is a

woman waving a scarf just there. Thank you, Chad. Carol Wilcox,

Christchurch and Labour land campaign. -- thank you, chair. Many

previous speakers have spoken about the basic human rights of housing.

As far back as I can remember, there has been housing crisis. I can

remember Cathy Come Home. I would like to put three facts in front of

you. House values are mostly land value. It is location, location,

location. The owner of a ?200 million mansion in Westminster pays

?100 less council tax than a tenant of a flat in Weymouth who is paying

?345 a month. There is an inverse relationship between house prices

and council tax. One of the solutions to the housing crisis is a

land value tax. This redistributes land wealth, and it makes land

cheap, so that councils can buy land to actually build council housing.

Before World War II, land value tax was the main economic policy of the

Labour Party. If we had had land finally tax in 1945, we would never

have had a housing crisis. We would never have had gross inequality, and

we would never have had a banking crash.

APPLAUSE Chair, conference, I'm a Labour

councillor in Nottingham city, one of 52 Labour councillors in the city

and proud that we have a success story to tell you.

There is a massive issue of energy poverty in this country, fuel

poverty. 2.3 million households living in fuel poverty. One in two

low income families are struggling to pay to keep warm, despite being

in work. Nottinghamshire council realised something had to be done.

Instead of just thinking about switching sites and that sort of

stuff and petitioning the big six, what we decided to do was set up our

own energy company, and I am proud to say that after a year now, we are

a year on. Robin hood energy was launched a year ago, supported by a

loan from Nottingham City Council. We wanted cheap -- cheaper prices

for all residents and it is open to everybody in England, Scotland and

Wales and you can switch today to Robin Hood energy. One of the

reasons we did that was the issue of low prices for working class people.

Over 10 billion households have prepayment meters or card meters.

When those people go and get energy, they pay through the noes for it.

They pay more than you do if you do it through direct debit, and we

thought that was wrong. So when we brought in Robin Hood Energy, we

made sure the cheapest prices was for the prepayment meters, putting

our socialist principles into practice. So I say to you, as a

Labour council, you can now go out and threw your own council comeback

to Nottingham and link up to us and make your own energy companies by

using our energy and calling it what you like. It is called White

labelling and I applaud Leeds City Council who have joined with us in

that respect and others. Finally, I would say, the big six energy

companies are not just big on profits but they are rubbish on

customer service. We are trying to change that. We have got to get a

situation now where we put the customer at the heart. Jeremy Corbyn

has said in his energy policy launch, which he did in Nottingham

two weeks ago, that he wants to see the decentralisation of the energy

companies and the break-up of the big six, to allow energy to come

from the bottom up. There are lots of lessons to be learned from other

countries, from Europe and Germany. I urge you all to get behind it.

Thank you. APPLAUSE

Conference, I am not here to explain the meaning of Brexit, because

nobody knows what it means, not even the Prime Minister. However, I am

here to talk about the Brexit effect on community relations. Two days

after the EU referendum, my wife was closing the shop and a youth

approached her. He said, I thought we had voted to send you back home

and she was really upset about it and she had been in this country for

40 years. Obviously, the police were involved and so on. But conference,

this was not an isolated incident. This happened everywhere up and down

our country. The language used by some in the referendum campaign was

verging on the racism which reminded me of the 60s and 70s.

APPLAUSE The language and images, the

so-called bloody foreigners as if they are responsible for the woes of

our country. Language even Enoch Powell would be proud of. I am sorry

to say this but even some BME communities fell for this argument.

Conference, exit is in danger of putting community relations back by

some 50 years in our country -- Brexit is in danger. As we move

forward, the referendum result, beyond the referendum result, we

must all work hard to eradicate this poisonous hatred once and for all.

And conference, only Labour values will steer us to a future where

Community Cohesion Minister at the heart of what we do. Thank you. I am

just going to take one final round of contributions please. There is a

lady over their waving what looks like an iPad.

There is a chap jumping up and down enthusiastically. And there is

somebody over their waving some papers, yes.

Thank you. Conference, I speak to you today on behalf of Worcester

CLP. Worcester, as some of you might know, is one of the 100 key

marginals we must win to take power to the millions of people in our

country who desperately need a Labour government. We made real

progress in Worcester this year. We held off Ukip in my ward and we took

control of the City Council from the Tories.

APPLAUSE Albeit with the help of the Green

Party. It is a real honour to be elected to Worcester council this

year. It is a fantastic place to live and I am proud to call it my

home. But like all parts of our country, there are problems. They

can only be fixed by a Labour government. There are people who are

struggling to get by and those who just about manage, but worry about

how their children will earn a living in an uncertain world. One of

our biggest worries is housing, or the lack of it. In my city, the

waiting list for social housing is over 2000. Thousands of people are

living in the private rented sector, unable to buy a home and stuck in

short-term contracts, with ever rising rents and no security of

tenure. The brutal Tory government 's myopic of session with home

ownership at the expense of all else is making the situation worse. In

Worcester, Labour's policies on housing are about securing the links

with housing associations and enabling the building of more social

housing. Though it is going to become increasingly difficult for

residents of rented housing when the unfair pay to stay policy of this

rotten government is implemented. The Labour Party must develop

innovative solutions to tackle the housing crisis head-on. Yes, of

course, we need to build more council homes, as Labour councils

across the country are doing. But to win in Worcester, we need a broad

offer to win people back to voting Labour. We are working to tackle

rogue landlords and in Worcester, landlords are being made responsible

to provide homes to rent of a decent standard and to maintain them at

that standard. Recently, we successfully prosecuted and

irresponsible owner of a Worcester home in legally rented to students

and they were ordered by the courts to pay out nearly ?4000.

At a time of acute housing shortage who must crack down on empty

properties. 500 properties in Worcester where empty for over six

months. This doesn't make sense only have 2000 people on our waiting

list, we must utilise any powers we have to bring these properties that

can be decent homes back into use. We need to bring more homes to help

people back onto the housing ladder, and by forming policies like this we

can sure we understand people's desire to own a home whether rented

or bought. In London, Sadiq Khan is leading the way in tackling the

excesses of the London private sector. He will help thousands of

people who don't qualify for social housing, but still priced out of

buying home. By applying this type of radical approach across the

country, we can show people that we are on their side and standing up

for them. But we can only continue to do this if we beat the Tories and

if we win we must pull together, we must get out there and campaign. We

must listen to what ordinary people tell us and what they are worried

about. We must have policies that meet their needs. Only by listening

and being an outward facing party have we any chance of beating the

Tories. We must bring back a Labour government, a Labour government that

is neither old nor knew, just Labour.

Alice Smart, Leeds City Council and first-time delegate. Conference,

since the Tories came to power in 2010, Labour run Leeds City Council

has been hit with annual budget cuts and are about to have an extra ?10

million taken from our budget, leaving us with less than a third of

the government funding we had before the Tories came to power six years

ago. Leeds City Council is doing what it can to protect front line

services, but there is no denying these Draconian Tory cuts are taking

us backwards and making life harder for those worse off. These cuts are

a political choice and not an economic necessity, and they are

certainly not over yet. What has happened in Leeds is not an isolated

situation. Labour run councils across the country, particularly in

the North of England, have had their budgets slashed and the lives of

those seats represent been directly affected. What can Labour do about

it? Sadly there are no quick fixes to reversing these cuts while Labour

is out of government. But it's clear Labour must re-evaluate the way we

see local government and the scope of the potential solutions

devolution is can provide to the challenges councils like Leeds are

facing. At a time like this, Labour can't be seen as being afraid of

devolution. Instead this is a moment to be bold and empower communities

to shape the future they want to see. Our party leadership and the

Parliamentary Labour Party could learn a lot from Labour in power in

an off. City councils like Leeds and Manchester are finding innovative

ways to make social and economic progress despite huge funding

shortfalls. In spite of everything, Leeds is the UK's fastest-growing

economy, and that isn't because of Theresa May, it's because of the

Labour council. While Labour is out of government, the party needs to

empower Labour councils who are minimising the worst effects of the

cuts and showing the positive difference Labour in power can make.

It's vital any devolution proposals Labour puts forward are more than a

total displacement powers. -- than a token displacement of powers.

Ultimately you can't empower local councils if you impoverish them. The

principle of devolution is resonated with lots of politicians in the

north, we need local solutions to local problems and we have known

that for a long time. It's great that Westminster heavyweights like

Andy Burnham and Steve Rotherham want to get stuck into running

northern cities, but it's also important to remember the likes of

Judith Blake and Richard Lees who are doing this every day and not

always getting the support and recognition they deserve. Labour

must be bolder than the Tories on devolution. We need to take back the

initiative on an agenda that should naturally be ours. Labour should set

up a and agenda. Devolution is not just a means for mitigating

austerity. It's important for handing back powers to the

communities we represent and that is intrinsic to Labour values. Thank

you, conference. APPLAUSE This'll be the last speaker this

debate. Conference, last but not least,

Labour Housing group, speaking on the Labour debate. The Labour

housing group has always been a Broadchurch, open to everyone in our

party, right, left and centre, genuinely interested in housing.

Join us and get involved as we fight for communities up and down the

country. I welcome Teresa's pledge and commitments to building a

million new homes in the next new Labour government, which we hope to

see in 2020. We have always believed in moving from benefits to bricks

and mortar. Looking at the statistics, every ?1 off new

investment in housing, you get about ?2 back. This investment pays off,

it's common economic sense. The first coalition government, and now

the Conservative government have failed to invest in housing. We need

to reverse that change for good. Let's see new council homes as the

solution and not a problem. The Conservatives have never believed in

council housing. And we need to get back to changing that for good. What

have they given us? Paid to stay, the bedroom tax, let's get rid of

that. We in the Labour housing group believe in a single rent for

everyone. Let's not create disincentives for hard-working

people who just happen to live in social housing. Let's change all

that. Finally, let's keep up the pressure and campaign against the

pernicious housing and planning Bill once and for all. If we can't

achieve it throughout this Parliament, as soon as we get into

power, we should scrap it and start again. Let's come up with some

proper, effective housing policies that meet the genuine needs of all

our communities up and down the country. Thank you. APPLAUSE

I now ask Rachael Maskell, Shadow Secretary of State for the

environment food and roll affairs to reply to the debate. -- role

affairs. Conference, economic certainty and security forms the

bedrock of delivering food security and a strong agricultural and

fishing sector. Since the 23rd of June we have learned that the

government made no analysis of the depth of its relationship with the

EU, has no understanding of the capacity needed to renegotiate

hundreds of regulations protecting food safety and the wider

environment and has no plan for the future of the sector which employs

3.9 million people, and where 79% of our food exports goes to the EU, a

government totally irresponsible, totally reckless and totally inept.

Since we have seen nothing more than words and dithering, they are not a

think tank policy Forum, they are meant to be a government leading our

nation. The sector needs and says now. While the government might not

understand strategic business planning, the agricultural and food

sectors do. Crucially how we trade will determine whether Britain

thrives survives. Labour will work with the food and agricultural

Secretary to underpin trade with the right financial drivers to art

underpin production while protecting our natural world. Labour will back

British farming from plough to plate. We are ready now to revive

rural communities, coastal communities, urban communities and

revive our nation from the wreckage this government has created.

Labour's ambition to revive urban communities starts with reconnecting

urban to countryside Britain. We want to see city farms and

environment centres and schemes like edible yorked in my constituency

where communities grow vegetables on street corners together, but ensure

everybody can access the countryside. That's why the Labour

government has created National Parks and the right to roam. Labour

schools would get the children out to understand the wonders of

countryside life. Labour will clean up air, manufacture clean transport,

plan to millions of trees, and we will introduce emission zones for

our major towns and cities to end the invisible smog that is killing

50,000 people per year. APPLAUSE Unlike the government, Labour will

embrace the circular economy, reducing consumption, recycling, and

regenerating energy from waste. Not turning it over to landfill. We all

have a part to play in Labour's recycling revolution. We also have a

poor relationship with food. Where it comes from, what we eat, how much

it really costs to produce, how much we need, how much we waste. A

quarter of adults are overweight or obese. Families put ?475 per year of

food straight in the bin. We will change that relationship with

education, labelling, health interventions and a new food

framework. This is how Labour will revive rural communities. Rowell

Britain is ageing fast. We need people to work the land and food

production. Labour will expose the opportunities of rural life in

science and research, as well as the unbeatable privilege and skilled

work of rearing stock and growing crops. Labour will protect rural

communities by making sure settlements hit the right balance

between farming and environmental measures, not segregating the

measures but integrating them, never forgetting smaller producers. We

will extend and protect environmental protections but will

not compromise production. And we will ensure that all the risks of

food production do not fall on farmers. With Labour, the grocery

code adjudicator would have extended powers to provide protections right

through the food production chain. Today I give a clear commitment to

farmers and food manufacturers. Under Labour, the workforce you have

recruited, invested in and trained from the EU, will have the right to

stay and keep their jobs. APPLAUSE It'll give you security. It will

give them security, and it will give their children security. We will

also establish a new agricultural sector Council to underpin all

issues related to employment, including wages across the sector.

Labour will revive rural communities through digitalisation, reaching all

with broadband and mobile coverage so businesses are not just

restricted to urban settings and a mobile workforce can relocate.

Labour will revive rural communities by addressing the rural transport

crisis, building homes local people need, and with better rural policing

we will serve rural Britain. At the forefront of many of our minds,

floods. I know the harm and cost flooding brings. Hundreds of

residents and businesses in my constituencies were devastated when

storm either struck. Many are still recovering. We will not stand by

when it comes to climate change. Labour will do everything we can to

reverse the impact on the world stage and here at home. Unlike the

government we will be getting on with implementing catchment

management, farmers, businesses and residents deserve better. And on

floods, the Fire and Rescue Service will have a statutory duty to deal

with flooding. Revive in urban communities, rural communities, and

coastal communities. I grew up in a coastal, semi-rural community and I

know the importance of fishing to local communities. To ensure fish

stock is sustainable and through maritime regeneration, we will

ensure a fair distribution of quotas to revive fishing communities. We

need to heartless the natural resources of the sea and coasts. --

we need to harness. As a country we have forgotten the wealth that

living by the coast rings us. Governments have let coastal

communities fade. No longer. Labour will put you back on the map again.

And another community that needs Labour, badges. -- badgers. When

every shred of evidence says bovine TB will be beaten with better

testing, vaccination and animal husbandry, a government that ignores

scientists, academics and its own experts and many farmers, and

instead turns it's frustration on a badger, has lost hope.

Animal welfare is at the heart of what we all care about, whether our

wildlife domestic league, commercially or internationally.

With Labour launching our consultation on animal welfare, we

want you to shape the policy for the future. But whether animals, birds

or our plant life, label will work to ensure that a whole biodiversity

system thrives again. For too long, government has made its starting

point rules and regulation. Labour's starting place is people,

communities and our amazing actual world. Labour is the party with a

fresh vision to revive our rural, coastal and urban communities.

Labour are the party for environment, food and rural affairs.

Thank you. APPLAUSE

Thank you very much. We will now take the debate on the transport

policy commission report which is pages 42 to 46 of the MPF report and

the priorities issued document on pages 102 to 106. Our first speaker

to move the report is I am Holland. -- Ryan Holland.

Thank you very much. It is normally when I get up to speak about women

and equality that everyone leaves the room expert Tony-macro! But this

time it is about transport. As co-convenor of Labour's transport

policy commission, I can report that Labour's transport policy unites us

all. I'm like this Tory government, we are united against rising fares,

the isolation of rural communities, cuts to services and safety, and

their divisive agenda of deregulation and privatisation. We

know, as the Labour Party, just how important transport is to all our

communities. Which is why, Labour opposes Tory plans to ban future

emission pool -- future municipal offer companies. And why Labour is

committed to bringing our railways into public ownership.

CHEERING It is just too important to be left

to the market alone. Transport connects us all. It is a public

service we all need, a major employer, vital to economic growth.

We know that we need at transport policy which supports public out and

we need transport to be included in planning and housing developments as

well. We want transport to be integrated, access affordable and

following the last debate as well, sustainable for people and for

freight, and all transport must be properly included. Buses as well as

trains, seaports as well as airports, lorries as well as cars,

and right at the heart of transport policy where they belong, walking

and cycling as well. We want transport hubs that work, that join

up, and we want the right decisions taken at the right level, the right

people at the table and democratic accountability as well. It is not

too much to ask for, it is what people want, and it is what they

want to vote for. Our policy commission has discussed how lack of

transport leads to loneliness and isolation. We had been alerted to

the need for community transport to include passengers with learning

disabilities as well. We have considered innovative and

imaginative transport solutions across councils, across Scotland and

Wales and in London and throughout Europe and we have looked at the

rest of the world. Cutting emissions, pedestrianisation, park

and ride, truck stops and more. And the impact of new technologies and

the EU referendum vote on transport and the environment and on jobs,

there are opportunities and there are problems. And we have learned

directly from the experience of transport workers themselves, as

Unite's assistant General Secretary for quarter of a million transport

workers and many of you here in the room across our movement, I would

like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to all transport workers for

the vital work they do. So in closing, I also want to thank

everyone who has made submissions. Commission members, our co-convener

's Andy McDonald and Lillian Greenwood and Adam Scott our policy

officer. This report is just a start. Transport can really make a

difference for the better. Let's make sure Labour transport policy

does just that. I move. APPLAUSE

Thanks, Diana. Can I see all those who want to talk in the debate,

please? Are there any women who want to

speak in the debate? I will take more contributions, we

will just call up these three for now.

Chair, conference, Tosh McDonald from Aslef, rising to support Labour

Party policy on transport. Labour's policy on public ownership of the

railways, and let's see really publicly owned, publicly accountable

transport policies, transport networks throughout Britain, the

road, the rail. Let's see municipal bus companies being run. Let's have

no more deregulation. Let's see it being run together with rail. I have

to be careful what I say, not because I am scared of being purged,

but because Southern have a couple of injunctions out against Aslef.

Rather than trying to sit down and discuss and talk about the way

forward in our industry, they decided to take our members on

industrially and take Aslef on in the courts. I'd tell you, we do

stand side-by-side in our colleagues -- with our colleagues in other

grades, in other unions being forced out of the industry. We do not

believe driver only operation is the way forward for the industry. We do

not believe closing booking offices and making people in booking

offices, platform staff redundant, is the way forward for the industry.

It has long been the policy of this great party at many conferences

about public ownership for the rail network. We have a leadership now

who believe in public ownership of the rail network. And we know that

it works. We saw five years of east coast in public ownership before

National Express and GN ER failed to run it privately. They could not

make enough profit but in five years as East Coast we made ?1 billion

back for the Exchequer. We invested ?40 million into East Coast. That

works. I am employed by Northern Rail, one of the big franchises in

the north. A strange thing happened to me on the 1st of April, at two

o'clock in the morning. I went from being employed by the Dutch state

role way to being employed by the German state railway. The Dutch

state railway sent me a pen through the post with a name on it saying

thank you for the 12 years of blood, sweat and toil that you have given

them. If you believe that, you will believe anything. The German state

railway sent me an LAN yard so that when I am on a train people would

know who I belong to. You will see me with an Aslef lanyard on. That is

who I belong to. The one thing I will say is we have got the policy,

we have won the argument and public ownership on the passenger side, we

need to win that argument also won the freight sector in transport. We

have seen the doubling of tax on coal. The end of coal being moved

around the country. We have seen train drivers being made redundant

for the first time since British Rail days. The German state railway,

the big owner of Britain was that freight now. When the downturn came

in 2008, they moved freight drivers into the passenger sector because

they could. The same company made drivers surplus because they were

not all one row away. So let's not just the publicly owned railways,

but let's see a publicly owned railway that works together in

conjunction, freight, passenger, let's do it all together.

APPLAUSE And when we have a publicly owned

railway, publicly owned buses, when we have a transport system

integrated that we can all be proud of, let's let pensioners travel

free. Let's let disabled people travel free like the Freedom Riders

in South Yorkshire are fighting for. Let's let children travel free as

well, right across the age spectrum. Publicly owned transport is the way

forward, publicly owned, publicly, hours, nationalised. It is not a

dirty word. It works and I would like to see it working for the

utilities as well. Thank you, comrades.

I was just going to come up and say I move. James Mitchell, Unite the

union. Speaking on the report in respect of the issue on buses. I am

a bus worker and I work in London and I am speaking on the bus service

there today. Buses are the most frequently used and most dramatic

form of public transport, depended on by all parts of society,

including young and elderly. They are lifeline to our communities. The

bus service will attempt to re-regulate the bus market which we

do welcome. Franchising would allow some local transport authorities to

determine, for example, the frequency and standard of service

and fares. But we have concerns. As a bus worker myself, I know

first-hand the disaster of privatisation and deregulation in

the bus industry. Polls show that a majority of the British public think

local authorities should be allowed to set up public bus companies.

Research finds we should save ?506 million the year by bringing buses

outside London into public ownership. Yet, the bus service bill

includes a clause that would ban councils in England from setting up

new municipal bus companies. That clause should be removed, and we

welcome Labour's commitment to opposing it.

APPLAUSE If the Government is genuinely

interested in local authorities being able to meet locals' needs, we

believe municipal live nation needs to be available to all local

authorities, but there are other changes concerning bus workers that

should be made in the bill. First, trade unions should be included as

statutory consultees as workers' representatives. Unions denied in

the bus industry, or density in the bus industry is among the highest in

the economy. Bus workers deserve to be represented as well as the bus

passengers who have already been given statutory consultees status.

Secondly, the bill does not appear to offer protection for new

employees who are not covered by the TP pension protection in the bill.

This could lead to operators bidding for contracts and driving down costs

by cutting terms and conditions for further employees with risks to

further service delivery. Unite members, and we represent 90,000 bus

workers, have been in the forefront of trying to repair the damage

caused by bus deregulation. We need Labour to be in the forefront of

challenging any threats to bus services in the bus service bill.

And we need a Labour government to deliver a strong integrated and

sustainable transport strategy that recognises the importance of

transport and the value of transport workers to society, to the economy

and to the environment. Because let's make one thing clear, this

country cannot move without us. I move.

APPLAUSE