:00:25. > :00:26.Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the leader of the Liberal Democrats,
:00:27. > :00:44.Tim Farron. Well, thank you very much. You may
:00:45. > :00:53.have worked this out for yourselves, but I'm now the longest serving
:00:54. > :01:00.leader of a UK wide political party. I've seen off all the heavyweights,
:01:01. > :01:09.David Cameron, Nigel Farage, Natalie Bennett, Roy Hodgson, Mel and Sue.
:01:10. > :01:20.Liberal Democrats are good at lots of things but the thing we are best
:01:21. > :01:25.that is confounding expectations. APPLAUSE. We were expected to shy
:01:26. > :01:31.away from taking power but we stepped up and we made a difference.
:01:32. > :01:35.We were expected to disappear after the 2015 election but we bounced
:01:36. > :01:43.back. We are almost twice the size we were then. We've gained more than
:01:44. > :01:51.twice as many council seats as the other parties. I've been doing a bit
:01:52. > :02:03.of confounding expectations myself. You see, I am away northern
:02:04. > :02:09.working-class middle-aged bloke. According to the experts, I should
:02:10. > :02:13.have voted leave. May I assure you I did not. But friends of mine did.
:02:14. > :02:24.People in my family did. I've spent most of my adult life, working and
:02:25. > :02:29.raising a family in Westmorland. I'm massively protocol at my home. But I
:02:30. > :02:33.grew up in Preston, where I learned my values and was raised in a loving
:02:34. > :02:36.family, where there was not much money around at a time when it
:02:37. > :02:41.appeared that the Thatcher government seemed utterly determined
:02:42. > :02:43.to put every adult I knew out of work and on the scrapheap. But our
:02:44. > :02:51.people and community were not for breaking. The great city of Preston
:02:52. > :02:55.is. It is proud of its. Ambitious about the future. It is the
:02:56. > :03:02.birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, the police were Cromwell
:03:03. > :03:13.one the most important battle in the Civil War. Which links rather neatly
:03:14. > :03:19.to the referendum. Preston voted 53% to leave. In some parts of
:03:20. > :03:25.Lancashire, two thirds of people voted to leave. I respect those
:03:26. > :03:28.people and if you will forgive me, they are my people. I am still
:03:29. > :03:42.utterly convinced that Britain should remain in Europe. I was
:03:43. > :03:46.convinced on the 21st of June. I will continue to be not because I'm
:03:47. > :03:56.a starry eyed pro-European with order to joy as my ringtone. Because
:03:57. > :04:02.I am patriarch and I believe it is in our national interest to be in.
:04:03. > :04:08.For jobs, to stop terrorism, to catch criminals, to be a good
:04:09. > :04:13.neighbour, to stand tall, to Stanhope Road, tomato. Above all
:04:14. > :04:18.because I believe Britain is an open, tolerant and United country,
:04:19. > :04:33.the opposite of the bleak vision of Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson.
:04:34. > :04:36.Britain did not become Great Britain on fear, division and isolation and
:04:37. > :04:41.there is no country called Little Britain. There is nothing so
:04:42. > :04:50.dangerous as nationalism and cheap identity politics. But there is
:04:51. > :04:56.nothing wrong with identity. I am very proud of my identity. I am a
:04:57. > :05:00.Lancastrian, I am a northerner, I am English, I am British, I am
:05:01. > :05:06.European, I am all of those things, none of them contradict one another
:05:07. > :05:14.and no campaign of lies, hate and fear will rob me of Will.I.Am.
:05:15. > :05:29.-- Rob me of who I am. But we lost. We lost, didn't we. I was born in
:05:30. > :05:35.Preston but the football mad half of my family is from Blackburn, so I am
:05:36. > :05:40.Blackburn Rovers fan. It's cheap and disappointment is in my blood. So
:05:41. > :05:45.those who say I'm a bad loser are quite wrong. I am a great loser.
:05:46. > :05:51.I've had loads of practice. But the referendum result was like a
:05:52. > :05:55.bereavement. I was devastated, I am devastated. The Liberal Democrats
:05:56. > :06:04.worked harder than anybody else in that campaign, we put blood, sweat
:06:05. > :06:11.and tears into it. Cameron and Osborne churned out statistics. It
:06:12. > :06:18.is easy to say after such an narrow result that we are a divided country
:06:19. > :06:22.but in many ways we are, and a split is just a manifestation of that
:06:23. > :06:28.division. Britain today is far too unequal. There is too much access
:06:29. > :06:33.and too much poverty. Too much wealth in some parts of the country
:06:34. > :06:41.and too little in others. A couple of weeks after the referendum I went
:06:42. > :06:44.back to Preston and we were at the church hall for a public meeting.
:06:45. > :06:48.When my office booked the place they had no idea that it actually meant
:06:49. > :06:54.something quite deeply to me personally because the last time I'd
:06:55. > :06:58.been in that church, I was therefore my Nan's funeral. The last time I
:06:59. > :07:03.walked out of it was as a pall bearer for her. I was in a
:07:04. > :07:10.reflective mood when I began the meeting. There were perhaps 70 or 80
:07:11. > :07:15.people there and most of them had voted to leave. Most of them fitted
:07:16. > :07:21.my demographic. They were not diehards mostly. I reckon three
:07:22. > :07:27.quarters of them could have been persuaded to vote remain up until
:07:28. > :07:31.two weeks before. One guy said the clincher was George Osborne's
:07:32. > :07:35.punishment budget. When he said that, pretty much the whole room
:07:36. > :07:39.agreed with him. There was near universal acknowledgement that this
:07:40. > :07:44.had been the pivotal moment. Here was this guy who they did not really
:07:45. > :07:48.like and who they felt did not really like them appearing on the
:07:49. > :07:53.TV, bullying them into doing something they were not sure they
:07:54. > :07:57.wanted to do and they reacted. If you base your political strategy on
:07:58. > :08:08.divide and rule do not be surprised if the people you have divided
:08:09. > :08:14.decide to give you a kicking. I don't blame the people in that
:08:15. > :08:17.church hall for their anger, I share it, I am angry, and I am angry at
:08:18. > :08:22.the calculating forces of darkness who care nothing for the working
:08:23. > :08:25.people of this country, nothing to the NHS, nothing for those who
:08:26. > :08:32.struggle to get by, and who exploited that anger to exit from
:08:33. > :08:41.Europe with a move that will hurt the poorest hardest. The people in
:08:42. > :08:51.that church hall in Preston voted differently to me but I thought we
:08:52. > :08:53.are on the same side here. We see a Westminster and Whitehall centric
:08:54. > :09:02.approach from politicians and the media, treating the provinces as
:09:03. > :09:05.curiosities. Those people see a divide between those who win and
:09:06. > :09:09.lose. When the country is looming they do not see the benefit and when
:09:10. > :09:15.the country is in decline the first to be hit. At that meeting they
:09:16. > :09:19.spoke about low wages, add housing, strains on hospitals and schools.
:09:20. > :09:24.The problems were not caused by the European Union, they were caused by
:09:25. > :09:29.powerful people who took them for granted, by politicians who spent
:09:30. > :09:34.decades chasing cheap headlines and short-term success for their own
:09:35. > :09:47.political careers and never acting in the long-term interest of the
:09:48. > :09:55.whole country. Those people in that room wanted to give the powerful
:09:56. > :09:58.kicking so they did. I wanted Britain to remain in the European
:09:59. > :10:05.Union and I still do but we've got to listen and understand why
:10:06. > :10:11.millions of people thought it to leave. So I want to do two things. I
:10:12. > :10:15.want to persuade those who voted leave that we understand and respect
:10:16. > :10:20.their reasons but we are determined to take head-on the things about
:10:21. > :10:23.written the things that have left so many people feeling ignored and I
:10:24. > :10:34.want to give them their say over what comes next.
:10:35. > :10:48.So, Theresa May says Brexit means Brexit. Thanks for clearing that up.
:10:49. > :10:53.Absolute genius. Nearly three months since the referendum and we have a
:10:54. > :10:58.government with new departments, new titles, a new Prime Minister but no
:10:59. > :11:05.plan, no vision, no clue and no leadership. She did so little in the
:11:06. > :11:06.remain campaign that she actually made it look like Jeremy Corbyn pool
:11:07. > :11:15.the shift. Today, the be scens of leadership
:11:16. > :11:19.from the Prime Minister is astonishing. The be scens of clarity
:11:20. > :11:24.as to what will happen to our country is a disgrace. Three months
:11:25. > :11:28.on, it is not good enough to have brain storming sessions at Chequers
:11:29. > :11:33.will investment and jobs steadily bleed away, while our standing and
:11:34. > :11:37.relevance in the world diminishes to the direct proportion to the number
:11:38. > :11:42.of foreign visits by Boris Johnson, while British industry is crying out
:11:43. > :11:46.for direction, for certainty for any idea what lies ahead, make no
:11:47. > :11:49.mistake, the Conservative Party has now lost the right to call itself
:11:50. > :11:56.the party of business. It has lost the right to call itself the party
:11:57. > :12:07.of the free market. APPLAUSE
:12:08. > :12:13.The Conservative Party no longer supports business, no longer
:12:14. > :12:18.understands the need for calm, economic pragmatism, but instead
:12:19. > :12:22.pursues a Nationalist, protectionist fantasies of the Brexit
:12:23. > :12:25.fundamentalists who have won the day indeed. My message to business in
:12:26. > :12:32.this country - if you are backing today the Conservative Party, you
:12:33. > :12:38.are funding your own funeral. There is now...
:12:39. > :12:43.APPLAUSE There is now only one party that
:12:44. > :12:47.believes in British business - large and small - that believes in
:12:48. > :12:50.entrepreneurship and innovation, that is the Liberal Democrats. We
:12:51. > :13:03.are the free market, free trade, probusiness party now.
:13:04. > :13:07.CHEERING AND APPLAUSE So Theresa May, please tell us what
:13:08. > :13:11.Brexit really means. You have had three months. You are the Prime
:13:12. > :13:18.Minister. Stop dithering. What is your plan?
:13:19. > :13:22.APPLAUSE The Liberal Democrats have a plan.
:13:23. > :13:28.We know what we want and we know where we want to take our country.
:13:29. > :13:33.When Theresa May does agree a deal with the European Union, we want the
:13:34. > :13:39.people to decide. Not a rerun of the referendum. Not a second referendum
:13:40. > :13:43.but a referendum on the terms of the as yet unknown Brexit deal. If the
:13:44. > :13:54.Tories say, we've had enough referendums, I say - you started it.
:13:55. > :13:58.LAUGHTER We had a democratic vote in June. We
:13:59. > :14:03.cannot start this process with democracy and end it with a stitch
:14:04. > :14:06.up. If we trusted the people to vet for our departure, then we must
:14:07. > :14:20.trust the people to vote for our destination.
:14:21. > :14:25.APPLAUSE Millions of people have not been
:14:26. > :14:29.well served by generations of politicians, who put their own
:14:30. > :14:33.short-term political needs before the long-term interests of the
:14:34. > :14:37.people they were supposed to be serving and politics is about
:14:38. > :14:45.service. David Cameron's handling of our relationship with Europe is a
:14:46. > :14:49.master class in selfish, swallow, short-termism, party before country
:14:50. > :14:53.at every turn. The Conservatives risked our country's very future,
:14:54. > :14:58.the life chances of millions of our young people all in a failed attempt
:14:59. > :15:04.to unite their fractured party. David Cameron risked our future and
:15:05. > :15:09.he lost. While he waltzes off to riches and retirement, our country
:15:10. > :15:12.is plunged into economic uncertainty, insecurity and
:15:13. > :15:15.irrelevance on the world stage. The Tories took the gamble, but Britain
:15:16. > :15:26.will pay the price. What an absolute disgrace.
:15:27. > :15:31.APPLAUSE But their short-termism does not
:15:32. > :15:37.stop with Brexit. Look at their handling of the refugee crisis. The
:15:38. > :15:45.biggest crisis facing our continent since the Second World War. They did
:15:46. > :15:49.nothing to help right until the point, that they thought it was in
:15:50. > :15:55.their short-term interest to act. When the photo of the body of
:15:56. > :16:00.three-year-old Alan Kurdy face down in the stand was on the front page
:16:01. > :16:04.of every newspaper. The people were shocked, heartbroken. They demanded
:16:05. > :16:10.action and the Tories did the bare minimum. But since then, the front
:16:11. > :16:16.pages have moved on. They have barely lifted a finger. Now there
:16:17. > :16:20.are some on the centre left who are squeamish about patriotism, but not
:16:21. > :16:27.me. I am proud of my country. I hate it when my Government makes me
:16:28. > :16:33.ashamed. When I was on the island of Lesbos last year, after we helped to
:16:34. > :16:37.London a flimsy boat of desperate refugees, I want handing out bottles
:16:38. > :16:41.of water alongside other volunteers. A few yards away was an aid worker
:16:42. > :16:47.from New Zealand, who knew I was a British politician. She looked at me
:16:48. > :16:53.and she shouted, "Stop handing out bottles of water and take some F-ing
:16:54. > :16:58.refugees because that is how Britain is seen - mean and not pulling its
:16:59. > :17:02.weight. Maybe that doesn't bother some people, but it bothers me.
:17:03. > :17:04.Because I am proud of who we are. I am proud of who we are.
:17:05. > :17:21.APPLAUSE I am proud of Britain. We are always
:17:22. > :17:26.a sanctuary for the desperate, the abused and persecuted. I will not
:17:27. > :17:29.stand by and watch my country become smaller, meaner and more selfish.
:17:30. > :17:41.That is not Britain. We are better than that. A year on, a year on, the
:17:42. > :17:45.crisis is worse. It is not better, not that you would ever know it. We
:17:46. > :17:49.don't see those desperate families in the media every day now. We
:17:50. > :17:54.aren't confronted so often with the knowledge that they are just like us
:17:55. > :17:57.and that they need our help. Much to the Government's delight, compassion
:17:58. > :18:02.fatigue has set in. The news has moved on. We've had Brexit, a new
:18:03. > :18:07.Prime Minister, a Labour leadership contest and none of that makes a
:18:08. > :18:10.blind bit of difference to a nine-year-old kid stuck alone and
:18:11. > :18:14.hungry and cold in a camp in northern Greece. Or to the family
:18:15. > :18:17.this morning fleeing their burning camp. The Government wants us to
:18:18. > :18:21.forget this crisis. It's too difficult to solve, too risky to
:18:22. > :18:25.take a lead, we have not forgotten. We will not forget. Those children
:18:26. > :18:32.could be our children. How dare the Government abandon them?
:18:33. > :19:03.Short-termism in politics goes back a lot further than just this
:19:04. > :19:08.Government. You've got to look at the way of Conservatives in the 80s
:19:09. > :19:13.and Labour in the 90s treated the banks, sucking up, deregulating,
:19:14. > :19:16.encouraging a culture of risk and greed instead of building an economy
:19:17. > :19:20.that served the long-term needs of the whole country. They put all
:19:21. > :19:25.their eggs in one basket, the banks. And for a while, things were good
:19:26. > :19:27.for Britain. Britain boomed. They didn't invest in modern
:19:28. > :19:30.infrastructure that could benefit the north of England or Scotland or
:19:31. > :19:33.Wales or the Midlands or the south-west. They didn't invest in
:19:34. > :19:38.the skills the next generation would need. They didn't invest in our
:19:39. > :19:42.manufacturing base. All they did was allow the banks to take bigger and
:19:43. > :19:46.bigger risks, build up bigger and bigger liabilities and when the
:19:47. > :19:51.banks failed, we were all left paying the price. In lost jobs,
:19:52. > :19:56.lower wages, in debt, in cuts to public services. Short-term
:19:57. > :20:01.thinking, long-term consequences. Nowhere is this danger posed more by
:20:02. > :20:06.short-term thinking greater than with the future of our national
:20:07. > :20:10.Health Service. Can you remember a time, when there were not reports on
:20:11. > :20:14.the news, almost daily, saying the National Health Service was in
:20:15. > :20:17.crisis? For years, politicians have chosen to paper over the cracks
:20:18. > :20:21.rather than come clean about what it will really take, what it will
:20:22. > :20:24.really cost, not just to keep the NHS afloat, but to give people the
:20:25. > :20:33.care and treatment that they deserve. That means finally bringing
:20:34. > :20:42.the NHS and social care together. APPLAUSE
:20:43. > :20:45.In my grandpa's journey through Alzheimer's, he had good care in the
:20:46. > :20:49.home he spent his last couple of years in. But when he first became
:20:50. > :20:56.ill, after the death of my grandma, the place he was put in was
:20:57. > :21:02.despicable - lonely, unclean, uncaring. I can still smell it now.
:21:03. > :21:05.It's a few years back, but as I fought to get him out of that place
:21:06. > :21:08.and into somewhere better, it occurred to me this was a standard
:21:09. > :21:11.experience for too many older people and for their loved ones. Maybe some
:21:12. > :21:17.people can just shrug and accept this, but I can't. I've seen enough
:21:18. > :21:20.terrible old people's homes and I've seen enough people who've had to
:21:21. > :21:24.wait forever for treatment, particularly people who don't have
:21:25. > :21:27.someone to fight their corner. It is not civilised to let people slip
:21:28. > :21:31.through the net. It is not civilised towards the people who love them,
:21:32. > :21:35.who go out of their way to try and make their lives easier, when
:21:36. > :21:40.everything else is making their lives harder, it's not civilised and
:21:41. > :21:44.it is not good enough. I worry about this, not just for the NHS, in
:21:45. > :21:49.general, but if I'm honest, for myself and my family. We are, if
:21:50. > :21:52.we're all lucky, going to grow old. We all deserve to know that no
:21:53. > :22:01.matter what happens, we will be cared for properly and treated with
:22:02. > :22:05.dignity and respect. If the great liberal William Beveridge had
:22:06. > :22:09.written his blueprint today when people are living to the age that's
:22:10. > :22:12.renow, there's no doubt he would have proposed a national health and
:22:13. > :22:16.care service. He would have been appalled about the child who has to
:22:17. > :22:21.lock after their disabled parent or the hundreds of thousands of women
:22:22. > :22:25.across the country who are unable to work because they are
:22:26. > :22:30.disproportionately the care givers. Let's today decide to do what
:22:31. > :22:35.Beveridge would do. Let's create that national health and care
:22:36. > :22:46.service. APPLAUSE
:22:47. > :22:50.And let's stop being complacent about our NHS. Of course, we have a
:22:51. > :22:54.brilliant NHS, best staff in the world, free care at the point of
:22:55. > :23:00.access, but we are spending far less on it every year than we need to. Of
:23:01. > :23:05.the 15 original EU countries, including Spain, Greece and
:23:06. > :23:09.Portugal, we rank behind them in 13th place when it comes to health
:23:10. > :23:13.spending. It would take tens of billions of pounds a year just to
:23:14. > :23:19.bring ourselves up to their average. It is not good enough. So we need to
:23:20. > :23:24.face the truth, the hard truth that the NHS needs more money, a lot more
:23:25. > :23:28.money. Not just to stop it lurching from crisis to crisis, but so it can
:23:29. > :23:32.meet the needs and challenges it will face in the years ahead, so
:23:33. > :23:40.that it can be the service we all need for the long-term.
:23:41. > :23:44.APPLAUSE That means having the most Frank and
:23:45. > :23:51.honest conversation about the NHS that the country has ever had. What
:23:52. > :24:00.Beveridge did for the Twentieth Century we must do for the 21st
:24:01. > :24:05.century. In Norman lamb we have the politician who is most trusted and
:24:06. > :24:17.respected by the health profession and deservedly so.
:24:18. > :24:21.CHEERING Norman and I are clear. We are not going to join the ranks of
:24:22. > :24:25.politician who's are too scared of losing votes to face up to what
:24:26. > :24:29.really needs to be done. We will go to the British people with the
:24:30. > :24:34.results of our Beveridge commission and offer a new deal for health and
:24:35. > :24:39.social care, honest about the cost, bold about the solution and if the
:24:40. > :24:43.only way to fund a Health Service that meets the needs of everyone is
:24:44. > :24:48.to raise taxes, Liberal Democrats will raise taxes.
:24:49. > :25:05.APPLAUSE Short-term thinking is the scourge
:25:06. > :25:09.of our education system too. Governments have designed an
:25:10. > :25:12.education system, especially at primary school level, focussed not
:25:13. > :25:15.on developing young people for later life, for work or further study but
:25:16. > :25:20.on getting them through the wrong kinds of tests. It's not about
:25:21. > :25:25.whether kids can solve problems or converse in other languages or even
:25:26. > :25:29.their own, it's about statistics, measurements, league tables. Instead
:25:30. > :25:34.of building an education system we have built a quality assurance
:25:35. > :25:38.industry. It is no wonder so many teachers are frustrated. No wonder
:25:39. > :25:43.so many leave the profession. Parents deserve to know that their
:25:44. > :25:47.child's teacher is focussed on teaching. Teachers are
:25:48. > :25:51.professionally under valued, driven towards meeting targets instead of
:25:52. > :25:53.developing young minds. As ever, it is the poorest kids who suffer the
:25:54. > :26:21.most. We introduced the pupil premium.
:26:22. > :26:28.This year, more than 2 million children will benefit from that
:26:29. > :26:32.policy and I am so proud of that and of Kirsty Williams, who is making a
:26:33. > :26:38.real difference, everyday, to the lives of children across Wales. The
:26:39. > :26:45.pupil premium is not safe in the hands of Tories but it is safe in
:26:46. > :27:02.her hands. That is what happens when you get into power. We need to do so
:27:03. > :27:16.very much more. I talk about breaking down the barriers. I want
:27:17. > :27:19.children to be opening their minds, not just passing tests. I want
:27:20. > :27:26.schools to be places where people are inspired to learn, not stressed
:27:27. > :27:34.out by test. I want to end the system of SATs in primary school, a
:27:35. > :27:39.pressure that weighs heavily on children as young as six. What are
:27:40. > :27:44.we doing wasting our children's education and the teacher talents on
:27:45. > :27:51.ticking boxes? What are we doing in 2016 threatening to relegate 80% of
:27:52. > :27:53.children to education's second division by returning to the 11
:27:54. > :28:15.plus? Every child wants to send their kids
:28:16. > :28:27.to a good school. That's probably right. Every parent, I mean. We need
:28:28. > :28:33.better schools for all children, not just those who can pass an exam at
:28:34. > :28:39.the age of 11. We cannot leave children behind. Over the last 40
:28:40. > :28:50.years, millions of children, me included, had been liberated by
:28:51. > :28:52.comprehensive education. Those kids would have been consigned to
:28:53. > :28:59.second-class status in a secondary modern. It's important for us to
:29:00. > :29:09.remember who made that happen. It was Shirley Williams. It was Shirley
:29:10. > :29:14.Williams. Let's be clear. Defending education for all is not just about
:29:15. > :29:27.being a liberal but it is personal. Surely, we will defend your legacy.
:29:28. > :29:33.Assessment is vital, exams are important, but let's have assessment
:29:34. > :29:38.that leads to a love of learning and breadth of learning that is relevant
:29:39. > :29:42.to what children will need next at school. There is nothing more
:29:43. > :29:50.long-term than the education of a child that stays with them for their
:29:51. > :30:04.entire life. Let's end the box ticking and trust our teachers.
:30:05. > :30:14.One thing you cannot accuse Jeremy Corbyn is thinking. His lot have
:30:15. > :30:19.waited over 100 years for this. Finally, they've taken over the
:30:20. > :30:25.Labour Party. Blake all good Marxists, they've seized the means
:30:26. > :30:31.of production and even the nurseries, opening branches of
:30:32. > :30:46.momentum kids, otherwise known as child Labour. Or my favourite, tiny
:30:47. > :30:52.trots. The Liberal Democrats have never had any trouble with entry is
:30:53. > :30:59.unless you include the Quakers. My problem with Jeremy Corbyn is
:31:00. > :31:03.nothing personal. I used to see him quite a lot. In the Blair years he
:31:04. > :31:07.was always in our lobby. But my problem with him is holding the
:31:08. > :31:12.government to account is not a priority for him, winning elections
:31:13. > :31:16.is a distraction, unless it is his own. It is baffling to see the
:31:17. > :31:22.Labour Party arguing about whether or not they should be even trying to
:31:23. > :31:25.win an election. Can you imagine that? The Liberal Democrats spent
:31:26. > :31:31.decades out of power and then when the opportunity finally came in
:31:32. > :31:35.incredibly difficult circumstances, when the easiest thing would have
:31:36. > :31:39.been to walk away, we chose to take power because we knew the point of
:31:40. > :31:45.politics is to put principles into action, to get things done. Not just
:31:46. > :31:49.to feel good but to do good. We took power and we got crushed. So you
:31:50. > :31:58.could forgive us for thinking twice about whether it is really worth it.
:31:59. > :32:02.But of course it is worth it. Having fine principles but no power is
:32:03. > :32:06.turning your back on the people who need you the most and letting
:32:07. > :32:11.someone else win the day. We have huge crises in Britain today, in the
:32:12. > :32:15.NHS, the economy, our relationship with the rest of the world, we have
:32:16. > :32:18.a Tory government with the support of less than a quarter of the
:32:19. > :32:26.electorate, led by Prime Minister nobody elected that has plunged our
:32:27. > :32:30.country into chaos. They spent a year going for the working poor,
:32:31. > :32:35.refugees and junior doctors and what have the Labour Party been doing,
:32:36. > :32:39.going from each other. Instead of standing up to the Conservatives
:32:40. > :32:42.they were sitting on the floor of half empty Virgin Trains. Maybe
:32:43. > :32:49.Jeremy Corbyn thinks there are more important things but for millions of
:32:50. > :32:54.people desperate for a properly funded home and an NHS, they cannot
:32:55. > :33:04.wait. How dire the official opposition abandon them?
:33:05. > :33:16.Whichever party you supported at the last election, we know that Britain
:33:17. > :33:21.needs a decent, united opposition. If they've left the stage then we
:33:22. > :33:28.will take the stage. People say this is a great opportunity but this is
:33:29. > :33:31.more than that, it is duty. Britain needs a strong opposition and the
:33:32. > :33:44.Liberal Democrats will be that strong opposition. Do you ever
:33:45. > :33:50.listen to these Labour people arguing amongst themselves, throwing
:33:51. > :33:55.around the word playwright as if it is the most offensive insult in the
:33:56. > :34:11.world? Some of them refer to Gordon Brown as a playwright. -- Blairite.
:34:12. > :34:16.Just to reassure you, I am not a Blairite. I was very proud to march
:34:17. > :34:20.against his illegal invasion of Iraq. I was proud to stand with
:34:21. > :34:25.Charles Kennedy and I was incredibly proud this summer when his brave
:34:26. > :34:36.stance was vindicated in the Chilcott report. I was proud to be
:34:37. > :34:44.in the party that stood up against his government's attempts to stamp
:34:45. > :34:49.on civil liberties. I was proud of Vince Cable as he called out Tony
:34:50. > :34:57.Blair's government's deregulation of the banks. But there is more to his
:34:58. > :35:10.legacy than that. I kind of see Tony Blair the way I see the Stone Roses.
:35:11. > :35:14.I preferred the early work. His government gave us the national
:35:15. > :35:20.minimum wage and working tax credits. It gave us NHS investment
:35:21. > :35:27.and a school building programme. I disagree with him a lot but will not
:35:28. > :35:31.criticise him for those things. I respect him for believing that the
:35:32. > :35:35.point of being in politics is to get stuff done and you can only get
:35:36. > :35:44.stuff done if you win otherwise you're letting your opponent get
:35:45. > :35:49.stuff done instead. In carbon's -- Jeremy Corbyn's rank they like to
:35:50. > :35:52.talk about betrayal. There is no greater way to let down the people
:35:53. > :36:07.you represent than to let your opponent win. I believe in working
:36:08. > :36:12.across party lines. I'm prepared to work with people of all parties and
:36:13. > :36:17.none if it will make lives better. But I could not work with Jeremy
:36:18. > :36:23.Corbyn because he would never work with me. I wanted to work with him
:36:24. > :36:31.during the referendum but he would not share a platform. Isolation was
:36:32. > :36:36.more important to him. Labour is having a leadership contest in a few
:36:37. > :36:40.days. Maybe Jeremy Corbyn will not be their leader, in which case it
:36:41. > :36:46.will be on Smith. I don't know Owen Smith all that well. But unlike
:36:47. > :36:51.Jeremy Corbyn he is certainly on our side of the European debate. If he
:36:52. > :36:59.wins I want to make it very clear to him that I am open two working
:37:00. > :37:03.together. There are others I would work with. There is a contest
:37:04. > :37:09.happening for the cheer of the home affairs select committee. It's an
:37:10. > :37:14.important post but with no offence, it's kind of a retirement job. Among
:37:15. > :37:25.the contenders are Yvette Cooper, Caroline Flint, and Chuka Umunna.
:37:26. > :37:32.What are these people doing jostling for position in a sideshow? The
:37:33. > :37:37.government needs an opposition and progressives should put our
:37:38. > :37:52.differences aside to hold them to account. If Jeremy Corbyn does win?
:37:53. > :37:57.Where does that leave us? A conservative Brexit government
:37:58. > :38:03.without us to restrain them. Reckless, divisive, prepared to risk
:38:04. > :38:09.our future prosperity for their own short-term gain. A Labour Party that
:38:10. > :38:16.has forgotten the people they are there to stand up for. Blatantly
:38:17. > :38:20.unfit with no plan for the economy or the country, led by a man who is
:38:21. > :38:25.obsessed with fighting the battles of the past and ignoring the damage
:38:26. > :38:32.this government is doing to our future. There is a hall in the
:38:33. > :38:35.centre of British politics and a huge opportunity for a party that
:38:36. > :38:47.will stand up for an open, tolerant and united Britain. A rallying
:38:48. > :38:51.point, for people who believe in evidence, moderation, who want fact
:38:52. > :38:56.and not fear. Who want responsibility and not recklessness.
:38:57. > :39:01.Who want to believe somebody is looking out for the good of the
:39:02. > :39:06.country. There is a hall looking to be filled by a real opposition so we
:39:07. > :39:09.will stand up to the Conservative Government. If Labour want to be the
:39:10. > :39:28.opposition Britain needs then we will be.
:39:29. > :39:44.That is what we are fighting for. We will rebuild this Britain if we win.
:39:45. > :39:47.Here is my plan. We will dramatically rebuild our strength in
:39:48. > :39:52.local government deliberately, passionately, effectively. Winning
:39:53. > :39:55.council seats is our chance to serve our communities, to prove liberalism
:39:56. > :40:00.into practice. Liberals believe in local government, I believe in local
:40:01. > :40:08.government, every council seat matters to me. My challenge to you
:40:09. > :40:09.is to pick award and when it. I will build the revival on victories in
:40:10. > :40:22.every council in this country. And my plan includes growing,
:40:23. > :40:26.continuing to grow our membership, our party has grown up 80% in 14
:40:27. > :40:31.months. But that is merely a staging post. We will continue to build a
:40:32. > :40:34.movement that can win at every level. I will lead the Liberal
:40:35. > :40:38.Democrats as the only party committed to Britain in Europe with
:40:39. > :40:44.a plan to let the people decide our future in a referendum on the as yet
:40:45. > :40:50.non-existent Tory Brexit deal. I will lead the only party with a plan
:40:51. > :40:54.for our country's long-term future - green, healthy, well educated,
:40:55. > :40:59.outward looking, prosperous, secure. I will build the open, tolerant,
:41:00. > :41:03.united party that can be the Opposition to this Conservative
:41:04. > :41:07.Government on NHS under funding, on divisive grammar schools, on attacks
:41:08. > :41:10.on British business, I will the Liberal Democrats to be ready to
:41:11. > :41:14.fill the gap where an official Opposition should be. I want the
:41:15. > :41:26.Liberal Democrats to be the strong, united Opposition.
:41:27. > :41:33.APPLAUSE I want us to be audacious, ambitious
:41:34. > :41:37.and accept the call of history. A Severnery ago, the -- century ago,
:41:38. > :41:40.the liberals lost touch with their purpose and their voters and Labour
:41:41. > :41:47.took their chance and became Britain's largest progressive party.
:41:48. > :41:50.Today, I want us utterly ready and determined to take our chance as the
:41:51. > :41:54.tectonic plates shift again. I did not accept the leadership of our
:41:55. > :41:59.party so that we could look on from the side lines. I did it because our
:42:00. > :42:04.destiny is to once again become one of the great parties of Government,
:42:05. > :42:09.to be the place where liberals and progressives of all kinds damager to
:42:10. > :42:12.provide the strong opposition that this country needs. That is my plan.
:42:13. > :42:25.I need you to join me to fight for it.
:42:26. > :42:32.APPLAUSE Let's be clear, we are talking about
:42:33. > :42:37.doing a Trudeaux. He's better looking than me. He's got a tattoo.
:42:38. > :42:40.I can fix one of those things, if you insist.
:42:41. > :42:44.LAUGHTER I would not get into a boxing ring
:42:45. > :42:56.with him, but I reckon I could have him in a fell race. But the point
:42:57. > :43:00.is, his liberals leapt over an inadequate Opposition to defeat a
:43:01. > :43:10.ring right government. Do you fancy doing that? Because I do. I do. Some
:43:11. > :43:16.people will say steady on. You've only got eight MPs. Look, maybe for
:43:17. > :43:20.the time being, some might be sceptical about us doing a Trudeaux,
:43:21. > :43:24.but let's agree we can do an ash down, to take this party from a
:43:25. > :43:29.handful of seats to dozens of seats, from the fringe to the centre, from
:43:30. > :43:34.irrelevance to importance. What would doing an Ashdown mean for
:43:35. > :43:37.Britain today? No-one believes whether the boundary changes happen
:43:38. > :43:42.or not that Labour will gain a single seat from the Tories. Math
:43:43. > :43:46.matically the SNP could only possibly take one seat off the
:43:47. > :43:52.Tories. But there are dozens of Tory seats in our reach, which means that
:43:53. > :43:56.the only thing standing between the Conservatives and a majority at the
:43:57. > :44:00.next election is the revival of the Liberal Democrats, so let's make it
:44:01. > :44:09.happen. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
:44:10. > :44:17.And we have to make it happen. Because there is a new battle
:44:18. > :44:22.emerging here and across the whole western world, between the forces of
:44:23. > :44:26.tolerant liberalism and intolerant, close-minded nationalism. Of all the
:44:27. > :44:30.things that depressed me, the morning after the referendum, was
:44:31. > :44:35.seeing Nigel Farage celebrating. That really took the biscuit. Here
:44:36. > :44:39.is a man who fought a campaign that pandered to our worst instincts,
:44:40. > :44:46.fear, anxiety, suspicion of others. And he is not alone. His victory was
:44:47. > :44:51.welcomed by Marine Le Pen in France, Nationalists and pop lifts all
:44:52. > :44:57.across Europe. -- populists all across Europe. Within a few weeks he
:44:58. > :45:00.went in front of that breaking point poster, demonising refugees to
:45:01. > :45:05.standing on a podium in Mississippi next to Donald Trump. Make no
:45:06. > :45:09.mistake, Farage's victory is becoming the Government's agenda.
:45:10. > :45:13.When the Government talks about a hard Brexit, that is what they mean,
:45:14. > :45:17.a Brexit that cuts us off from our neighbours, no matter what the
:45:18. > :45:21.consequences for people's jobs and livelihoods, a Brexit that toys with
:45:22. > :45:25.the lives of hard working people, who have made Britain their home,
:45:26. > :45:30.paid their way, immersed themselves in our communities, just more than a
:45:31. > :45:34.million Brits have made their homes on the continent too. A Brexit that
:45:35. > :45:39.will leave us poorer, weaker and less able to protect ourselves. But
:45:40. > :45:41.we will not let Nigel Farage's vision for Britain win, to coin a
:45:42. > :46:10.phrase, I want my country back. For people who say, can I risk
:46:11. > :46:17.backing the Liberal Democrats - let me be blunt with you. The risk is
:46:18. > :46:21.for you to do nothing. In 20 years' time, we're going to all be asked by
:46:22. > :46:25.our kids, when our NHS, our school system, our unity, as a country has
:46:26. > :46:31.been impour rished by 20-odd years of Tory rule and when our economy
:46:32. > :46:34.has been relegated, our green industries trashed and our status
:46:35. > :46:39.diminished after two decades of isolation from Europe, we're going
:46:40. > :46:43.to be asked why did you let that happen? What did do you to try and
:46:44. > :46:47.stop it? You might explain, well, we lost the referendum, so we had to
:46:48. > :46:53.move on and live with it. Or you might explain, well, I was in the
:46:54. > :46:56.Labour Party. Moment destroyed it, but I couldn't bring myself to leave
:46:57. > :47:01.and back anybody else. They will look at you and they will say, why
:47:02. > :47:05.didn't you even try? Why did you let us limp out of Europe? Why did you
:47:06. > :47:08.stick with a party that handed the Conservatives unlimited power and
:47:09. > :47:11.you will know then that you could have done something different. You
:47:12. > :47:15.could have joined us. You could have fought back. You could have taken a
:47:16. > :47:20.risk because joining the Liberal Democrats today, it is a risk. It is
:47:21. > :47:25.a big ask, but let me be clear, as we stand on the edge of those two
:47:26. > :47:29.horrific realities, Brexit and a Tory strangle hold on Britain, the
:47:30. > :47:29.biggest risk is that you don't join us.
:47:30. > :47:52.APPLAUSE So let's be absolutely certain of
:47:53. > :47:57.this reality. The only movement with the desire and potential to stop the
:47:58. > :48:01.calamity of Brexit and the tragedy of a generation of Conservative
:48:02. > :48:05.majority rule is this movement, the Liberal Democrats. So you can
:48:06. > :48:09.despair, if you want and accept the inevitability of a Tory Government
:48:10. > :48:14.for the next quarter of a century or you can recognise that the Liberal
:48:15. > :48:19.Democrats can prevent that inevitability, that means you, it
:48:20. > :48:23.means us - together. Together we must fight to keep Britain open,
:48:24. > :48:27.tolerant and united. Together, the Liberal Democrats must be the real
:48:28. > :48:35.voice of opposition. Together, we must win. Thank you.