21/04/2013 Scottish Labour Party Conference

constitutions or even to change governments, we are in politics to

change lives. For order against the full devolution of income tax?

Master's local elections give Labour in Scotland somebody smile about.

You might want to shrug off the constitutional question but the

party under pressure -- is under pressure to come up with an

alternative to independence. John LeMond 's answer is a devolution of

income tax but not everyone is sold. Some MPs are said to be unsure about

handing more power to the comrade at Holyrood and they hope the big idea

can unite Scottish Labour, C of the Nationalist threat and bring about

the kind of society the party wants to see. Ed Miliband says that Labour

are neither one nation party but to show that is reality in Scotland,

they need to win in places like Inverness, far from their

heartlands. The party give a warm Thailand welcome to the man who

would be Prime Minister after hearing an update on the referendum

campaign. Alistair Darling is a man charged with leading the defence of

the union. He based his argument on his experience as Chancellor during

the banking crisis. We are part of a single market in the UK, tens of

thousands of jobs in Scotland depend upon their firms being able to sell

goods and services into the rest of the UK so we are sharing

opportunities and also sharing risks. I know from my own

experience, when I heard that RBS was within three hours of closing

doors and switching off cash machines, I had the strength of the

UK to say, we will not let that happen. I do not argue that Scotland

could not go it alone, most countries can. But I think we would

be heavily dependent and very exposed to North Sea oil. Nobody

says the oil will run out tomorrow, we're not saying that what it does

not go on forever and we know the price is volatile and if you are

dependent on 20 % of the tax revenue from one source, you are very

exposed. No wonder that John Swinney, in his private moments,

told the Scottish government Cabinet that he was worried about the

volatility of the North Sea oil price and the fact that it would

ultimately decline, no wonder they have to question how much they could

spend on public services and the sustainability of the state pension.

The only problem was, that is what they are saying in private, in

public it is different and when confronted with this, rather than

saying, let us be honest about the choices we have to make, let's be

honest about the reality is, if we are dependent on the oil, they

cooked the books and inflated the oil price. British politics has been

in a reflective mood following the death and funeral of Margaret

Thatcher. Edmund band used his speech to argue it was time to move

beyond Thatcherism, to a new consensus within the new economy.

The former Prime Minister continues to divide opinion but Mr Miller band

presented himself as a political unifier, saying his opponent were

Thatcher's true successors. Let me start with the last ten days because

they have been dominated by memories of Margaret Thatcher and the 1980s.

I know how much pain those Conservative government caused to

communities here in Scotland and right across the United Kingdom.

Areas that felt angry and abandoned. Social division, the injustices of

the poll tax. And the reason why the Tories were able to do this was

because they had won an election. We must never allow the Tory government

to do what was done in the 18 years after 1979. It was the Labour

government that put a stop to that in 1987 and I have news for the SNP,

it will be a Labour government putting David Cameron as a one term

Conservative government, it will put an end to them in 2015 as well. The

reality is this - only Labour can offer the new economic settlement

that our country, Scotland and the whole of the UK, needs and that is

not a new settlement which involves going back, we're not going to be

taking the Gleneagles hotel back into public ownership. It might

disappoint some of you to hear. We're not going back to the penal

tax rates of the 1970s, we need a dynamic economy but we need new

policies and a new economic settlement for new times. And that

is what I want to talk about today. The difference with us compared to

our opponents as we have this fundamental insight, we understand

the way that countries succeed is by uniting and not by dividing. I have

deep disagreements with what Lady Thatcher did to our country. But I

thought it was right to show respect because you cannot reach the

principle of one nation and then failed to uphold that in practice.

That is who I am, that is the kind of country I want to lead, a country

where everybody feels they are a part and everybody feels they can

contribute, that is what one nation Labour is all about. A party of the

site as well as the North, a party of the private sector and the public

sector, a party of the small business owner and the person who

works for the small business, a party of the entire country. Because

we know that written's best days lie ahead if we unite the country and do

not divide it. That is the way we must achieve. Parliament has been

debating their plan to say to workers, you have to give up your

employment rights if you want shares in the firm. And it has been

described as a positively dreadful idea. An ill thought through attack

on employment rights. Who do you think used those words go to mark it

was not Len McCluskey. It was not Margaret Curran. It was not even

Vince Cable. It was Michael Forsyth. These Tories, they ought to right

wing even for Michael Forsyth! Can you believe it? ! You know, in some

communities, there are a minority that can work under not doing so.

And we should put them back to work. But you will also know this - in

many communities, there is a bust majority of people who are desperate

to work and what I am never going to do as the leader of the Labour Party

is say to the young person in Inverness, desperately searching for

a job, or the older person in Ipswich, desperately looking for

employment, that somehow they are a scrounger and skiver or they are

cheating the system. Alex Salmond, what about the SNP? As we plan a new

economic future for the country, Alex Salmond wants to draw a line

through the country. He really does stand, despite all of his rhetoric,

for the old order, it is the old settlement that he is interested in,

not the new one because what does he want Scotland to compete? In the

race to the bottom, with corporation tax rates with the rest of the UK,

it is narrow nationalism that makes cosy deals with Rupert Murdoch and a

narrow nationalism that prays for Tory success because he thinks it is

the only way to convince the people of Scotland they should leave the

United Kingdom. Can you imagine it? ! What was your reaction to that

speech? I thought it was powerful, I thought the technique that he uses

of striding the stage and demonstrably steering clear of

autocue is potent and it is appealing to the audience, but it

has drawbacks but when he goes for the killer lines, on Alex Salmond,

perhaps he slightly falls short and does not go in for the kill but it

wasn't reading message, instead of addressing explicitly the issue of

the constitution, he addressed obliquely arguing that the Labour

case is social justice applying from Ipswich to Inverness. That is the

way that Labour think they address the conundrum. Ed Miliband was

giving the one nation speech with the local being, putting Scotland

first behind him. If one nation is the UK, putting Scotland first

clashes with that and that conundrum is addressed by Labour in making the

argument that it is social justice that is the concern on both sides of

the border. He clearly has a big stake in the result in the

referendum? He does, it was explained to me by one of his very

senior colleagues that Labour had pondered how to pitch his speech,

whether to make an obvious discussion and analysis of the

question but they decided on balance that the thing to do was to attempt

to project Edmund abound as a winner, to make him look like a

winner on the stage, capable of winning the UK general election and

thereby countering the argument advanced by the SNP that Scotland is

currently governed by a Conservative led government on the UK basis,

which Scotland demonstrably did not vote for. They counter that argument

and cut the feet from one of the key planks of that message. The future

of the Armed Forces has become a key issue in the independence debate.

Shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy pledged to put the services at the

heart of the Labour social vision. Our country is pretty remarkable.

Turning civilians into soldiers. But we are not yet good enough when the

time comes at turning them back into civilians and employment is so

important when it comes to that. Because we all know that all of the

best ideas do not always come from inside the ministerial red box, they

often, from values and instincts, so we set up this programme, signing up

major employers to guarantee job interviews to unemployed veterans.

The next Scottish parliament elections are not until 2016 so

Labour have some time to come up with the policies they hope will put

them back in power. The man who was to get his hands on the national

pursestrings to urge the conference, calling for an ethical

economic policy, arguing the current crisis was the result of moral as

well as fiscal failure. In a world of moral relativism, one person's

ethics are not somebody else's so we can agree these days that we should

not be investing in tobacco or certain kinds of munitions, cluster

bombs, but then we can invest in small arms and nuclear weaponry is

to mark genetically modified crops cost to mark --? And it is not clear

where the line is. Are you behaving in a social responsible way, is that

good business in the short term and medium-term, I think it is more

likely to ensure long-term success for businesses and some of the ways

in which certain business leaders have behaved in the recent past.

also made reference to taxation and in many respects, the prevailing

consensus around the fact that taxation is almost something that

companies or individuals can voluntarily comply with rather than

saying there is a duty to society as a whole. When people like Warren

Buffett say that is one of the dumbest ideas in the history of

business, you know that potentially there is a sea change happening.

Northern rock and its predecessor was owned by members, it was serving

communities, mostly in the North of England, very successfully with

loans and mortgages and accounts for more than one century. In 1987, it

was image will oust and floated on the London stock exchange and within

ten years it was collapsed, ownership, the values and ethos of

an organisation, are not peripheral to the success of the business, they

were central and in the case of Northern Rock, abandoning member

ownership meant losing a bowl work against the soaring greed and lack

of accountability that lay at the heart of the banking crisis. I do

not have one business model that I promote but I take great comfort

from employee partnerships like John Lewis and it is worth noting that

firms which adopt that model over the traditional business model see a

big increase in productivity. I don't believe there is a coincidence

that social enterprises and cooperatives have done better than

traditional businesses in recent years and they have proved more

resilient in these times. I want to announce to you today that I do not

want to wait until the next election to make a difference, the Scottish

rail passenger franchise is going to tender now and we are currently

subsidising that to the tune of half �1 billion and rising when all other

Scottish budgets are either flatlining or falling. It is

entirely within the powers under remote of the Scottish government to

reshape that tendering exercise and put passengers and the communities

served by the real ways at the heart of the bid. I want your support to

demand that they do so. We will be launching a consultation on how we

can make that happen this summer and I hope you will make your views

known on running the railways in the national interest. Let's not wait

until the next election, let's make a difference now. It is the job of

opposition to oppose. But eventually Labour know they will have to be

clear about their own commitments. Our political editor pressed the

shadow Scottish Secretary on welfare. Labour has made a huge

issue of the bedroom tax and Ed Miliband referred to it in his

speech, and yet you are still not seeing you would scrap it.

I think what I'm saying is very clear. I'm saying that the

government 's welfare programme is in deep trouble. It is also

pernicious in terms of what it will do to disabled people. We're not

going to isolate one and say that that is the only one we will look

at. We will come forward with a copper heads of alternative. And I

think that is a better deal for people, rather than looking at one

political campaign in one aspect of it. We need a genuine alternative

because welfare matters. Not only for people who receive it but for

those who contribute to it. We need to be honest with the British people

and say that when we meet your questions about welfare, on whatever

side of the debate you are on, we will give you a conference of

answer, not just the answer on one political aspect. Debate on the

future of devolution was largely confined to the bars and cafes of

the Highland capital as well as the conference fringe where delegates

called for a new relationship and we national government in London or

Edinburgh and local communities. have the least empowered local

government in the European Union. This is the only part of the

European Union with local government has no say on its income. -- where

the local government has no say on its income. Other people would be

stunned by that because it is the norm in much of Europe. When

devolution was set up in 1997, there was not a transfer of power from one

building in London to another in Edinburgh. It was a genuine attempt

to devolve power, to empower communities and families to have

more of a say. Let me say that the Scottish Labour Party is not tied to

any powers of any building. We will go through a genuine process of

consultation. Consultation and discussion within our own

parliamentary party and also with our membership and the wider

movement. More important than that, with Scotland. We will not act just

in the best interests of the Labour Party. We need to make sure that it

is not an option of powers, and it is not a political fix for a

referendum or something that is only acting in the interests of the

Labour Party. Our interests are the best interests of Scotland. Whatever

conclusion we come to in the report will be our test. Is the action that

we are taking the proposals were making, in the best interest of

Scotland? If they are, the will come behind. How divided labour on issue?

-- how divided our labour. This has been a considerable rally. -- rammy.

Four. It has the potential for Labour to resolve this. It is not

just Hollywood versus Westminster. There are MPs who support this

strongly. But you have MPs concerned about the way the process was

announced and concerned that they work cut out. That is a reflection

of the fact that they feel generally excluded. Secondly, we have concern

from MPs that if the rematch of Westminster is reduced, and Branson

will be a case for fewer MPs. We have had reassurances on that point

from Johann Lamont. The third concern, these issues of protest,

will die down, the third one is a lasting one. If you transfer income

tax powers to Scotland, what happens to the Barnett formula? What happens

to Scotland's money? Would public spending be stable. That is a

serious concern shared among those who started as explicit critics of

the plan and also those who are supporters of it. They want to know

the answers. This is the start of a debate on and not the end. Was the

one handled well? It wasn't, it was frankly handled badly. Labour need

to get on with the task of finding the detailed answers.

Jenny Marra drew attention to human trafficking and hold -- and called

for action to help those being exploited for profit. Victims of

trafficking are not easily identified in our communities. It is

difficult for them to self identify, because of fear for

themselves, their own physical safety, and the reprisals that they

might feel from people holding them, perhaps under threat,

withholding documents perhaps. also, and this is very frightening,

for fear of reprisals on their family's back home. -- on their

families back home. The law in Scotland is not strong enough to

deal with this issue. Our current definition of human trafficking, it

is a crime in Scots law but it is not a defined crime. The crime sits

between two Acts of Parliament, and immigration act passed by the

Westminster Parliament, and the other is our sexual offences act. We

have brought together a bill on human trafficking that I will be

introducing to the Scottish Parliament and publishing the

consultation in the next few weeks. Johann Lamont began her speech with

a personal pitch to the conference and to the country. As a Highlander

and former schoolteacher, she presents herself above all as a

politician that people can trust. I'd grew up in Glasgow but my heart

is in Tyree. My family were crofters and my father was a merchant seaman.

I saw the beauty of my land and felt the warmth of the community and the

harshness and brutality of trying to make a living here. I had the

privilege to grow up in a loving family were my mother always

reminded me that what we ate and what we wore, where we lived was all

the products of the sweat of my father's brow earned at sea. And

I've respected that. I'd grew up in a world of respect for hard work,

where people were valued. I saw the unfairness of a world which did not

value work. A father who retired without a pension, whose employer

cared not for him after he left, but who was in his dying days, cared for

by an NHS, the Labour Party's greatest condition -- greatest

creation. A reflection of our collective belief that individuals

deserve better. My family did not feel hard done for -- had done two

or entitled to, but first it to improve ourselves. As a child of

Tyree and Anderson, I was never the generation that could expect a

university education, yet I've got one, not because it was a Scottish

tradition, but because Labour made that a Scottish tradition that if I

worked hard enough I could achieve it. The likes of me, if we're good

enough, could get there. That is the Labour tradition. As Nelson Mandela

said, education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change

the world. And so, friends, when we going to the next goddess election,

we will have planned is not just to change educational one term, but a

vision which will look forward 20 years. Because of our schools,

colleges and universities, they are to be the best -- if they are to be

the best in the world, we need that length of vision. We will not pay

for the opportunity for some while denying opportunity for others. The

savaging of the college system to fund universities has been a

disgrace. -- the savaging. It has been a con for people wherever they

are learning, at school, college or university. We need a Scotland which

has education open to all. I want us to return to a policy of lifelong

learning. Not just a matter of social justice, but an economic

imperative in a fast changing world. Let others talk of an oil boom. Our

greatest resource will always be our people and if we are to give people

the chance to fulfil their potential, it is a second education

boom that we need in Scotland. We will make Scotland a fairer, more

just country. That is why we seek power. Conference, this weekend we

have published an interim report of the devolution commission. Believe

it is a good of work. It is radical and challenging and I'm grateful to

everyone who contributed to it, whether they represent Scottish

Labour in our councils or in Europe, Holyrood or Westminster. What it is

the starting point of where we agree devolution is to be developed. What

it is not is an attempt to appease the SNP. I'm well aware that you do

not appease Lions by throwing more Christians at them. And there will

not what an inch down the road towards independence. We will have

plenty of time to debate it throughout the party and we will

consult with all of Scotland on it. But let's do that within this

context. Our debate is not power for power's sake, but it is as where

power -- it is to ask where best power should lie to make the best of

people's lives. Our greatest moments were not when we outfought our

neighbours but when we outfought the world. Our enemy... -- out thought.

Our enemy is poverty and evils that brings. Alex Salmond would have you

believe that the enemy is our neighbours. He wants to have a

debate with David Cameron but he wants debate me. -- he won't debate

me. He wants to deceive people into thinking this is a question of

Scotland versus England. It isn't. The fight is Scotland versus Alex

Salmond, and it is one that Scotland is going to win. I'll make this

promise to you. I will do everything in my power to restore honesty to

politics. In this party, this movement, we will fight for this

party -- country we love. The meter you what my job is about. It is

about making sure that the party responds to the needs of Scotland.

It is about fighting privilege and inequality where ever we find it. It

is about fighting poverty and opening up opportunity for all. It

is about creating a fairer, better, more prosperous Scotland. It is

about leading Scotland and that is a job I am minded to do.

A very personal speech from Johann Lamont. Exceptionally personal and

passionate. About her upbringing in Glasgow, background in the islands,

about her career in the philosophy of politics that was shaped by that

upbringing and that career, and attempting to veer from that into

the political. I thought it was an extremely warmly received speech, a

good speech. Where were the drawbacks? The drawbacks, she is

projecting an analysis of problems which she sees at the moment, in

personal care and college education. She is not projecting solutions. Of

course, her opponents can pick that apart. In terms of the conference