20/03/2016 Scottish Labour Party Conference

The Glasgow Science Centre is hosting an exhibition called

powering the future. The Scottish Labour delegates arrived yesterday

for their one-day spring conference and that was very much what they

would like to be doing. The election last year was a shocker for Labour.

SNP, 23,000... There are traditional Scottish majority at Westminster was

wiped out as seat after seed fell to the SNP. Married black, Scottish

national party, 23,000... The big question is what will happen in the

Scottish elections. Brian Taylor spoke to Kezia Dugdale who has made

it her mission to regenerate Labour by asserting the Scottish party 's

independence and that is why Jeremy Corbyn was not at the conference. I

am the leader of the Scottish Labour Party. I am in charge and I will

detail our plans for the forthcoming election. Jeremy Corbyn is a great

friend and we work closely. Do you rate him? Very much so. He will be

in Edinburgh and will help me campaign in my seat that I am proud

to put my name forward for. This is a statement of as being comfortable

with the new reality... It was your call, you contacted him and said the

UK party leader has been coming for as long as possible, but now is

different. 1991 was the last time a UK leader was not at the conference.

You say it is not a big deal but you checked it. Someone told me. It is

standard practice for the UK leader to come to the Scottish conference.

Before we were an autonomous party. I need to put Scotland first and

make it clear to the electorate that the Scottish Labour Party 's

policies on what it stands for is determined here for the people of

Scotland. It was your call that it should be you and not Jeremy Corbyn

addressing the conference? Absolutely. There was not a question

of doubt that he would not support it. We are a team. He was happy to

stay away. It is possible that he will be in his allotment but I am

not sure. It is the signal you are sending that you are in charge. It

is not unusual, I have been saying this for the last six months. One

clear difference between Labour and the SNP is the Labour policy of

using the new tax barrister at 1p on to income tax to tackle what they

see as proposed SNP cuts to education. Investing in education is

a good thing to do for the economy. It is a social policy about closing

the gap between the richest and arrest but if you look at other

countries, and the global race for skills and knowledge, what we will

increasingly compete for our highly skilled jobs. If we want to bring

those jobs we want everyone in Scotland to have the opportunity and

chance of rising those opportunities, we have to give them

the skills and education they need. We will stick with tax. Do you

expect that even supposing the education money has that effect, it

will be years or decades before that affect is seen and in the meantime,

Scotland is paying higher attacks and that is potentially a drag on

the economy. I think it is a worthwhile investment. I think it is

an old-fashioned view that the only way you can grow an economy is on a

race to lower taxes. That is the policy that the Scottish

Conservatives have been arguing. You accept that it is a dragon. You

would put 20p or 30p on the tax rate? I am arguing that a small

increase, which is inherently progressive is the way to generate

the revenue that we need to stop the cuts. I think that the cuts that

austerity are ripping money out of public services is a drag on the

economy. I want to stop it. I want to use the powers of our Parliament

to do it. Why should people pay more on income tax in Scotland than in

England? We get more for our money. If you want to keep university

tuition free and have free prescription charges and the best

education system in the world... You're not using it for prescription

charges or universities. You're asking me fundamental questions

about tax. I think the idea that we all pay in according to our means

and get out of a system, the idea of universal social rights is a

profoundly good one and I believe fundamentally in high quality public

services but unlike some other parties, notably the SNP, I

recognise that if you want high quality public services, you have to

pay for them. A clearer statement of principle than you could ask. Part

of her strategy is to build relationships with the trades

unions. I will let the message go out from the conference today that

every worker in Scotland needs a trade union more than ever. Labour

and the unions, stronger together, united by a common purpose. That is

what we reaffirmed in our campaign against the Tory trade union Bill.

We have won some battles and we have yet to win the war. We need to see

this attack on the working class throwing into the same then as the

bedroom tax. Several delegates related -- actor to the news that

Iain Duncan Smith had resigned. This is where I go off script and people

panicked when I do that. I did write it myself. I go of script because I

do not know about any of you, but the announcement this morning that

Iain Duncan Smith has left the Cabinet because he is worried about

the cuts is quite frankly nothing more than appalling. He is worried

about the cuts? He is worried about Europe! There is absolutely no doubt

in my mind that he left so that he can blame Europe and he can claim

that all the extra money that he will get the struggle we will get by

leaving Europe will help on the welfare cuts. Has he forgotten, has

he got such a short memory that he has forgotten that he actually is

the architect of most of this? It is easy to hear what party leaders and

officials have to say at these events, conferences are usually

heavily stage-managed to show the party line but this one was

different. I have another persona. Which I intend to reveal here and

now. This is for the first time to this conference. Ask yourself what

is the difference between us and the SNP? This was new, The Big Idea was

a chance for party members to pitch their suggestions for the future of

Labour and for the country. I am also Labour Man! I am not an

ordinary bog-standard Labour Man. I am super hero Labour Man! Our big

idea is a vibrant Scotland in a successful UK! We have got to

appeal... We have got to appeal to many of those people who voted yes

in 2014 on the basis, not that they were nationalist, but they thought

that if they got independence for Scotland it would become a Tory free

zone. Labour believe in democracy, the SNP believe in dictatorship,

Labour give you a voice, the SNP silence those who speak out. Labour

still use the new Paris, the SNP will hold them back, not knowing

what to do. The top left but walk right!

APPLAUSE. Labour are bold enough to ask for a tax powers to give us

jobs, the SNP have had nine years and still we have 's territory, food

bags, homeless, council cuts, education cuts, health cuts and they

still say, it was not me! My big idea is a simple one, not a new idea

but a timeless one. It is an idea that says that everyone in our

society should have the opportunity to live a fulfilling life and as a

community work better and more successfully when will work together

and collectively to create that just and fair society that we want.

Working together we achieve always much more than we ever do alone. It

is an idea that believes that publicly provided services are

civilising force in our society, that rejects the dog eat dog

unrestrained market philosophy that casts aside the poor and abandons

the week and the vulnerable. It is an idea that created the NHS to

provide for everyone from the cradle to the grave, an idea that built 1

million council houses allowing working people the space to bring up

their families. It is an idea that introduced the national minimum

wage, the right to join a trade union, holiday pay, sick pay, equal

pay, maternity and paternity leave and anti-discrimination legislation,

disability rights and LGB T equality. It is a timeless idea and

it is called democratic socialism. Delegates who speak from their own

sometimes difficult experience can leave a lasting impression. My 17th

birthday I was living in temporary accommodation, surviving on ?100

every two weeks. I was also at school, while living there, studying

for my exams to get to university while many thought that this

ambition was unrealistic, because I was predicted to fall through the

railings. I was predicted to fail my exams. I was predicted to make

friends with my drug dealer neighbour. I was predicted to become

involved in theft or crime and eventually land in jail. I was

predicted to become an addict myself. Today I am studying to

become a teacher because education was my golden ticket. Education gave

me a purpose and it was my teachers who became my family. Many of our

parents have failed to put us first before their addictions and needs,

for once in our lives, we need someone who will put us first. To

prioritise us, to give us stability and support. I joined the Labour

Party in November because I need someone who will care for me, not

neglect me. I need someone who will follow through with their promises,

not abandon them and I need someone who is not going to lead me to my

own devices when things get difficult. I need someone who is not

going to use me as a weapon, as a statistic or as a text box for their

own purposes. I need someone who will put systems in place so I like

thousands of young people do not have to go back into that spiral

that we fought all our lives to get out.

APPLAUSE. The key issue is jobs, good jobs,

jobs for young people, jobs for the long-term unemployed, jobs that are

quality jobs, jobs that will last, jobs that we can build our future

and the future of Scotland around. And that is why we are saying that

we are putting fair and full employment at the heart of our

vision for the future of Scotland. Scotland needs a revolution and in

skills and the economy, we need to use the powers of the Scottish

Parliament to build the future for Scotland, we aim to use those powers

to charge a different course for Scotland and for Scotland's future.

Welcome to the fringe meeting... The lunch break is a chance for informal

meetings. More than a third of all households in Scotland suffer from

fuel poverty. I do not what you think, that is quite a staggering

figure. We are talking about around 900,000 households, well over 1

million people in fuel poverty and for some this is a consumer issue

because if you live... And fuel poverty is not evenly distributed,

you get it in deprived communities in the central belt and you get it

hugely in rural communities, like the Western Isles, more than 70% of

all households there are in fuel poverty, it is something we need to

do something about. It is something not only we should be doing, it is

something that we promised to do something about. It is something

that the current government, the Scottish Government promised to do

something about. I do not know if you are aware of this, but the

Scottish Government are signed up to our commitment to abolish fuel

poverty by November this year. Abolish it. If instead of getting

close to abolishing fuel poverty this year we are going in the wrong

direction and it has been increasing, then you have to ask,

what share of responsibility does this government take?

The Scottish nation isn't the only chance people get to vote in the

next few months. It can hardly have escaped your attention that Britain

will be deciding whether to stay in the European Union and forthcoming

referendum. Alan Johnson was here to make the case for staying put. The

European Union represents Scotland's largest trading partner outside the

United Kingdom. In part of the European Union guarantees a Scottish

exporters unfettered access to the market of half a billion consumers.

From Scotch whiskey and beef to financial services and salmon,

Scotland trading with Europe and through the EU 's ability to secure

better deals with the rest of the world, sending Scottish goods and

services around the world, supporting jobs here in Scotland.

Scotland receives more inward investment than anywhere else in the

Britain. 4600 of the sites in Scotland are owned by European Union

countries, with more than 360,000 jobs directly related to European

Union exports. Most of these countries are located here

specifically to access the European market. Those jobs, all those

trades, will be on the ballot paper. It is our ability to access the

biggest commercial market in the world, better than the US, bigger

than China, at one single tariff, zero. It is also built and Europe's

role in maintaining peace and it is also built on our ability to shape

that market to protect workers. Well successive Conservative governments

at Westminster were weakening social protection, it was our trade unions

that stood up for rates at work when the European single market was being

created. But not everyone in the party wants to remain. Former

Glasgow MP and government minister Tom Harris told is why she wants

out. I've always been at that of a sceptic when I was an MP and

secondly as a government minister. It started to accordingly dash-mac

occur to me that some of the rules and regulations forced upon as by

the European Union were not conducive to the country. I've been

a long-standing opponent of Britain's membership of the usual

and wrote to Gordon Brown when he was Chancellor urging him not to

allow Britain to become a member of the European Union. A lot of the

arguments being used to skid is full evening wear identical to the

arguments used at that time to prevent us to join in the EU law.

Someone with your background, is it odd to be campaigning on that

position? Yes, I think it is fairly unusual. When I was a minister at

the Department for Transport, it really hit home that a lot of the

European Union rules did not benefit our country. That is why I am in

this position and that is an unusual position among politicians, not

among the electorate. Would you have liked to see a prominent speaker

from the out campaign addressing the conference today? I always like to

see a prominent and articulate campaigner on every platform at the

conference but you have to respect the fact that the Labour Party are

united behind the remain position. I disagree with that and there are a

fair few members that do disagree with that. But fear is fear. It is

not entirely representative of the people that vote Labour and the

general population, but that is the position the Labour Party has chosen

to adopt. From the veterans to the new blood. Conference heard from new

party members about the living wage and they do hours contracts. Many of

my peers have little or no career progression. We cannot afford rent,

to call for higher education, to escape the minimum wage. I am not

here to chastise the old guard for ignoring young voices, nor am I here

to criticise anyone who isn't already involved in the trade union,

instead, I'm trying to make the point that the young benefit from a

strong trade union movement, but if we want to recover, we need to take

a leading role. They run the risk of having these working taxes become

the norm up and down this country. Not having enough income to fund

your life becomes the norm. Not having the courage to voice your

opinion in your workplace becomes the norm. It is not just the

inability to fund your life, it is the detrimental effect it has on

your mental health. These contracts are exploitative and the art are

rising. They are telling young people that they are not worthy of

having decent work. It is not giving them a hope to secure a decent

future. Many people would like you to believe that they are flexible,

as we have heard, they are only folks will for the employer. It

takes any control the bat worker has on their own lives and put it

straight into the hands of the bosses, corporate bosses who care

more about problems that they make redundant well-being and the health

of the people that they actually employ. As luck would have it, DUP

party was represented by Ian Duncan Smith's shadow minister, will

qualified to talk about personal and dependence payments. That is the

real issue, the cut to personal independence payment, one of the

many cuts implemented by each Duncan Smith that we should be talking

about today, not his resignation which is a footnote. The truth is

the impact on those millions of people across Britain who have been

heart by his policies, the car at getting people who have difficulty

using the toilet or washing themselves or getting dressed

needed. These are the people whom the Tories thought it safe and Weiss

to target in order to pay for top dash-mac cuts to corporation tax or

capital gains tax, cuts that benefit the richest ten or 15% in our

society, the wrong priorities, confidence, but I'm afraid the Tory

priority at known as in the past. Ian Duncan Smith was raped today.

Ideal hell with them for the first time. These cuts were an defensible.

People say I have an impossible job, the toughest job in politics.

I tell you, you've led a pretty sheltered life if you think

And I tell you this, I wouldn't change my

Because, if I can reach out to people, if I can convince them

that a different Scotland is possible, we can change the lives

The SNP stood on team, record, vision.

To those who voted SNP with high hopes, I ask this.

If the SNP haven't delivered the change you want to see,

with the experience of ten years in power, with a lead in the opinion

polls, with a majority in Parliament, will they ever deliver?

Let's define our time with the radical policies

Labour will use the powers of our Parliament to get serious

Instead of the SNP's tax cut on airline tickets for the wealthy,

we will help people my age to afford a mortgage deposit.

We will tackle rent rises in the private sector and take

on slum landlords to provide warm and secure homes.

And we will build a new generation of council houses.

We'll increase carers allowance, recognising the debt

that we owe to those who put others before themselves.

We will increase funding for the NHS year-on-year in real terms.

Because the NHS is not just another policy agenda for Labour.

Our pride in its creation inspires everything else that we do.

We can take the pressure off hospitals by getting primary care

right, delivering the NHS services people need in their communities.

Instead of the cuts to GPs we've seen in the last decade,

our plan for the NHS will guarantee an appointment at your local

surgery, which you can book online, if you choose, within 48 hours.

We will guarantee a living wage for care workers, but we won't pay

for their wages by cutting back on the local authorities already

struggling to deal with an ageing population and we will ban zero-hour

Between the Scottish election in May and the next UK

General Election, spending on public services will rise in real terms.

And any party claiming to be against austerity

It is a pledge to prevent billions of pounds of unnecessary cuts.

Cuts that will damage local services and hit the poorest hardest.

Cuts that will undermine our economy, cuts that

will undermine our future prosperity.

If the SNP do not match our anti-austerity pledge,

their claims to be anti-austerity will be exposed as false.

Let me speak directly to the voters who are not yet convinced.

After a decade sat in ministerial offices, the SNP are too comfortable

in power and they are being too cautious with their power.

If you want more accountable government, more radical government,

if you want a government that is less interested in taking

selfies and more interested in taking on the establishment then

consider giving your first and second votes to the Labour

And if you use both your votes for Labour, you will ensure that our

Parliament and our government used the real powers we have

Not in a few years, not in a distant promised

Labour have come here in good spirits but they face a challenge.

The starter solution behind the SNP, apparently well behind in the polls.

Zezia Dugdale had a range of policies to address a range of

announcements to make but she only had one Nick here is my clear

message, which is to make a distinction between the two parties.

She said she is wrong to protect and defend services with higher taxation

will she contrasts with what she says the SNP would do, which is

undermining services by failing to make a move on tax. The SNP dispute

that, saying they will protect services and defend the public

system in Scotland, but they do not believe it will be fair to load an

additional tax burden on the people of Scotland. It is a clear, big and

powerful choice for the people of Scotland to meet.

Policies are what win votes, often. What King of platform is Labour are

going to be fighting the selection on?

I was intrigued by one thing, although the Keswick Dugdale speech

was about the SNP, but placing herself as a rival first Minster to

Nicola Sturgeon, she personalised a dollar number of occasions, with

dozens speeches were having a go at the Conservatives. The overspill of

the Duncan Smith gets traction to the Conservative pitch, if you like,

and secondly it is a conference on for the Labour Party, by the side of

the clay driver. Dash-mac the Clyde. I think some of the people are

certainly thinking that they have two attack the Conservatives as well

to stop them overhauling Labour in second place.

That's it for our coverage of the Scottish Labour Party conference

here in Glasgow.