Scottish Labour Conference Speech

I spoke in the Local Government debate at conference in Dundee last weekend.  Here's what I said.

Conference.

We have talked a lot about trust in the last few days.

The council elections in May are an opportunity to re-build some of that trust with our voters.

People need to know that Labour is on their side in tough times.

Because the other parties aren’t.

The LibDems can’t stand up for local services whist they are imposing their Coalition Cuts.

And the SNP only want to win council seats as stepping stones to independence.

Labour must be the party that will make local government work.

Local government that sees protecting local jobs and getting our kids back to work as a priority.

We must be the party that will lead a four year campaign to ensure every teenager who wants to work in the Highlands has an apprenticeship or training programme leading to a real job, when they leave school or college.

Labour needs to deliver joined up services. Joined up services work for communities, get used and cost less to deliver.

Let me tell you about the woman and her son I met door-knocking in a wee village five miles north of Inverness last weekend. She is her son’s full time carer – he has severe learning challenges.

She had been pleased to hear that Highland council had ring-fenced the funds for the day centre he attends in Inverness.

Then she found out that a separate budget for the community bus had been cut, so she and her son can’t get to Inverness to use the service.

Small cuts can have a big impact.

Working out how to deal with the SNP’s cuts to council budgets will not be easy.

We need to listen hard to local communities and work out how to use limited budgets effectively.
We need to be bold and see the big picture.

A big part of that will be to get smart about buying.

The public sector in Scotland spends £9bn buying in goods and services. We need to start to using that power when we go out to tender.

We must build in community benefit clauses that keep jobs local and create apprenticeships and training opportunities for our young people.

And we need to send out a clear message to contractors.

If you want to provide goods and services to our councils, then you’ll pay your workers a Living Wage!

Joined up public transport matters. It’s key to both a strong economy and sustainable communities in rural areas like the Highlands.

And for all their talk, the SNP are showing by their actions that they care nothing for rural Scotland.
Ferry charges to the islands up and freight subsidies down.

The £50m promised to upgrade Sleeper Services to London diverted to other projects.

And we know we won’t see the regulation needed to make rural bus service run in the interests of their passengers whilst Brain Souter holds the SNP’s purse strings.

We need to be the party that delivers effective regulation to join up public transport across the Highlands. And maybe its time to think about ownership models that work in the interest of our communities, not bus and train operators.

But above all, Labour must be the party that will bring democracy home.

Whether it’s about community schools or local fire services, wind-farms or new supermarkets, local views should count. We need to be the party that listens.

We need to be the party that people trust to be on their side in tough times.

We need to be Labour.

Thank you, conference.