Speech to Labour Conference 2012

Below is the text of my speech to conference on Youth Employment.   I didn't get called in the main economy debate, but got most of the points into some of the smaller policy forum discussions and seminars.

 

Colleagues.

Amongst all the talk of deficits and bad bankers, the real scandal of the coalition’s cuts is the impact on the lives and hopes of a generation of young people.

1 in 4 of 16- to 24-year-olds are out of work.

In Scotland, 7,400 young people have been claiming unemployment benefit for more than a year.

And in the Highlands 5 unemployed people are chasing every job vacancy.

These aren’t just statistics. 

They mean that the hopes and aspirations of a generation of young people are being destroyed by worklessness in their teens and twenties.

People need to know that Labour is on their side when it comes to jobs and young people.

Because the other parties aren’t.

The LibDems promise with one hand then cut with the other.

Scrapping EMAs and replacing them with a pupil premium that is anything but.

The SNP talk the language of growth and investment, but their actions are all about avoiding the difficult decisions.

The SNP say no to tuition fees in Scotland.

But they won’t tell you that the resulting cuts to college budgets mean 10,000 youngsters on waiting lists for places. 

Places where they could learn the skills needed for real jobs.

We must be the party with the vision and commitment to ensure every teenager who wants to work has a job or apprenticeship when they leave school or college.

Jobs come from economic growth and we need a business strategy that is joined up where it matters.

In the highlands, that means making sure investment in wind and wave renewables creates jobs and not just profit for the energy companies.

But we need to give our kids the confidence to look at other options as well.

There is a key role for the third sector, supporting young people into work in different ways.

In Scotland, the Social Enterprise Academy is winning awards for its programmes in schools.

I met one of the tutors from these courses in Inverness last week.

She told me about the transformation in the kids she worked with. 

You can imagine the scene.   10 sulky sixteen year olds.

Heads down, arms crossed, “not bovvered”

Beaten by the system before they’ve started …..

After three days turned into engaged young people, full of enthusiasm, self esteem and confidence to achieve.

Thinking about setting up their own social enterprises, creating jobs in their own communities

So all sorts of programmes can have a big impact.

But we need to fund them properly and with long term certainty.

Above all, we need to be bold and see the big picture.                                         

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

We need to get smart about buying.

Using community benefit clauses to keep jobs local and create apprenticeships and training opportunities for our young people.

And sending out a clear message to contractors.

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

Labour must be the party that makes creating jobs and getting our kids back to work a priority.

A labour government in Holyrood and a Labour Government in Westminster, working together to get our kids into work.

That’s why with Labour we will always be better together.

Thank you, conference.

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Time for a Change

I voted on line in the Labour Leadership election last night. It’s taken me a long time during this election process to work out who the right candidate is and who I will support.

From the start, I wanted to support a leader who could get Labour back into power. Not just someone I would vote for, but someone who could earn the trust and votes of the many left and liberal leaning friends and colleagues I meet as I work and travel up and down the country.

I also wanted to support someone who shared my political values, promoted (at least some of) the policies I believed and would allow ordinary party members to feel that it was once again worth being part of a political movement. That membership mattered.

I’ve enjoyed watching and listening to Ed Balls as he has ripped into the Coalition over schools and the economy. He speaks with real authority and knowledge on both subjects. I hope he has a key role to play in our fight pack to power.

But Ed Miliband gets my vote for Leader. The Living Wage is a key policy and it’s something I have long thought is vital to fairness in our society. His views on the need to invest in the green economy and industries of the future sit comfortably with me. He has gone further to say that Iraq was wrong than his brother and I hope he will eventually stand up and say no to Trident. I trust his instincts and commitment on Climate Change.

I first heard Ed speak at conference in Manchester in 2007. He is no Obama, but he has a powerful ability to enthuse, empathise and inspire, all qualities which will build voter support. He is, I am convinced, a team builder, who will assemble a powerful shadow cabinet with the intellect, passion and moral conviction to take on the Coalition and win the argument on the economy, the recovery and the other great issues we face. A shadow cabinet that will focus on the job of winning again, rather than faction fighting around yesterday’s issues.

All of this has to be combined with a determination to take Labour in a fresh direction – radical, democratic, more openly socialist – that will establish a new left of centre politics. A new political “common ground” around which our communities can engage and develop. We also need to re-engage not just with the public but our own membership. Ed doesn’t just recognise the need to do this, from what I have read and heard, he means it.

Ed Miliband talks powerfully about the need for change. I’m trusting him to deliver.

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