Ian McCartney MP

Speech by the Rt Hon Ian McCartney MP

Chair of the Labour Party

Scottish Labour Party Conference

Inverness

28th February 2004

It’s time to take stock

Time for reflection and perspective

1. Where did we come from?

2. Where are we now?

3. Where do we need to go?

Where did we come from? – Tory record

More than 100,000 Scots earned less than £3 per hour – tens of thousands earned between £1 and £1.50

Tory Britain spent more paying just the interest on govt borrowing than they spent on schools and hospitals

Unemployment was endemic among young Scots

Thousands of homes were being repossessed

Scotland’s single parents had no choice but to live on benefit and in poverty

1980s – our people : workless, powerless, voiceless

We witnessed from the mid-1980s a slow then rapid loss of community capacity, a loss of confidence and the ability of the community to organise itself.

Community organisations were wound up. Whether for young or old, demoralisation set in then a sullen anger and resentment followed through.

The Conservative Right was confident that there was no such thing as society and no such thing as community. 

Grotesquely, they had created an underclass, and in the process damaged – perhaps forever – the traditional working class structures which provided solidarity, sense of community, a sense of purpose, an ability to speak up and speak out, to have a sense of pride in your community, an ability to manage by consent the conflicting interests that exist in all communities.

We had worklessness, hopelessness, voicelessness and powerlessness. No touchstone – our people were cast adrift on a sea of poverty.

It is Labour that has given hope to our people and our communities.

To give our people hope we needed power.

And to win power we needed to have the courage to change

I want to pay tribute to the leadership of John Smith, who led Labour through change at a time when many thought we might never govern again.

John’s untimely death – nearly 10 years ago –was a devastating blow to this party.

John was committed to the cause of social justice and I believe he would have been proud of what we have achieved since 1997.

The Scottish Parliament is a reality, as is the minimum wage.

We are nearing full employment. And we are working hard to reduce poverty in the developing world.

None of this would have been possible if it were not for the political courage of John Smith.

Things did change on May 1st 1997.

And it was you that made things change.

Where are we now?

Let’s look at the difference you made when you worked for Labour in 1997 and 2001. You should be proud, be confident in your politics.

You have helped to transform this country.

What’s the difference between being in government and being in opposition ??

• In govt we get up and do things

• In opposition you get up and pass a few resolutions, go back to bed and turn the light out.

What we have done in the last few weeks alone?

This week, we announced more than £100 million is being made available to help people with disabilities to adapt their homes next year via the Disabled Facilities Grant

• This week we announced that Tony Blair would chair an international commission to assess the situation in Africa, and our policies towards Africa.

Ours is the first government to take sides with Africa, launching a crusade which will save millions of lives.

And it is this news which should be the headlines

• we have created  the union modernisation fund – millions of pounds to support trades unions as they face the challenges of the 21st century

• Figures released this week show that Labour’s record investment in the NHS is delivering real benefits for Scotland, with significant advances on waiting times for treatment.

• we announced the creation of the pension protection board

• Unemployment figures are down again this month.

• Measures to cut obesity….sorry I can’t tell you too much about this. I was out to lunch that day.

This is what government is about.

We know about the big decisions…. minimum wage, the New Deal and the billions for schools and hospitals.

But there are hundreds of smaller decisions taken every hour of every day of every month by your ministers which impact on our people.

That is what you achieved by having the confidence and the belief to campaign for Labour in Government.

You might not have met the 17,000 former miners in Scotland who suffered from Bronchitis or Vibration White Finger.

But because you campaigned for Labour, we have delivered £129 million to those former miners or their families.

You might not have been through the New Deal, but because you campaigned for Labour, we have helped 54,000 young people in Scotland in to work, when under the Tories they had no job, no future and no hope

You did that. Compare that hope for the future under Labour to the despair of the Tories. The Tories gave Scotland long term youth unemployment of over 40,000 – today it stands at 300.

But you will know some of the 1 million Scottish pensioners who receive  the Winter fuel payment,

17,000 pensioners in this constituency alone will have benefited because you campaigned for the Labour Party.

Tens of thousands of pensioners in Scotland are now getting pension credit – and thousands more will do so over the next few years.

You did that.

Compare that to the Tories and the Lib Dems, who have promised to abolish Pension credit

It is not just our ministers either – all Scottish Labour MPs make a difference at Westminster.

I want now to congratulate and thank Jim Sheridan for the work he put into the bill to regulate gang masters in the commons yesterday

Jim’s bill, supported by my union, the T&G, is strongly backed by our government and will make a real difference to the most vulnerable workers exploited by despicable gang masters.

Every day of the week Labour members make a difference to peoples lives in Scotland.

But we can only make a difference when we work as a team – in the European, Westminster and Scottish Parliaments, in our councils, in our constituencies

Jim is not the only Scottish MP making a difference in Westminster

- Frank Roy has taken legislation on air rage through Parliament;

- Bill Tynan has changed the law on firework safety;

- And David Cairns working with Usdaw on ensuring workers’ rights not to work on a Sunday.

But there is more to be done

We must face up to the challenges of the future

A future fair for all – the many not the few

We are on a journey:

• From being the party of opposition to being the natural party of govt

• For every mile we travel, we can lift a child or a pensioner out of poverty; but to end child and pensioner poverty we need to govern for a generation

• For every mile we travel we can build a school or a hospital but to transform our public services we need to govern for a generation

Which takes us to the Big Conversation

Let me remind you of the promises made in Keir Hardie’s first Labour conversation in 1906

1. National minimum wage
2. Abolition of hereditary peers
3. Scottish Parliament
4. Ban on alcohol

We have got the first three.

On the ban on alcohol…

My friends in the Unions have always been encouraging the Labour Party to stick to its manifesto

But after a big conversation – a big boozy conversation mind -  about the fourth pledge,  things got a bit slurred and they were saying “don’t take it all too literally Ian…”.

The Socialist Societies agreed and refused to give up their champers.
 
And other Party members are enjoying their chardonnays or a nice Merlot these days.

So I’m afraid the ban will not happen.

Who says new Labour doesn’t listen?

But seriously, this conversation we are holding with the British people over the next few months is of vital importance.

It shows our party as the party of the future.

As the only serious party willing to face up to the challenges of the future, and wanting to include the British people in the big questions we face.

Big Conversation – the challenges  

• How do we do more to tackle poverty and inequality?

• How do we make our communities safer?

• How do we give every child an excellent education?

• How do we balance work and family life?

• How do we safeguard our environment for future generations?

• How do we do more to connect politics and people?

The alternatives.

The SNP

The SNP’s policies are a recipe for economic failure.

They use an awful lot of words to describe their recipe for failure – they call it fiscal freedom, fiscal autonomy, fiscal independence and economic independence.
 
Call it what you like – it amounts to the same thing.

Ripping Scotland out of the UK and denying Scots the benefits of the union. This is only the latest expression of their central policy, separatism, a policy that is wrong for Scotland and rejected by the Scottish people.

Alex Salmond… the old pretender… he was heard saying that he preferred Margaret Thatcher to Tony Blair.

Was he saying this when Thatcher and Howard brought the poll tax to Scotland?

What the electors of Scotland understand, what scarred Scotland in the past was not the border with England

It was unemployment, poverty and poverty pay.

When Labour MPs voted, after record all night sittings to introduce the minimum wage, it was the SNP who chose to stay in their beds rather than come to the House of Commons and vote for the minimum wage.

Alex – go back to your bed, turn out the light ,

Scotland rejected you and your separatist party, your spending cuts and your willingness to flirt with the Tory right.

The real danger, the real alternative  is the Tories.

What would life under Slasher Letwin look like.

No Oliver Twist, this man, more of a Fagin.

Last week he committed the Tories to immediate cuts in public spending of £18 billion .

And in later years, the size of those cuts rises to over £30 billion.

In Scotland that would mean cuts of £1.8 billion which could only be found by biting deep into Scotland’s health service, education, transport infrastructure and the fight against crime

This isn’t about men in pin stripe suits with bowler hats and brollies,

it’s about sacking care workers,

hospital porters,

teaching assistants,

bin men,

staff in the pension service,

police, and community support officers

bus drivers, train drivers,

doctors, teachers and nurses.

It’s a direct attack on our public services and our jobs.

Slasher Letwin will then axe the New Deal,

at a stroke crushing the hopes and aspirations of many of Scotland’s youth, single parents and people with disabilities

He doesn’t stop there.

This 21st century Fagin will pick the pockets of Scotland’s pensioners by abolishing the pension credit and then plan for a new generation of poor pensioners by abolishing the second state pension

The Tories attitude to Scotland has never changed….

• Always support for the privileged few not the many

• Make cuts rather than invest

• Privatise services rather than invest

• Charge rather than invest

The choice at the European elections and at the next general election will never have been clearer.

Labour, a Party of progress   or the Tories: a party of despair

Let’s have confidence with Labour

Aspire and inspire

We are not ordinary people.

We are extraordinary people.

We have timeless and superior values

Our mission can inspire people ; our achievements can capture wide support;

The future is in our hands

We have a choice

Howard’s way or Labour’s way

We need to win for Scotland in the Euro elections;

Labour  MEPs…

David Martin

Bill Miller

Catherine Stilher

working hard to deliver for Scotland in Europe

The Tories would take Scotland out of Europe

The Nationalists would take Scotland out of the UK.

And the Trots?  They’d take us all to La La Land

When the general election comes, a victory will secure a third term

Power for a generation

Power for a noble purpose

Opportunity for all

Let’s not miss our chance

Let’s transform our streets

    Communities

    Schools

    Hospitals

    Our people’s life chances

This is a cause worth fighting for.

Let’s transform our party

• From the natural party of opposition

• to the natural party of government

Let’s inspire our supporters.

A nation for all our people

A nation fit for the challenges of the 21st Century.