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Tag: 2019

  • Tony Blair – 2019 Speech on the General Election

    Tony Blair – 2019 Speech on the General Election

    Below is the text of the speech made by Tony Blair, the former Labour Prime Minister, at Reuters on 25 November 2019.

    Britain is home to a unique political experiment. We are testing – hopefully not to destruction – whether it is possible for a major developed nation to turn its politics into chaos and survive without serious economic and social damage to its essential fabric.

    Round the world where political leaders are gathered, there is often a conversation about whose politics is crazier. I agree that right now the competition is fierce. But I still believe British politics is unfortunately ahead of the pack.

    Populism of all sorts is rampant world-wide. My Institute has outlined the causes elsewhere. But in most cases the populism is focused on a Leader. Leaders are transient. In Britain our populism focused on a policy – Brexit – which may be permanent.

    This policy has become the defining feature of the main Party of Government in Britain for around 200 years, the Conservative Party.

    But then there is a populism of the left, and here the main Opposition Party in Britain of the last 100 years – the Labour Party – has been taken over by left wing populism.

    In June 2016, we were a reasonably successful and influential power, our economy the fastest growing in the G7, London possibly the premier financial centre of the globe, our technology sector the strongest in Europe, our society riven with inequalities and unacceptable levels of poverty due to austerity post the financial crisis; but nonetheless a country able to ease itself out of austerity and repair its social cohesion should it choose to.

    Fast forward to today and we’re a mess. The buoyancy of the world economy has kept us going up to now, but should that falter, we will be in deep trouble. Investment is down; jobs in certain sectors are already moving; our currency stays devalued sharply; and market sentiment swings between anxiety and alarm. And across a range of international issues which matter to us, we’re irrelevant, too preoccupied to spare over-stretched bandwidth of attention.

    Our politics is utterly dysfunctional. As proof, in the latest instalment of such dysfunction, we have a Brexit General Election; and in December to boot.

    If Brexit is blocked in Parliament, the way to unblock it is to go back to the People who originally mandated it. It is a specific issue and should be decided specifically.

    A General Election by contrast is about who runs the country for the next 5 years and is about many different issues.

    The two should not be mixed up together in one vote.

    But the reason why they have been mixed up is itself further evidence of the breakdown in politics.

    The Conservatives calculate that they can force people to elect them, despite worry over Brexit, because Jeremy Corbyn is the alternative.

    The Labour Party leadership calculate they can combine traditional Labour support around issues like the NHS, with Remain voters who hate Brexit, despite fear about the Labour Leader.

    In other words, both parties want to win on the basis that whatever your dislike of what they’re offering, the alternative is worse.

    And not forgetting the Lib Dems who, because of all this, thought they could turn a General Election into a by-election.

    The polls predict a Conservative victory; and put the chances of an outright Labour majority as negligible. But rightly, many like me don’t trust Boris Johnson with a blank cheque.

    The result is an Election where, despite the headline polls, there is unprecedented volatility and indecision, born both of uncertainty in the electorate as to what they want, and uncertainty as to how on earth they get it.

    Of course, there are those who love the Corbyn leadership and those who passionately believe Brexit is the most important thing in the world for Britain to do.

    But outside of these two extremes, a lot of people are scratching their heads, changing their minds, floating and unsure.

    The unifying sentiment is a desire, bordering on the febrile, to end the mess, to wake from the nightmare.

    This desire, though completely understandable, is in danger of leading us into a big mistake; and frankly we cannot afford another of those.

    Sometimes with a knot, you think that if you pull the string harder, the knot unravels; you pull it and discover its become even tighter; and then finally, you recognise you have to unpick it and however irritating and time consuming, it is the only way the knot gets untied.

    This is where we are today in British politics.

    The truth is: the public aren’t convinced either main Party deserve to win this Election outright.

    They’re peddling two sets of fantasies; and both, as majority Governments, pose a risk it would be unwise for the country to take.

    The Conservative Party say vote Tory and Brexit will be done; it will be over.

    They even add – do it and we can get back to dealing with the important issues.

    The cheek is quite breath-taking. So, having visited this debacle upon us, which has distracted us from those big issues for over 3 years, they now use the distraction as a reason for doing Brexit, not abandoning it.

    But it appeals.

    It is, however, a fantasy.

    Brexit isn’t over on 12 December, nor even on 31st January next year. We immediately begin the new phase of Brexit negotiation. Only this time, we are negotiating the future relationship of Britain with Europe, not simply the Irish border question, and without the leverage which comes from still being a member of the EU, since, legally, we will have left the Union and are in the transition period supposed to last up to the end of 2020.

    What has become apparent in the last weeks, is that this negotiation has no chance of being concluded in that transition period. None. Except in circumstances where, as Boris Johnson effectively did in respect of Northern Ireland, we concede that Britain stays in the trading system of Europe, the Single Market.

    It is belief that this might happen which motivated Nigel Farage to threaten to stand against the Conservative Party.

    But more likely is that a Conservative Government will be obliged to go for the Hard Brexit i.e. a 3rd Country FTA, like Canada, with divergence around tax, regulation and trade.

    This is what Ministers who are pro Brexit are already saying and the position Boris Johnson recently praised in the USA.

    If this is so, this negotiation is going to be horrible. I have spoken to many people in Europe over the past few weeks. Not a single person believes that there is any prospect of Britain reaching agreement with Europe on this timeline, if its position is divergence on rule making.

    On the contrary, they assert that Europe would be vigilant to ensure there was no ‘unfair competition’, particularly around tax and regulation.

    On Canada, I learnt two things. First, the Europeans, faced now with a Johnson Government, regard the Canada deal as a problematic analogy for the British deal. Trade with Britain is roughly six times that with Canada and whereas Canada is the other side of a large ocean, Britain is next door, geographically and physically linked. They are not going to allow a Brexiteer led British Government to establish a competitor with access to their market but undermining their rules.

    Second, despite being agreed 18 months ago, the Canada deal is not yet ratified and indeed is now facing considerable problems in various European legislatures. Should any of them block such ratification, the deal falls.

    The risk is obvious once this is understood. We will be back in the exact, same argument as we had over Ireland. One side of the Conservative Party will be demanding we leave without a deal if Europe refuses the access we want; the other will be wanting to compromise to get that access.

    This could last for YEARS!

    Yet though Brexit is a distraction, it is also the vital determinant of the nation’s future. It remains the single most important decision since 1945. Because of its effect on the economy, it impacts every one of the non Brexit promises the Parties are making.

    Doing it matters. How it is done matters. And exhaustion is not the frame of mind in which to do it.

    No Deal Brexit is not off the table. It is slap bang in the middle of it and if they mean their manifesto commitment to no extension past 2020, it is the probable outcome.

    When people hear the phrase No Deal, they often think we just mean failure to agree; which in Brexiteer language means we haven’t surrendered.

    What it really means is throwing our economy off a cliff and hoping it finds a parachute on the way down.

    It is a risk no responsible leader would take. Yet we may be about to empower a Leader – Boris Johnson – to take such a risk.

    The Labour Party manifesto is heralded by its leadership as the most radical ever.

    This is true. It promises a revolution; and if implemented it would indeed amount to one. I won’t go through the list of spending pledges, but they’re combined with renationalisation, repeal of union laws, new taxes on business, taking parts of a company’s shareholding into Government mandated Funds, a stack of new corporate and private sector regulation, and virtually every demand that any pressure group has ever submitted chucked in for good measure.

    The problem with revolutions is never how they begin but how they end.

    Meanwhile we have a policy debate devoid of rational analysis of the real challenges facing modern developed countries: the technological revolution; reform of the public realm as well as investment in it; and the rising power of China which is the biggest geo-political shift of modern Western history.

    So, the challenge is: we know the problem with both Parties manifestos, yet we want out of the paralysis. We crave clarity.

    But tugging on the knot harder isn’t going to bring it; we must unpick the knot.

    We should look at this election seat by seat. There is one General Election but 650 mini elections and each one matters.

    There are good, solid mainstream, independent minded MPs and candidates in both parties. Like many, I have been campaigning for great Labour candidates because we know Parliament will be poorer without them. I am sure the same is true of the Conservative Party and there are those who were expelled for their moderation also standing.

    The Lib Dems can’t form a Government; but they can play an important role in who does govern.

    Once we acknowledge all the above, and vote accordingly, yes untying the knot will take longer. The new Parliament will be obliged to let the country decide Brexit on its merits, in a referendum, whether in the light of what we now know, we want to proceed with exit from Europe and if so, on what basis.

    And then we will have a fresh Election to decide who governs.

    This is counter-intuitive. It will be resisted with all the force that the extremes can muster – extremes whose narrative runs through much of our present politics and media, reinforced by the scourge of social media, but the alternative is a choice between two risks, whose consequences we live with for a long time.

    This Election is the weirdest of my life time. But once you realise it is not conventional, you are liberated to think unconventionally.

    This is a moment to set aside the fatigue; to understand we’re taking a decision not just about a Government but about a future. So, we should think deeply.

    Then, at some later point, and not too later, we must set about the urgent task of reconstructing the sensible mainstream of British politics. Otherwise, this laboratory experiment in populism running riot, will end very badly for our nation.

  • Boris Johnson – 2019 Speech at Conservative Manifesto Launch

    Boris Johnson – 2019 Speech at Conservative Manifesto Launch

    Below is the text of the speech made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, in Telford on 24 November 2019.

    Good afternoon everybody. Wonderful to see everyone here today. Thanks for coming along this afternoon

    We are now as you know less than three weeks away from the most critical election of modern memory

    when the stakes for this country have seldom been higher and the choice has never been starker

    because in just the last few days we have heard from every other party haven’t we?

    As they have launched their manifestos

    and we have heard

    how they would keep us stuck in the same rut

    how they would consign this country to yet more delay and yet more frustration and parliamentary paralysis

    and how they would refuse yet again to honour the will of the people

    how they would refuse, every other party, to get Brexit done

    The Lib Dems want to revoke Brexit

    the Scots Nationalists want to cancel Brexit and have another referendum on Scotland as well

    as for Labour – as for Labour, they will plainly give in to Nicola Sturgeon and waste the whole of next year in two more referendums, one on Scotland and one on the EU

    except that Jeremy Corbyn won’t tell us whether he would even be willing to advise people to vote in favour of his own deal

    He used to be indecisive – now he’s not so sure

    Do we want that kind of leadership my friends? Do we want more delay? Do we want more dither and drift and deadlock and division?

    Do we want 2020 to be a year of defeatism and despair?

    No we don’t. We want to move forward because this country has an incredible future

    and here – there it is – I believe is at least the partial blueprint for that future

    Here is the route map to take us forward

    because unlike any other party standing at this election

    We’re going to get Brexit done

    with a deal that is pre-cooked, ready to go, oven-ready as I keep saying, approved not just by our friends in the EU but by every single one of the 635 Conservative candidates standing at this election

    a deal that will allow us to deliver absolutely all the opportunities of Brexit

    from freeports to free trade to cutting VAT on sanitary products and improving the welfare of animals

    Get Brexit done – and we restore confidence and certainty to business and families.

    Get Brexit done – and we will see a pent-up tidal wave of investment into this country.

    Get Brexit done – and we can focus our hearts and minds on the priorities of the British people,

    because it is this one nation Tory party that is already embarked on the biggest cash boost for the NHS for a generation

    and today in this manifesto we pledge 50,000 more nurses and their bursaries and 50 million more GP surgery appointments

    and today we make this guarantee to the British people

    that we will tackle crime with 20,000 more police officers and tougher sentencing

    that we will sort out our immigration system with a points-based Australian style system

    that we will invest millions more every week in science, in schools, in apprenticeships and in infrastructure and control our debt at the same time

    and that we will reach net Zero by 2050 with clean energy solutions

    and that we can do all these things, here’s the kicker, we can do all these things without raising our income tax, VAT or National Insurance Contributions. That’s our guarantee

    and in this manifesto there is a vision for the future of this country in which we unite and level up

    with infrastructure, education and technology

    and it is appropriate of course that we are here in Telford

    because here more than 200 years ago

    the phlegethontian fires of Coalbrookdale

    created the first industrial revolution

    and this whole region was a giant crucible

    in which colossal quantities of hydrocarbons were burned to smelt iron and steel

    and turn water into steam and power

    and it is an incredible thing that here once again

    in the West Midlands

    a new industrial revolution is taking place

    not by burning coal

    not by emitting CO2

    but thanks to British ingenuity we can make electrons swoosh so efficiently from anode to the cathode, or possibly vice versa, but that’s the right idea.

    that after decades of trying we can make electric cars

    and we can make electric buses

    and it won’t be long before we will be making electric or part electric planes

    and we in this one nation Conservative government do not want to wait to begin this future

    because we believe that after three and a half years of being held back by a broken parliament

    it is time to unleash the potential of the whole country

    and to forge a new Britain

    and yes I am proud that we have in our national capital the greatest city on earth

    but I know and every survey confirms

    that genius, talent, ability, flair – all are distributed evenly throughout the UK

    Opportunity is not distributed evenly

    and I passionately believe that with education, infrastructure, technology

    we can tackle that unfairness

    we can unleash that potential and we can make those investments

    precisely we one nation Conservatives because we also support a dynamic market economy

    and that is why we are cutting taxes for small businesses

    and why when people get up at the crack of dawn to prepare their family business

    and when people take out a mortgage to fund a new venture

    or when they risk everything on a new product or try to find a new market

    we don’t sneer at them

    we cheer for them

    and that is the choice at this election

    that is the choice between out and out retrograde socialism and sensible one nation conservatism

    You can come with us, and have a government that backs our armed forces as a power for good around the world

    or you can have Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party who has said he wants to scrap them

    We support our police, putting more and more on the street, support them in fighting knife crime –

    they say stop and search is inappropriate and oppressive

    We want higher wages, and are raising the living wage by the biggest ever increase

    Corbynomics, McDonnellnomics, means higher taxes for everyone

    we stand up for the people of this country when other nations threaten us with harm

    and it was quite incredible that when Russia ordered the Salisbury poisonings

    Corbyn seemed actually to take the side of Moscow

    Above all, and here’s the most important difference we face in the next few days

    we will get Brexit done, we will end the acrimony and the chaos

    they want to rip up our deal – and negotiate a new one

    but we don’t yet know of a single Labour MP or indeed any other MP who would support it

    in fact we don’t know if anyone believes in Mr Corbyn’s new deal apart from Mr Corbyn – and not even he believes in it

    can you imagine the negotiations that would take place if a Corbyn-Sturgeon were to come in

    What on earth are they supposed to think in Brussels?

    Bonjour monsieur Corbyn comment allez vous? tell us about this that deal you want…

    what do you mean you don’t really want it? What do you mean you don’t really believe in it or want to advocate it? Who does believe in it?

    Not Monsieur McDonnell? not Monsieur Starmer? not Madame Abbott??

    Then who does believe in it??

    it would be farcical, it would be comical, if the consequences of that approach were not so disastrous for this country and for our prospects next year

    Let’s give that madness a miss

    I want you to imagine what the country could be like in just 10 years

    if we can get a working majority on the 12th of December

    I want you to look forward to a Britain where the streets are safer, where the air is cleaner, where we have built 40 new hospitals as a direct result of the decisions taken in the last 3 months

    a Britain where the ten year olds are not only doing better at reading and writing and maths but doing better across the whole country

    and where in ten years time scientists are starting to reap the huge rewards from our plans to double spending on for research

    from AI to the gigafactory for batteries that we will inaugurate

    to the new space ports in Cornwall and Scotland that will send British made satellites in to the heavens and drive one of our most exciting industries.

    a Britain where we are uniting and levelling up

    where great new infrastructure is helping to rebalance the economy, delivering Northern Powerhouse rail AND a metro style system for the whole of the west midlands

    a Britain where left behind towns have recovered their vibrancy and commercial life and optimism, with shops and businesses made possible by better transport and fantastic broadband

    and then in turn where better infrastructure is allowing us to build thousands of superb new homes, hundreds of thousands, on brownfield sites – giving young people the prospect of home ownership that they currently don’t have

    that every survey shows is what people in this country wants

    a Britain where the landscape is made more beautiful by the planting of millions of trees that also help us to deal with climate change

    and in ten years time I confidently prophesy that we people will be passionately proud of their Scottish identity, and their Welsh and Northern Irish, and yes their English identity. And that will be a great thing.

    But we will also all be proud strong and whole United Kingdom, more united than ever, flying that red white and blue Union flag that represents the best of our values, from democracy and the rule of law

    from free trade to free speech to the freedom to love whomsoever you choose

    from championing 12 years of quality education for every girl in the world

    to protecting the planet’s wildlife from the tragedy of habitat loss and extinction

    and a Britain that is able to lead the world – as we do – in tackling climate change and to reduce our CO2 to net zero by 2050 not because we hate capitalism, and want to destroy it, and want pointlessly to make an enemy of enterprise

    but because the private sector makes the brilliant technical breakthroughs that enable us to cut CO2

    AND pay for great public services and create great high skilled jobs

    And that is the vision we are offering – to make this country the greatest place to live, to breathe, to be, to raise kids, to start a business

    the greatest place on earth

    and I propose that we get on with it now

    I don’t want to waste 2020 in two more referendums

    I want it to be an exciting and productive year, a year of prosperity and growth

    Do you want to wake up on Friday 13th December and find a nightmare on Downing Street, a Corbyn-Sturgeon coalition of chaos?

    I say let’s go carbon neutral by 2050 and Corbyn neutral by Christmas!

    Let’s go for sensible moderate but tax cutting, one nation Conservative government, and take this country forward.

     

  • Sajid Javid – 2019 Speech in Bolton

    Sajid Javid – 2019 Speech in Bolton

    Below is the text of the speech made by Sajid Javid, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in Bolton on 26 November 2019.

    Good afternoon.

    I’m very pleased to be here at the Bolton Lad’s & Girls Club.

    When I were a lad, you wouldn’t have been able to keep me away from a place like this.

    When I was Home Secretary, and a bit more grown-up…

    … I saw the impact that Onside Youth Zones had in giving young people “somewhere to go, something to do, and someone to talk to”.

    It’s a real comfort to hard-working families to have services like this in the area.

    So I’m very proud that one of my first priorities as Chancellor was a £500million Youth Investment Fund.

    It was inspired by youth centres like this, and I hope has the potential to leave a legacy just as lasting.

    Amazingly, this club was founded 128 years ago.

    Back then, Bolton, Bury and Rochdale – where I’ve also been today – had the legacy of being boomtown milltowns.

    They’d been the engines of the Industrial Revolution.

    With more spinning machines than a general election.

    Some of those machines were still whirring in recent memory too.

    In the 1960’s, my Dad got off a plane in Heathrow and made his up to Rochdale, to find work in a cotton mill.

    After standing outside the mill for weeks, he got his first job, then started a family.

    He came up here with a sense of hope and opportunity.

    But I know that’s not how everyone in towns like this feel about their future now.

    Last night I stayed with family in Rochdale….

    … and this morning had the profound experience of walking down memory lane, talking to residents of the street that was my first home.

    It’s clear there’s still a lot of pride around here – and there should be.

    But it’s also true that too much of that is about the past, rather than the present or future.

    It shouldn’t be a surprise that most people here voted Brexit.

    They wanted change.

    They wanted government to listen.

    And now they want to Get Brexit Done…

    … and end the dither and delay in parliament.

    That’s the only way for their voices to actually be heeded, and to protect the fabric of our democracy…

    … and it’s the only way to unlock our politics so we can get on with all the other things that need to change.

    That’s not just resonating in towns like this.

    I’m visiting every corner of our country during this campaign, and I’m hearing the same thing everywhere.

    It’s time to end the paralysis in parliament, bring the country together, and look to the future.

    The Conservatives are the only party pledging to do that.

    On Sunday we launched our manifesto to Get Brexit Done, and unleash Britain’s potential.

    If we are elected by the British people on December 12th, we will pursue a bold agenda.

    We will finally leave the European Union in January…

    … and get to work on seizing the opportunities from that – including a best-in-class free trade deal.

    We will protect the historic Union of the United Kingdom, instead of spending £150million two more referendums, as the Prime Minister has reaffirmed today.

    We will boost our public services – building on our record NHS funding, investing in our schools, and putting 20,000 more police officers on our streets.

    And we will deliver an infrastructure revolution – probably the biggest our country has seen in decades.

    We have a positive agenda for Brexit and beyond.

    It’s one of the most ambitious platforms in a generation.

    It will change this country for the better…

    … improve the lives of workers, families and businesses up and down the country…

    … and prepare us for the challenges of the future.

    We can choose that clear and responsible path…

    … or as I will explain today, we can choose Labour’s fantasy economics…

    … a dangerous and disingenuous agenda that threatens to unravel the hard work of the British people over the last decade….

    …and hit them with twelve taxes for Christmas.

    You can trust in the direction that we will take the country, because our manifesto builds on all of the plans we have already put in train during just over 100 days.

    I’m proud of how much our government has achieved under fresh leadership in that time.

    And I’m excited by how we can move our country forward in the next few years if the British people put their faith in us.

    Our manifesto includes more measures to help working people:

    Cutting National Insurance Contributions for working people.

    Our major boost to the National Living Wage.

    And the Triple Tax Lock – something Labour will not and cannot commit to.

    We will also lay the foundations for our future prosperity, and bring our country together, with an infrastructure revolution.

    We have already electrified the railway line from Bolton to Manchester, Preston and Blackpool.

    At our budget in the new year we will electrify the nation’s ambitions on transport.

    From the biggest ever pothole-filling programme…

    … to intra-city deals that give city regions like Greater Manchester the funding to upgrade their bus, tram and train services to make them as good as London’s.

    And all of this underpinned by a credible set of fiscal rules that will allow us to invest in infrastructure while keeping a lid on debt, borrowing and interest.

    We understand that the only way to sustainably fund world-class public services is to maintain economic credibility, and to cultivate a dynamic market economy.

    And the policies laid out in our manifesto are the most comprehensively costed that any party has ever published.

    We are absolutely committed to being responsible custodians of taxpayers’ money – your money.

    Why should you expect anything less?

    If you hire anyone, any business, to do a job….

    You want to know that they’ll do the job competently…

    …that they’ll do what they promised…

    … and that they’ll deliver it at the same cost you agreed…

    If they didn’t, you’d lose faith in their service.

    That principle is even more important in a democracy.

    At this election you are putting your trust in the people who are going to run the government and spend your money for up to five years.

    They told businesses they had nothing up their sleeves, then announced the biggest share confiscation plan from private investors in the developed world.

    They said they’d reached the ‘limit of their ambitions’ for nationalisations, and then announced two more.

    They said they weren’t planning a so-called windfall tax, and announced one two days later.

    They said they’d fully cost their manifesto….

    Not only did they barely bother to pretend to do so, they then announced a new £58billion commitment two days later!

    Now, the PM has already pointed out the massive Brexit-shaped hole in Labour’s plans.

    That in itself is a huge failure of transparency, leadership and responsibility.

    There’s another hole too – a financial blackhole.

    You may remember at the start of this campaign we estimated the cost of Corbyn to be £1.2 trillion.

    It’s a big number.

    It’s hard to comprehend so many zeros.

    And it was right for people to interrogate the assumptions in that costing.

    Well now they’ve released their final plans, and the direct cost of Corbyn is confirmed.

    £1.2 trillion of extra spending over the next five years.

    And it could actually be worse than we feared.

    If anything it’s an underestimate.

    Labour’s costings document shamelessly overlooked many of the commitments in their manifesto.

    59 of which don’t have enough detail for us to cost fairly, so we have left those out.

    The kindest interpretation you could have about Labour’s approach is that it’s primary school politics not grown-up government.

    Rainbows every day and free teddy bears for all.

    But it won’t be all gain, no pain.

    It can’t be.

    You can’t defy basic economic principles any more than you can defy the laws of physics.

    Labour would hit ordinary workers and families hard from different directions:

    By wrecking the economy.

    By hitting lower and middle income earners directly with huge tax hikes.

    And by undoing the hard work of the last decade…

    … meaning more debt, less wealth creation, and ultimately less money for public services.

    First, let’s consider the impact the wider economy has on individual workers and families.

    Labour want you to see a big Santa bag of goodies.

    But the closer you look, it’s just a big bag of coal.

    This Labour manifesto is a recipe for disaster.

    What would that look like?

    I’ll tell you how that would play out.

    Imagine the nightmare on Downing Street on Friday 13th.

    The pound crashing in the early hours of the morning as Corbyn inches toward a majority…

    Foreign investors rushing their money out of the country in fear of exchange controls…

    A dramatic downgrade of government debt credit ratings…

    And the cost of our debt spiralling out of control as confidence in the British government collapses.

    All that means it won’t even take months and years for an economic crisis.

    It’ll happen in days and weeks.

    A crisis by Christmas.

    And who will pay the price for this?

    You.

    Ordinary workers.

    Families up and down the country.

    When an economic downturn comes, it’s never the rich that take the biggest hit.

    They have their buffers and financial safety nets.

    It’s people on low and average earnings that pay.

    Fewer jobs, lower wages and higher prices.

    Higher interest rates will increase mortgages.

    Pension pots will be slashed.

    So before they’ve even had a chance to implement their ideological experiments, a Corbyn government will already be a risk most people cannot afford.

    Secondly, Labour will hike taxes on the many, not the few.

    They talk about soaking the rich, and try to scare people about billionaire bogey-men.

    It’s all so simple they say.

    And they try to distract people with impressive sounding headline spending figures.

    But the ‘ying’ to that ‘yang’ is the cost it will exact on ordinary voters.

    Labour’s numbers only add up with significant tax rises for the 95%, not just the 5.

    They say they want to raise £83bn in new taxes every year.

    As Chancellor I can tell you, you can’t simply raise that amount of money from such a small group of people.

    But it’s worse than that because there’s currently an £385bn financial hole in Labour’s plans.

    And that means tax hikes on hard-working families on lower and middle incomes, like many of the proud people of Bolton.

    “It’s ludicrous to suggest that Labour could fund its ever-growing and expensive wish-list simply with tax rises on just a tiny number of very wealthy people.

    Because it will be ordinary families who will end up paying.”

    Those last few sentences were not my words, but those of a man who was Labour’s Shadow Chancellor just four years ago.

    And if that wasn’t enough, the Institute of Fiscal studies are unequivocal about Labour’s claims that they can raise £80billion from the highest earners:

    That is simply not credible.

    Labour is wrong to say their spending spree can be paid for by one segment of society – everyone will pay.

  • Jeremy Corbyn – 2019 Speech on Broadband

    Jeremy Corbyn – 2019 Speech on Broadband

    Below is the text of the speech made by Jeremy Corbyn, the Leader of the Opposition, on 15 November 2019.

    Thank you for that welcome.

    At the start of this election I promised to put forward the most radical and exciting plan for real change the British public has ever seen.

    We haven’t even launched our manifesto yet, but our campaign is already electric. On the ground it’s bigger and more exciting than 2017.

    And I’ll let you into a little secret – when our manifesto arrives next week, it’s going to knock your socks off.

    I don’t want anyone to be able to say, a few years into a Labour government, that nothing ever changes or that politicians are all the same.

    I want everyone to feel the positive difference to their own life when you have the government and the people working together, collectively, to take on the system and make life better for the many, not the few.

    And do you know what? We’re so confident that’s what our manifesto will do that today we want to give you a sneak peek.

    A taster of the kind of fresh, transformational policies that will change your life.

    So here it is: a Labour government will make broadband free for everybody.

    And not just any broadband, but the very fastest. Full-fibre broadband to every home, in every part of our country, for free – as a universal public service.

    And once it’s up and running, instead of you forking out for your monthly bill, we’ll tax the giant corporations fairly – the Facebooks and the Googles – to cover the running costs.

    That is a policy for the many.

    Making broadband free and available to all will open up opportunities for everybody.

    It will put us at the cutting edge of social and economic change.

    Because what we’re about is building a country that’s fit for the future.

    The internet has become such a central part of our lives. It opens up opportunities for work, creativity, entertainment and friendship.

    What was once a luxury is now an essential utility.

    That’s why full-fibre broadband must be a public service, bringing communities together with equal access in an inclusive and connected society.

    Fast and free broadband for all will fire up our economy, deliver a massive boost to productivity and bring half a million people back into the workforce.

    It will help our environment and tackle the climate emergency by reducing the need to commute.

    And it will make our country fairer, more equal and more democratic.

    The full-fibre broadband Labour will deliver is the gold standard. It is the fastest, most secure and most reliable form of broadband, using fibre optic cables to take data directly into people’s homes and businesses.

    And it will help to boost 5G to people’s phones too.

    Full-fibre will deliver lightning-fast download times.

    It will put an end to patchy and slow coverage once and for all.

    And it will save the average household £30 a month on bills.

    Britain’s broadband network is lagging well behind other countries.

    Just 8 to 10 per cent of the UK has access to full-fibre broadband, compared to 98 per cent in South Korea.

    Something clearly isn’t working.

    This is core infrastructure for the 21st Century. I think it’s too important to be left to the corporations.

    The most efficient and rapid way to deliver a broadband network fit for our times, and make it a genuine public service for all, is for the public to take control.

    So under our plans, we will create a new public enterprise – and we’ll call it British Broadband.

    British Broadband will oversee a publicly-owned full-fibre network and deliver free broadband to every home, with a phased roll-out over ten years.

    To do that we will bring the relevant parts of BT, including Openreach, into public ownership.

    By creating British Broadband as a public service, we will lead the world in using public investment to transform our country, reduce people’s monthly bills, boost our economy and improve people’s quality of life.

    And it will have national security benefits too.

    To me, that’s common sense. The corporations have been unable or unwilling to roll out full-fibre fast enough, and they have little incentive to invest in rural and remote parts of Britain.

    But under our plan, the priority will be those with least connectivity, mainly in rural and remote areas but also in some inner-city areas, unlocking new opportunities across huge swathes of our country.

    And we will then move on to towns, giving a boost to local economies and making it easier for people to run successful businesses outside the big cities.

    And finally, we will complete the roll-out in the well-connected urban centres.

    Ask people about their experience with private broadband companies and many will tell you about internet dropouts and hours spent on hold listening to Vivaldi, waiting to speak to an overworked and underpaid customer service worker who probably can’t fix the problem anyway.

    Full-fibre will provide the most reliable service, and British Broadband will be properly staffed, with guaranteed jobs for everyone currently working in broadband.

    Under public ownership, key universal services can be run for the British people instead of for profit.

    In July, when he was running for Conservative leader, Boris Johnson also promised to make full-fibre broadband available across the country – except he expected you to pay for it.

    But it will surprise nobody that this was just another case of Johnson’s signature move: the broken promise.

    So what is he now offering instead? A low-budget option using old copper cables that are already out of date.

    Johnson’s plans are yet another billionaire wealth grab, bunging public money to big corporations including Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin instead of putting the technology in the hands of the British people.

    We need real change.

    But I know the question that will be on everyone’s lips: ‘how are you going to pay for it?’

    Well let me tell you.

    The initial upgrade to our infrastructure will be funded through our Green Transformation Fund.

    And when it comes to the running costs, we’re not going to put that onto the British public, who have already forked out far too much for rip-off broadband.

    Instead, a Labour government will close down tax tricks used by giants like Google and Facebook, who make millions in Britain while paying next to nothing to the public purse.

    I pay my tax.

    Everybody in this room pays their tax.

    Small businesses pay their tax.

    So why can’t the giant multinationals?

    They think they can get away with not paying their share. Well I’ve got news for them: not anymore.

    Labour believes that the British people deserve the very best.

    As a country we should be proud of our history of building treasured public institutions and services.

    In the 19th Century it was the public waterworks.

    In the 20th Century it was our fantastic National Health Service, freeing people from the fear of illness.

    British Broadband will be our treasured public institution for the 21st century, delivering fast and free broadband to every home.

    Only the government has the planning ability, economies of scale and ambition to take this on.

    This is a mission for everyone to get behind.

    Together we will build a new, universal public service delivering the fastest broadband free to everyone.

    This will be at the heart of Labour’s plans to transform the future of our economy and society.

    Labour will put wealth and power in the hands of the many, while Boris Johnson’s Conservatives will only look after the privileged few.

    It’s time to make the very fastest full-fibre broadband free to all, in every home, in every corner of our country.

    It’s time for real change.

    Thank you.

  • John McDonnell – 2019 Speech on Broadband

    John McDonnell – 2019 Speech on Broadband

    Below is the text of the speech made by John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 15 November 2019.

    I want to thank my friend, Jeremy Corbyn, for showing us in that speech why he will be the Prime Minister that this country so desperately needs.

    He will be a connected Prime Minister who knows and understands the communities of this country that he will stand up for. He will be a principled Prime Minister, always giving expression to the best of the values that we can all live up to; like care, and solidarity, and justice. And he will be a visionary Prime Minister, bold and ambitious in his agenda for this country and the world. Being connected, principled, and visionary, they are qualities our country is crying out for.

    These are the very qualities that Boris Johnson lacks, as he has demonstrated in recent months. A Prime Minister who didn’t know what the minimum wage was a matter of months ago. A Prime Minister who tells one audience what’s in his Brexit deal, and another audience something completely different. A Prime Minister with no positive vision for change in this country beyond returning us to the Thatcher years.

    I say this to the Prime Minister: nostalgia for some bygone era is no substitute for vision.

    We’re now into the second week of this general election campaign. We will continue to be relentlessly positive in what we present, mapping out the different kind of society we will create and doing it with care, precision, and discipline. Costing every new spending announcement, describing in detail how we will deliver our plans.

    In the meantime, the Tories continue their campaign of scattershot attacks and scare-mongering, while they refuse to cost their own policies and while the Chancellor refuses to participate in a debate with me about what our respective policies mean for the future of this country. These are the same old Tory attack lines and the same old Tory tactics. They don’t seem to understand the times we’re in.

    It’s not just Brexit; which does need to be resolved through a leader that listens, and a leader that is connected to people, a leader like Jeremy Corbyn. It’s also about the climate emergency, and the human emergency caused by 9 long years of Tory austerity. Where 87 people die a day waiting for the care they need. Where 155 women and 103 children are turned away from refuges every day because of the cuts. Where 726 die in a year, last year, because they have no home to sleep in. As Chancellor I won’t allow this to go on.

    So last week I announced our ambitious investment plans. £250 billion for a Green Transformation Fund over 10 years. £150 billion for a Social Transformation Fund over 5 years. Investment at a scale that matches the scale of the emergencies we face.

    In the world we live in today, all of our infrastructure must be green and we cannot ignore the social infrastructure that is the glue that holds our community together. But what we’re saying today is we have also failed to be ambitious enough about our digital infrastructure.

    In the mid-1990s the South Korean government launched a nationwide project, the Korean Information Infrastructure project. In 1995, they had just one internet user for every hundred citizens.[1] Now, partly because of mission-oriented government investment, they have 98% of their population covered by full-fibre broadband. We have had nothing near that level of forward-thinking ambition in this country.

    That changes today, and that changes with a Labour Government.

    We are announcing our mission today to deliver free full-fibre broadband to all by 2030. To achieve that, as Jeremy has already indicated, we will roll out the remaining 90% of the full-fibre network. We’ll acquire the necessary access rights to the existing 10% of the full-fibre network that has already been rolled out. To achieve these things we’ll create a new entity, British Broadband.

    That entity will bring the broadband-relevant parts of BT into public ownership. That will include Openreach, which has installed the majority of existing full-fibre coverage, and parts of BT Technology, BT Enterprise, and BT Consumer.

    EE, Plusnet, BT Global Services, and BT TV will not be brought into public ownership and we will work the workforce and unions to finalise the details of these plans.

    British Broadband will be a new public service for the twenty-first century. It will have two arms, an infrastructure arm and a service arm. British Digital Infrastructure, the infrastructure arm, will take on the roll-out of the full-fibre network. The British Broadband Service, the service arm, will deliver free full-fibre broadband to all.

    We’ll deliver that free full-fibre broadband in tranches, beginning with those with the worst quality broadband: including rural and remote regions, and inner-city suburbs. We’ll then move into towns, ending with those parts of large urban centres currently well-served.

    British Broadband will not represent a return to the 1970s in how it operates. They didn’t have broadband in the 1970s, this is public ownership for the future. Public ownership where workers, consumers, and other stakeholders manage the service, and we will guarantee workers currently in broadband infrastructure and retail jobs employment in British Broadband.

    At the same time as all of this, we’ll pass a Charter of Digital Rights. The most cutting-edge protection of digital and data rights this country has ever seen.

    Compare this with what the Tories proposed. They’ve suggested a £5 billion pay out for part of the network but they won’t even keep the ownership of the network. So what they want is a fat subsidy to existing operators like Virgin. All the signs are that they’ll use a procurement process that wastes tens of millions on legal and consultancy fees with suggestions that building won’t get underway until November 2021. And all they’re aspiring to is ‘gigabit-capable’ broadband – broadband of a certain speed. That could keep old copper cables in the ground and keep the UK behind the technological revolution other countries have kick started. It’s not enough for the times we’re in.

    Ours is a plan that will provide a step-up for people with 5G connections and businesses developing 5G-based products. A plan that will challenge rip-off ‘out-of-contract’ pricing and that will literally eliminate bills for millions of people across the UK. Rebecca Long-Bailey, our Shadow BEIS Minister, will speak more about what this means for our environment, for our businesses, and for our society.

    What I want to underscore is that every part of this plan has been legally vetted, checked with experts, and costed.

    The full-fibre network will be paid for with £15.3 billion out of our Green Transformation Fund. That’s based on a £20.3 billion national monopoly costing by Frontier Economics, taking off £5 billion from the Government’s not-yet-spent commitment. The maintenance costs of the network, around £230 million a year, will be more than covered by a new approach to taxing multinationals that we welcomed several weeks ago.

    It’s an approach that looks at where multinationals’ sales, workforce, and operations are, as a share of their global activity. So if a multinational has 10% of its sales, workforce, and operations in the UK, they’re asked to pay tax on 10% of their global profits. Two tax experts recently estimated that the approach could raise £6-14 billion for the UK. It is easily enough to pay for the maintenance costs of the network, and any costs of servicing the debt from bringing parts of BT into public ownership. That public ownership process will happen in the usual way, with bonds swapped for shares, and Parliament setting the final price. We know, from our expert advice, that this is delivered.

    The network can be built in 10 years. We can train and provide the skilled engineers and workers needed to roll out the network, including through our exciting package on lifelong learning. We can implement this new tax on multinationals, to ask the tech giants like Google and Facebook to pay a bit more, for internet connectivity they benefit from, and so that we can all share in the benefits of living in a digital world.

    People asked last week whether there were ‘shovel-ready’ projects for our ambitious infrastructure investment plans. This is a shovel-ready project.

    What we are offering in this election is real change and what we’ve announced today is what real change looks and feels like. It looks and feels like thousands of people, getting stuck in around the country, to provide a service that will make all of our lives better. It looks and feels like taking on the multinationals, something for years people have said is too hard. It looks and feels like a service that people once paid for, which will now be free. It looks and feels like people having a future they can be excited about.

    You know, Ken Loach has a new film out. But in an older one of his that some of you might have seen, Which Side Are You On?, one of the miners recites words of a poem. The poem speaks of how the miners were “lost in the bowels of the earth / through trying to make a future. But now what is it worth?”. Young people and others are asking that question again now. With a torn social fabric and a climate emergency, what is our future worth?

    In the Labour Party, with your help, we have an answer. We have a vision of the future that we think is worth fighting for.

    We’ll fight for it in government.

    You’ll help us deliver it.

    Solidarity.

  • Boris Johnson – 2019 Speech Launching General Election

    Boris Johnson – 2019 Speech Launching General Election

    Below is the text of the speech made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, at Downing Street, London on 6 November 2019.

    Good afternoon, I’ve just been to see Her Majesty the Queen earlier on and she agreed to dissolve Parliament for an election.

    I want you to know of course that I don’t want an early election.

    No one much wants to have an election in December.

    But we have got to the stage where we have no choice.

    Because our parliament is paralyzed.

    It has been stuck in a rut for three and a half years.

    I am afraid our MPs are just refusing – time and again – to deliver Brexit and honour the mandate of the people.

    And I can tell you I’ve got to the stage where I have been wanting to chew my own tie in frustration because in a sense we are so nearly there.

    We have got a deal, oven-ready, by which we can leave the EU in just a few weeks.

    It is a great deal for this country.

    It delivers everything that I wanted when I campaigned for Brexit.

    We can not only take back control of our money – and yes, we will be able to spend hundreds of millions every week on our priorities such as the NHS.

    We take back control of our borders – with an Australian style points-based system so that we can attract the workers – from scientists to agricultural workers – that our economy actually needs.

    And we can take back control of our laws so that we can do things differently and better if we choose.

    From freeports to free trade deals.

    From banning the cruel live shipment of animals to cutting VAT on sanitary products.

    And we can leave the EU as one UK, whole and entire and perfect as we promised.

    And so it has been frankly mind-boggling in the last few weeks to see how parliament first voted to approve this deal.

    And then voted for delay.

    And I am afraid that it is clear that if parliament had its way.

    Then this country would not be leaving even on Jan 31.

    And that is of course bad for democracy.

    It’s disastrous for trust in politics.

    Why should MPs decide that they can cancel the result of the referendum?

    I am afraid I also think that this delay is now bad for the country and for the economy.

    And with every week that goes by uncertainty is deterring people from hiring new staff, from buying new homes, from making new investments.

    And if we can get this deal over the line.

    With a sensible majority government, we certainly can.

    Then we can release that pent-up flood of investment.

    Hundreds of billions are waiting to pour into the UK.

    And we can inject a surge of confidence into our system and we in this government can get on with delivering on the priorities of the people.

    I am very proud of what we have done in the last 108 days or whatever it is, 108 days or so. The biggest programme of NHS investment for a generation.

    Lifting up the funding of schools across the country – 40 new hospitals by the way….lifting up funding of schools across the country.

    Putting 20,000 more police on the streets.

    An infrastructure revolution we’re planning in rail and road – from electric buses to new green cycle schemes.

    Gigabit broadband in every home.

    And we have the confidence as one nation conservatives to make those investments not despite our belief in a strong private sector.

    But precisely because we champion this enterprise economy in the UK.

    And when people get up at five am to get their businesses ready.

    When they risk their own money or mortgage their own homes to develop a new product or a new venture,

    When they have the guts to find a new market at home or abroad.

    We don’t sneer at them.

    We cheer for them and do what we can to help.

    Because we understand that it is only by having a dynamic free market economy that we can deliver on our programme

    of uniting this country and levelling up with infrastructure, education and technology.

    And it is only if you have great public services that you can have a successful market economy.

    So I say come with us. That is the choice at this election.

    That’s the choice. Come with us, a government that is putting billions into education – or go with Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party, because that’s the only alternative, who actually want to ban OFSTED, that protects kids from bullying.

    Come with us, a government that believes in high wages and is raising the living wage to £10.50 – the biggest ever increase.

    Or go with a left-wing labour party that believes in high taxes for everyone – and that voted under this government against £7,800 of tax cuts on working people. That’s what they did.

    Come with us, and put in a points-based system for immigration.

    Or go with Labour and a totally uncontrolled and unlimited immigration system that would put huge pressure on the NHS and other services.

    Come with us, a government that believes Britain should stand tall in the world.

    Or go with Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party who sided with Putin when Russia ordered poisonings on the streets of Salisbury.

    Come with us, get Brexit done, and take this country forward.

    This is the alternative next year: spend the whole of 2020 in a horror show of yet more dither and delay.

    Imagine waking up on Friday 13th December and finding Corbyn at the head of his technicolour yawn of a coalition.

    And they would spend the whole of 2020 having two referendums.

    One on Scotland – because he has done a deal with the Scots nationalists to assist the break up of the union if they sustain him in power.

    And another referendum on Brexit, which is meant to happen in nine months time after he has renegotiated supposedly our exit and renegotiated this deal.

    And what is his plan for that renegotiation? What question would be put to the public?

    We don’t know. What are the options? We don’t know.

    We don’t even know what side he would take, and we don’t know what would happen if the result was either for remain or for leave.

    Best of three? Call it quits?

    We don’t know.

    What we do know is that in any scenario the dither and the drift and the delay which is increasingly damaging for our country will just continue.

    And we do know that there is only one way to avoid that nightmare and that is to vote for a moderate and compassionate one nation conservative government.

    And we will make this country the greatest place to live, to raise a family, to start a business, to send your kids to school.

    A country where we lead the world in cutting CO2, in tackling climate change, in clean green technology.

    Where we stand up for our values around the world.

    A country where everybody has the opportunity to make the most of their lives and where we work as a government to give them that opportunity from the moment they are born.

    And that is our mission. If I come back here with a working majority in Parliament, then I will get Parliament working again for you.

    On Day 1 of the new Parliament in December, we will start getting our deal through so we can Get Brexit Done in January and unleash this country’s potential.

    We’ll put uncertainty behind us — families and businesses will be able to plan.

    Let’s make 2020 the year of investment and growth, not the year of two referendums.

    I want to thank everyone in the building behind me and across government for all the work, the wonderful work they have done over the last three months.

    I am going out now to campaign across the whole country for those values and for that programme.

    I hope very much that you will support us.

    Let’s get Brexit done and unleash the potential of the whole United Kingdom.

    Thank you very much.

  • Jeremy Corbyn – 2019 Speech Launching General Election Campaign

    Jeremy Corbyn – 2019 Speech Launching General Election Campaign

    Below is the text of the speech made by Jeremy Corbyn, the Leader of the Opposition, on 31 October 2019.

    Thank you for that welcome.

    Today we are launching the most ambitious and radical campaign our country has ever seen to bring real change to our country.

    If you want to live in a society that works for everybody and not just the billionaires, if you want to save our hospitals, schools and public services from Tory cuts and privatisation, if you want to stop the big polluters destroying our environment then this election is your chance to vote for it.

    The choice could not be clearer.

    We put our faith in the British people’s spirit and commitment to community. It’s your country. That’s why we stand with you.

    Labour will put wealth and power in the hands of the many Boris Johnson’s Conservatives, who think they’re born to rule, will only look after the privileged few.

    They’ve slashed taxes for the richest and slashed vital services and support for everyone else. But real change is coming.

    This election is a once in a generation chance to transform our country take on the vested interests holding people back and ensure that no community is left behind.

    Some people believe that real change isn’t possible. They say that we’re asking too much. Really?

    A health service people can be proud of, where tens of thousands of cancer patients aren’t waiting months for treatment and prescriptions are free. Is that asking too much?

    A social care system that doesn’t leave our older people isolated and afraid, but gives them dignity with free personal care. Is that asking too much?

    How about a decent pay rise? A real living wage of at least £10 an hour, right away including for young workers from the age of 16.Asking too much?

    Secure homes that families can afford rents that don’t break the bank and an end to rough sleeping. Is that too much to ask?

    Thirty hours’ free childcare for all two to four year olds. A good education, from cradle to grave, as a right not a privilege and no tuition fees. Is that too much?

    Ending the Conservatives’ great rip-off by putting rail, mail and water into public ownership so they work for everyone, not just Tory donors and shareholders in tax havens. Is that asking too much?

    What about real action on the climate crisis by creating hundreds of thousands of new, green energy jobs in communities where they’re most desperately needed?

    No, that’s not asking too much. Because we have to radically change course now to avoid living on a hostile and dying planet.

    This election is our last chance to tackle the climate emergency with a Green Industrial Revolution at the heart of Labour’s plan to transform Britain.

    Friends, today is the 31st of October, the day Boris Johnson promised we would leave the EU. He said he would rather be “dead in a ditch” than delay beyond today. But he has failed. And that failure is his alone.

    You can’t trust Boris Johnson.

    After three long years of Brexit division and failure from the Tories, we have to get this issue sorted.

    We need to take it out of the hands of the politicians and trust the people to have the final say.

    Labour will get Brexit sorted within six months. We’ll let the people decide whether to leave with a sensible deal or remain. That really isn’t complicated.

    We will carry out whatever the people decide so that we can get on with delivering the real change Britain needs after years of Conservative cuts to vital services and tax handouts to the richest.

    Labour is determined to bring a divided country together, while the Tories and the Lib Dems only seek to divide us further.

    The Lib Dems want to cancel a democratic vote with a parliamentary stitch-up and Boris Johnson’s planned trade deal with Trump will mean yet more NHS money taken away from patients and handed to shareholders.

    Despite his denials, the NHS is up for grabs by US corporations in a one-sided Trump trade sell-out.

    Channel 4 Dispatches revealed this week that the cost of drugs and medicines has repeatedly been discussed between US and UK trade officials. Remember Johnson’s famous promise of £350 million a week for the NHS? Well his toxic Brexit trade deal with Trump could hand over £500 million a week of NHS money to big drugs corporations.

    We will stop them. Labour won’t let Donald Trump get his hands on our National Health Service. It’s not for sale, to him or anyone.

    Johnson’s sell-out deal would lead to years of continuing negotiations and uncertainty. Labour will get Brexit sorted by giving the people the final say in six months.

    Britain needs to get beyond Brexit and deal with the damage done to our communities by a decade of Tory cuts and economic failure.

    I travel all around our country and listen to people. This is what I learn from them: they don’t see politics like the media and political class do.

    After a decade when real wages have fallen, for too many people, what they see is the community they love being run down through years of deliberate neglect. The evidence of a decade of economic vandalism is all around them.

    It’s there in the boarded up shops. In the closed library and swimming pool. In youth centres that have closed their doors. The high street like a ghost town. The elderly couple who are scared to walk down their road because violent crime has doubled. The army veteran sleeping under blankets in a doorway. People struggling to make ends meet. The mother and her children eating from a food bank because they’ve been forced onto Universal Credit.

    That’s the evidence of Conservative cuts. Well I say, no more.

    Labour will end damaging Tory austerity and scrap Universal Credit. We’ll tear down the barriers to success that the Conservatives have put in people’s way.

    We will invest in every nation and region, rebuild our public services and give our NHS, schools and police the money they need by taxing those at the top to properly fund services for everyone.

    We will give people back their pride in their communities and give everybody the quality of life they deserve.

    And by everybody we mean everybody.

    The Prime Minister wants you to believe that we’re having this election because Brexit is being blocked by an establishment elite.

    People aren’t fooled so easily. They know the Conservatives are the establishment elite.

    And you know what really scares the elite? All of us, the British people.

    What the elite are actually afraid of is paying their taxes.

    So in this election, they’ll fight harder and dirtier than ever before. They’ll throw everything at us because they know we’re not afraid to take them on.

    So we’re going after the tax dodgers. We’re going after the dodgy landlords. We’re going after the bad bosses. We’re going after the big polluters. Because we know whose side we’re on.

    And the big question of this election is: whose side are you on? Are you on the side of the tax dodgers, who are taking us all for a ride? People who think it’s OK to rip people off and hide their money in tax havens so they can have a new super yacht.

    Or are you on the side of the children with special educational needs who aren’t getting the support they deserve because of Tory and Lib Dem government cuts?

    Whose side are you on? The dodgy landlords like the Duke of Westminster, Britain’s youngest billionaire, who tried to evict whole blocks of families to make way for luxury apartments? Or the millions of tenants in Britain who struggle to pay their rent each month?

    Whose side are you on? The bad bosses like Mike Ashley, the billionaire who won’t pay his staff properly and is running Newcastle United into the ground? Or his exploited workforce like the woman who was reportedly forced to give birth in a warehouse toilet because she was terrified of missing her shift?

    Whose side are you on? The big polluters like Jim Ratcliffe, Britain’s richest man, who makes his money by polluting the environment? Or the children growing up in our cities with reduced lung capacity because of choking pollution?

    Whose side are you on? The greedy bankers like Crispin Odey, who makes millions betting against our country and has donated huge sums to Johnson and the Conservative Party? Or are you on the side of working people who create the wealth that’s then squirreled away in tax havens?

    And whose side are you on? The billionaire media barons like Rupert Murdoch, whose empire pumps out propaganda to support a rigged system. Or the overwhelming majority who want to live in a decent, fair, diverse and prosperous society?

    You know whose side Labour’s on – a Labour government will be on your side.

    Together, we can pull down a corrupt system and build a fairer country that cares for all.

    And we have something that the Rupert Murdochs, the Mike Ashleys, and the Boris Johnsons don’t have.

    We have people. Hundreds of thousands of people in every part of our country who will make this the biggest people-powered campaign in history.

    We’re young, we’re old, we’re black, we’re white, we’re straight, we’re gay, we’re women, we’re men, we’re people of all faiths and none, from the North and from the South.

    And when Labour wins, the nurse wins, the pensioner wins, the student wins, the office worker wins, the engineer wins. We all win.

    Boris Johnson thought he was being smart holding this election in a dark and cold December. He thinks you won’t go out to vote. He thinks you won’t go out to campaign.

    Well I say this: Labour will be out there in every city, town and village with the biggest and most confident campaign that our country has ever seen, bringing a message of hope and change to every community.

    Even if the rivers freeze over, we’re going out to bring about real change for the many, not the few.

    All we need to keep us warm is the thought of removing Boris Johnson’s Conservatives from government – and the chance to rebuild and transform our country.

    This is the most radical and exciting plan for real change ever put before the British electorate.

    Friends, the future is ours to make, together.

    It’s time for real change.

  • Keir Starmer – 2019 Speech in Harlow

    Keir Starmer – 2019 Speech in Harlow

    Below is the text of the speech made by Keir Starmer, the Shadow Brexit Secretary, in Harlow on 5 November 2019.

    Thank you Laura, and thanks to all of you for being here today.

    It’s so invigorating being out here on the campaign trail fighting for a truly radical Labour Government and supporting great candidates like Laura.

    And this election really matters.

    If Boris Johnson wins, our country will take a decisive lurch to the right.

    His Brexit deal is a hard-right deal. It paves the way for workplace rights, environmental protections and consumer standards to be stripped away.

    It will do huge damage to our manufacturing industries.

    It will weaken the Union.

    And it will make every region and nation poorer.

    The Tories haven’t provided any economic analysis of the deal.

    There’s a reason for that!

    Because we know what the cost is likely to be: the economy £70 billion smaller. Britain permanently poorer. On top of a decade of Tory austerity.

    That’s the last thing we need. And I don’t remember that being written on the side of a bus!

    Johnson’s deal also poses a further risk.

    A huge risk: A trap door to no deal.

    No 10 are now so obsessed with chasing the Brexit Party that they confirmed yesterday that a Tory majority government will not extend the transition period.

    I’m not sure if that was a “dead in a ditch” promise or just a regulation No 10 commitment but it was certainly revealing.

    Because it means the Tories would only have until July – just seven months – to negotiate the whole future economic and security relationship with the EU.

    That’s some task. Particularly after failing for the last three and a half years.

    And this time if they fail, there is no safety net: only a trap door to no deal.

    So, make no mistake. A vote for the Tories is a vote to put no deal back on the table.

    A vote for Labour is a vote to rule it out.

    But this election is not just about the price of Johnson’s Brexit and the risk of a trap door to no deal.

    It’s about the political direction of travel. Where his deal will take our country.

    We know what the destination is for Johnson: He wants to turn away from Europe – away from strong workplace rights and environmental standards – away from our shared values.

    For him, that’s always been the purpose of Brexit.

    And once he’s done that, where will he turn? To America and to Donald Trump.

    Our NHS up for sale.

    Workplace rights up for sale.

    Less protection for the environment, just when we need more.

    That is a hard-right race-to-the-bottom deal.

    We have to stop it.

    Which brings me to Labour’s position.

    After three and a half years of Tory failure, there’s only one way now to solve this.

    This has to go back to the people.

    So, we will first rip us Johnson’s deal.

    Next, we will secure the best possible deal – including: a customs union, single market alignment and protection for rights and the environment.

    People challenge me that such a deal is not possible.

    I absolutely reject that.

    Having had many hours of discussions with political leaders across Europe, I am confident that such a deal can be secured and secured quickly.

    That deal will then be put to a referendum with Remain as the other option.

    Under a Labour Government: Remain will be on the ballot paper.

    And the referendum will be held within 6 months.

    The public will have the final say on a very straight-forward question: Do you want to leave with the deal that has been secured? Or would you rather stay in the EU?

    And the result will be binding.

    But that is only half the story: because we are never going to get past the Brexit question unless we also tackle the gross inequalities and injustices, we see all around us.

    The Tories have been in power for nearly ten years.

    Three different Prime Ministers: each worse than the last.

    The state of our country. Our communities. Our public services is down to them and down to their political choices.

    So, this election is about so much more than Brexit.

    It’s about what type of society we are.

    What type of country we want to live in.

    It’s about what our values are.

    It’s about whether we tackle the climate emergency or ignore it.

    Whether we rebuild our NHS, or sell it off to Trump.

    Whether we tackle inequality and injustice or watch it get worse.

    The choice is that stark.

    Lose and we face more lost years. A hard right Brexit and a hard-right government.

    Win and Labour can pull this country back from the brink: end austerity, rebuild our public services and invest in our communities.

    The stakes could not be higher.

    We can, and we must, win.

  • Jeremy Corbyn – 2019 Speech in Telford

    Jeremy Corbyn – 2019 Speech in Telford

    Below is the text of the speech made by Jeremy Corbyn, the Leader of the Opposition, in Telford on 6 November 2019.

    It’s a real pleasure to be here in Telford in my home county of Shropshire where I first started campaigning for a better society and I’ve never stopped!

    And what’s inspiring is that I see that same passion in young people today who are campaigning in this General Election.

    Since we began our campaign last week thousands of people have come to events like this, have gone out door knocking, and have been spreading Labour’s message of hope on social media.

    The atmosphere is electric.

    Because we all know this election is a once-in-a-generation chance to transform our country and tear down the barriers that are holding people back.

    A chance to rebuild our NHS, schools and police by taxing those at the top to properly fund services for everyone.

    And a chance to tackle the climate emergency, with a Green Industrial Revolution at the very heart of our transformation of Britain.

    In this election, Labour is putting forward the most radical and far-reaching plan for real change in our lifetimes.

    But I know we have to work to win people’s trust.

    Because for all the excitement here, many people in our country have grown weary of politics.

    They’ve lost faith that politics can change anything that actually affects their lives. I understand that.

    Let’s be honest, Westminster hasn’t covered itself in glory recently.

    The childish insults, the rowdy MPs, the weird rules – it’s all a long way from the reality of people’s daily lives.

    If you’re working long hours for wages that barely cover your bills, food and rent and nothing ever changes, you’re right to feel frustrated with the political system.

    It isn’t working for you.

    Politics should be about your life, your community, your job – the issues you face every day of the week.

    For me, real politics isn’t about shouting matches in parliament.

    I’m not interested. I don’t do personal attacks.

    For me, real politics – the politics I stand for – is about sharing power and wealth with people who don’t have a lot of money and don’t have friends in high places – so they can take control of their own lives.

    My job as leader, and my party’s task, is to champion those people, and bring about real change.

    Like here in Telford where a fantastic local community campaign, the local Labour Party and Katrina are fighting the closure of your women and children’s centre and the downgrading of the A&E department.

    To me, that’s real politics – bringing people together to stand up for their community.

    That’s why I became an MP.

    I’ve never thought MPs are special individuals with unique wisdom. It’s not supposed to be a glamorous job.

    It’s a platform for your community, not for yourself. That’s how I see it.

    When I was elected Leader of the Labour Party, I was proud to have the chance to extend that principle into everything we do.

    To put Labour at the heart of communities standing alongside the people we seek to represent.

    And I was proud to see our party grow into not just the biggest in Britain, but the biggest in Western Europe, with half a million members determined to put wealth and power in the hands of the many and build a fairer country that cares for all.

    You know, my view of leadership is different from the one people are used to.

    Yes I believe leaders should have clear principles that people can trust, and the strength and commitment not to be driven off course.

    You have to stand for something.

    But leaders must also trust others to play their part.

    Think of it like this: a good leader doesn’t just barge through a door and let it swing back in the faces of those following behind.

    A good leader holds open the door for others to walk through.

    Because everyone has a contribution to make.

    So when I talk about real change, that isn’t something that will be done to you.

    It’s something that can only be done with you.

    So if you, the British people, elect a Labour government on 12 December, I will be proud to be your prime minister.

    Because I will be a very different kind of prime minister.

    Not the kind of prime minister who believes he was born to rule.

    Not the kind who thinks politics is a game.

    But the kind of prime minister who only seeks power in order to share power.

    Because it isn’t about me, it’s about all of us.

    And together, we can go beyond defending the gains made by previous generations.

    It’s time we started building a country fit for the next generation.

    Where young people don’t fear the future, but look forward with confidence and hope.

    That’s within our grasp in this election. That’s what we are absolutely determined to achieve.

    Because look at what’s happened to our country in the last few years: more children and pensioners in poverty, more people sleeping on the streets, British citizens who have lived here for decades deported from their own country.

    And more and more people being forced into dependence on foodbanks, by the cruel policy of Universal Credit – as a damning report from the Trussell Trust yesterday exposed.

    And it’s not just people on the sharpest end of austerity who are feeling its impact.

    It’s all those struggling to make ends meet, those who can’t afford to buy their first home, those who never quite have enough left over to save for a holiday, those who have to fork out ever more on rail fares as the service gets worse.

    Just imagine how Britain could be if we had a Labour government, committed to building a fairer and more prosperous country that works for the many, not the few.

    That future is ours to make.

    I want a Labour government to be judged by whether it changes people’s lives for the better after five years.

    Judge us on the real change we deliver the concrete improvements to the lives of millions of people.

    Here’s how you’ll be able to judge the success of the next Labour government:

    Judge us on whether in-work poverty still exists in five years’ time.

    Judge us on whether people are still sleeping rough after five years of a Labour government.

    Judge us on whether proud women and men are still having to depend on food banks in five years’ time.

    Judge us on whether 1.4 million older people are still not getting the help they need after five years of Labour.

    Judge us on whether tuition fees have been scrapped for all students so that no one is priced out of education.

    Judge us on whether we’ve built hundreds of thousands of genuinely affordable homes, so that decent and secure housing is within the reach of everybody.

    Judge us on whether patients are still waiting more than four hours in A&E, and tens of thousands are waiting months for cancer treatment.

    Judge us on whether we’ve got Brexit sorted within six months so we can get on with delivering the real change that Britain needs.

    Judge us on whether primary school children – including more than 2,500 children here in Telford – are still learning in class sizes of larger than 30 after five years of a Labour government.

    Judge us on whether we’ve unleashed a Green Industrial Revolution, created hundreds of thousands of green energy jobs in the communities that need them most and significantly reduced our greenhouse emissions

    We don’t have time to waste.

    It frustrates me every day in parliament … that we’re not taking action NOW … on all these pressing needs and demands of our time.

    Because Labour has the policies to deal with all of them.

    And isn’t it telling that Conservative candidates in this election have been told by Tory HQ that they’re not allowed to pledge to tackle the climate emergency?

    They’re not allowed to pledge not to privatise our NHS.

    They’re not allowed to pledge not to sell out our NHS in a trade deal with Donald Trump.

    Well let’s make our own pledge, all of us together.

    We pledge that we will never let them put a price tag on our NHS.

    We’ll never let them send £500 million a week of NHS money to big US drugs corporations.

    We’ll never let Donald Trump get his hands on our National Health Service.

    Because our NHS is not for sale.

    But you know there is something that Conservative candidates are allowed to pledge.

    Tory HQ says they can pledge to defend shooting animals for sport.

    Doesn’t that tell you all you need to know about the Conservatives?

    Actually there is one more thing you need to know. They shamefully seem to think the victims of the Grenfell fire died because they didn’t have the common sense to save themselves.

    I’ll tell you what’s common sense:

    Don’t put flammable cladding on people’s homes. That’s common sense.

    Don’t close fire stations and don’t cut fire fighters. That’s common sense.

    And don’t ignore residents when they tell you their home is a death trap.

    And what this all comes back to is what I was talking about earlier: leadership.

    Do you want leaders who think they’re above us all?

    Who think the rules they make for everyone else don’t apply to them?

    Or is good leadership really about listening as well as talking?

    I’ve spent much of my life travelling around the country and the world listening to people.

    That’s how you learn about the world as people actually experience it – their struggles and their hopes, their dreams and their frustrations.

    And that’s why I believe that good leadership is about compassion and understanding not ego.

    I want to lead a government that’s on your side.

    That puts power and wealth into your hands.

    I want to lead a government that works for you.

    Friends, this election is a once in a generation chance.

    Together we will transform our country so that no one is held back and no community is left behind.

    It’s time for real change.

  • Jeremy Corbyn – 2019 Speech in Harlow

    Jeremy Corbyn – 2019 Speech in Harlow

    Below is the text of the speech made by Jeremy Corbyn, the Leader of the Opposition, in Harlow on 5 November 2019.

    It’s great to be here in Harlow in Essex, one of the original New Towns created by the post-war Labour government to deal with the massive housing shortage of the time.

    I think of those New Town pioneers who came here and built this town, built this community, had children and grandchildren who made this community even stronger. And one of those grandchildren is now our fantastic Labour candidate for Harlow, Laura McAlpine.

    She’s from Harlow. She’s for Harlow. She understands Harlow. She’s got spirit, she’s got energy and she’s going to bring real change to Harlow as your Labour MP.

    And can I thank another Laura: Laura Pidcock, Shadow Secretary of State for Employment Rights, for being here today and being such a brilliant representative of our party and our movement.

    And of course, thank you to Keir, our Shadow Brexit Secretary. What a wonderful job Keir’s done over the last three years, picking apart the Tories’ shambolic handling of Brexit.

    In this election, Boris Johnson is trying to hijack Brexit to sell out our NHS and working people. He is trying to cash in the votes of millions who voted to leave the EU, to buy political power for himself and then sell them out. It’s time to call him out.

    I travel all around our country all the time. I meet a lot of people. I listen to a lot of people. People who voted to leave in 2016, and people who voted to remain.

    They all have their reasons. But I want to tell you something I find striking. Many people who voted to leave tell me they were voting for change.

    That’s what they were promised.

    Boris Johnson and the leave campaign promised to rebuild our NHS, and they promised that people would be able to take back control of their lives after years of watching their towns being run down: factories gone, jobs gone, their sense of community gone.

    Three years on and Johnson is trying to hijack that hope for change and use it for his own very different ends. He stood in front of a bus in 2016 and promised £350 million a week for the NHS. Now we find out that £500 million a week could be taken out of the NHS and handed to big drugs companies under his plans for a sell-out trade deal with Donald Trump.

    Just look at how these corporations operate in the US. They are ruthless. They will suck as much money as they can out of our NHS while cancer patients wait longer for treatment.

    We now know that US and UK officials have been discussing drug pricing in secret, and the US government is demanding what its officials call “full market access for US products.”

    Senior NHS managers have said that would mean “higher prices for medicines” which will “pass on costs to both patients and the NHS.”

    So there we have it. Johnson can deny it all he likes, but people won’t believe him. And the Tories know that – which is why, behind the scenes, the Conservatives have tried to suppress the news attacking the BBC for reporting what we and health professionals are saying.

    This is what they don’t want you to hear: a vote for Johnson’s Conservatives is a vote to betray our NHS in a sell out to Trump. Johnson’s Trump deal Brexit puts a price tag on our NHS.

    So we’ll say it again and again until the message gets through to the White House: our NHS is NOT FOR SALE.

    This threat to our NHS isn’t a mistake. It’s not happening by accident.

    The threat is there because Boris Johnson’s Conservatives want to hijack Brexit to sell out the NHS and sell out working people by stripping away their rights.

    For many in the Tory party this is what Brexit has always been about: reversing the hard-fought gains won by working class people over generations.

    Given the chance, they’ll run down our rights at work, our entitlements to holidays, breaks and leave.

    Given the chance, they’ll slash food standards to match the US, where what are called “acceptable levels” of rat hairs in paprika, and maggots in orange juice are allowed and they’ll put chlorinated chicken on our supermarket shelves.

    And given the chance they’ll water down the rules on air pollution and our environment that keep us safe.

    They want a race to the bottom in standards and protections. They want to move us towards a more deregulated American model of how to run the economy.

    In the US workers get just 10 days holiday a year, big business gets free rein to call the shots and tens of millions are denied healthcare.

    What Boris Johnson’s Conservatives want is to hijack Brexit to unleash Thatcherism on steroids.

    The Thatcher government’s attack on the working people of our country left scars that have never healed and communities that have never recovered.

    The Conservatives know they can’t win support for what they’re planning to do in the name of Thatcherism, so they’re trying to do it under the banner of Brexit instead.

    So I make no apologies. No apologies at all for Labour’s role in stopping the disaster of No Deal and resisting Johnson’s sell-out deal.

    Never let them tell you that Labour has turned its back on the people we represent.

    The Tories have failed on Brexit for three years. A Labour government will get Brexit sorted within six months by giving you, the British people, the final say. And despite what some commentators want you to believe, Labour’s plan for Brexit is clear and simple.

    It’s time to take the decision out of the hands of politicians and trust the people to decide.

    It won’t be a rerun of 2016. This time the choice will be between leaving with a sensible deal or remaining in the European Union.

    That’s the policy. It really isn’t complicated.

    So an incoming Labour government will first secure a sensible deal. That will take no longer than three months because the deal will be based on terms we’ve already discussed with the EU, including a new customs union, a close single market relationship and guarantees of rights and protections.

    It’s a deal that will protect British manufacturing and respect the precious peace in Northern Ireland.

    And then we’ll put that deal to a public vote.

    So if you want to leave the EU without trashing our economy or selling out our NHS, you’ll be able to vote for it. If you want to remain in the EU, you’ll be able to vote for that.

    Either way, only a Labour government will put the final decision in your hands.

    Because this has involved the whole country from the start, it can’t now be left to politicians. To finally get this sorted and move forward we need the people to sign on the dotted line. And we will immediately carry out your decision, so Britain can get beyond Brexit.

    Boris Johnson staked his reputation on leaving the EU on 31st October “do or die”.

    “No ifs, no buts,” he said. So the failure to do so can only be his.

    The irony is, for all his boasting, Johnson’s sell-out deal STILL won’t get Brexit done. It will lead to years of continuing negotiations and uncertainty.

    Whereas Labour’s plan will sort Brexit quickly, because whatever the final decision, we won’t be ripping up our main trading relationship.

    The EU negotiator Michel Barnier has said an EU trade deal on Johnson’s terms would take “three years, maybe more” of further negotiations.

    Johnson’s sell-out deal with Trump could take even longer.

    A vote for the Conservatives is a vote for yet more drawn-out, bogged down negotiations, more broken promises, and more distraction from the vital issues facing all of us – like making sure people have decent wages, secure homes, and a habitable planet for our children and grandchildren.

    A green light for Boris Johnson’s sell-out Trump deal would just be the start of years more Brexit chaos and division.

    People sometimes accuse me of trying to talk to both sides at once in the Brexit debate; to people who voted leave and remain.

    You know what? They’re right.

    Why would I only want to talk to half the country?

    I don’t want to live in half a country.

    Anybody seeking to become Prime Minister must talk to and listen to the whole country.

    Labour stands not just for the 52 per cent or the 48 per cent, but for the 99 per cent.

    It’s Labour that’s determined to bring a divided country together.

    You can’t do that if your whole political strategy is to turn one side of the Brexit debate against the other.

    The Tories are offering an extreme and damaging form of Brexit while the Liberal Democrats want to ignore the result of the 2016 referendum and revoke Article 50.

    The Brexit crisis needs to be resolved but it must be done democratically.

    Because walk down any street in Britain and you will find people who voted to leave and people who voted to remain.

    Whatever our differences may be on this one issue at the end of the day we have so much else in common.

    I like to put it like this:

    If you’re living in Harlow you may well have voted to leave. You’ve got bills to pay, rising debts, work’s insecure and your wages barely stretch.

    You’re up against it.

    If you’re living in York it’s more likely you voted remain. You’ve got bills to pay, rising debts, work’s insecure and your wages barely stretch.

    You’re up against it.

    But you’re not against each other.

    Labour’s plan will get Brexit sorted so a Labour government can get on with delivering the real change Britain needs.

    So we can get on with rebuilding our NHS and making prescriptions free.

    Get on with solving the housing crisis by building a million new homes and controlling rents.

    Get on with bringing mail, rail, water and the energy grid into public ownership, and ending the great corporate rip-off of consumers.

    Get on with creating hundreds of thousands of good jobs in every community through a Green Industrial Revolution.

    Get on with giving Britain a pay rise.

    Let’s get Brexit sorted within six months and build a fairer country that truly cares for all.

    Where wealth and power are shared, for the many, not the few.

    This is a once in a generation chance.

    The future is ours to make, together.

    It’s time for real change.