Gordon Brown: Labour must not bow out, but fight to win: news
Gordon Brown today vowed to fight and win the next general election as he unveiled a blueprint for the Labour manifesto designed to win back anxious middle Britain voters.
In a determined 59-minute speech to the party's autumn conference in Brighton, the prime minister said the Conservatives had faced the "economic call of the century" and had called it wrong.
And he urged Labour activists to "fight, not bow out, fight to win".
With a general election less than nine months away, Brown outlined the party's priorities on issues such as antisocial behaviour, jobs, healthcare, childcare, the economy, and parliamentary reform.
In a glimpse at the choices Labour will seek to offer voters, Brown pledged to:
• Provide 250,000 free childcare places for two-year-olds.
• Delay the introduction of compulsory ID cards for British citizens.
• Provide a network of supervised homes for 16- and 17-year-old parents.
• Create up to 10,000 green job placements.
• Protect the schools budget.
• Hold a referendum on the alternative vote electoral system after the election.
• Remove hereditary peers in the House of Lords "once and for all", in the next parliament.
• Give constituents the right to remove corrupt MPs.
• Increase the role of post offices in providing financial services.
"It was only a year ago that the world was looking over a precipice and Britain was in danger," Brown said.
"I knew that unless I acted decisively and immediately, the recession could descend into a great depression with millions of people's jobs and homes and savings at risk … And times of great challenge mean choices of great consequence.
"Only one party with pretensions to government made the wrong choice: the Conservative party of Britain," Brown told delegates.
"They made the wrong choice on Northern Rock, the wrong choice on jobs and spending, the wrong choice on mortgage support, the wrong choice on working with Europe.
Gordon and Sarah Brwn before the PM's speech today. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA "The only thing about their policy that is consistent is that they are consistently wrong. The opposition might think the test of a party is the quality of its marketing but I say the test for a government is the quality of its judgment.
"The Conservative party were faced with the economic call of the century and they called it wrong. And I say a party that makes the wrong choices on the most critical decisions it would have faced in government, should not be given the chance to be in government."
For the second year running, Sarah Brown gave a heartfelt introduction to her "hero" husband on the conference stage.
"I know a lot about my husband; we've been married for nine years now. We've had some great times and we will be together for all times," she said.
"Because we've been together for so long, I know he's not a saint – he's messy, he's noisy – but I know he goes to bed every night and he gets up every morning thinking about the things that matter."
Sarah Brown said she had always been struck by how someone so intense would make time for family, friends and everyone who knows him.
"That's why I love him as much as I do. That's what makes him the man for Britain too."
Admitting her husband had a "tough job", she said she wouldn't want it for the world, but added: "Every day I'm glad he's the one up there doing the job."
In his speech, the prime minister vowed to help create new opportunities for young people. He announced a new partnership with the Federation of Small Businesses to encourage ambition and enterprise and pledged a joint effort with the Eden Project, the environmental exhibition centre in Cornwall, and May Day Network, the business anti-climate change group, to "create the biggest group of green work placements we have ever done – up to 10,000 green jobs placements".
Conceding once again that public spending would have to be reined in, Brown said the government would raise tax "at the very top, cut costs … and make savings where we know we can" to protect frontline services.
Brown pledged more tough action on antisocial behaviour with local authorities given the power to ban 24-hour drinking.
On immigration, the prime minister said Britain's point-based system would be tightened to welcome only those who had the skills the country needed.
Brown also reiterated his pledge not to introduce compulsory ID cards for British citizens in the next parliament.
Delegates cheered as he praised the work of the British armed forces, claiming they "truly are the finest in the world" and he promised to ensure they would always have all the equipment they needed.
Britain would work with Barack Obama to ensure peace and stability in Afghanistan and the Middle East, he said.
Brown heaped praise on the work of the National Health Service and said Labour's general election manifesto would promise social care for all to ensure dignity and support in old age.
On MPs' expenses, the prime minister admitted that, although the vast majority of Labour MPs were in parliament to serve the public, "there are some who let our country down".
"Just as I have said that the market needs morals I also say that politics needs morals too," he said.
"So where there is proven financial corruption by an MP and in cases where wrongdoing has been demonstrated but parliament fails to act we will give constituents the right to recall their member of parliament."
In a move that was immediately welcomed by business groups and trade unions, which have been campaigning for a People's Bank to help secure the future of the UK's 12,000 post offices, Brown announced a bigger role for post offices in providing financial services.
In an attempt to rally Labour activists in what will be his last conference speech before the next general election – which must be held before 3 June next year – Brown warned that a Conservative government would put the country's prosperity at risk.
"It's the difference between Conservatives who embrace pessimism and austerity and progressives like Labour who embrace prosperity and hope," he said.
"Since 1998, Labour has given this country back its future. And we are not done yet.
"We love this country and we have shown over the years that if you aim high you can lift not just yourself but your country. There is nothing in life which is inevitable – it's about change you can choose."
Union leaders warmly welcomed the speech, saying he had drawn some "clear red lines" between Labour and the Conservatives.
Tony Woodley, the joint leader of Unite, said: "The prime minister spoke of the values that are true to Labour."
Dave Prentis, the leader of Unison, said: "This was fighting talk – tough talk with real substance. We particularly welcomed the announcement on care for the elderly and making the bankers pay back the money."
But David Frost, the director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, warned: "As we emerge from the worst recession since the second world war, businesses must be given the freedom to create much-needed wealth and jobs. Business must not be caught up in the rush to regulate the excesses of the banks." source:www.guardian.co.uk
In a determined 59-minute speech to the party's autumn conference in Brighton, the prime minister said the Conservatives had faced the "economic call of the century" and had called it wrong.
And he urged Labour activists to "fight, not bow out, fight to win".
With a general election less than nine months away, Brown outlined the party's priorities on issues such as antisocial behaviour, jobs, healthcare, childcare, the economy, and parliamentary reform.In a glimpse at the choices Labour will seek to offer voters, Brown pledged to:
• Provide 250,000 free childcare places for two-year-olds.
• Delay the introduction of compulsory ID cards for British citizens.
• Provide a network of supervised homes for 16- and 17-year-old parents.
• Create up to 10,000 green job placements.
• Protect the schools budget.
• Hold a referendum on the alternative vote electoral system after the election.
• Remove hereditary peers in the House of Lords "once and for all", in the next parliament.
• Give constituents the right to remove corrupt MPs.
• Increase the role of post offices in providing financial services.
"It was only a year ago that the world was looking over a precipice and Britain was in danger," Brown said.
"I knew that unless I acted decisively and immediately, the recession could descend into a great depression with millions of people's jobs and homes and savings at risk … And times of great challenge mean choices of great consequence.
"Only one party with pretensions to government made the wrong choice: the Conservative party of Britain," Brown told delegates.
"They made the wrong choice on Northern Rock, the wrong choice on jobs and spending, the wrong choice on mortgage support, the wrong choice on working with Europe.
Gordon and Sarah Brwn before the PM's speech today. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA "The only thing about their policy that is consistent is that they are consistently wrong. The opposition might think the test of a party is the quality of its marketing but I say the test for a government is the quality of its judgment.
"The Conservative party were faced with the economic call of the century and they called it wrong. And I say a party that makes the wrong choices on the most critical decisions it would have faced in government, should not be given the chance to be in government."
For the second year running, Sarah Brown gave a heartfelt introduction to her "hero" husband on the conference stage.
"I know a lot about my husband; we've been married for nine years now. We've had some great times and we will be together for all times," she said.
"Because we've been together for so long, I know he's not a saint – he's messy, he's noisy – but I know he goes to bed every night and he gets up every morning thinking about the things that matter."
Sarah Brown said she had always been struck by how someone so intense would make time for family, friends and everyone who knows him.
"That's why I love him as much as I do. That's what makes him the man for Britain too."
Admitting her husband had a "tough job", she said she wouldn't want it for the world, but added: "Every day I'm glad he's the one up there doing the job."
In his speech, the prime minister vowed to help create new opportunities for young people. He announced a new partnership with the Federation of Small Businesses to encourage ambition and enterprise and pledged a joint effort with the Eden Project, the environmental exhibition centre in Cornwall, and May Day Network, the business anti-climate change group, to "create the biggest group of green work placements we have ever done – up to 10,000 green jobs placements".
Conceding once again that public spending would have to be reined in, Brown said the government would raise tax "at the very top, cut costs … and make savings where we know we can" to protect frontline services.
Brown pledged more tough action on antisocial behaviour with local authorities given the power to ban 24-hour drinking.
On immigration, the prime minister said Britain's point-based system would be tightened to welcome only those who had the skills the country needed.
Brown also reiterated his pledge not to introduce compulsory ID cards for British citizens in the next parliament.
Delegates cheered as he praised the work of the British armed forces, claiming they "truly are the finest in the world" and he promised to ensure they would always have all the equipment they needed.
Britain would work with Barack Obama to ensure peace and stability in Afghanistan and the Middle East, he said.
Brown heaped praise on the work of the National Health Service and said Labour's general election manifesto would promise social care for all to ensure dignity and support in old age.
On MPs' expenses, the prime minister admitted that, although the vast majority of Labour MPs were in parliament to serve the public, "there are some who let our country down".
"Just as I have said that the market needs morals I also say that politics needs morals too," he said.
"So where there is proven financial corruption by an MP and in cases where wrongdoing has been demonstrated but parliament fails to act we will give constituents the right to recall their member of parliament."
In a move that was immediately welcomed by business groups and trade unions, which have been campaigning for a People's Bank to help secure the future of the UK's 12,000 post offices, Brown announced a bigger role for post offices in providing financial services.
In an attempt to rally Labour activists in what will be his last conference speech before the next general election – which must be held before 3 June next year – Brown warned that a Conservative government would put the country's prosperity at risk.
"It's the difference between Conservatives who embrace pessimism and austerity and progressives like Labour who embrace prosperity and hope," he said.
"Since 1998, Labour has given this country back its future. And we are not done yet.
"We love this country and we have shown over the years that if you aim high you can lift not just yourself but your country. There is nothing in life which is inevitable – it's about change you can choose."
Union leaders warmly welcomed the speech, saying he had drawn some "clear red lines" between Labour and the Conservatives.
Tony Woodley, the joint leader of Unite, said: "The prime minister spoke of the values that are true to Labour."
Dave Prentis, the leader of Unison, said: "This was fighting talk – tough talk with real substance. We particularly welcomed the announcement on care for the elderly and making the bankers pay back the money."
But David Frost, the director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, warned: "As we emerge from the worst recession since the second world war, businesses must be given the freedom to create much-needed wealth and jobs. Business must not be caught up in the rush to regulate the excesses of the banks." source:www.guardian.co.uk
