John McDonnell
SPEECH TO CONSERVATIVE PARTY CONFERENCE IN BLACKPOOL
I would like to thank you all for coming here today
for the time, effort and money you put into our cause.
You don’t have to give up a week of your holiday
to be in Blackpool in October.
You don’t have to take to the streets to deliver In Touches
or spend your evenings baking for the next Conservative function.
You do so because you believe in our cause
And because you believe in serving the public
Many of you do that as Councillors,
Some of us as MPs.
We have won the last two European elections
We have become the largest party in local government
We have shown that even in opposition we can speak for the majority
And shift the political landscape
It has been Conservative voices and votes that have kept the pound safe
It was a Conservative led campaign that persuaded the government to
A referendum on the EU constitution, a referendum they never dare hold
Our country needs the Conservative party
We will give our best to serve it well
I would like there to be more of us
I am glad we are the largest democratic party in the UK
I think we need to recruit more to help us.
The way to increase our membership is to encourage and support
all those who already belong
whilst reaching out to those who might join us.
This summer long standing cricket fans like me
Experienced the joy of watching a superb winning team.
Success is infectious – we were joined by many new fans
equally thrilled at the skill and good humour of England
We Conservatives can learn from how they did it.
Did you notice how generous they were to each other?
How they wanted the most talented members of the squad to do well
and praised them when they did?
Did you see how when one of them failed
the rest of the team rallied to support them?
They didn’t run the wicket keeper down when he dropped the odd catch
Or pick on the number 4 batsman when he didn’t hit many runs.
There ‘s a lesson for us.
They certainly didn’t blame the coach when they lost at Lords
Or spend time undermining the team captain
Successful teams use all the talents available
And support each other when times are tough
This Conservative party has considerable depth and breadth
Of experience and talent.
There are many things of which we can be proud.
We are all part of this Conservative team
We all believe in our country and its democracy
Which is why we give so much of our time to it
Government is meant to be your friend.
It should be on your side when you need help.
It should support the law abiding,
tough on those who disrupt communities;
tender to the sick, the disabled, those down on their luck.
Instead, today, many law abiding people fear this government.
They do not expect it to be fair or even handed.
They know it will keep sending them bigger bills,
but won’t spend their money wisely.
They know it will pass more and more laws,
but all so often they bite the honest
and fail to deal with the law breakers.
People fear the Inspector who comes to call,
the regulator at the gate, the taxman at your purse or wallet.
The elderly vicar is sent to jail
for refusing to pay an excessive increase in his Council tax.
What a contrast with the drug dealers
still at loose on ASBOs.
For many these snapshots of life under Labour sum it all up.
Before the last election I had the pleasurable task of telling the country
just how a Conservative government would bring the regulators to heel.
I said we would
-Remove many quangos – the source of so much unnecessary guidance and control
-Repeal 54 different pieces of regulation in our first Deregulation bill
-Renegotiate in the EU to stem the flood of legislative ink in Brussels
-And make any department wanting a new regulation identify old ones it could repeal Under the Conservatives the overall burden would go down each year
The government was certainly listening.
What I knew the public wanted from my postbag and doorstep conversations
the government found from their polling and focus groups.
People feel far too bossed around.
They want some relief.
My post bag is not full of letters and emails
demanding more laws or more government activity.
Most of the correspondence is asking me
to stop the government changing things for the worse.
No sooner had I sat down after last year’s conference
from revealing our programme
than the government announced that it too would deregulate.
Indeed, not to be outdone,
they said they would have two deregulation bills where I offered one.
The only snag is they will be a little different from the one we wanted.
They will not contain any repeals,
they will not remove a single piece of meddlesome regulation from the Statute book
Very new Labour – tough on deregulation, tender on the causes of over-regulation
No sooner was our intention to renegotiate in Brussels made clear,
than the government announced that they would make
the UK Presidency in the second half of 2005 a deregulatory presidency-
Who said Gordon Brown doesn’t have a sense of humour?
Labour’s idea of deregulation in the EU does not run to a single repeal
of any major piece of EU regulation.
They tell us they will deregulate
whilst they are still busy negotiating on how to tie lots more industries up in regulatory knots.
Again very new Labour – not isolated in the EU
because they are not trying to do anything difficult in the EU.
They mouth the words because words are easy
but don’t push for the deeds, because the EU isn’t coming our way.
When I said we would want to repeal the regulations
which attack herbal remedies and food supplements
Labour claimed the European court would probably take care of it.
When the court didn’t, Labour said the regulations weren’t so bad after all.
Try telling that to the millions in this country
Who want to carry on buying the products.
When I said we would shift our road safety policy away from relying on speed cameras,
tackling instead the more serious causes of accidents
Labour told me I was wrong.
Now they brief they want to go into reverse on it.
When we Conservatives called for an end to the best value and comprehensive performance regimes
that so burden local Councils and force the Council Tax up
Labour said there was no problem with the Council Tax.
Now they tell us they have thought better of it
have announced a review
and put off increasing the bands this year.
There is a groundswell against so much political correctness, so much tomfoolery.
We do not need a regulator to tell people how to make jam
or to warn people that standing in between the doors of a lift could be painful when the doors close
Now we have a Regulator to regulate the Regulator
Labour have invented the never ending complaint
Which goes round and round ever more Ombudsmen.
It’s just like those infuriating telephone answering services
Which just give you another list of options
And won’t let you sort your problem out.
So Labour’s complaints system
transfers you to another Regulator to complain again.
Each one politely tells you you may be disappointed in their answer
but never mind, there is always another regulator around the corner.
We have a madcap safety culture which warns you about the obvious but fails to protect you against the devious
We now have a lunatic pensions regulatory system
Set up because the Treasury decided to pillage our pension funds
Why are our pension funds short of money?
Because the government takes so much away from them each year in tax
Can the Regulator insist the government puts the money back?
Of course not
Instead the government now intends to impose an extra tax on all funds.
Each fund will not only have to make good their own deficit
Brown’s taxes have helped create,
but they will also have to pay a levy to help others.
Where do they think all this money will come from?
I have given up trying to parody this government
They do it so much better themselves for real.
They are more Bremner than Rory himself.
Or take the government’s approach to aid and trade.
The government quite rightly tells us fair trade is the best way
to lift developing countries out of poverty.
We agree.
So when China starts to do so
the EU Commissioner responsible,
Tony’s close friend and ally,
slaps quotas on to stop the Chinese doing exactly what the UK has been telling them to do!
You couldn’t make it up.
And we are still paying the bill for all the fine wining and dining
the government put into its fair trade message just a few weeks ago at Gleneagles!
Trade regulations are yet another example of regulations we, and the world, could do without.
We believe in trusting people more and governments less
We do not think there is a governmental answer to every problem
We do not believe that regulation can protect you from every risk
I have more government than I want
More government than I need
More government than I can afford
Only a Conservative government will change that
The poor electoral performance of Labour in 2005 shows that people have rumbled them
Now we need to offer them something better
Tony Blair has learnt a thing or two in office.
His speech last week
Set out some very good Conservative ideas.
He was right to offer more choice of school,
right to introduce private money and organisation into the NHS,
right to call for more neighbourhood policing.
He’s given us the highest accolade –
Stealing our clothes.
The sadness is he’s not wearing them.
His party won’t let him.
Gordon Brown will get in his way.
I want us to end educational apartheid,
that lets the children of the rich go to an independent school
and everyone else to a comprehensive.
Let’s make all schools independent
and give parents and pupils more choice.
Just as we empowered people to buy their own homes in the 80s
So this century we should empower them to go to good schools.
It is we who are the party of the future
The party of wider ownership
The party that believes in giving power to people
The party which wants to bring to the many
The luxuries of the few.
We want to see our country governed better
We want the right to govern ourselves
We want government to do less
We want more decisions to be taken by elected politicians
Who must be answerable for their actions
The Conservative party has never been more needed than today.
Our economy is being weakened
Our democracy is being undermined
Our country is being stolen away from us.
If we tell the truth to the electorate
And stick by each other as we do so
We can make a difference
We can strengthen our democracy
We can rescue our country
The Conservative party has never been more needed.
