My speech to conference

Reflecting on my experience as Cheltenham’s Parliamentary Candidate at the last General Election I wrote this speech to be delivered on the conference floor.

James Green. I was Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate in Cheltenham at the last election.

There are thousands of people in Cheltenham right now who feel let down.

The Liberal Democrats won the seat on the back Labour supporters who voted tactically to keep the Tories out. Throughout the campaign they pitched themselves as the only real left wing opposition to the Conservatives in the town.

Conference, how times have changed.

The Liberals are now the face of coalition cuts that will see departmental budgets reduced by 25%, of a VAT rise that will hit the poorest hardest, and, most fundamentally of all, of a Tory ideological drive to shrink the state.

We have become the only opposition in Cheltenham and across the country. The only home for those who oppose the Tory-Lib Dem coalition.

In opposing of course we must expose the Liberals. And that could pay dividends.

At the General Election I held my deposit by 0.1% of the vote but I’m confident that if there was a by-election today Labour would win Cheltenham by a landslide.

But on a serious note, exposing the Liberals will never be enough in itself. It’s vital that we avoid falling into the trap of attacking the Lib Dems while allowing Cameron to rise above the fray.

Conference, we must focus our fire on the driving force of this coalition, the Tories, and on exposing the impact of their regressive and ideologically driven cuts.

But at the same time our history tells us that we can’t rely on the unpopularity of the government alone to win. The public demand and deserve an alternative progressive vision for the country.

This must be credible.

Our approach to tackling the deficit will be seen by the public as the test of our credibility. Of course we should oppose cuts where they are wrong but we must face up to the structural issues within the UK economy which come not only from the bank bailout but also from an ageing population.

It must be ideological.

Conference, we know that that Tories want to shrink the state but you can’t fight ideology with policy alone. We must offer the public a powerful set of ideas rooted in the political and economic realities of today.

And finally it must be authentic.

Nye Bevan put it best when he said, “the first duty of the progressive representative is to reflect the views of those he represents authentically. Because then people know that you are seeking to represent them because they are your inspiration.”

Conference, the quality of life, the public services, the support offered to those who inspired us all to get involved in politics are under threat.

I’m relishing the fightback.

James Green, Anticipations Editor and former Parliamentary Candidate for Cheltenham

A reminder of what this election is all about

Yesterday all three party leaders attended the Citizens UK May Day assembly. The biggest meeting of the General Election campaign, it is testament to the power of community organising to influence the decision making process. The meeting was attended by 2,500 people from 160 community organisations including churches, mosques, synagogues and trade unions.

I was fortunate enough to visit a Citizens UK meeting a few months ago. I had become interested in community organising following my time on the Young Fabians trip to Ohio for the Obama campaign. Barack Obama had been a community organiser in Chicago before running for the presidency and had talked on many occasions about the role that it can play in engaging communities in the issues that affect their lives.

At that meeting I was struck by just how powerful community organising can be. The room was rammed full of residents, passionate about bringing about change in their local communities. I met Muslims, Jews, Christians, Trade Unionists and many others. Few belonged to a political party but all were deeply involved in politics.

The Citizens UK assembly serves as a pertinent reminder of what this election is all about. In recent weeks there’s been a great deal of talk about which party is up and which party is down. But this election isn’t about the parties. It’s about the people. With polling day now on the horizon it’s important to remember that.

James Green is Anticipations Editor and Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Cheltenham. He blogs at www.jamesgreen.org.uk.

Vote for substance. Vote Labour.

As we enter the final two weeks of the General Election campaign all is still to play for.

Labour were the underdogs at the start. Now, following the Leader’s Debates, all bets are off. We are in unchartered waters. The only thing that’s certain is that this will be a transformative General Election.

Labour have been talking about the big issues from the outset and that is what we must continue to do. The twin crises of MPs’ expenses and the credit crunch provide the backdrop for this General Election campaign. People want substance not spin. They want practical measures to fix our broken politics and bold action to secure the economic recovery. Rarely has the outcome of an election been so important.

Labour are on the right side of these arguments. On political reform we are have pledged in our manifesto to hold a referendum on changing the voting system. This could herald the most substantial reform to Britain’s electoral system since women got the vote. On the same day we’ll hold a referendum on a fully elected House of Lords. My view is simple – if people make our laws they should be elected. And we’ll set up a Royal Commission to lead the way to a written constitution. People demand more than soundbites when it comes to constitutional reform. Labour’s manifesto is rammed full of substantial policies.

Yet, despite their rhetoric, on all these issues the Tories fall short. They talk about giving people greater power but refuse to back Labour’s plans to change the voting system. They talk about being progressive but blocked Labour’s efforts to remove the final hereditary peers from the House of Lords. Gordon Brown put it best when he said “the future will be progressive or conservative, but it will not be both.”

And on the great challenge of our time, securing the economic recovery, the Tories would put the long-term future of Britain’s economy at risk. The growth figures released last week showed that, while we are coming out of recession, the recovery is still fragile. If we make the wrong decisions and cut too early, as the Tories would have us do, we could risk falling into a double dip recession. Yet the Tories promise a new tax giveaway seemingly every week. Taking £6 billion out of the economy in National Insurance is the wrong thing to do. As is giving a £200,000 tax cut to the country’s 3,000 richest estates. The Tories priorities aren’t Britain’s priorities.

The decisions that are made in the next Parliament will shape life in Cheltenham and across the country for a generation. We need to make the right calls. The Tories were wrong on the recession and they are wrong on the recovery. They were wrong on the causes of our broken political system and they are wrong about how to fix it.

There is a real choice at this election. Vote for substance. Vote Labour.

My concerns about the Tories’ new European friends

Today’s Leader’s Debate, taking place here in the South West, will focus on foreign policy. I hope Gordon Brown will take Cameron to task about his friends in Europe.

Cameron’s decision to leave the mainstream centre right grouping in favour of a fringe group including homophobes and far right nationalists shows a serious lack of judgment. The views of his new partners on homosexuality, anti-semitism and climate change are massively out of kilt with the mainstream British majority. My outrage is likely only matched by that of the Tories’ old partners. Why Cameron would choose to abandon Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy for his current friends I will never understand.

Michael Kaminski, who leads the Tory MEPs in Europe, spoke out against the commemoration of the brutal massacre of Polish Jews in the town of Jebwadne during World War Two. Members of the same party have described homosexuality as a “pathology” and are outspoken climate change deniers. And what of Cameron’s other partners? His Latvian allies join in the annual commemoration of the Waffen SS. Concerning to say the least.

From climate change to terrorism, from international crime to the financial crisis, the great challenges we face go beyond our borders. We can face them alone, consigned to the fringes of Europe, with the Tories. Or continue to punch our weight in a crucial partnership with Labour.

Last week’s debate showed that, while Cameron may be able to do the set piece speeches, when pressed on the issues that matter he falls short. There is a real choice at the next election. I hope today’s debate will highlight that even more.

James Green is Anticipations editor and Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Cheltenham. He blogs at www.jamesgreen.org.uk.

Cameron overstepped the mark today

Day three and the election campaign has taken a concerning turn. David Cameron has told a Catholic magazine that there should be a review of the abortion time limit and that he backs a reduction to as little as 20 weeks.

There is a strong tradition of free votes on issues of conscience like this. The fact that he has made this pledge in his first interview of the campaign means abortion is likely to be a key theme for the Tories. Whatever one thinks of the issue – I am proudly pro-choice – I do think that politicians need to be wary of playing politics with such matters.

I am not alone in raising these concerns. In the last General Election a Telegraph poll found that 60% of voters wanted abortion kept out of election campaigning. People have real concerns about the politicisation of women’s bodies. Pledges on abortion should not be used as bargaining chips to win people’s votes.

Of course constituents have the right to know what their prospective MPs feel about these issues. I have already outlined my views on abortion to Cheltenham residents who fall on both sides of the argument. But when it comes to issues of conscience political leaders must tread carefully.

Cameron overstepped the mark today.

James Green is Anticipations Editor and Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Cheltenham. He blogs at www.jamesgreen.org.uk.

My first hustings…

The starting gun has been fired for the General Election campaign in Cheltenham. We may not know the date of the election yet. But as the students who attended the recent hustings at Gloucestershire University saw, the parties are very much in campaign mode. There were the party political sideswipes and top lines clear to hear. But what was most exciting about the discussion was that it didn’t descend into party political point scoring. The debate was most successful in that it offered an open and honest appraisal of the different parties’ policy positions.

On higher education we were all agreed on the need to prioritise investment (though I remain unconvinced to say the least about whether the Tories would put their money where their mouth is). Where we disagreed was on Labour’s aspiration to see 50% of young people choose university. Both of the other candidates viewed this as an unrealistic goal and the Liberal went as far as saying that it was undesirable. My response. They may not believe in Labour’s aspiration, but over 50% of young people from every socio economic group do. These people want to go to university. We should ensure that they can.

A woman in the audience put the argument best when she said, “because of this government my children were the first in our family to go to university. I am incredibly proud of them.” A point well made.

The discussion continued in a similar vein throughout the night. Thrust and counter thrust, each candidate jostled for position. But I felt throughout the debate that I had one weapon in my arsenal that they couldn’t match. Labour’s record in government.

When a resident raised the issue of crime I could tell him that crime was down by a third and that Labour had invested at record levels to ensure he had a dedicated police team in his area.

When a member of the audience talked about the challenges of his disability I could point to the Disability Discrimination Act and Labour’s work driving through the most comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation in the world.

When a student asked about higher education I could tell him that investment was up 25%, research activity had doubled and that students were responding with their feet with 300,000 more in university since 1997.

It was my first hustings and at times I felt like I was on the high wire without a net. But it was a great experience and one that offered me the opportunity to make the case for Labour in Cheltenham loud and clear.

James Green is Anticipations Editor and Labour PPC for Cheltenham. He blogs at www.jamesgreen.org.uk.