 Spring Conference, 2002This is the 30th Party Conference I've been to as an MP. Fifteen years, four general elections, three Prime Ministers and about 350 number one hit singles.
And how times have changed.
Labour have gone from I should be so lucky to a World of Our Own; we have gone from The Only Way is Up to Anything is Possible and the Tories have gone from Nothing's Going to Stop Us Now to Something Stupid.
The possibilities have never looked so good for Liberal Democrats, as they look today.
We are now as the Guardian put it the 'pace setters' of British politics. Principled. Practical. Constructive.
And there's no doubt that we need that pace set. Faced with such a useless Conservative Party, drifting ever rightwards, Labour should have governed with confidence.
But Labour has been so cautious as to be ineffective in many areas,when something needs doing, they do half of it. Half solutions. Half measures.
If we'd had Tony's Ark, instead of Noah's Ark, the animals
would have gone in one by one. "As resources allow". Mind you, Ministers would claim credit for record rainfall levels.
So whilst the Conservatives turn in on themselves, we're doing the job of effective opposition. Exposing the Government on their record - primarily on their failure to deliver world class health education and transport.
Look at other European countries, ride on their trains, visit their schools, see their hospitals. You soon realise this is Britain's Achilles heel.
The fourth biggest economy should not have fourth rate public services. The Government's economic strength has not ended homelessness, nor lowered violent crime, nor improved health.
Top quality public services are a pre-requisite for a successful advanced 21st century economy - and we haven't got them.
Funnily enough, Labour is now on its road to Damascus. In the past they rejected our argument that you can't get something for nothing and that real improvement in public services need the taxes to pay for them.
Now they're not so sure.
But don't you think, Gordon, don't you think, Tony, that it would have been more honest to tell that to the British people before the election, not after it?
In the Budget, Liberal Democrats hope Gordon Brown will turn. Targeted taxes to turn around the NHS. But don't hold your breath for an apology for five wasted years.
You can be in politics for two reasons - for progress or for power. If you're in it for progress, you will say what you want to change how you plan to change it, and try to take people with you. In other words you seek to lead people. If you're in it for power, you will follow whatever you think people want you to say in order to get elected.
That's Labour, following not leading. At the last election
Labour put the easy message of low taxes above the tough message of better public services. It is cynical politics. It has been at great cost to peoples' attitudes to politics and politicians, and does not help the sick and the old.
That's not to say, that more investment is the only answer for our public services.
There is much that needs to change. And we're right to be looking at reform. Chris Huhne's Commission on Public Services is vital. We simply wouldn't be Liberal Democrats if we weren't reformers. But it is not about moving to the Right.
I don't believe we will fight the next election calling for cuts.
Bluntly, we are unlikely to fight the next election believing that every public service is even adequately funded. But we can only argue for extra funding, if we show that people will get value for money, and that they will have greater control over how that money is spent.
Getting this right, making taxes simpler and fairer, making spending more effective and transparent, will be a major challenge for us in the months to come.
And this must be underpinned by core Liberal Democrat principles. Greater democratic accountability. Less secrecy. More openness. And more democratic diversity pushing power away from Whitehall, with Whitehall and Westminster doing less, local authorities and local people able to do more.
Just answer this simple question. Who do you trust to decide the future of your local transport
- the local community
- or Stephen Byers?
No 50/50, no phone a friend - we'll ask the audience. Would you, could you, do you trust Stephen Byers? Is that your final answer?
But we also say something else about public services and the people who work in them. Business knows, only a well-paid, well-trained, and well-motivated workforce, delivers quality services.
The reality is that the people who use public services, and the people who work in them, have close and shared interests. They're not plaintiffs and defendants. They're citizens with shared goals and shared aspirations.
In many cases teachers doctors, nurses, emergency services workers, work longer hours for lower wages in much more difficult conditions than their counterparts in the private sector.
And they get two rewards. The first is knowing that they help children learn and the sick get better. The second is to be routinely attacked by politicians in search of scapegoats.
When they say that classroom teachers face abuse every day,
It's not from their pupils
It's from their Ministers.
If Tony Blair thinks he has scars on his back, he should see the scars on the backs of the teachers, social workers, nurses and care assistants who have devoted their lives to Britain's public services.
If the Conservatives were their "Nightmare on Downing Street" Labour have been "Nightmare returns"
Five more years of failure to invest.
Five more years of failure to stand up for public service workers.
Five more years of sucking up to Tory newspapers.
Who are the wreckers here?
So I say to public sector workers. Your Trade Unions may affiliate to Labour but if you want to belong to a party that genuinely believes in your ability, your dedication, and yes, your capacity to drive change, then you know where we are. Numbers are no problem - you'll find you fit in. Just don't expect a block vote, that's all.
There's one final point that we made about public services
during the election. And we've repeated it since. The private sector has a place in delivering public services. It can promote innovation and choice - we would not be true to our heritage as Liberals if we didn't believe that.
But we also know, that the people of Britain love the National Health Service because they trust doctors and nurses and care managers to put patients before profit.
New Labour is letting the tail wag the dog. The Private Sector is a good servant - but not a good master. If those in the party of Aneurin Bevan today are happy to preside over the dismantling of the National Health Service, let them beware.
Those in the party of William Beveridge, are not.
We are reformers. Innovators. Radicals.
But Liberal Democrats will never put profit before health, before education, before transport, before safety. We put people first.
Neither will we stand by and watch manufacturing go down the drain. Especially when its plight is again the result of Labour's failure to lead. Give credit where it is due. Low inflation; low interest rates. Economic stability.
But look in detail. 400,000 jobs lost through the high exchange rate. Industrial Output down 5 % in a year. Manufacturing contracting at its fastest rate for 10 years.
The Government say the exchange rate is hard to manage. Precisely.
So Gordon, use the budget. If you really want to keep British business. Set out a timetable, to join the euro. End the exchange rate roller coaster with Europe. Save British jobs.
But what has Gordon Brown done so far?
Worse than nothing.
There is no single direction coming from the Cabinet.
The tone and substance of the comments coming from the Treasury are consistent.
And the comments from Number 10, and the Foreign Office. They are consistent, too.
The problem is, they're not consistent with each other.
Division, drift and indecision. These are the order of the day where Labour and the euro are concerned. Labour takes no action to meet its five tests, and it ignores the all-important sixth test, the exchange rate.
The test that really matters to Labour is clear. Until they believe public opinion will clearly and unambiguously favour the euro, the Labour Party will duck and dive.
Pro-European business leaders can call on the Prime Minister to take a lead all they like, but they will call in vain. They should instead join us in taking to the people the message that the euro will help save British jobs, extend British influence and improve British prosperity. When opinion shifts, only then will Labour follow.
So as we carry out our work, as the Effective Opposition, let us remember this.
Politics now is on our territory. It is no longer about capital versus labour. The debates now are about freedom,
the environment, social justice, and balancing internationalism with localism.
Need a philosophy, Prime Minister, to give you the answers? On these issues, our philosophy is the answer.
Let Labour put spin before substance. And let the Conservatives - well, let them do whatever it is they're doing
We'll make the running. We'll keep the government honest. Pushing them hard, on the economy, the euro and public services. And, as this Parliament progresses, we'll roll out the relevant, radical, necessary policies that the Conservatives don't care to and Labour don't dare to.
We are, the Effective Opposition.
We have work to do.
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Published by Matthew Taylor MP, 10 South Street, St Austell, Cornwall PL25 5BH
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