 Autumn Conference, 2002Conference, I want to take you on a ride in a time machine. To a sunny day when all seemed very different. A long time ago - 1st May 1997.
Big Brother……existed only in George Orwell's 1984. Labour's Cool Britannia… enjoying 15 minutes of credibility. William Hague… wearing that baseball cap. And Tony Blair…fresh-faced, trusted and popular - even in the Labour Party - it's that long ago. In the five years since, the political landscape has changed massively.
But through all the ups and downs of the others, especially the Conservatives, thanks to you and thousands like you, we've kept on growing in strength, proving that 1997 was not our high water mark. All over the country the Liberal Democrats are here to stay. But Labour is looking more and more tarnished.
Take spin. It's so out of control that Downing Street could rival Buckingham Palace as a tourist attraction. Instead of the changing of the guard, they could charge to see the changing of the story. And spin is perhaps at its worst when it comes to tax. No increases in income tax, they promised. But what is National Insurance if it's not a tax on income? A clever bit of spin for Election Day looks a deliberate lie in the cold light of budget day
The biggest condemnation of Labour on tax is this: Labour actually had the opportunity, at the last election, to tell the truth about the health service. The opportunity to admit that more money was needed. The opportunity to win public support for crucial investment in the NHS. And to be honest where they'd get that money from.
They ducked that opportunity. And in doing so, they allowed the Conservatives to open the case to destroy the NHS forever. I want to make sure that never happens again. That's why our public services paper, Quality, Innovation, Choice proposes a dedicated NHS Contribution, so that people know their tax rise for the NHS will stay with the NHS. Spin-free decent funding of decent healthcare in this country.
There's been just as much spin about Gordon Brown's economic record. We all know his reputation. Sound management, frugality, prudence. So I have a confession to make. I hate to admit it…I admire the Chancellor. Focused. Determined. Single minded. But enough of his campaign to be Prime Minister. I just wish he'd applied the same focus, determination and single-mindedness to winning the argument for the single currency.
For all the hype and the spin, Britain's economy is more and more badly imbalanced. And the danger is, that imbalanced growth will become no growth. Anyone who competes with businesses in the Eurozone is struggling with crisis, if they haven't already gone bust.
We have output back to 1995 levels. Employment in manufacturing down half a million since 1997. Manufacturing investment below the levels of five years ago. The deepest manufacturing recession since 1981. Meanwhile, the economy is kept going only by increased government spending, and high levels of consumer debt. But is relying on consumer debt the sign of a Chancellor who wants to end boom and bust. Will that lead to stable growth? Of course not. The reality is, that instead of being a prudent Chancellor, Gordon Brown is flying by the seat of his pants.
That's most clear, when it comes to Gordon Brown's Great Unmentionable: the European single currency. Great, because it is the key to Britain's future economic success. Unmentionable, because he doesn't allow the Labour Cabinet to take a position. Even the Prime Minister is Gordon Brown's Silent Prisoner of Number Ten.
The five economic tests are so vague the Chancellor can say they are met, or not met, any time he likes. One man's caprice is no way to settle this great national issue. It's time Gordon Brown stopped hiding behind his five tests. It's time he opened the public debate. Our position on the Euro is clear. If Britain votes to join the Euro,
British jobs and living standards will be more secure.
Exchange rate instability kills jobs. It prices British goods out of the market. The old ERM was intended to cure that for the great majority of our trade, our trade with Europe. But without a single currency speculators played one national currency off against another. The Euro is not a rerun of that failure - it is Europe's answer to it. It cuts out the speculator - and by doing so frees business to succeed.
But that is not to say Europe has everything right. The British Government must take the lead in campaigning to reform Europe, so the Euro and the single market can work effectively. It is, after all, still a new venture, feeling its way - as you expect from a new venture.
So here are three reforms Britain should also campaign for. First, subject the European Central Bank to the same public scrutiny and accountability as our own independent Bank of England. Second, create a dynamic economy through structural reform, deregulation, flexible labour markets and cross-border competition. British IT industries, British e-commerce companies, the City and our financial services industry all stand to gain from genuinely opening up Europe's single market. Third, on wider European issues, define and limit the powers of the EU through a constitution for Europe, ensuring that decisions are made locally where possible, for Europe as a whole only when necessary.
That's the way to build confidence in the future role of Europe, so that the British people are confident in that future. But how can we win these reforms for Europe, if we don't accept our place in Europe?
It's the duck and dive approach to the euro, that approach to the very business of government, that is contributing to the crisis of disconnection that politics faces today. It's now time for open debate and, before too long, for a Chancellor with the guts to call a referendum, even if that means taking personal political risks today to safeguard Britain's jobs tomorrow.
But it's not all bad. Let's admit it. Labour has a strong record ….A strong record of copying our ideas. They made the Bank of England independent, after it was in our manifesto but not theirs. Then Labour said our spending proposals were irresponsible, only to follow us after five long years of under-funding. It makes me wonder, Gordon - who's shadowing who?
Our track record is to be in front of Labour. They copy us. But they still get it wrong. Something seems to get lost in translation. I fear that too much of Labour's spending may yet be a wasted by over centralisation in Whitehall of spending decisions about schools in Surbiton or hospitals in Hull.
As Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, I want to discuss with you that further reason for the crisis of disconnection: The stifling centralisation of power, the starving of financial resources and frontline autonomy from regions and neighbourhoods by an over-mighty Whitehall bureaucracy.
The debate has moved on and Labour has not. They have drifted so far out of touch that they cannot understand why millions of decent public service employees are up in arms, and taxpayers' money wasted, because of this stifling centralisation.
Terrible news for those who depend on public services, and terrible news for those struggling to deliver them. These people aren't Scargills, you know. Nurses and teachers, dinner ladies and firemen can't all be dismissed as "wreckers". They are caught up in the crisis of disconnection and over centralisation brought on by this government. A Government characterised by control-freakery, by spin and by mistrust of local people. If Labour doesn't trust people, why should people trust Labour?
The debate on public spending has moved on from the battle over resources. We've largely won that. The battle now is for quality, innovation, and choice in public services. As your Shadow Chancellor, I see these as value for money issues. And I believe the only way to ensure value for taxpayers' money is to restore the decision making, as far as possible, to the front line.
The Doctor on the ward. The teacher in the classroom. Above all to people in their own community. Giving local people the spending power will give us greater quality of service, Money is spent wisely by people on the spot who know their community - and who have to live with the consequences of their choices. That's how people in this country will enjoy the excellence others in Europe take for granted precisely because they already have this freedom.
People power is how we'll liberate this country's powers of innovation too, by giving local communities greater control over their local schools and hospitals. We'll trust them to find solutions where Whitehall can only find problems. It really is about freedom. People power is how we'll replace uniformity with consumer choice, by making sure that people are able to make decisions as participants in their own future, rather than observers while others decide their fate. All this is radical but it isn't new. It's rooted in the great Liberal Democrat tradition.
So let's go back to that time machine. Back a little further this time, to the middle of the 1800s, when Liberals first organised public services on a local, democratic basis. They involved local people in the provision and delivery of those services for the first time. They promoted accountability for the first time. They promoted innovation and flexibility for the first time. These were the real Victorian values, not Margaret Thatcher's fantasy world of Dickensian bleakness.
In more recent years, Giantism has ruled. But its days are numbered. And our job is to be David to Goliath. I want to be the Chancellor who releases resources for local decisions, local initiative, local people, not another Chancellor who raids salaries to squander in Whitehall. That is all rooted in our principles.
Talking of principles, I notice Iain Duncan Smith has been rummaging for some of our principles. War on the "Five Evils:" Failing schools. Crime. Poor healthcare. Child poverty. Insecurity in old age. IDS. The new Beveridge. Poor schools and healthcare. Crime. Child poverty and old age insecurity. Do you know what they have in common? They were the five evils of the last Conservative Government. And given the chance, they'd be the five evils of the next one. His party is the destroyer of the Public Services. Beveridge was proud to be a Liberal, Iain - you will never be a Beveridge. You are no Liberal.
So this is our task. Just as we have won the battle for more resources for education and health, we must fight and win the battle to spend money wisely not wastefully, to devolve decisions closer to local people. In due course too we must fight and win the battle of the Euro.
Tough challenges. But, as Liberal Democrats, we start from a position of strength. Unlike Labour or the Conservatives. We are not political shoppers trying on this policy, discarding that, checking how it plays in the polls. Our politics are the politics of principle not the politics of fashion. That is why more and more people realise that it is the Liberal Democrats, not Labour or the Conservatives, who provide the vision, honesty and leadership that this country needs. They are the parties of the past, we will be the party of the future.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Front page
Published by Matthew Taylor MP, 10 South Street, St Austell, Cornwall PL25 5BH
Printed and hosted by Office Network Systems, 106a Tolworth Broadway, Surbiton, KT6 7JD. |
|
