ISSN-1103-7644
Nr 20-21/1995
Två socialdemokratiska ledares råd
till Göran Persson
I den svenska debatten ses förändringar ofta som något tungt, något nödvändigt ont eller som reträtter från uppställda mål.
Men måste verkligen förändringar vara detsamma som försämringar? Kan vi inte hitta nya vägar att uppnå gamla mål om välfärd, trygghet och utveckling?
Runt om i världen börjar man bryta upp från det gamla, centralistiska tänkandet och söka nya vägar framåt. Det sker i länder som styrs av liberaler eller konservativa. Men numera rör det på sig även i (s)-märkta led. Den här rapporten rymmer två bevis för det.
Den första texten är ett föredrag, som nyligen hölls vid en Timbro-konferens i Stockholm, av Sir Roger Douglas. Han genomförde under sin tid som Labours finansminister 1984-88 i Nya Zeeland ett systemskifte som i första hand riktade in sig på att avskaffa regleringar och subventioner. Nya Zeeland gick från att ha OECDs mest rigida arbetsrätt till att ha en av de mest liberala, och har under 1990-talet kunnat halvera arbetslösheten.
Text nummer två är ett tal inför labourkongressen i oktober i år av den nye partiledare Tony Blair. Det brittiska labourpartiet, som varit ett av socialistinternationalens mest dogmatiska, har nu bytt kurs och satsar hårt på förnyelse av politiken och då framför allt på en linje där medborgarnas ansvar betonas.
Förändringar av invanda mönster är alltid smärtsamma. Men Douglas och Blair visar att med den rätta övertygelsen går det att förändra och anpassa också socialdemokratiska partier till den postindustriella tid vi nu går in i.
När Göran Persson axlar statsministerämbetet står han inför uppgifter som sträcker sig bra mycket längre än till kamerala saneringar av statsbudgeten. Varför inte ta tillvara parti-kollegornas erfarenheter av fundamental förnyelse?
Stockholm i december 1995
Dick Erixon
Projektledare
Anförande av förre finansministern (labour) i Nya Zeeland
Sir Roger Douglas, i Stockholm den 5 december 1995
Den nyzeeländska ekonomin har förändrats.
Vi brukade ha en komplicerad uppsättning ekonomiska förbud, pålagor och subventioner. De var avsedda att skydda inhemsk aktivitet och hålla inkomsterna uppe. Resultatet var emellertid en stagnerande ekonomi med tillväxt och handel på mycket lägre nivåer än i nästan alla andra OECD-länder.
Det ekonomiska reformprogrammet har gått ut på att avlägsna sådana restriktioner som gjorde det svårt för företag att agera på ett lyhört och effektivt sätt, samtidigt som vi har försökt bibehålla de välfärdssystem som behövs för att värna ett rättvist samhälle. (Men som enligt min mening inte fungerar bra i dag.) Förändringarna har varit genomgripande och komplexa.
Sammantaget har de skapat en ny inställning till ekonomisk skötsel, och vi anser att de har gjort Nya Zeeland till ett mycket bättre ställe att driva företag på. IMD i Schweiz ger numera Nya Zeeland åttonde i stället för tjugonde plats i världsrankingen. Vi placeras först i 14 av deras 100 kategorier, framför allt på områden som har att göra med hur staten sköter sina affärer.
Förändringsprocessen har varit smärtsam för många. Somliga har fått se sina förmögenheter sjunka rejält till följd av lägre fastighetspriser. Andra förlorade sina arbeten. Andra, åter, fick uppleva osäkerhet när världen omkring dem förändrades.
Inte desto mindre var det så, att i den utsträckning folk på 1970-talet trodde att de levde i en vital ekonomi med goda förutsättningar på lång sikt, så var det rent självbedrägeri de ägnade sig åt.
Själva det faktum att många människor är mindre liknöjda inför framtiden nuförtiden kan ses som en stor framgång för reformprocessen. Nya Zeeland är lite mindre bekvämt av sig än det brukade vara. Folk må ha förlorat sina illusioner om säkerhet, men som en följd har vi ett mer välbärgat och tryggare land än förut.
Man kan jämföra Nya Zeeland av 1984 års modell med Nya Zeeland av i dag:
1984 1995
Tillväxten hade länge varit mycket En av världens högsta tillväxt-lågl låg. Om Nya Zeeland hade växt takter: 4-5 procent
.lika snabbt som OECD-genom-
snittet under perioden 1960-1992
hade BNP varit dubbelt så hög i dag.
Inflationen var 50 % högre än i Ca 2 % de senaste 3-4 åren.
övriga OECD.
Statsskulden var 50 % av BNP. 35 %.
Skuldräntan var 20 % av stats- 11 %.
inkomsterna.
Budgetunderskottet var 10 % av BNP. Överskottet motsvarar 3 %.
Arbetsmarknaden var rigid. Goda incitament och flexibilitet.
Skattesystemet gav väldiga sned- Låg inkomstskatt. Minst snedvridande effekter. snedvridande effekter av industriländerna, enligt OECD.
Varumarknaderna var skyddade. Marknaderna öppnade för konkurrens. Subventionerna avskafade. Färre regleringar.
Statsförvaltningen hierarkisk Professionalisering av
och byråkratisk ledarskapet. Bolagisering och privatisering. Reformer av ekonomistyrning och anställningspraxis.
Vilka slutsatser om förändring kan man då dra utifrån Nya Zeelands erfarenheter?
1. Börja med elementa
- världen är inte skyldig att stå för ens uppehälle.
Bönderna på Nya Zeeland brukade få 1/3 av sina inkomster i subventioner. Det minskades till noll - samtidigt som växelkursen snabbt utvecklades till deras nackdel. Likafullt klarade sig de flesta och ingen skulle i dag vilja återvända till 1984 års situation. Varför?
Därför att de har lärt sig vad det innebär att ha sin verksamhet i grundläggande ordning. Subventioner bär på fröet till sin egen undergång. Världsmarknadens osäkerhet visade sig bättre än subventionernas tvångströja, och bönderna är i dag entreprenörer med diversifierade företag snarare än byråkrater i gummistövlar.
2. Intressegrupperna underskattar alltid sin förmåga att anpassa sig framgångsrikt när staten snabbt avskaffar privilegier på bred front.
3. Innan man avskaffar privilegierna för en skyddad sektor, kommer denna att se förändringen som ett hot som måste bekämpas till varje pris. När privilegierna väl är avskaffade och det står klart att klockan inte kommer att vridas tillbaka, kommer den avreglerade sektorn att koncentrera sig på att kräva avskaffande av pivilegierna för andra.
4. Gör det som är rätt.
Högkvalitativa beslut är nyckeln till framgångsrika reformer liksom till politisk framgång. Problemet med kompromisser är enkelt: de ger inte upphov till de rätta resultaten utan fortsätter att hemsöka de ansvariga.
5. Om en lösning är vettig på medellång sikt skall man satsa på den utan tävan. Ledarskap ligger i modet att genomföra kloka åtgärder, ta plågorna meddetsamma och bli utvärderad på basis av de goda resultat som kommer senare.
6. Konsensus bland intressegrupperna uppstår sällan, om ens någonsin, innan förändringarna är beslutade och genomförda. Konsensus utvecklas efteråt, när besluten levererar tillfredsställande resultat för alla uppdragsgivare.
7. Politik börjar med människor.
Den utgår från kvaliteten hos deras observationer, kunskap, analys, fantasi och förmåga att utveckla ett så brett spektrum av löningar som möjligt. Det är av avgörande betydelse att ersätta folk som inte kan eller vill finna sig till rätta i den nya miljön.
Att ordna incitament och strukturer på rätt sätt kan göra underverk för prestationerna från många dynamiska och skickliga människor, som inte förmådde åstadkomma de rätta resultaten under den gamla ordningen. När man sätter kvaliteten i centrum för allt vad man gör, spränger det gamla gränser.
8. Den rådande ordningen måste granskas lika tufft som förslagen till förändringar.
9. Målen är det viktiga. Inte medlen.
10. Angrip orsakerna. Inte symptomen.
11. Konkurrens slår alltid kontrollsystem och monopol.
12. Det enda sätt på vilket staten kan rättfärdiga att den spenderar en endaste dollar av en medborgares inkomster är att den kan göra av med pengarna på ett sätt som ger bättre ekonomiska eller sociala följder än om medborgaren själv spenderar pengarna.
13. Man kan bara spendera en dollar en gång. Ju mer staten tar desto mindre finns det kvar för den privata sektorn.
14. Förändra inte ett steg i taget. Man bör definiera målen väl och röra sig mot dem språngvis, annars kommer intressegrupperna att hinna mobilisera.
15. Fart är av avgörande betydelse. Det är nästan omöjligt att gå för fort fram.
Ett helt reformprogram tar ofta åratal att genomföra. De kortfristiga kostnaderna kommer redan första dagen. Vänta inte på att det skall bli möjligt att genomföra förändringarna i den perfekta, logiska ordningen, för då hinner möjligheten försvinna att överhuvudtaget förändra.
16. Det är osäkerhet, inte fart, som äventyrar ett reformprogram. Fart är en avgörande faktor när det gäller att hålla osäkerheten på en så låg nivå som möjligt.
17. När man väl har börjat få momentum för förändring gäller det att inte låta rörelsen framåt stoppas.
18. Stater kan bara skapa ett klimat, sedan är det människorna själva som står för de verkliga förändringarna. Om folk tror att du kommer att ändra dig när de uppvaktar dig, kommer de att koncentrera sina ansträngningar på lobbying. Om de vet att du inte kommer att ändra dig, kommer de att sätta i gång med att ta den nya verkligheten till vara.
19. Kampen för konsistens och trovärdighet pågår ständigt. Den vinns aldrig slutgiltigt. Den är av avgörande betydelse för varje beslut. Att återvinna förlorad trovärdighet kan ta längre tid än det gjorde att först bygga upp den.
20. Folk kan inte samverka med reformprocessen om de inte vet vart den är på väg. Man bör röra sig så snabbt som möjligt, men närhelst det är praktiskt möjligt bör samhället få information i förväg.
21. Reformer blir inte möjliga förrän man litar på, respekterar och informerar sina uppdragsgivare.
Man måste försätta dem i ett läge där de kan göra sunda bedömningar av vad som pågår. Vilket är problemet och hur uppstod det? Vilken skada gör det? Vilka är målen med förändringen? Hur skall de uppnås? Vilka kostnader och intäkter kommer det leda till? Varför är just dessa förslag de bästa?
22. Blinka inte! Uppdragsgivarnas förtroende beror på ens hållning.
23. Folk respekterar ärliga svar på sina frågor.
The Right Honourable Tony Blair MP
at the Labour Congress 3 october 1995:
Today I place before you my vision of a new Britain.
A nation reborn. Prosperous, secure, united. One Britain. I say how this vision is to be achieved by a new, confident Labour Party that, with the support of the British people, will sweep away forever the most discredited and dishonourable Government in living memory. New Labour. New Britain. I know that for some of you, new Labour has been painful. There is no greater pain to be endured in politics than the birth of a new idea.
But I believe in it and I want to tell you why. Socialism for me was never about nationalisation or the power of the State. Not just about economics or even politics. It is a moral purpose to life. A set of values. A belief in society. In co-operation. In achieving together what we cannot achieve alone.
It is how I try to live my life. How you try to live yours. The simple truths. I am worth no more than anyone else. I am my brother's keeper. I will not walk by on the other side. We aren't simply people set in isolation from one other, face to face with eternity, but members of the same family, the same community, the same human race. This is my socialism. And the irony of our long years in Opposition is that those values are shared by the vast majority of the British people.
I joined this party because it represented those values. But I felt something else and I think in your heart of hearts you felt it too. That however great and timeless our values, our Party's politics, structure and even its ideology no longer reflected those values in a way that brought them alive for the people.
We became separated from the very people we said we represented. We called them "our people," while forgetting who they were. Now 1983 was, for me, a watershed. New Labour was born then. Of the courage of one man.
We would not be here, proud and confident today, but for that man, Neil Kinnock. It grew under the wisdom of John Smith who guided us through the revolution in our Party democracy whose memory we honour. We have transformed our Party. Our constitution re-written. Our relations with the Trade Unions changed. Our Party organisation improved. Political education on an unprecedented scale. New policy, breaking new ground.
But, I didn't come into politics to change the Labour Party. I came into politics to change the country. And I honestly believe that if we had not changed, if we had not returned our party to its values, freed from the weight of outdated ideology, we could not change the country. We could not win and even if we did, we would not have governed in the way Britain needs.
For I do not want a one-term Labour Government that dazzles for a moment then ends in disillusion. I want a Labour Government that governs for a generation and changes Britain for good. And it has been hard, I know. Hard for me sometimes. Last year I was Bambi, this year I am Stalin. From Disneyland to dictatorship in twelve short months. I am not sure which one I prefer. OK, I prefer Bambi. Honestly.
There have been good moments. Like yesterday when, for the first time since I became leader, my children were impressed by something I did. Did you really meet Kevin Keegan, Dad? Did you really do 27 consecutive headers? Wasn't it good to see Eric Cantona back in action? Let's hope this time he remembers that kicking people in the teeth is the Tory Government's job.
So it's been tough. No-one ever thought it would be done. It has been. And I didn't do it alone. We did it together. So thank you. Record by-election results. Record local election results.
And I am as proud as anything else of the new Labour women candidates we have chosen. Some pain there too. But look at the results. We could have 80 or 90 women MPs after the next general election and that alone will transform the politics of Britain.
I read that the other day that not one winnable Tory seat has picked a woman candidate. What a disgrace. But then again - what is a winnable Tory seat?
Peter Lilley. MP for St Albans. Majority 16,000. Unsafe. Lilley on the chicken run to Hitchen and Harpenden.
Tory chairman Brian Mawhinney. The man whose job it is to say the Tories will sweep the country once more. Majority 5,000. Unsafe. On the chicken run from Peterborough to Cambridgeshire.
And Basildon man himself. David Amess. Terrified of the nation watching on election night as the smug grin is finally removed. On the chicken run to Southend.
Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to a safer seat. But never have so many chickens run in vain. As the man said: they can run, but they can't hide.
So great success to celebrate. Much of the work in gearing up our Party has been done by John Prescott, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. A good friend and a great support. Blunt, honest and outspoken. And that's just with me.
I see incidentally that Mr Major is now planning to challenge me to a TV debate during the General Election. Fine. Your record against our policies. Any place, any time. But I have a better idea. Instead of just challenging us to a TV debate. Challenge us to a General Election.
We now have 100 000 new members. Next year for the first time we will have more members than the Tory Party. And a huge increase in Young Labour. Now five times as large as the Young Conservatives. We value our members, new and old. But let us never fall for the nonsense that by seeking new support, we turn our back on the poor, homeless and unemployed.
I have spent 16 years being angry, passionate and indignant. About young people huddled in doorways, families made wretched by unemployment, the poor unable to make ends meet.
I am fed up with anger. I tell you. They don't need our anger. They need action. And they will get it not through the rage of opposition, but through a Labour Party that has had the courage to take hard choices, get into government and do something for them.
And let me tell you. The hard choices get harder in government. When we refuse to take risks with inflation because this country cannot be rebuilt on boom and bust, even to boost short term employment.
When we want more children at university but we don't want the Government's Student Loan Scheme. We face hard choices about what it's replacement will be.
On public sector pay, when a Labour government, like any other, will have to say no as well as yes, even to people in this hall. Hard choices are what good government is about.
Remember this: I love my party. I just hate it being in opposition. I love my country. And I hate what the Tories have done to it. Every promise ever made broken: taxes, unemployment, crime, health, education. Theirs is a record of incompetence and dishonesty on an epic scale. And now they plead with the British people: trust us this one more time.
I say this to the British people. There are two sides to a deal. They gave their word. You gave your vote. They broke their word. Don't ever give them your vote again.
I'll tell you about the Tories and tax. They cut your taxes before an election and raise them afterwards. And they only ever give you one side of the equation: they cut your income tax, but they raise your VAT, they make you pay charges, like in the health service on extra costs, like taxes on insuring your home. Its all a con. We all want ordinary hard-working families to pay less tax. But the way to cut tax , is to cut unemployment, cut crime, cut welfare spending, all the reasons taxes have gone up.
And just imagine for one moment fifth term Tory Britain. Would there be a National Health Service? Would there be a free state education system for all? Will there be a welfare state? Will Mr Redwood be in charge of deciding which single parents get to keep their children? Well let's make sure it doesn't happen.
Re-elect them and be in no doubt. Back they come with VAT on fuel. All schools to opt out. Post Offices sold off. More health privatisation. Giant privatised monopolies, controlling your services, the price decided by a gaggle of former ministers on the board. For they too are a party changed. Half the Tory backbenchers voted for Mr Redwood to be Prime Minister. All aboard Starship Redwood, bound for Planet Portillo. Remember Planet Portillo. Last year it was a joke. Next year, it could be Britain.
Don't let them capture Britain's future, for they offer it nothing. This is a new age. To be led by a new generation. Let me talk to you about my generation. We grew up after the second world war. We read about fascism, we saw the Soviet Union and we learned to fear extremes of right and left.
We were born into the Welfare State and the health service, into the market economy of bank accounts, supermarkets, jeans and cars. We had money in our pocket never dreamt of by our parents. We travel abroad. We have been through the sexual revolution of the 60s. Half the workforce are now women and the world of work revolutionised by science.
We built a new popular culture, transformed by colour TV, Coronation Street and the Beatles. This generation, our generation we enjoy a thousand material advantages over any previous generation; and yet we suffer a depth of insecurity and spiritual doubt they never knew.
The family weakened, society divided. We see elderly people in fear of crime, children abused. We live with the knowledge that the world, through nuclear weapons, chemical weapons and contempt for the environment can end billions of years of evolution.
Mine is the generation with more freedom than any other, but less certainty in how to exercise it responsibly. It is the generation that knocks on the door of a new millennium, frightened for our future and unsure of our soul. We live in a new age but in an old country. Britain won two world wars. We had an Empire and formed a Commonwealth. We invented the sports the rest of the world now plays; gave the world some of the finest literature, art and poetry.
We are proud of our history but its weight hangs heavy upon us. Why? Because it has left us for far too long defining ourselves as a nation, not by what unites us, but by what divides us. A class system unequal and antiquated. A social fabric tattered and torn. A politics where dogma drives out common sense. Even an education system where one part of the nation is taught apart from the other. And where if we do not change course, we will have two classes of health service, two classes of state schools, two Britains, one on welfare, another paying for it.
I want us to be a young country again. Young. With a common purpose. With ideals we cherish and live up to. Not resting on past glories. Not fighting old battles. Not sitting back, hand on mouth, concealing a yawn of cynicism, but ready for the day's challenge. Ambitious. Idealistic. United. Where people succeed on the basis of what they give to their country, rather than what they take from their country. Not saying: "this was a great country" But "Britain can and will be a great country again." A young country that will build the new economy of the future.
No more bosses versus workers, but partnership at work. No more public versus private finance. Co-operation to rebuild our nation's road, rail, inner cities and regions. No more boom and bust economics. Stability which businesses need to plan for the future.Help for small businesses. A new relationship between public and private sector to rebuild infrastructure. Measures to encourage long term investment.
But above all, today we present our proposals to equip our people and businesses for new technological and economic challenges, and to change the basis of this country's thinking of the last 100 years.
Education is the best economic policy there is for a modern economy. And it is in the marriage of education and technology that the future lies. The arms race may be over. The knowledge race has begun. We will never compete on the basis of a low wage, sweat shop economy. It just can't be done that way.
We have just one asset. Our people. Their intelligence. Their potential. Develop it we succeed. Neglect it we fail. It is as simple as that. And the pace of technological change means the task is urgent. Education does not stop when you walk out of the school gates for the last time. Education is for life. This is hard economics. The more you learn the more you earn. That is your way to do well out of life. Jobs. Growth.
This combination of technology and know-how will transform the lives of all of us. Look at industry and business. An oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico has metal fatigue; it can be diagnosed from an office in Aberdeen. European businesses finalising a deal with the Japanese. With simultaneous translation down the phone line. And the calls could even be free. Leisure too. Virtual reality tourism that allows you anywhere in the world. Computers that learn about a child as they teach them, shaping courses to their personal need. Knowledge is power. Information is opportunity. And technology can make it happen. If we use it properly.
Just think. Direct access to teaching skills from the workplace or the home. Class sizes of one. The engineer who needs to keep pace with technical change. The self-employed architect who wants to do his own accountancy. The computer operator who needs to adapt to new systems. The mother on maternity leave learning a new skill or language to equip her for her return to work.
It can be done. But will it happen? Only if we make it happen. It means bringing together the private sector, government, universities, research centres and science labs to put together an advanced system of further education for the electronic age.
For people at work and for people who lose their job. It requires a supreme national effort. The market won't do it. A Labour government will and can. We have started work on it already. It will be called the University for Industry. And it will transform education and skills in Britain, and make lifelong learning a reality.
But our aim must be even bolder. We have such huge advantages. Some of the finest tele-communications companies in the world. World leaders in broadcasting. The world's first language, English. Together, they could put us years ahead in education and technology and business. But in Tory Britain we waste our assets. We are not using them, organising, making the most of them.
Time is running out and the challenge is great. Because other countries are doing it. I make this proposal today: we should open up the markets in communications and technology. Yes, a market solution.
The cable companies are playing their part, using the new technology to good effect. But we should aim for free and fair competition and end the restrictions that have prevented BT, Mercury, and others from playing their part in wiring up Britain, until there is full and open competition everywhere from 2002. This is a market with huge potential. But in return, these companies owe some responsibility to the nation.That's the essence of partnership.
We have been in these past weeks in discussion with BT. In return for access to the market, I can announce they have agreed, as they build their network, to connect up every school, every college, every hospital and every library in Britain. For free.
They get the chance to win new markets. But the nation gets the chance to succeed. That is what I mean by new Labour. Public and private. Working together. Building a dynamic economy. That addresses the nation's needs and serves the nation's interests. Eventually we want every home to be wired up in new Britain. A goal worth striving for. No haves and have nots in the computer age. We can make it happen.
Business enhanced. Life more entertaining. Public services improved. People better off. Britain better off. I can announce a third public-private initiative. David Blunkett will be opening discussions with both the education authorities and the computer companies which supply them about how we meet the goal of ensuring that every child has access to a proper laptop computer. It would need new forms of teacher training. It would need a whole network of delivery. But it is possible. Think. 50 years ago their grandparents came into state schools for the first time and sat at a proper wooden desk. And a Labour government provided them.
Half a century later, a new way for a new age. That is what I mean by new Labour. 35th in the education league may be good enough for the Tories. But I didn't come into politics satisfied for Britain to be 35th best at anything. What an appalling record. We will put our education system right.
No more dogma. No more arguments about structures. For every school, fair and equal funding. No return to selection, academic or social. But a new deal in our classrooms. We will be the champions of standards for the 21st century. More support. In return, more demand for achievement.
The aim of a nursery place for every three and four year old. A voluntary network of Associate teachers adults with expertise in a foreign language or business to assist the classroom teacher. A new adult-pupil ratio in class. Pioneered by Labour authorities. Extended to the whole of Britain. Proper assessment for all five year olds. Schools playing to their strengths. Not just technology, which should be part of every school's curriculum. Schools with a specialism that brings out the best in their pupils. Science. Or music. Or design. Or maths.
Developing areas of expertise, subjects in which they are able to offer extra depth. That helps the child. They become centres of excellence for the benefit of the whole community.
And one more thing. The Tories say that class size doesn't matter. If that's true I just wonder why so many of them spend so much buying small classes in the private sector. The Tories spend over £100 million a year on the Assisted Places Scheme.
Under Labour, the scheme will be phased out. 60 million pounds just over half the cost of the assisted places scheme would pay for every five, six and seven year old to be educated in a class of less than 30. That is how five, six and seven year olds will be educated in new Britain.
But the price of more support will be higher expectations of success. More action to combat failure. Teachers should be properly rewarded. But if they can't do the job, they should not be teaching at all. Headteachers should prove their leadership skills before they are considered for a head's post. Parents have duties too. Children do homework. They shouldn't be playing truant. And where they are, it is not just the school's job to do something about it, its the job of parents too. We support the development of home-school contracts where schools and parents jointly take responsibility for children.
Again pioneered by Labour in local government Tougher inspection. Higher targets. And more prompt action when things are going wrong. Now I know some of this sounds harsh but it is actually fair. If we tolerate failure in our schools it is ordinary children that suffer and we cannot betray their future.Stakeholder Britain. But our challenge to be a young country is not just economic. It is social and it is moral.
Look at the wreckage of our broken society. See Britain through the eyes of our children. Are we really proud of it?
Drugs, violence, youngsters hanging around street corners with nothing to do. We have to have the courage to build a new civic society, a new social order. Where everyone has a stake and everyone plays a part. Justice for all. Responsibility from all. It is a bargain between us and the people. No-one pretends we can solve unemployment overnight. But no decent society can tolerate these levels of long-term unemployment with all the misery and social breakdown it brings.
We will take the excess profits of the new robber barons of Tory Britain in the privatised utilities and use it for the most radical programme of work and education for the unemployed ever put forward in Britain. And use that money too and end up saving money by giving single parents the chance not to live on benefit but to plan their future, organise childcare and training so they can support themselves and their children.
Not the butt of Tory propaganda, but citizens of new Britain who can earn a wage and look after the children they love. With this opportunity comes the responsibility because both come together. It has always been absurd that the debate about crime has some talking of its causes and others of the need to punish criminals.
Sweep away the dogma. Tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime. Reform of the criminal justice system. A comprehensive programme to deal with juvenile offending; action to tackle drug abuse; proper treatment of victims and witnesses.
Tougher penalties on violence or guns; a crackdown on those who make life hell in their local neighbourhoods through noise or disturbance. For the first time a nationwide crime prevention policy in which in each community, police, schools, businesses and local government plan together how to beat crime Law and order is a Labour issue today.
We all suffer crime, the poorest and vulnerable most of all, it is the duty of government to protect them. But we can make choices in spending to. And instead of wasting hundreds of millions of pounds on compulsory ID cards as the Tory Right demand, let that money provide thousands of extra police officers on the beat in our local communities. But the truth is that the best two crime prevention policies are a job and a stable family.
A young country that wants to be a strong country cannot be morally neutral about the family. It is the foundation of any decent society. Behind strong communities lie strong families. Go to any juvenile court and you will see. Because in the family people learn to respect and care for each other. Destroy that in a family and you cannot rebuild it in a country.
In every area of policy we should be examining its effect on the family, seeing how we can strengthen it and keep it together. In benefits, employment, education . And there's something very tangible we can do in housing where we will let local authorities use the money from the sale of council houses to end the most telling obscenity of Tory Britain, that we spend millions of pounds on slum B&B accommodation for homeless families when we could be using this money to build houses to live in.
A young country we can then reform and modernise in full a new welfare state. It does need reform. And the Party that founded it and believes in it is the party to reform it. These are hard choices, but they should be made with justice and equity. This Party introduced universal pensions. We believe they must remain the foundation of pension provision. But we can't cure pensioner poverty simply through the state pension. Some 600,000 of our elderly people are left behind because they do not claim means-tested income support. But increasing numbers of pensioners have second and third pensions.
That is why we are looking at ways for people to put together income from public and private sources to guarantee a minimum standard of living for our pensioners. The aim of the policy is to remove the stigma of means testing for ever, and guarantee a minimum income that provides dignity in old age. That is new Labour.
We are also thinking through new ways of planning for long term care. We all know elderly people who saved all their lives and now see their savings eaten away by nursing homes costs. It is one of the great modern tragedies of our country. And when we have completed our examination of the issues we will bring forward proposals to help them.
I don't want an old social order. I want a new one, with rules for today. I believe in the family. I believe in being tough on crime. Some would say that those are the moral values of the old-fashioned and the right. Don't let the Tories claim these values as their own they are our values.
You can be tough on crime and tough on prejudice too. In any young country the talents of all are allowed to flourish. There should be no discrimination in our young country on grounds of disability, gender, age sexuality or race. In its place, tolerance and respect.
And I say to the Tories: those who play politics with race or immigration betray the decent values of any civilised society. Justice, justice in society and justice at work. People at work should have a stake in their company. Minimum standards of fairness. A young country gives rights but demands responsibilities. Leave the battles of the past. Ballots, peaceful picketing, proper conduct of disputes, these laws are staying. But there will be new rights for all individuals at work.
A Labour government will be part of the European Social Chapter. Part-time employees will no longer be treated as second class citizens. There will be an end to zero-hours contracts. Young people will be properly protected against under-age working. Joining a trade union will be a matter of free choice. But where that choice is exercised, there will be a right to representation, and where a majority want it, a right to union recognition. There is another piece of unfinished business in the field of industrial relations.
For ten years, good and patriotic workers at GCHQ have been denied the right to join a free union. Under Labour they will be given it back. One other thing. Keir Hardie didn't achieve a minimum wage for Britain. Nor did Attlee. Nor did Harold Wilson. Nor did Jim Callaghan.
New Labour will introduce a statutory minimum wage for Britain. Not building a workforce where fear is the spur or insecurity the incentive, but a workforce of partners committed to a new and dynamic Britain at work. This is our pledge and it will be done.
A young country, new Britain, will sweep away the dogma from our public services. We need to make them public services again. Modernise yes, but keep them as public services and make them serve the public again, not vested interests of any kind. We created the National Health Service. We will save it. And we will change it for the better.That £1 billion in extra administration that the Tories have spent on bureaucracy, accountants and company cars could be spent on beds and patients and nurses. Let the internal market that pits hospital against hospital cease. Let our system of GP Commissioning replace the GP fundholding that has created this costly and two-tier system.
And let the NHS work as a service again. Let the doctors do what the doctors should do. Care for the sick, not be forced to make a business of them.
Today, we announce a proposal from Professor Robert Winston, in the audience today, one of the world's leading consultants. It is about how we can use technology to create regional centres of excellence in specialist care, directly linked up through our superhighway proposals, to local hospitals and surgeries.He is passionate not just about defending the NHS but about improving it.
He is also a passionate supporter of this Party. Working for Labour, working for Britain. Sweep away the dogma of the market in transport and the environment. Our cities congested, our roads a driver's nightmare, our railways reduced to such a state that their latest timetable has as many false promises as a Tory Party manifesto.
This nation needs a proper national integrated transport system that serves the needs of the people and safeguards the environment. And we should sit down as a country and plan it. Not wait for the free-market to build it but plan it together. The market where it works, Where it doesn't we do it.
Now let me make one thing clear. I don't give blank cheques in any area of policy, including this. No matter what the pressures. But to anyone thinking of grabbing our railways, built up over the years, so they can make a quick profit as our network is broken up and sold off, I say this: There will be a publicly owned and publicly accountable railway system under a Labour government.And we will save the hundreds of millions of pounds being spent on selling our railways to upgrade our service and modernise our lines. The privatised utilities will be properly regulated. That's new Labour too.
We have plans for the Lottery too. The lottery profits could be going to good causes. Camelot have six years of their contract to run. A Labour government will be seeking an efficient non-profit making promoter so we can release more money for the benefit of good causes in Britain. We will also be seeking ways of ensuring that the views of lottery players themselves are taken into account when lottery panels decide how the takings are spent. It is the people's lottery. The people should get more out of it.
But nowhere is a young country more needed than in our politics. We will change the old and dead political culture of Tory Britain. Where it is right, we will co-operate as well as oppose. On constitutional change. On Northern Ireland. I will not play political games with the peace process in Northern Ireland. The peace is too important for that.
It is time to end the Tory sleaze. Time to sweep away the quango state. Time to take power back from big government and share it with the people. Scotland shall have its Parliament. Wales will have its Assembly. They will be legislated for in the first year of a Labour Government. People will have a say over how their health, education, law and order services are run. A young country shouldn't be frightened of such change. It will strengthen Britain.
The only thing that threatens the UK is a government that refuses to listen to the desire of the people to take more power themselves.
London, our great capital, will be run by a directly elected authority like any other capital. And if, in time, the regions of England want a greater say in their health and education and police and transport, then that too can come. We will rebuild local government and end that muddled and hopeless system of rate capping. And we will do it in a way that changes in the relationship between citizen and state.
A Freedom of Information Act for central and local government.An end to hereditary peers sitting in the House of Lords as the first step to a proper directly elected second chamber. And the chance for the people to decide after the election the system by which they elect the Government of the future. The Tories set up the Nolan Committee on Standards in Public Life. They are refusing to implement it because it forces Tory MPs to say what they earnfrom outside consultancies. Labour will implement it. In full.
A young country proud of its identity and its place in the world, not living in its history but grasping the opportunities of the future.It is a disgrace that the Conservative Party have reduced British foreign policy in Europe to the level of a joke. Of course Europe need reform. We have led calls to reform the CAP and the institutions of Europe.
Of course, if there are further steps to integration, then we will be the first to say the people should have their say, at a general election or in a referendum. But Europe is a vital part of our national interest. To be sidelined without influence is not a betrayal of Europe. It is a betrayal of Britain.
There is now a growing part of the Tory Party that would take Britian out of Europe altogether. That would be a disaster for jobs and businesses. I say this in all honesty to my country. We can't be half in and half out for ever. This country should be leading in Europe and under Labour it will.
A nation that will stand up for the rights of other nations, as in Bosnia as we have done. A nation that will stand up for our allies when right, and make a stand when they are wrong, as we do when we condemn without reservation the decision by France to carry out nuclear testing in the South Pacific.
A nation that is proud to welcome its friends from abroad, as we will on Thursday with the visit of Thabo Mbeki, and is doubly proud when it was prepared to support them in prison and not just in government.
A nation that will never, for the sake of short-term electoral advantage, sacrifice our overseas aid budget for the poorest people in the world and shame on those Tories who suggest it. A young country, equipped for the future with a just society and a new politics and a clear understanding of its role in the world.
I want to make this pledge today to the whole country, and especially to those who despairing of Politicians have almost given up hope of change. That the party I lead will carry out in government the programme we provide in our Manifesto beforehand. Nothing more, nothing less, that is my word.
We deliver what we promise. We don't promise what we can't deliver. Is that not a vision worth fighting for? But can you not already see the foundations of new Britain being laid? Just in what we have said today.
Ahead in technology Schools transformed. The NHS restored and saved Police patrolling the streets and a new battle against crime Democracy and politics renewed The homeless in houses not on the streets. An integrated transport system. Partnership between government and business, public and private sector to create the dynamic economy we need. A direct attack on long term unemployment. Real help that will get single parents off welfare and into work.
Feel new Britain come alive. Feel the vitality that can course through this country's veins and make it young again. Rise, together, to the challenge. Because new Labour cannot create new Britain alone. I challenge this country, my country: Let us rouse ourselves to a new moral purpose for our nation. To build a new and young country that can lay aside the dogmas and divisions that have dominated our land for generations.
A nation for all the people, built by all the people. Old divisions cast out. A new spirit in the nation. Working together. Unity. Solidarity. Partnership. One Britain. That is the patriotism for the future. Where never again do we fight our politics by appealing to one section of our nation at the expense of another. Where your child in distress is my child, your parent ill and in pain, is my parent, your friend unemployed or helpless, my friend, you neighbour my neighbour. That is the true patriotism of a nation.
So that together we do make this the young country of my generation's dreams. 50 years from the war. 5 years from a new millennium. A turning point in our history. I say to Britain be strong and of good courage. The Tories will tell you it can't be done. They will lie about you. They will lie about me. They will lie about themselves. But do not let fear drive out hope.
The coming election is not a struggle for political power. It is a battle for the soul of our nation. And I say to you my party. Be strong and of good courage. The Labour Party that first won support from the British people that was new Labour then. 1945 was new Labour. 1964 was new Labour
Both new Labour because both had the courage to take the values of the Labour Party and use them not for the world as it was, but for the world as they wanted it to be. And new Labour now, ready in 1995 to build new Britain. During the VJ Day celebrations, I was on the platform with Tory ministers. And as we walked down the Mall, there were thousands of people, holding their Union Jacks, and it soon became clear to the horror of the Tories that many of them were Labour. They were waving and shouting and urging me to "get the Tories out."
These are our people. They love this country, just as we do. It is because they love this country that they look to us to change it. So let us say with pride. We are patriots. This is the patriotic party. Because it is the party of the people. As the Tories wave their Union Jacks next week, I know what so many people will be thinking. I know what the people want to say to those Tories: It is no good waving the fabric of our flag when you have spent 16 years tearing apart the fabric of the nation. Tearing apart the bonds that tie communities together and make us a united Kingdom. Tearing apart the security of those people, clutching their Union Jacks, swelling with pride at their victory over tyranny, and yelling at me to "get those Tories out," because they want security, because they want to leave a better world for their children and their grandchildren than they created for themselves and they know the Tories cannot do it.
Decent people. Good people. Patriotic people. When I hear people urging us to fight for "our people," I tell you: These are our people. They are the majority. And we must serve them, and build that new Britain, that young country, for their children and their families. I make them this promise now, that I will do all I can to get the Tories out. And I will devote every breath that I breathe, every sinew of my body, to ensuring that your grandchildren do get to live in that new Britain in a new and better world. Discipline. Courage. Determination. Honesty. The victory can be won. The prize is immense.
It is new Britain. One Britain. The people united by shared values, shared aims. A Government governing for all the people. The party, this Party, the Labour Party founded by the people, back, truly, as the people's party. New Labour. New Britain. The party renewed. The country reborn. New Labour. New Britain.
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