Deputy Leadership Hustings Live from Liverpool - VoiceTube: Learn English through videos!

Subtitles section Play video

. This event will have live
subtitles. Please sit where you can see the text clearly. Thank
you.
you. LIAM: Are we ready for some
more?
Thank you very much to everyone for coming back, I was hoping
that we would
get a really good crowd back and that too many of you haven't
just gone to the
pub, which I think my dad has done, which I was tempted to do,
I tried to ring him but I think he is two pints deep. Is he
happy. We had a good debate this morning for
the leadership hustings, it was very camaraderie and friendly
and lively so the pressure is on guys to play nice.
The 40-second rule we brought in in the earlier event seemed to
work quite well, so initially for the first questions we want
a 40-second answer and I will be hurrying you along when that
comes to a close. Then, after a certain number of
questions, we will move to a two-minute
final summation, which will close the show. So, we have been
going back through
questions, we tried to vary things up, because this is a
different role and
tried to focus on people who are very specific about deputy
leadership questions.
These are the things I have have been told to say, that I have to
say. Candidates drew lots half an hour ago to decide which will
stand at which podium. The results mean that Angela Rayner
will go first, followed by Dawn Butler,
Richard Burgeon, Rosena Allin Khan and, Ian Murray. If you
could keep on top of that, that
would be great, because numbers are not
my thing, or just basic logic. So each question will be asked
to every candidate, when the candidates come out we will have
no open statement and no candidate will be permitted to
interrupt
or heckle their owe poniesent, but a bit of light banlter is
helpful. If you want to dive in and say things
that is fine, but keep it nice and friendly. Shall we start?
My first question is from Jennifer Corcoran in Southport.
In front row, very brave! It's not a stand up gig. What key
message from your campaign can
I deliver on the door step to inspire our voters old and new.
So it's about the key message of what you want to bring to the
position that Jennifer can deliver on the doorstep.
ANGELA: Thank you for your question, I
did visit Southport during the General Election campaign and
the key message is utilising every inch of our movement, our
fantastic movement, energising and bringing it together to sell
what socialism is about, what the Labour movement is about,
that is our greatest thing and that is reaching our full
potential as a movement and making sure that everyone can do
that.
I think, actually my role and my back story talks about how we
can unify the party to make sure we get behind our leader and we
win the next General Election because I can't think we can
wait any longer.
(APPLAUSE).
LIAM: Excellent timekeeping, Dawn, same question to you, what
key message from
your campaign can be trifr delivered on the door step to
inspire voters old and new.
DAWN: Whenwe can wait any longer. (APPLAUSE).
LIAM: Excellent timekeeping, Dawn, same question to you, what
key message from your campaign can be trifr delivered on the
door step to inspire voters old and new.
DAWN: When I knock on the door what I want people to say is
"oh, yes I know
what Labour has delivered for us, Labour has delivered locally
and a metro mayor or a crime commissioner and Labour will
deliver to us from Government." Labour has made my life better,
my
family's life better, my children and grandchildren's
life better. I want people to understand that socialism is
about aspiration, it's about making sure you have a solid
foundation in your life, that we build your life, we make you
better, we are a part of you and that nobody gets left behind.
When I knock on the doors that is what
I want to hear them say to me. LIAM: Thank you, Dawn. The same
question to you, Richard. RICHARD: Thank you very much,
Jennifer for that question.
I will be on the door step with you as
a campaigning deputy leader. I want a people-powered campaign
so I
want to strengthen our campaign and message by focussing on ten
key policies in partnership with the members and the Trade Unions
to sell on the door step. I remember when I joined the
Labour Party back in the mid 90s being very
taken by the way John Prescott used the
role of deputy leader as a campaigning role.
I see it in the same way, not a leader in waiting, not a
mischief leader in waiting but a team player working for
all of you to get Labour back into Government.
LIAM: Ian, are you going to be a mischief maker.
IAN: Certainly not, but I want to speak
to Jennifer about how she managed to get the Labour vote
up 7% in the last election, because my main message about
standing for deputy leader is to go out and stand in the seats we
won and lost and the seats we will never win and listen to the
public and reflect on what they are telling the Labour movement
on what we have to do to get into Government.
We have a Conservative majority, it's a disaster, the only way we
can transform
the country and places like south port is to listen to what
the public are telling us, change it and get us back into
the Government so that the people of Southport get the
Labour Government they deserve. The first stop is to listen to
the seats that we won and lost and listen to
people like Jennifer who managed to put
up the Labour vote up by 7% for Liz Savage in Southport.
LIAM: Thank you. Rosena, what about your key message?
ROSENA: Thank you very much, Jennifer and thank you everyone
for being here today. My key message are of hope and unity.
As the daughter of a single mum who had to work three jobs to
put food on the table, as a mixed race child, growing up
in poverty under Thatcher and Major I was written off. The
Labour Party believed in me, I am
the embodiment of what can happen when the Labour Party
believes you in you, I now work as a doctor in our NHS. I want
to knock on doors and say the Labour Party believes in you,
our future generations, let's join together,
rebuild from the grassroots and rebuild organisational capacity
and take the
fight to the Tories and show future generations through hope
and unity we believe in them too. (APPLAUSE).
LIAM: So, this was a very popular question and I am making
no further remarks about it. It is how would you support the
leader and how would you overcome any differences?
That is from Elaine owe Callaghan in Liverpool. We will
start one on that one, Dawn. DAWN: Thank you for that.
So, look, people talk about unity, but I have walked the
walk of unity. It's great that everyone is talking about being
united but I have walked that walk, I have served under two
Labour Prime Ministers and they don't come around that often,
but we need to get us back there again and we need a Labour
Government and I have served in the Shadow Cabinet.
I will never, ever join a coup, because
nobody votes for a a disunited party. It's a united party that
wins elections, so don't just talk about
unity,
let's show unity, let's show it and so I will take us to the
finishing line and
we will have another Labour Prime Minister.
LIAM: Richard, same question to you, how would you go back
supporting the lead what if there were differences between
the two of you. RICHARD: Well, whoever wins
leadership election, whether it's Becky who I am supporting
in this campaign, whether
it's Emily, Keir, Lisa or Jess, I will be a team player, lacer
focussed on working with and for them to deliver a Labour
Government.
We have to support our elected leader, I was under great
pressure to do the wrong thing, which was wrong for the party
when people were trying to get rid of our elected leader, I of
course refused to go along with that and I am
proud I took the position position. The Labour Party has
always been a broad coalition of socialists like myself, social
Democrats and Trade Unions, it needsgreat pressure to do the
wrong thing, which was wrong for the party when people were
trying to get rid of our elected leader, I of course refused to
go along with that and I am proud I took the position. The
Labour Party has always been a broad coalition of socialists
like myself, social Democrats and Trade Unions, it needs to
remain like that, as Howard Wilson says "a bird needs two
wings to fly" and we can fly together, turn around this
defeat and get back
into Government at the next election.
LIAM: Ian, how do you see that role.
IAN: Well the role of deputy leader is to support the leader
of the party and not only that but the entire Labour movement.
I have already pledged as one of my five pledges to be the voice
of the Trade Unions, the affiliates and societies that
are part of the Labour family and to be their voice in the
Shadow Cabinet and to the leader. I also think the role is
to organise, organise, organise and get the party into a fit
state in the country to take the policies forward and take the
views of not just the leader but the entire Labour movement
forward. I think there is one thing that is critical in that
is to be a critical friend of the leader.
In times gone by every single leader of the Labour Party has
surrounded themselves with everyone who agrees with them
and I think you need to be a critical friend to reflect the
voice of the Labour movement and take that forward so we can have
a strong
leadership team. LIAM: And you, Rosena, in terms
of differences and also working together with the leader.
ROSENA: The number one role of the deputy leader is to support
the leader. I fundamentally believe that and
actually I am the only
the only deputy leader who hasn't nominated a cand dealt
because I will work with anyone. We haven't been as united as we
could have been and should have been at leadership level.
I have been proud to serve on Jeremy's
front benchs but I had to take some tough decisions about
Brexit, but I picked up the phone and I am honoured to call
him a friend and I said it whats I need to do, will you support
me on that. It's always been respectful because the only way
to go forward is to unite and walk the walk and not just talk
the talk at a leadership level.
LIAM: Everyone is sticking nicely to the
time frame, also found my dad over there. He is back from the
pub. I was keen to make a few of the other
questions we selected to the relevant.... I told you I
couldn't remember the
order of things, sorry, Angela, same question to you, apologies,
how do we see the role in terms of working with
the leader and potentially ironing out differences?
ANGELA: Well, I think you can't be a leader in waiting, you have
to be a support to the leader and I made a conscious decision
to stand for deputy leader because my strengths are in
organising and supporting our leader. Jeremy will tell me I
have always been a friend who has not been shy at saying what
needs to be said, but you will also
now in my four years I have never been anything but
pluralist and supporting our party and our movement.
So that is why I have received so much support so far and so
much nomination and I thank everyone for your support,
but I promise you I will be a campaigning deputy leader that
will not do anything that takes us away from power and will make
sure that we do get that Labour Prime Minister next General
Election.
LIAM: So as I say, wanted to select some questions that were
pertinent to where we were in Liverpool. One of the main
issues facing the city at the moment is that there is a
desperate need for a new hospital in the Royal Liverpool
Hospital that is going to be five years late following the
collapse of Carillion, we did a story saying that the overall
cost is £1.1 billion now. One question here which is saying
that this person's biggest fear is the continued privatisation
of the NHS, can you give your view as to how we can stop this
and also reverse it. So, we are starting with Richard on this
one. RICHARD: I think the kind of
campaign that is going on in Liverpool in support
of our NHS and in support of the hospital is the kind of campaign
rooted
in our communities that as deputy leader I would support. I
am proud that the Labour Party has a commitment to public
ownership, I think
we need to further deepen that and when we analyse our
devastating election defeat we have to make sure we don't throw
out the baby with the bath water. That means no retreat on
our commitment
to public observe ownership, no retreat
from defending our health
service from Donald Trump and his
counterparty in this country, Boris Johnson, so I salute the
campaign and I will support that in any way I can.
LIAM: Ian, how concerned are youownership, no retreat from
defending our health service from Donald Trump and his
counterparty in this country, Boris Johnson, so I salute the
campaign and I will support that in any way I can.
LIAM: Ian, how concerned are you about privatise within the NHS.
>>: IAN: Hugely concerned and in
actual fact it has opened it up to a trade deal with the NHS.
With Donald Trump the NHS is being created by the Labour
movement, it was
saved from the Tories in the mid9 autos and it looks like the
Labour movement will have to save it again. That is because
the NHS is not only
important for country, but it epitomises
our values, free at the point of use and regardless of someone's
ability to pay.
The issue is huge in Wales and our Labour in power in Wales
shows you what can be done when have you Labour in power with
the NHS. So let's get this hospital sorted and also expose
the lies of Boris Johnson's lies on the NHS. He is claiming there
is more money when it's going to be legislated for to freeze it
and he is talking about building 40 new hospitals which we know
is a lie. Let's get this hospital sorted for the people
of Merseyside.
LIAM: Thank you very much. Rosena Allin Khan, I think you
know a few things about the NHS. ROSENA: Firstly I am so proud of
the campaign here in Liverpool, but also
thank you to any NHS worker or supporter who is in the
audience. I still do shifts in the A&E, I have put on my scrubs
and I have worked under a Labour and a Tory Government.
As a doctor I stand side by side and we can't give the patients
the help they need.
I will stand up to this Government as a doctor, as a
proud Labour sister, it's the best thing we have given this
country as a Labour Government, but a Labour Government also
gave me the hope
and opportunity to serve in our beloved NHS.
It has to stop any form of privatisation must stop, it must
be completely publicly owned, it is the thing I am so incredibly
proud of and as deputy leader and even if I am not elected I
am going to stare the Tories in the eye, every single day I am
elected representative and fight for our
NHS.
LIAM: Angela, what are your views on the privatisation
situation?
ANGELA: It's a scandal what has happened with the Liverpool
Hospital and actually the Carillion collapse shows you
what privatisation has done within our public services and
within our NHS.
I was a regional convener for over
200,000 public sector workers across
Unison, I stood on the picket lines against academyisation of
our schools,
I was there within charmly within this election campaign to
say leave our A&E department alone, I will continue to fight
to reverse the privatisation of our key public services and to
fight for what I believe socialism is about and that is
key public services delivered
within the public
sector.
LIAM: Same to you, Dawn.
DAWN: Be under no doubt,er wound the fight of our lives.
My mum who came over in the Windrush organisation worked in
the NHS.
In 1945 Labour created the NHS, in 1977
we saved it from collapse in the Tories. We are in that fight
again, you deserve a new hospital, but trust me, Boris
and his crew want to sell the NHS to Donald
Trump, they are at the moment data harvesting our data to sell
to Donald Trump. We need to stop it, but we need to fight
together, both here and in Liverpool, we must unite as a
Labour family to fight to save our NHS and our services at
every single point when they
are trying to close an A&E, when they are not trying to close a
hospital, we
have have to win the moral argument and we have to fight
together to save the
NHS and get you a new hospital. LIAM: While we are on the topic
of public ownership and services and the
north it seems a good time to ask about the trains.
Duncan Havant from Rochdale CLP may have come on a train, he is
asking about better train services in the north.
He want know how you will achieve a Crossrail for the
north? IAN: I nearly missed the
hustings today because I came up from London on Avanti trains and
it terminated and Crewe and
trying to get here was impossible, they said I was to
get on a two carriage
train to Chester and made my way from there.
There was 200 people trying to get on that train, quite simply
the transport system is creaking under privatisation
and we have to renationalise the rail network as quickly as
possible. We have to make the argument to get money out of
London in terms of transport spend and into the transport
spend of the north east. Can you imagine a scenario of economic
development in north west and the north east in Scotland where
I am from if those regions were able to work together to put a
transport infrastructure project together that increased
development in those regions. It would be transformative and it
would mean that people could work and economic
growth in this region and other regions neighbouring it could be
transformed.
That is what we have to do in terms of Labour movement work
towards that by
regions in the north working together.
LIAM: We have heard a lot of talk about HS2 in the national
press, but up here
we lake to talktransformed. That is what we have to do in terms
of Labour movement work towards that by regions in the north
working together. LIAM: We have heard a lot of
talk about HS2 in the national press, but up here we lake to
talk about HS3. >>: I support the
renationalisation of our railways. I think it is
essential for passengers
and for staff and absolutely, it is an abombenation that so many
central
Government decisions that affect the people that live in the
north east of
the country are take are taken in London. We have to be serious
about that and if we are going to be serious, we need to listen
to what they want.
Even if we look at northern rail as an example, this Tory
Government have no way of understanding or recognition of
what is going on at the system. They are looking at giving the
franchise how to someone else, without
an understanding of the poor timetabling and I am proud to be
working with the
unions to support renationalisation and making
sure you have the rail service
you all deserve. LIAM: You probably know a thing
or two about travelling in the north, do you?
ANGELA: There is a reason we called the
minister at the time Failing Grayling in the north. You see
the Monday that is spent in London and the south and it's
connectivity, it's not just about rail, it's about buses and
public transport and the connectivity between them. There
is no reason why we have to put up with a fragmented privatised
terrible system which treats staff appallingly as well and
doesn't value the people that work in the system.
So I absolutely want it renationalised, I want a
connectivity, I want the money spent so that our businesses and
our young people can get around the north and if you see what
Greater Manchester is doing with our mayor, around making sure
that young people get free transport as well, actually if
we can get transport, free public transport, greener
transport we can save the planet and allow our young people and
allow everyone to get to work and get our businesses moving
across the north which
is incredibly important. LIAM: Dawn, something you would
push for.
DAWN: So page 90 of the 1997 made talked about how we
renationalise our railways.
We must take with us all of our policies that will work for the
country and talk about it, from now until the next election,
because those policies
made sense. They say they are going to
renationalise
nationalise, the media didn't lose their shit, they said we
need to do that.
We have renationalise parts of the railway and it's worked,
it's worked so well, what do this they do is privatise it
again, all they want to do is put money in the pocket of
shareholders instead of making sure the service works for you,
so what we have to do is change all of that and we must look at
our manifesto and know that we were doing the right thing.
Our policies work, they are workable and sensible policies.
Let's get into Government so we can put
our policies into action. LIAM: That is the first swear
word we
have had today and I very much enjoyed it!
DAWN: I promised I wouldn't. LIAM: It was a passionate
moment, we all enjoyed it. Richard, what about yourself?
RICHARD: I think Dennis Skinner was
right when he said the Tories talk of a northern powerhouse is
a complete con. It's not the northern powerhouse, it's turned
out to be the northern poorhouse and we need investment in our
communities and of course we need investment in transport. In
Leeds I am on this pacer train which
is mentioned day in day out, on one of these trains which is
basically an old London bus on wheels.
We deserve better than that, I am proud
to be supported by Andy McDonald, the shadow transport
secretary, doing such a great job as an advocate for modern
public ownership and we cannot retreat
on our policy of a modern publicly owned railway service.
Before I was a Labour MP I was a train union lawyer working for,
amongst others, Trade Unions representing workers in the rail
industry. It has failed, the privatisation has
failed worker, failed passengers and now
the climate catastrophe on the horizon it's more important than
ever we get a modern publicly owned railway service.
(APPLAUSE). LIAM: So it sounds like you are
all in favour of public railway.
I just wanted to chip in slightly mischievously and ask
if there is
anything in the last manifesto you didn't agree with or you
didn't think was done correctly? Can we start with Rosena.
ROSENA: I am proud of our manifesto and I think many of
you in this room would be as well. A lot of hard work from a
lot of our colleagues some of whom are standing here today
went into creating a manifesto that could I feel I could stand
behind. A lot of the issues that we had we didn't are a media on
our side, wouldn't let us get our positive messages across. We
had to fight a defensive campaign which meant some of our
messages were watered down. But we also weren't quite election
ready, we didn't have long enough so it felt like some of
our messages weren't getting out in the way they should and don't
have the impact because too many were coming out in one go.
I support the renationalisation of our rail services and it's
all about accepting we need to protect our environment, we need
cleaner and greener services and we know we can only do that by
renationalising it. So I am really proud of our manifesto,
there are incredible things in there, but come on, let's get a
Labour Government, let's prove to this country they can trust
us again and let's get back in there and get this manifesto
deliverable and prove to people we can govern.
RICHARD: govern. LIAM: When we asked this
question, there
were quite a few few candidates said there was too much in the
manifesto. ANGELA: I am proud of the work I
have done with yourselves on the national education service and I
know my colleagues like Rebecca on the Green Industrial
Revolution and Andy McDonald on transport we had put a lot of
detail
in and we had done the detail, but the overarching message
wasn't there. That was the difference between us and the
Tories, they had an overarching message but there was no detail,
there was nothing in it.
We had so much in it, we are apprenticeshipships and
rebuilding the
economy, which I don't think was that radical.
My generation had free education,
social housing and public housing, I don't that is
radical. I don't think we had the overarching message that was
pushing it across the
line when we were facing such a hostile press and the difficulty
around Brexit,
they managed managed to pummel that down, but I have nothing
bad to say what
we were trying to achieve in our
manifesto which, to me, was socialism.
LIAM: Were you happy with the manifesto?
DAWN: I was over the moon with the manifesto, I launch add bit
of the race
and faith manifesto in Liverpool and I launched it here and thank
you to everyone who came out and supported that. But let me
explain something about the manifesto and a bit of the
manifesto that got a lot of stick. Free broadband, now that
sort of came out of blue, we were like free broadband and
everyone was talking about it, when
I spoke to John McDonnell he was doing a tour around the country
and he was talking to businesses and businesses said we are not
competitive enough because we haven't access to broadband we,
need broadband to make our businesseses work and grow and
that is where the free broadband pledge come in, but we didn't
have to time to explain it, but it was really to help the north
build their business, so we didn't have time to explain it.
Let me tell you something else, in Loughborough they said it was
like a Toby Carvery, you had loads of stuff on your plate and
you are eating it and all of a sudden I am coming up and giving
you some gravy and there is some
Brussels sprouts and I haven't finished eating my potatoes and
so it was a bit
much, that is all.
(APPLAUSE).
LIAM: First swear word, first mention of
Toby Carvery at a leadership hustings. Richard, you are
involved in the manifesto, what do you think of Dawn's plate a
bit too much and too much gravy on your plate? plate?
RICHARD: As a vegetarian I can't answer directly.
I back our policies in the 2019 manifesto.
I think we need to learn the lessons of this devastating
defeat. Brexit overshadowed party loyalists and I also want
to speak out about the demonisation of a decent man.
There is no city in
this country, I will I will claim another ten seconds. There
is no city in this country that knows as much as you do about
how newspapers like the right wing Sun newspaper demonise
decent people that is
why I was proud to take The Sun to
court, be cross-examined
by them for two days, defeat them in court and use the
compensation to set up a local internship for young people in
Leeds.
So just as they demonise people in the
city they have also demonised John demonised Jeremy Corbyn.
The last point I will make is I will set in place working with
the unions and
the members working out the ten best bread and butter policies
to raise living standards from the day I am elected deputy
leader we will be out around the country connecting communities
so by the time we get to the
next election we can win that General Election. (APPLAUSE).
LIAM: Ian, anything about the manifesto that didn't work for
you or on the door step. IAN: Can I say what was great in
the manifesto, the Green New Deal which has been mentioned by
Angela. I thought the prescription of the economy not
working for the majority in this country was excellent and the
majority would agree that the economy doesn't work for all
parts of the country.
When you asked the question I wrote down too many things in
it, a lot of people have said that, I think the next manifesto
should have a relentless focus on the future how we deal with
climate change, automation, the world of work and how we fund
our public services and try and give a vision and aspiration of
a what this country should look like in 10, 20 or 30 years time.
The one thing that wasn't in the manifesto which came later was
sorting
out the injustice towards women and the criticism that the party
got for that the nofs deserved because it has to be sorted and
the Labour Party were going to sort it and next time they get
into Government we are going to have to sort it.
LIAM: Okay.
Am I in the right zone? Are we starting again? We will move on
to Angela and start
with a question from James Gardner, we
were going to have to talk about Brexit at some point. He says
many Labour leaders feel left behind in the party and the
country, what is your strategy to win them back?
ANGELA: The next election won't be fought or won on Brexit, but
what we do have to do now, immediately is talk about what
type of post EU world we will be living in, because what I worry
about
at the moment is Donald Trump with the help of Boris Johnson
getting his hands on our NHS.
The lack of protections for our environment, the lack of
protections for our employment rights and our consumer
rights, we have got to relentlessly take it to the
Tories for the next few years and then build upon what we want
to see and that is the anti-competition rules making
sure that they can get their hands off our public services
and that we can rebuild our economy and rebuild our
industries here so that we can do the best by every single part
of our country, including Scotland, including Wales and
including areas like this that
have been held down for far too
long. LIAM: Interesting, Dawn,
obviously Liverpool is a strongly remain voting
area and has stayed with Labour, how do you win the leave areas
back.
DAWN: It's by listen, by going there, building locally the
communities, I have a campaign organised recruit and educate.
We need to get back into the grassroots
of communities, all over the country and listen to what they
have to say. Not judge, not talk over them, but listen to what
they have to say and from that we start building, from that we
start winning and we start building trust. We need to start
building trust again,
because Brexit is going
to harm their lives if we don't get it right. We are not going
to win the votes in Parliament, the only thing we are going to
win is the moral argument, so we need to get back to the roots
and get back to the people who have left us and make sure that
borrowed vote they have given
to Boris we get it back next time and we win every single
leave seat next time
and we don't give opportunity for hate
to seep in either. LIAM: I think I am right in
saying that you disagreed with the party's Brexit stance going
into the election, is that correct correct?
RICHARD: No, it was correct to bring people together on this
subject but it failed. I have experience of this representing
a constituency, Leeds East that voted overwhelmingly to leave
and have announced that if I am deputy leader I will chair a
special commission into how
we win back the 50 plus seats we lost in leave areas. In my
constituency which voted overwhelmingly to leave, our
majority
was reduced was reduce by a big margin,
but we got a higher vote in 2001, 2005 and 2010. I am proud
that my campaign is chaired
by Laura Pidcott who lost her seat because of leave. So I am
mindful, we have to understand as well we lost half of our
votes to people who voted remain and half of our votes to people
who voted leave, it's a distribution of those votes that
caused the problem, so we can't leave anyone behind, we need to
bring people together and fight the battles of future, not the
past. LIAM: Thank you, Richard.
Ian, what about yourself? IAN: As you can tell from my
accent I know what constitutional politics can do
to rip a country apart. The big lesson for the Labour movement
is never to face both on the constitutional issues of the
way, because if you stand in the middle of the road when it comes
to the
constitution you get hid by cars on both sites, the issues of
Brexit have been the totem I can issue of what we have had to
deal with.
We have to deal with where we are now, what we are now is that
Boris Johnson
will try to bring us out at the end of December with a new deal,
what
we have to do is in paverl every single
industry lost and job lost, as a result of the lies now lie at
his door and we will be holding him to account. As deputy leader
one of the pledges I have made is I will go around the country
in a constitutional convention
to find out how we govern every single
nation of the United Kingdom, because it
matters, it matter to the Labour Party and we need to be close to
the European Union. LIAM: Rosena, you are were a
remain voting area, how do you think you can reconnect with the
leave voters?s? ROSENA: I accept, though I
campaigned to
remain and I was proud to vote against Johnson and Theresa
May's deal. I understand why people are leaving. As the
daughter of a Polish woman who
has lived in this country for 45 years who has experiences hate
crime, I understand the importance of rebuilding our
communities. As someone who works in the NHS alongside
nursing staff and cleaners and porters from all over the EU who
cry and
say we feel let down and we don't feel welcome anymore, we
have to rebuild their trust.
How we build trust is by listening.
As the deputy leader I am going to roll
up my sleeves, get on a train when we renationalise the rail
services, I am going to go into Scotland, Wales and around our
country and I am going autosay thank you to our activists and
ask people how they get the vote back, the ones they loaned to
the Tories and I am going to take this fight to Boris Johnson
and his cronies in Parliament and I am going to defend our
workers rights, our environmental protections and I
am going to defend the NHS. I hope you are with me.
(APPLAUSE). LIAM: So we are here in
Liverpool today
and this seems a pertinent question from Benjamin, he wants
to know if you, when you are the deputy leader will continue to
make sure that Labour is an
anti-austerityausterity party, I would add an extra question,
Boris Johnson is talking a lot about infrastructure projects
when reconnecting with the north and building bridges and someone
left a comment on our website saying that bridges won't look
after your nan, so how much of that reconnecting and funding
local Government is really important to you in terms of
social care as well? Dawn. DAWN: Am I next? I was one of
the very few MPs who
voted against the Welfare Reform Bill.
The reason why I did it is because I wanted us to be an
anti-austerity party. I didn't understand how we could be
arguing as a Labour Party for austerity, it made no sense to
me. My principles wouldn't allow me to abstain, I had to vote
against it. So I will continue to do that, I will
continue to ensure that we are an anti-austerity party and
Jeremy Corbyn was in that lobby with me and let me
tell you if it wasn't for Jeremy we
wouldn't have had the anti-austerity
manifestos we had that we fought for in the General Election.
We have to continue with that anti-austerity stance, because
it helps nobody. Let me tell you Boris doesn't care about anyone
but Boris, we need to care for each other.
LIAM: Thank you, Dawn.
Richard, how important will fight be austerity to you?
RICHARD: When I was first elected as a
membership of Parliament in 2015 and Ed Miliband stood down I was
one of ten
Labour MPs said whoever puts themselves
forward as leader must be anti-austerity, that is why I
nominated Jeremy Corbyn to be leader of the Labour Party in
2015 and that is why I support him in that campaign and the
second leadership campaign. I was also one of the 48 Labour
Party MPs who voted against the Tory Welfare Bill and we can't
go back to the future.
I remember when Labour wasn't an anti-austerity party and I know
that the members and the unions want to it to remain an anti-
austerity party and as deputy leader you have this promise
from me, in the Shadow Cabinet and hopefully in the cabinet I
will be a voice for members and Trade Unions on the point of
anti-austerity and all of the other issues that are so
important to you. LIAM: Ian, in Liverpool, the
council
have lost £420 million since 2010, how would you address the
massive impact it's had on communities.
IAN: Thank you for the question, Dave Hanson who was a Labour
Party MP and one of the best Labour Party MPs there lost his
seat at the election and we have to learn why and we have to
learn those lessons quickly so that we don't lose wonderful MPs
like Dave Hanson again and
we can get it back into Labour hands.
Local Government has been savaged by this Tory Government
because they know that local Government is where this Labour
movement works.
We have a tremendous friend here in
rather ham, setting that aside, local
Government is the last defence of public services across the
country. The capital city I represent in Edinburgh has had
hundreds of millions of pounds stripped out of its budget and
that is the services that look after education and social care
and as you said, look after our grannies rather than build
bridges. We have to fund and be confident in local Government
and that is why the Labour movement has to seriously
consider how we govern all the nations and regions and make
sure that we centre Steve Rotherham's up and down the
countries that is not only able to
invest in public services but we are
able to fight for more money for them.
LIAM: Rosena, anti-austerity? ROSENA: I agree up with one
heater in the house and my brother and I had to move it
around from room-to-room in order to stay warm. There are
3,000 homeless children in
Wandsworth tonight, which is my Borough, I know what hunger
tastes like, I know what it feels like to be cold.
It doesn't know or understand regional variation, it matters.
You have a commitment from me, an unequivocal one that I will
fight austerity with every fibre of my being.
That is the reason I joined the Labour Party, it's the reason I
work in the NHS and the reason I am standing for deputy leader
because I am so proud we are the party of anti-austerity and as
our deputy leader I am going to take that forward. I have been a
local councillor, I know how hard it is on the ground. You
have an incredible mayor who is doing everything you can for
your community, but, at the end of the day, you guys are not
getting the resources you need, you don't have fiscal autonomy
and you deserve better, our country deserves better and our
children deserve better.
(APPLAUSE)
. LIAM: Angela, I am sure you have
seen
the devastation austerity has done to your part of the world.
How high up on the agenda will be making sure that money is put
back into
the local Government and NHS. ANGELA: I feel like the whole of
my
working life I have been fighting austerity.
I was a home help looking after them.
I as a Trade Union I ended up putting people in rooms like
this and having to tell them that after 20 or 30 years
service thefr going to lose their job.
Let me say austerity has killed and injured the most vulnerable
people in this country, while they give tax breaks and support
to those at the top.
That is absolutely obscene, it is what
puts fire in my belly every time I am at a socialist economy,
because at the end of the world no one should die on a trolley
in this country and feel like
they were not good enough or they weren't worth spending more
time on and resources on them. That is socialism, that is what
we do,
that is what we will continue to fight for. (APPLAUSE).
LIAM: So, this is on a similar theme,
but it's more specific, Councillor Kate
Walsh says currently child poverty is at
40%, I know in some places in Liverpool
it's one in two children growing up in poverty. If a Labour
Government was elected how you would make sure that poverty
amongst the children doesn't rise and it's brought down, what
specific measures you would take?
RICHARD: Thank you very much, Kate, I want to pay train bought
to the work the councillors are doing in difficult
circumstances.
Child poverty is a stain on the conscious of our nation, one of
the richest countries in the world.
The question is how, as deputy leader,
would I ensure we combat child poverty. I don't think it's for
the deputy leader to be a different political pole from
whoever the leader is, so suffice to say this, I would
ensure we have a democratic party, because I know that all
of you fighting child poverty is one of your top priorities. If
we have a democratic party where members and unions make policy
and keep the PLP to that policy then we can ensure that whatever
happens in the
future years, tackling child poverty and
having a progressive socialist agenda
never slips from our party's agenda.
LIAM: There are some terrible statistics about the youngest
people in the country. How do we address that?
IAN: Well those statistics should shame us all and they are
heart breaking and
we see it as politics every single week
and Kate as a councillor will see it as well. Another seat we
lost at the election, Grimes Jones was a great fighter for
his community. We have to win these seat back. Firstly as
deputy leader I would try to make the case in the Shadow
Cabinet and with the new leader of the Labour Party
that we have a childChild Poverty Eradication Bill.
That Bill dictates every single thing that the Labour Government
does to make sure we eradicate poverty and child poverty from a
this country.
The previous Labour Government took two million children out of
poverty, we should celebrate that but the key thing that
makes that different is being in
Government Government, I hope we can say goodbye to child poverty
for good in in
country with the next Labour leader in number ten.
LIAM: You must see the impacts of child poverty in your work.
ROSENA: I see children coming in to A&E malnourished and
breathing disorders as a result of living in substandard
accommodation, I see them scared and a loss of hope and a rise in
self harming and mental health issues and in fact I
am proud to say I wrote to Kate, because I wrote to every single
Labour councillor across the country that I
could get an email address for to say I want to hear from you,
I want to work
with you, as deputy leader I will lead from the grassroots up
understanding
that we have incredible activists, including councillors
at our grass roots. It's important we look at our
manifesto and take our soerplist values and fight for jobs. If
parents have opportunities they can provide for their kids. No
child should have to go into school hungry like the kids in
my area. I am going to fight for opportunities
and jobs, but more importantly our kids futures depend on it,
we cannot take our
eye off the ball, not for a second.
LIAM: There is too many children going to school hungry, what is
the best way to immediately deal with that?
ANGELA: Well, immediately what we need do is get a Labour
Government as quickly as possible because I know what
Labour Government did for me as one of those children waiting
desperately to get to my free school meal.
That is why I was happy in my portfolio to make sure we put
VAT on private
schools and made sure every country in this country would
have had a free school meal. That is socialism in action. We
have to tackle the disgusting
situation and we are to highlight, the Tories think we
make it up when the kids
are lying in A&E on the floor, they think we are making it up
when kids are rummaging through the bin for food.
We have to hold the Tories to account for that and make sure
we get the Labour Government going forward. We have got to
make sure we get that SureStart Plus, all of the things we were
advocating in our manifesto and working class people do not want
hand outs, they want the means to be able to get a decent wage
and look after their own family and their own kids and we
have got to make sure we do that.
LIAM: Dawn, how do we get child poverty coming down.
DAWN: I was the minister for young citizens and youth
engagement and I was in Government when we pulled two
million children out of poverty and the Tories said we would
never do it and we did. When the Tories got into Government, they
changed the goal posts, they
changed how they measured it, so now we don't know how many
children are in poverty because they have changed how it gets
measured. That is what they do, they try and trick people.
We need to say that we are not going to accept that and we have
to push policies
like Sharon Hodgson who is chair of my campaign, Brexit club,
making sure we
have a breakfast club in the school. Sometimes it's the only
meal that children get.
Sometimes school uniforms are too expensive, we have to make
sure that policies like that, we are pushing the Government.
We can start winning the moral argument, even though we may not
win the
vote because of their stupid 80 majority.
LIAM: As you can imagine there was quite a lot of questions on
the usual of
anti-Semitism in my party and the moderators and I thought it
would be good to ask how you thought the role of deputy
leader could help to tackle that issue.
So Ian we will start with you.
IAN: The anti-Semitism in our party and the cancer which has
grown up in the party is something we should eradicate as
simply as possible. It's another pledge I have made if I become
deputy leader, I want every single case of anti-Semitism on
my desk every week and I want to make sure they are dealt with
and a zero-tolerance approach, not because we have to deal with
it and get it out of our party, but we very to reconnect with a
community that felt fearful of a Labour Government and I think
that is something we should reflect on seriously. As deputy
leader of this party I will take personal responsibility for
compliance and complaints to make sure
things are dealt with so community that felt fearful of a
Labour Government and I think that is something we should
reflect on seriously. As deputy leader of this party I will take
personal responsibility for compliance and complaints to
make sure things are dealt with so we never knock on a door and
you get the answer I am Jewish and I cannot vote Labour.
That is a disgrace and something I am determined to sort.
LIAM: What about your, Rosena. ROSENA: If I am elected as
deputy leader of the Labour Party my first major meeting
will be with reps from the Jewish community to start the
vital task of trying to rebuild the huge amount of damage that
needs to be repaired that we have caused with the community.
I am proud to have signed the board of
deputies 10 pledges and I am engage with JLM. I will separate
the complaints process from head quarts and make it independent
and I would get the independent team to review all cases, acting
swiftly and
expelling people who have been anti-semitic. I will put a time
limit on when cases need to be resolved by and I will commit
to adopting every recommendation proposed by the EHRC. There is
no room in our party for racism, I would hope that every deputy
leader and candidate will apologise for the Jewish
community for the fact that
they no longer feel they belong in our movement. (APPLAUSE).
LIAM: Angela, how do you see your role as deputy leader in
dealing with this issue. ANGELA: We need action and not
just words. I am proud this week, actually one of the
legacies I was involved in from Unison is a group of our
activists take people over to Auschwitz from Liverpool
and our young people to show where anti-Semitism and racism
can lead to and making sure that education is there.
I make no apologies for being proud we have always been an
organisation, a movement that has been proud of our
anti-racist and anti-Semitism work that we have done. But we
have to recognise, we have to recognise that our party has
grown
substantially and there mass been anti-semites in this party
and we have
to kick them out immediately and I see my role as making sure our
systems, not
just internal, internal, externally, our systems are
robust enough so we can be proud of our roots as a party that
stands up against
any form of racism, anti-Semitism or
fascism in this
see my role as making sure our systems, not just internal,
externally, our systems are robust enough so we can be proud
of our roots as a party that stands up against any form of
racism, anti-Semitism or fascism in this country.
>>: The Labour Party and the socialist movement has a proud
record of standing
up against bigotry and racism. I hate racism, I suffer it every
day, me saying I am going to be deputy leader, I have had more
racism than I have had before.
So I hate racism and it has to be eradicated.
The majority of people in the Labour Party are not racist, are
not anti-semitic, but we do have a few and they do have to be
booted out of the party and what I want is a structure and system
that works for everyone, I want to have the debate and the
discussion about racism. I can have that debate about racism as
a black woman that suffers it every single day and I want to
have it and I don't want anyone to be scared about having a
debate about racism, because we
have to eradicate it, I want a system
that works whether you are racist,
homophobic or transphonetic, I want a
system that means that everyone gets booted out of the party
because there is no place for racists in our party. We have to
make sure we kick that out. The thing is this, the EHRC are
investigating us at the moment, it's nothing to be proud of. I
don't want to jump the gun and whatever they are going to come
out
with, so I haven't signed the ten pledges because I want the
EHRC report to be implemented in the party and then
we sit down with the board of deputies, JLM and other Jewish
groups and have a discussion about where we go next. I don't
want to rush this, it's too important to get it right and we
have to get it right.
We have to eradicate racism and we have to get it right, I don't
want to rush it, it has to be right. (APPLAUSE).
LIAM: Richard, what about yourself?
RICHARD: There is no place for anti-Semitism in our party, I
never
forget when I was at school meeting a
survivor from Auschwitz who rolled up
his sleeve and showed class mates the serial number
from Auschwitz, that shows where hatred and anti-Semitism leads.
I will support the leader in fighting anti-Semitism in our
party and fighting anti-Semitism in society. I do believe
obviously in working with
the board in the fight against anti-submit. I have not signed
and won't be signing
the ten pledges however, because of some concerns I have. Firstly
I am concerned about outsourcing our complaints procedure and how
that would work in practice, so I think that needs clarifying,
but
secondly I want to work with the board
of deputies and all Jewish organisation against
discrimination. LIAM: Thank you, Richard.
RICHARD: It's a serious point that I think we do need to
address in detail. I am concerned that the minorities
within a minority, whether it be LGBT
Jewish people, black Jewish people, Jewish people who are a
religious minority within that religious minority their voice
need to be heard as well. We need to listen and act with the
whole Jewish community and finally I
would say this, in relation to the IHRA definition, the party
added in a clear statement that it wouldn't undermine freedom of
expression on Israel or on the right of Palestinians, so I do
want, if I become deputy leader, discussions with the board of
deputies to clarify all of those points, but of course,
whoever is leader will make their decision. (APPLAUSE).
LIAM: Okay, another issue here, this is
from Richard in St Helen's north PLC. A few of you have talked
about Steve
Rotherham's role here and devolution, he wants to know if
you would support electoral reform, constitutional reform
and more regional devolution.
Am I right we start with Rosena?
So electoral reform more regional devolution, are you for
it.
ROSENA: Yes I am for regional devolution, I can see the
benefits of what it's done in Liverpool and Manchester. I do
think there is a discussion about electoral reform, but I
don't think we can rush this.
There was a referendum on an alternative voting system done
almost a
decade ago, which had a really low turnout and overwhelmingly
people voted against it. I do think we need to look at where
we need to work with other parties to affect the aims that
we need do going forward for our community, but me personally, I
am not a career politician, I had no plans to be a politician
and when the chance came to represent my community where I
am born
and raised I threw my hat in the ring because I wanted to
represent my community. I want to make sure if there was any
form of electoral reform it took into account people who want to
represent their community and I would want to make sure that
that certainly didn't leave the conversation.
LIAM: Thank you. Angela, I think a lot of people don't feel
represented by the first past the post system, how do you feel
about proportional representation?
ANGELA: I think, first of all, my priority is around making
sure that devolution and Scotland and Wales don't feel
annexed to England and people in England don't feel like they are
pitched north, south, east and west as well. I think the
devolution and people having more control and feeling like
they have got more control and power within their areas is a
really positive
thing and at the moment it feels like it's being grudgingly given
rather than working in collaboration with our areas and
when we could get devolution and that power back at source we see
that people feel much more engaged in their politics.
I think votes at 16 is incredibly important, our young
people are engaged
and they should get the vote at 16 and I think our current
curriculum teaches kids about clonalism and empire and our
democracy here today.
That is what we need to be doing.
LIAM: What about yourself, more power to the regions.
DAWN: More power to the people every single time. Johnson is
going to try and suppress
the vote, we know that, voter ID, he is
not going to reduce the age, it's all about suppressing the
vote. We do need to talk about electoral reform. We need to
have a discussion about it, have a discussion about how we move
forward.
The majority of people voted for left parties, but that wasn't
reflected in Parliament.
So now that debate is long overdue, they are going to put
forward boundary changes. Boundary changes means we are
going to lose at least 30 seats. That means we could maybe never
get into power again if we allow them to get away with it. We
have to have the debate and that is why, as your deputy leader I
will travel around the country with my core
strategy, campaign, organise, recruit and educate and I will
make sure that this forms part of the discussion about what we
do and how we do it.
LIAM: Thank
you. LIAM: Do you think we need a new
voting system. RICHARD: I think we need toaire
on with the work of our system and we need to defend our
democracy because voter ID
and the rigged boundary changes are are
both from the republican play book. I also think that people
won't take us
seriously in relation to Democratising our society if we
don't Democratise further our party. I think we can't have it
where members and Trade Unions are the unpaid posties of the
Labour movement, pushing leaflets through the doors
without having a strong enough say about what is on the
leaflets. Secondly I also support open selection
so that members
members and Trade Unions can have a full and democratic say
and make the decision about who is their parliamentary candidate
in each and
every General Election.
LIAM: Ian, I guess you know about devolution.
IAN: I have been there, bought the
T-shirt, burnt the T-shirt, doused the T-shirt and put it
back on.
LIAM: Is that your daily routine?
IAN: Slightly larger T-shirt than usual perhaps. Governance
is boring we didn't join the
Labour movement to talk about governance but it's critical in
a post Brexit Britain. I want to give power directly to our
communities. You are right about councillors being our unpaid
posties for the party, the councillors need the power and
money and accountability and responsibility
because they know their communities communities best. So
I have made a commitment as deputy leader of the party, for
making sure we stop talking about what we do with the
constitution and we go around the country and build a proper
constitutional convention about how we govern in the future,
because our nations of the UK and more importantly the regions
of the UK are incredibly important to this party and if
we believe that the United Kingdom should stay together we
need to get more power out of London and Westminster and into
the hands of the people who know best that is in local
communities, so that would be at the top of that list and it's
the job of the deputy leader not how we organise our party but
it's about
time we reorganised our country and how we govern it. I am a big
fan of proportional representation we have votes for
16 and 17-year-oldness Scotland, we have a different voting
system in Scotland and for Government and for Scottish
Parliament.
The one caution I would give is we need to find a system that
doesn't throw out the geographic link between the elected member
and the public, if we break that
link I think politics becomes even more
divorced from the public. LIAM: Can I add one question
myself, we talk about constitutional reform and we
have heard Rebecca Long-Bailey talking about removing the House
of Lords and we
heard in the Labour manifesto John McDonnell talked about
moving a key part of the Treasury up to the north. Would
you consider moving parts of
Government outside of London?
ANGELA: My head quarts is in Manchester. I think it's
important to move away from London and show we have a
presentation across, whether it's in Scotland, or in Wales
with our Welsh Government or in our regions with all areas. Our
coastal and rural areas have always felt they have not been
given the support they need and some of our key areas that feel
left behind, we can inject that positive by having a present
there and making sure we are much more
broader on that and then a lot of my
talent in Ashton under lime doesn't have
to move to London, they can a stay there and deliver for our
local economy and inspire people to stay local.
LIAM: Dawn, would you consider breaking up the Government and
moving pow ares to different parts of the country.
DAWN: We would have to look at that, I think, yes. I also think
now and I said this in
Shadow Cabinet, can we start having our Shadow Cabinet
meeting meetings around the country so we can go around the
country, spend time there so we can have discussions with you as
the Shadow Cabinet, let's start as we need to go
on, so when we are in Government it seem
so alien to us to be having something outside London, that
was something I requested and Jeremy Corbyn said it could be
done, so watch this space. LIAM: Richard, would you like
Shadow Cabinet meetings in Leeds?
RICHARD: That would be great on a number of levels. I would make
myself unpopular if I say my dream for the location of
Parliament itself would be halfway between Leeds
and Bradford because I love going down to see Dawn and
Rosena and I think think should have the pleasure of travelling
on our nationalised publicly owned railways under a Labour
Government up to halfway between Leeds and Bradford
because even when the Romans were in charge, York, of course
in the centre of
the UK was the capital, so I am nod proposing that London is not
the capital, but on a serious note I think it's good to hear
from all parts of the community and represent the working
class in all of its diversity and that means representing them
geographically as well.
LIAM: You can have a Toby Carvery after Shadow Cabinet?
Ian, do you think we need to bring more power to places like
Merseyside, obviously we have started to get some of the power
was devolution, but perhaps not the funding and other powers we
need.
IAN: It's not just about devolving accountability, it's
about doing something with that accountability and Merseyside
and Greater Manchester and Scotland and Wales show you that
devolution works and anyone that thinks that Parliament couldn't
be moved out of
London should try and land at London
City Airport in a gale force winds and you would be convinced
we should move it to the north. I don't want this debate to be
about moving Government departments and moving
the Treasury to Liverpool or the DWP to Newcastle, it's goat to
be about moving the power so you don't need the departments in
London at all, that is where a conventional should look at is
where it's best to deliver power for the people of this country,
because Liverpool is as far away from Westminster as the west of
Wales is from
Cardiff, as Inverness is from Edinburgh. Governments store
power where Parliament is so let's get the powers out
remember than talking about where
the brass plate
goes. ROSENA: I would like to reassure
Richard I spent more than my fair share of times on the
trains. I support a certain local football club, also my
husband is from a Welsh maining village in the valleys of Wales
so we have had our fair shares of cups of tea waiting on
delayed trains. Whole hearted by I would welcome any opportunity
to travel around the country and have meetings and have
departments moved, but I also believe that fundamentally the
power has to go back to the people. Nobody knows your
communities like you do, you should have a say and as your
deputy leader, I have already said I am going to roll up my
sleeves and I am going to come here more times than you care to
see me and I am going to ask you what matters to me, I am going
to take those messages, back to Manchester where it is now but I
do hope we move around the country. Just one more thing on
the house of Parliament themselves.
Has anyone noted that
Zac Goldsmith has moved from one chamber to another.
We need to have a look at how this works and think about what
happens with
the House of Lords going forward.
LIAM: Are you purposely not revealing what the local
football team is? Goldsmith has moved from one chamber to
another. We need to have a look at how this works and think
about what happens with the House of Lords going forward.
LIAM: Are you purposely not revealing what the local
football team is? >>: I support Liverpool, I have
been a lifelong supporter. I am going to own it and in the words
of MoSalah, being Scouse is a state of mind, so consider me
Scouse.
LIAM: I am just keeping well out of that one! So we come to our
closing statements, thank you so much for answering those
questions and thank you for submitting them so we will start
from the original order with is Angela, we have two minutes now,
exciting, look at the clock it's changed.
You are not going to know what to do with that time. Two
minutes on why you should be the deputy leader of the Labour
Party. ANGELA: Thank you so much for
sticking around this afternoon and listening to
the debate, I think deputy leader is
just as important as who we choose or or leader because they
will be working with the leader to transform and make sure we
continue on the path we started when
Jeremy Corbyn was elected. And you should be proud of what we
have achieved as a movement, you should be
proud of what we do and I am delighted
that the first hustings that we have had has been within the
historic city of Liverpool, where the working class
movement was pretty much
much from Trade Unions and our Labour values in everything we
do now. I am standing to be the next deputy leader of the Labour
Party because I want our socialism, that is rooted in
real people's lives, a socialism that understands the need of the
country and offers solutions, so that those that desperately need
it get that support.
If you elect me I will work to bring our party together again,
so that, as a movement, we can hold the Tories to account and
challenge the Tories cuts
to, privatisation and a tax on our communities.
As a tried union organiser most of my life I know this won't be
done through a top up down structures but a collective
socialism socialism to achieve positive changes we all need.
That has to come from within.
We don't need a rethink and we renew purpose we need to reverse
a long-term
trends that have led us to losing four consecutive General
Elections and convince people to join us on that journey or we
risk becoming irrelevant.
I don't ever want to feel like I did on December 12th, ever
again.
We have to face up to the harsh lessons we had on that election
defeat. But that is what we will do together as a collective
organisation and as a union rep, I work for positive change,
challenging injustice, it's the same
fundamental purpose that I have had as a Labour MP, I will fight
every step of the way to ensure that we continue the path that
we have started together so,
if you elect me, you will elect us to
win. LIAM: What about yourself, why
should we elect you as deputy leader?
DAWN: Thank you Liverpool, thank you for
making me an honorary Scouse bird, I will carry this around
with me.
I am a working class Trade Unionist
Unionist, I started work on a market stall selling bras and
knickers in case you are interested. I have a record of
winning for others,
but also also a record of winning for the Labour Party.
What I want to do is make sure we lay foundations to make sure
that everyone has a chance to win.
That means taking on the judicial system, putting in
place the Hillsborough law which means everyone will have fair
access to representation. I want to make sure we do things like
that.
I mean I won seat for Labour with a 24.81% swing, the biggest
in the country.
When it comes to unity, people may talk it, but I have walked
it.
Let me tell you you it ain't always easy, but if you are
committed to getting a Labour Government and getting Labour in
power you will do it. I am the first black woman to have spoken
from the despatch box, I have
served under two Labour Prime Ministers and I served in Jeremy
Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet.
I never have and I never will be part
of a coup, because divided parties do
not win elections. And I have been in Government, let me
help us get us back there again in five years time.
We can do it, we can get back into Government, this is a
grassroots campaign, my campaign is a grassroots campaign, thank
you to everyone that
came out, Dawn for deputy, get Dawn on the ballot. Thank you so
much. I want to discuss the democracy review,
I voted against the Welfare Reform Bill because we are an
anti-austerity party
and that is what Jeremy Corbyn put in
the manifests and let me tell you, I will not leave anyone
behind, we will do this together, the higher the Tories
build their barriers the taller we will become, so hold your
heads up high,
stand up straight, prepare for power because we
are going to win the election in five
years time with me as your deputy, let's do this.
(APPLAUSE). LIAM: Richard, what about
yourself. RICHARD: I want to start off,
following that one. I want to start off by thanking each and
every one of you from the bottom of
my heart for giving up your spare time
in all weathers to fight for a better society. I, like you, am
an activist, I didn't stop becoming an activist when I
became an MP, I didn't stop becoming an activist when I
became a member of the Shadow Cabinet and I won't stop being
an activist if I am your deputy leader. I feel the pain you did
when the exit poll came out at the General Election.
We cannot allow that ever to happen again.
I believe that as members you are core
to our movement, you are the core of our movement. I will be
a campaigning deputy leader, I don't think the role of deputy
leader
is to be, as I say, a mischief maker in waiting, I don't
believe the role of a deputy leader is to be a leader in
waiting I believe the role of deputy leader is to be a
campaigner and a
servant of all our movement, of all of our broad church. I back
our progressive policies. I fully support the two
manifestos, we can't throw out the baby with the bath water, we
can't go back to the future and think that will make everything
okay. I will stand up for party democracy, as I say, we can't
have a situation where members are treated as the unpaid
posties of the Labour movement.
Yes, please deliver leaflet, but if I am your deputy leader, I
will ensure that you have a greater say in the policies that
go on the leaflets.
I will also ensure
ensure that you will haved opportunity
with the unions to decide who your parliamentary candidates
are at each and every election and that is why I support open
selection. We made to reconnect with our heart lands and that is
where I chair a special commission on rebuilding our
lost support.
Together, as a broad church which can an achieve so much. I
am proud from being from the left and supporting Jeremy on
all occasion, I am
also proud of being the secretary of
Labour MPs as my hero, Harold Wilson set up.
A worried needs twowith our heart lands and that is where I
chair a special commission on rebuilding our lost support.
Together, as a broad church which can an achieve so much. I
am proud from being from the left and supporting Jeremy on
all occasion, I am also proud of being the secretary of Labour
MPs as my hero, Harold Wilson set up. A worried needs two
wings to - bird needs two wings to ply. Let's fly and learn the
lessons and you will succeed for our whole movement and our
communities together.
Thank
you. LIAM: Ian you have two minutes.
IAN: Thank you Liam and Liverpool. I shouldn't be here
today, not because of the problems with the trains but I
come have a housing estate in Edinburgh. I was left living
with my older brother
and my mum after after my dad passed away at the heart of
Thatcher's power.
We were brought up to be en
cased in Labour, and also to support midLee Lothian football
club, I am statistically more likely to be in jail than in
Parliament. The other reason I shouldn't be here is because I
won a seat that the Labour Party shouldn't win.
I am the edge only red spot in Scotland for a second time after
we have been
blown away by this nationalist populus wave.
I want to use that marginalist challenge to go around the
country, and to organise the Labour Party into everything
again. That needs too three things. It feeds into doing the
stuff around the constitution that is vitally important for
this party, not just for Scotland, but for all of the
nations and the regions, we have to get power into
the hands of the people that matter and out of Westminster.
That is why I will take up the challenge of taking personal
responsibility for the convention. I also want to go to
all of seats we won and lost and to the seats we will never win
and listen to you. Yes, we are in Liverpool, but we are a
stone's throw away from five seats we
have lost, we lost in Lee, how did we
lose the seats while Liverpool has a
majority of 30,000, that is what we need to do and as deputy
leader I will go ahead and make sure we do that.
I want to rid this party of any racism and anti-semitism, I will
take personal responsibility for that and we need to unit as
movement.
I never want to feel how I felt on the
13th of December or how I felt when I was helping good
colleagues cleaning out their offices.
We need to unite and let's remove the
tags of these ite, we invent as a Labour
movement, I am not an ite I am a leader.
All I want is the opportunity to serve you.
Thank
you. LIAM: Last but not least,
Rosena.
ROSENA: I want unity, not just unity within the Labour Party,
but unity with the British people.
I want their hopes and ambitions to be
our hopes and ambitions, I want us truly to become the people's
party by taking forward our proposals of radical change that
the country wants. We have to start by showing we get it. We
get the struggles and sacrifices that people make every day from
Inverness to Ipswich and Torquay to Tyneside. My mum is from
Poland, my dad is from
Pakistan and I am proudly British.
So modern multicult oaralism, I get it. Discriminational racism,
I get it too.
My mum worked three jobs.
We were cold, we were often hungry, I failed my A-Levels
because I was trying
to work to supplement the income. Hard times I get it.
I grew up under Thatcher and Major kid like me were written
off. Then there was Labour Party. The Labour Party believed
in me and helped met to get to university to study
as a doctor aged 24 and in Government we
lifted 800,000 children out of poverty, the Tories have put
them in.
I still do shifts in my scrubs where I
show up for work and alongside the NHS.
Public service, I live it, I am driven by our Labour values of
social justice, equality, hope and even by love, love of our
party.
As a doctor I start by listening, as your deputy leader
I will listen, and then I will lead and support the leader
and yes, I will offer loyalty, yes I will serve our party with
the drive, the diligence and hard graft that got me out of
poverty and into Parliament. As an emergency doctor people trust
me with the lives of their loved ones.
I am asking you to trust me with our party as your deputy leader.
I will fight every day, I will listen
to you, I won't let you down, please give me your vote to
serve as your deputy leader and we will take this fight back to
the Tories. I believe in Labour, I believe in you and us and I
believe we can win,
Liverpool, thank
you. LIAM: Thank you very much, thank
you everyone who stayed. We are all off to the Toby Carvery, can
I have a round of applause for the people of Liverpool and
everyone who
came and a round of place for our candidates.
(APPLAUSE)