March 2008

Check against delivery 

Conference

I stand before you today as Secretary of State for Scotland and Secretary of State for Defence.

Thirteen times in the last twenty-three months as Secretary of State for Defence I have visited our troops, including brave and professional Scots men and women, in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

No words are adequate to describe the pride I have in them. And a debt of gratitude is no adequate phrase for what we owe them and their families for being prepared to do this valuable work in the most difficult of circumstances so that we can sleep safe in our beds at night.

I am proud of every single one of them and I can tell you that every single one of them out there is proud of the job that they do.

Conference, for that reason and many others, I am a proud Scot.  Proud to be from the same country as Keir Hardie, proud to be from the same country as Kenny Dalglish – and proud to be from the same country as KT Tunstall. 

I am proud to cheer Scotland in any  sport, but I am also proud to support Scottish industry and I am enormously proud of Scottish innovation and ideas.

Conference,  I am proud of the Scotland I live and work in today – because this is a country that is open and tolerant, vibrant and successful, growing and prosperous.

It is a Scotland that the Labour movement has been at the forefront of building over the last decade.

And, conference,  I am proud of a Scotland which has confidence.

Confidence in our talent and ability

And confidence in our self-belief and ambition.

The confidence that allows us to choose to be part of a strong United Kingdom.

But pride in Scotland, what Scots have achieved and the promise we show for the future is not, and never should be, a narrow and exclusive concept.

Of course Scotland has always been different, and will always be different to England.

As much as England is different to Wales.

 As much as England, Wales and Scotland are different to Northern Ireland.

I celebrate those differences.

Diversity within our country should be celebrated, not denigrated. 

Scotland itself is a diverse country. Nobody from the west or central Scotland who leaves this building today and looks around them could be in any doubt about that.

We are a lowland people, an island people, a highland people. We are also a migrant people. 

I am a proud Scot, but I am also a proud Ayrshireman.

Where would the Scotland we know be without Robert Burns ?

Without Johnnie Walker, the world’s leading Scotch whisky, bottled in Kilmarnock since the 19th century.

Without Nardini’s ice cream, made by Italian migrants in Largs. 

Our country, the United Kingdom, gets its strength from its diversity. From its different nations, regions, peoples and communities.

As President Sarkozy reminded us last week, that is what  makes the United Kingdom the successful, modern country that it is – the country that the world looks to for leadership in so many different and important ways.

Those of us who believe this, and believe that that diversity is part of our being, have no time for those who are obsessed with breaking these bonds for any reason, particularly not  to satisfy a craving to put right the imagined wrongs from three centuries ago.

Conference, difference does not justify the destruction of the United Kingdom, but it does underpin the necessity for devolution.

Devolution is a reality in Scotland because of Labour, and devolution is the right settlement for Scotland, and the right settlement for the United Kingdom.

And that, conference, is why we have nothing to fear from looking afresh at the devolution settlement;

Looking afresh at it to strengthen it, so that it can continue to serve the interests of the people of Scotland within a strong United Kingdom.

That is not just my position, or the position of this party, but the position of the vast majority of the people of Scotland.

The fixation of the SNP on a narrow, parochial vision of Scotland is that of a dwindling minority.

Conference, this has been an important weekend for the Scottish Labour Party.

We heard what the people said last year, and we have been listening to them since.

This weekend in Aviemore has revealed a renewed energy, genuine optimism and an engagement with the challenges that Scotland faces.

On Friday, our Prime Minister spelled out a positive political agenda to tackle the challenges we face, and he spelled out a place for Scotland in leading the way in the UK and in the world in tackling poverty, underdevelopment and climate change.

Wendy, in her leader’s speech yesterday, set out a clear, coherent new agenda for opportunity and improved life chances across the generations of our fellow Scots. Those of us who know her well know her strengths.
Yesterday she set out fresh ideas for a fairer Scotland -  modern approaches based on our enduring ideals. She spelt out the intellectual challenge to the SNP. She showed true leadership. Nobody who heard that speech yesterday can doubt that this woman will be the next First Minister of Scotland.

Douglas talked about how we are putting our progressive values into action internationally. Our record in writing off debt is second to none.  Our practice in international development is acknowledged as world-leading. Our great Scottish forebears – from Governor Macquarie to Mary Slessor – would recognise what we are doing today in terms of reconstruction and nation building.

Speaker after speaker this weekend reminded us that in less than a year the SNP have broken almost all of their major promises. On class sizes. On school buildings. On police numbers. On abolishing student debt. On homebuyers’ grant. In fact, it’s hard to think of any major promise they’ve actually kept.

Except that is for their most regressive policy – the national, local income tax.

Salmond’s NAT tax is an attack on hard-working families, while giving big tax breaks to millionaires who live off their dividends.

No policy that takes money from student nurses and gives it to Brian Souter is fair.

I agree with Alex Salmond on this one thing. His NAT tax is a major vote-winner. – For us.

Conference, Scottish Labour is back in business.

 Defending hard working Scots from the unfairness of SNP policies.

Facing the future and developing the new ideas that Scotland needs to meet the challenges of this new century.

That should be no surprise to us, because Labour is Scotland’s party.
We always have been.

For over a century now we have not merely delivered for Scotland – we have been the political force that has defined Scottish politics. Arguing and campaigning for what is best for Scotland - identifying problems, and then tackling them successfully.

• We led the way on social housing 

• We established, extended and have defended the welfare state over the past 60 years.

• And we fought – successfully – for the economic regeneration of Scotland. 

And conference, above all else for most of the history of our party we have fought the tyranny of unemployment.

Until 1997 unemployment was the defining issue for our party.
 
How to tackle worklessness and unemployment. Indeed, in our darkest moments I believe some of us may have asked ourselves - can we tackle unemployment.

I started coming to conference in the 1980s when the impact of Thatcherism on Scotland was measured by the drumbeat of factory closures. Linwood. Bathgate. Singer. Caterpillar – to name but a few.

Today, in 2008, we meet at a time when Scottish employment is at a record high – and amongst the highest in Europe.

A time when unemployment is at its lowest since 1974. When – as Wendy reminded us -  the Bay City Rollers topped the charts. How things have changed for the better.

Today the drumbeat of factory closures has ended.

We have a globally successful, diversified economy.

An economy strong in what the World Bank has identified as the key industries of the 21st century. Banking, biosciences, energy and education.

In banking and the financial services, we have some of the world’s leading businesses. Presently, this sector faces challenges, but it is still a Scottish success. Employing and recruiting hundreds of new staff each year. From retail banking to niche sectors of the insurance industry such as asset servicing, Scotland is leading in the world.

Labour has created the conditions which have led to this innovation and expansion. It’s not in Scotland’s interest to risk this success as the SNP want to do by adding an additional burden of Scottish regulations to this industry.
 
Around the world, when nations and regions set out their economic development strategies, they identify the industries of the future in which they want to establish a competitive advantage.

They aspire to gaining a lead in the biosciences.

We lead

In Roslin. In Dundee. In spin-off industries we have a global lead in these technologies. Scotland’s industrial competitiveness in the 21st century will come from its knowledge industries. 

That’s why it’s not in Scotland’s interest to starve our universities of investment as the SNP have done.

In energy, we have massive resources, and matching potential. The expertise Scottish based companies have developed in extracting oil and gas from inaccessible places is being globalised as we speak. We have a major stake in existing carbon-neutral energy sources – from the nuclear powers stations that produce nearly 40% of the electricity we use each day in Scotland to the growing renewables sector.

Keeping the lights on – for families and for business – is our priority. Unless action is taken soon, 75% of Scotland’s baseload electricity generation will close down. That’s why it’s not in Scotland’s interests to have the energy gap which is at the heart of the SNP’s narrow, blinkered and ultimately unworkable energy policies.

In education, Scotland’s schools and universities still maintain an enviable reputation for excellence world-wide. They attract students internationally.

For the growing Chinese middle classes education – as much as whisky – is becoming the distinctive Scottish brand. And that’s why I say it’s not in Scotland’s interests to have an administration that hasn’t commissioned a single new school in nearly a year.

Conference, we may be in opposition in the Scottish Parliament but we are still in government in Scotland.

Every month we are legislating for Scotland.

In crucial areas we are passing the laws that Scots need.

Our Energy Bill – paving the way for new technologies, such as carbon capture and storage, to provide energy security and tackle climate change.

Securing for everyone an occupational pension through the Pensions Bill.

And, critically for Scotland, tackling the challenge of deep-seated worklessness through the Welfare Reform Bill. We know that the long term sick and disabled want to work. It is one of the great causes of our time to ensure that we help them achieve their ambition.

The fact is that we are passing more legislation for Scotland than the minority SNP government.

Twenty-four of the twenty-six pieces of legislation in the Queens Speech impact on Scotland.

And although you will not hear it from SNP Ministers we are actively legislating with their agreement in devolved areas.

Already we have legislated in six areas, such as climate change, education, skills and criminal justice, with three more areas in the pipeline.

Conference, this morning we all put our clocks forward – at least, most of us did.

That act is a metaphor for what we have been doing this weekend here in Aviemore.

All weekend we have been putting the clock forward. We are advancing on all fronts.

Putting the clock forward on party organisation.

Putting the clock forward with our progressive political agenda for Scotland.

Putting the clock forward with our ambitions for all Scots to prosper in the UK, Europe and the world.

Conference, as a party we have had a period of reflection.

That was right, but that time is over now.

As Wendy said in the closing words of her speech, it’s time to get back to work. The fightback has begun.

And when we win Scotland will win.