The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Party ‘primed and ready to roll’, pledges Corbyn
Leader says it is ready to deliver ‘socialism for the 21st Century’ and says Tories are ‘hanging on’
Jeremy Corbyn has promised to deliver “power for the people” as he declared Labour was ready for government and called on Theresa May’s Conservatives to “make way”.
In his keynote address to a celebratory annual conference in Brighton, the Labour leader said his manifesto promises to end the public sector pay cap, renationalise utilities and invest in the economy.
It represented a “new common sense” which put the party firmly in the mainstream of public opinion.
He set out new plans to protect council tenants from “forced gentrification and social cleansing” by offering them ballots on proposed regeneration and a guaranteed home in the same area after redevelopment work.
He also floated proposals to impose rent controls in individual cities, following the example of places like Berlin and New York.
And he promised to impose gender pay audits on larger companies, with fines for those which fail to meet equality requirements.
Buoyed by success in the June 8 snap election, Mr Corbyn told delegates the centre of gravity in British politics has shifted away from the neo-liberal consensus which has held sway since the time of Margaret Thatcher.
The disaster of the Grenfell Tower fire was a symbol of this “degraded” system based on “rampant inequality, the hollowing-out of our public services and disdain for the powerless and the poor”, which Labour was ready to sweep away.
Egged on by loud chants of “Oh Jeremy Corbyn” which delayed the start of his address, the Labour leader said a “new consensus” had emerged a decade after the financial crash of 2008, with voters ready for “something different and better”.
However, he warned that the volatile political situation had also thrown up an authoritarian, intolerant and belligerent nationalism that represented a threat to democracy.
And he took aim at US President Donald Trump for his “deeply disturbing” rhetoric towards North Korea and his “alarming” threat to pull America out of the Paris accord on climate change. After a four-day conference characterised by optimism and largely free of the infighting of his first two years as leader, Mr Corbyn said it was clear Labour had achieved unity and “left our own divisions behind”.
However, he ducked the issue of antiSemitic abuse which has simmered on at the conference, saying only there can “never ever be any excuse for any abuse of anybody by anybody”.
In a possible olive branch to Europhile MPs who have called on him to commit Labour to permanent membership of the EU single market, he promised Labour would “guarantee unimpeded access” to the market after Brexit.
Denouncing Government “bungling” of Brexit negotiations, Mr Corbyn claimed Theresa May and her ministers were “hanging on by their fingertips”.
“This is a deeply divided Government with no purpose beyond clinging to power,” he said. “It’s Labour that’s now setting the agenda.”
Recalling Mrs May’s decision to call a snap election during a hiking trip in Snowdonia, he challenged the Prime Minister: “Take another walking holiday and make another impetuous decision. The Labour campaign machine is primed and ready to roll.”
Mr Corbyn told activists Labour is “campaign-ready” but now needs to show it is also “government-ready” by demonstrating it had the “credible and effective” plans and the competence needed to deliver “socialism for the 21st Century”.
For the Conservatives, First Secretary of State Damian Green said: “Jeremy Corbyn’s speech summed up the problem with Labour: lots of big promises but no explanation of how they would deliver them.”
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss said Labour had racked up spending promises totalling more than £300 million since their manifesto launch, adding: “No wonder they’re planning for financial collapse if they get into power.”
However, Unite union general secretary Len McCluskey said Mr Corbyn’s speech was a “profound and welcome contrast to the years of despair and weariness that have accompanied the Tories’ never-ending and worn-out austerity”.
Labour MSPs were tearing lumps out of each other as the Scottish Labour leadership race turned ugly
Jeremy Corbyn waited several minutes on stage for the chanting of his name to die down.
He spent more than a quarter of his 75-minute Brighton speech not saying a word, instead lapping up the audience applause. Merged together, that amounts to 21 minutes of uninterrupted adulation.
That level of adoration, which was a theme throughout the conference, portrayed the image of unquestioned unity within the party.
During his come-together address, however, Labour MSPs were tearing lumps out of each other as the Scottish Labour leadership race turned ugly.
Tweets and counter-tweets were sent out by rival camps, those loyal and opposed to Corbyn.
The outbreak of disunity came after Alex Rowley revealed a plot, in a recorded private conversation, to ensure Kezia Dugdale did not lead the party for the next Holyrood election.
Earlier this week, Ms Dugdale came swinging for Corbyn over his lacklustre EU campaigning. And in a UK-wide radio interview, she admitted her decision to only give Mr Rowley 10 minutes’ warning of her departure speaks volumes of their relationship.
Jackie Baillie, who has been a Labour MSP since 1999 and is backing Anas Sarwar, entered the fray with an unbridled condemnation of left-wing plotting, pointing the finger at Richard Leonard. His spokesman’s terse rebuttal quickly followed.
This is all too easy for Labour’s opponents, who can sit back and watch the carnage play out.
And there is nearly two months left of the leadership campaign.
Corbyn may be basking in the seaside sun but the afterglow in Scottish Labour following their Westminster seat surge did not take long to fade.