Scott Webster addressing the National Union of Public Employees

[Scott Webster (LAB)]

Scott Webster speaking to members of the National Union of Public Employees in London

I would like to take a moment and thank you all for your hard work without our public servants. The work you do for this nation is incomparable. This nation is stronger because of your hard work. I hope that you can continue the effort you work you do every day. I come before you to campaign for a position that arguably should not be open. We should be talking about how the first Labour budget is going to pay our public workers the wages they deserve. We should be talking about how we are going to hire new public workers and undue the damages the Tories have done to the NHS and to our education system. We should be talking about all the new jobs and expansion to Union protections we are going to do. That is what we should be talking about. Instead we must deal with the fact that the Labour party failed to deliver on its promises by losing the unlosable election. We started the campaign ahead in the polls against a scandal rich Tory government and were still unable to pull of even the smallest of victories. We had every electoral advantage going into the election and earlier today the Tories and the Liberal Democrats are going to form a government. When in four months or so call another election. We are not going to have the deck stacked in our favor. We are going to be on the back foot from the start of the campaign. We must be ready when we do, and to do that we have to have leadership in this party that has learned the lessons of the last four defeats. We need leadership that embraces the new kind of Labour we need. We need a moderate someone ready bring in new voters. Someone ready to bring an electoral victory.

We do not have time to waste trying to get everyone to make sure everyone comes around to the same conclusion. We need someone who already has answers and is ready to change the course of the Labour party from electoral losers to victors. We need a Deputy Leader that has not been in the inner circle of leadership during the lead up and result of the last campaign. I like Ruth, I would endorse her under every circumstance except this one. It is time for some kind of change at the top for the Labour party, and we need to make sure that the people in charge of the Labour party are listening to the changes needed to be made to get be in the next government. The Labour party is going to go into the snap election either prepared or unprepared. The coalition agreement was just announced today, and we have already lost five points in the polls. I do not know how we stop the bleeding without some change to the current path forward. Does anyone know how the Labour leader feels about the coalition deal made between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats? During the campaign I was involved in a discussion that encourages him to be more involved in the campaigning directly. The people saw him as absent, and here we are again, the Conservatives driving the narrative and us standing back here wondering what Labour’s leader is. Our electoral strategy now is let the Tories defeat themselves. I would like to remind you how effective that worked out last time.

We cannot allow the status quo strategy to work. The next Tory scandal probably will not sink the Tory Government completely. No scandal is going to be enough to defeat the Tories on its own. Instead we need to pursue an active strategy of not just opposition but shifting the narrative. Putting the light on Government mistakes and not taking positions that the whole party can stand out there and fight and be proud of. I want us to be fighting for our Unions, I want us to be out their fighting for pensions, the NHS, against government incompetence and corruption. We must be active. We must be seen. Otherwise we are still going to be failing all our unions. If elected to be deputy leader I will still fight for our promises, I will fight for expansion to repeal the Trade Union act of 1984. I will fight to prevent the Tories from establishing tuition fees. I will fight the Tories attempting to weaken unions. However, I will make sure that we are ready for the next election. I am going to make sure our leader seems like the Prime Minister in waiting. I am going to push him to be a driving force of policy and debate in this country. I will stand beside him and contribute to the debate. We need someone in the room when decisions are made that won’t play a yes man to him, we need someone who will challenge him to go in the right direction even when the rest of the room is going in the wrong direction. If James McCrimmon is insistent on remaining the leader of this party than he needs to be pushed to lead this party in the right direction.

I plan to march in strikes that happen during this Tory government when they refuse to pay adequate wages for the important services you provide. I plan on working with the unions to create a vision of the Labour party for the 21st century. I plan on working for the great people of Britain to bring them a better life. There is only so much I can do from the opposition benches; however, I will fight to give the Labour party the greatest chance to win the snap election when it is called. Then with a Labour government I am going to work in whatever role I am in, to guarantee that the promises made will be kept. I want to see real wage increases for all public servants; I do not want to have any public servant working for poverty. I want to strengthen our education and healthcare systems completely. I will fight for our first budget of a Labour government to cover at least a five percent increase in real terms from 1992. I do not care if inflation skyrockets next year, the workers who help this society function deserve a raise, and they deserved it this year and we let them down. A vote for me for Deputy Leader is a vote for a winning Labour party. Thank you all!