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Firstly, an enormous thank you to the local party for enabling me to be the delegate for this year’s conference. It was an absolute privilege and an amazing if exhausting experience.

I cannot do justice to all the conference sessions and fringe meetings that I attended in this report. So, what I’ll try to offer is an overview of my experience.

In preparation for the Conference there were briefings for delegates organised by region. From this, a southwest delegates WhatsApp group was developed and in addition there was a Cornwall delegates WhatsApp group. On the eve of conference there was a southwest reception which included relaxed speeches from Andy Burnham, Wes Streeting, Luke Pollard and Lucy Powell. It was an opportunity for photos and autographs which I resisted.

Day I of Conference on the Sunday

began with an untimely further regional briefing at 9am where we were given many reports and booklets and our voting papers for any ballots. The first task we were given was to complete the priorities ballot in which CLP‘s could select six subject areas to be debated at conference. Those resolutions that had been accepted had been grouped into 36 subject areas, ours stood on its own at 32. Among the Cornwall delegates we quickly agreed to vote for all those where a Cornwall CLP had submitted a resolution. This covered four of the areas and for the 2 remaining selections I opted for those areas relating to the two unsuccessful resolutions to the CLP meeting – housing and homelessness, and the Middle East.

The result of this ballot was announced at the end of the first day and in order of popularity the successful subjects were

housing and homelessness,

violence against women and girls,

buses,

tackling knife crime,

re-industrialisation and fairness for older workers.

The individual motions within these subject areas were then composited at meetings involving the relevant CLPs late into Sunday evening.

The main conference opened with a welcome from Steve Rotherham mayor of Liverpool. The morning session consisted largely of reports from the general secretary, the NPF chair, the treasurer, the party chair, and the deputy leader’s speech. This session set the tone for the whole conference. Steve Rotherham spoke of HOW

“politics as usual, as practised in the last 40 years could not continue”.

He talked of the need for “transformative change and that this involved

public control of essential services and

greater devolution of power” which he described as “not shifting but growing power”.

Similarly, Lucy Powell as deputy leader identified one of the lessons from the May elections as being that “listing achievements, which were substantial, was not enough and we have to focus on the why and not just the what”.

The afternoon session headed ‘Power to Communities included contributions from Louise Haigh first Secretary of State who spoke of “the need to be brave and bold” and “to put the guts into government”.

Potentially slightly off script Douglas Alexander as Secretary of State for Scotland talked of his experience as an MP in the 80s, referenced the achievements of the Blair government but contrasted the much tougher environment that the current government faces. Both Michael Marra as the new leader of the Scottish Labour Party and Ken Skates as the leader of the Welsh Labour Party described the Devastating outcomes of the May elections. Michael Marra proposed that “people knew what labour was against, but they didn’t know what we stood for”. Ken Skates concluded “no more Ming vases; we have to build for the future and recognise that hope needs substance, purpose and results”.

The final part of the first afternoon involved a powerful address from Pat McFadden Secretary of State, DWP, where he stated

“as well as cherishing the welfare state we have always renewed

it to make it fit for the future”.

He argued for a shift in focus “from what benefit are you on to how are we to help you to have a better life.” Pat McFadden spoke of the nearly one million young people not in employment education and training and how for every £25 spent on benefits for a young person only £1 is spent on helping them back to work”.

The day ended with the international address from Johannes Store, the Norwegian PM. He spoke of the importance of remembering that

Governments are judged on the basis of if life is getting easier for people

and that

what matters most in people’s lives must matter most in all policies”.

Day 2 of the Conference – Monday

began with a session headed ‘Britain believing in itself again’ and was launched by a speech from Wes Streeting talking of the legacy of the Attlee government being the NHS and NATO and how they were both centred on offering freedom from fear. It sounded like he was trying to create coherence from his recent political odyssey.

Ed Miliband as foreign secretary then gave a speech which talked warmly that

Andy Burnham has put Labour values at the heart of the party. He argued that “we will succeed because of and not in spite of these values”, and applied this to his approach to foreign policy in relation to Ukraine, the Middle East, the climate crisis and working with the EU.

Jonathan Reynolds, Secretary of State for Business Innovation science and trade, initiated a session headed ‘Britain better off’ and there were composite motions discussed and overwhelmingly adopted in relation to ‘fairness for older workers’, ‘reindustrialization’ and ‘re industrialising our communities’. The composite on the industrialization included the motion from Truro and Falmouth in relation to mineral extraction and Nita from Falmouth spoke very well during the debate.

The key focus of the morning session was a speech from John Healey, Chancellor of the Exchequer, which unsurprisingly given the pending budget offered little new. He did speak of the

progress made to date including lifting half a million children out of poverty

and the initial steps taken when Andy Burnham became PM to create ”breathing space” for people. He stressed that the money available in the 90s for the Blair government is not available now, and of the importance of fiscal discipline. He also talked of the need to address the nearly 1 million young people NEETS stating that “it is not progressive to have ever bigger benefits bills”.

Monday afternoon began with a session titled ‘Room to breathe again’ with a speech from Heidi Alexander Secretary of State for transport. She spoke of bringing back the railways into public control under Great British railways, of rail fares having been frozen for the first time in 20 years and moving forwards of starting to focus on getting buses back into public control. Within this session composite motions on buses and rebuilding our economy for working people were discussed and overwhelmingly approved.

Miatta Fahnbulleh, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, then gave a. speech emphasising that the summer has shown that climate change is no longer a future warning, that it is the responsibility of the government to act faster and at the same time ensure that the transition works for everyone.

She raised the challenge of the UK being so exposed to external forces and the need to continue to develop domestic Green energy, and the incentives to local communities that this requires.

Reverting back to the theme of ‘Britain believing in itself again’ there was a speech from Alex Norris Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for justice where he balanced the need for more prisons to address legacy of overcrowding with the importance of rehabilitation both in the community and in the prison system.

There was then a debate on a composite regarding ‘violence against women and girls’, and ‘tackling knife crime’. On the former there were some moving speeches from survivors of domestic abuse who spoke of the trauma not just from the perpetrator but by the services supposed to support them.

The final contribution was from Shabana Mahmood, home secretary, who listed some of the achievements in her area including the reductions in knife crime, in serious crime, in net migration and in the number of small boats. However, she also spoke to the idea that “it’s not enough to just talk about the what but we need to talk about the why”. She framed this within the idea of

“The need to create fairness on borders on the streets”.

Her argument was that restoring control then creates the opportunity to create legal routes for migration including community and student sponsorship which will be available from next spring.

Day 3 of the Conference – Tuesday

‘Power to communities’ was the heading for the first session on day three. It started with an address from Chris Bryant, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. He listed the incredible progress made in Northern Ireland including the fastest economic growth lowest unemployment and the opportunities available with access to the UK and EU market. The background however of his speech with attentions over the Drumcree March and he highlighted that there still remained much unfinished political business from the Good Friday agreement.

There was then debate on three different motions in the morning session relating to housing and homelessness, Glasgow City Council (the threat to fire and rehire all council workers), and women in politics. Again all these composites were passed overwhelmingly

Angela Rayner, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities, and Local Government, ended the morning session with a wide-ranging speech touching on her recent personal difficulties, her belief that Labour needs to have at its centre offering people the opportunity to live a good life. She referred to progress made with the renter’s rights act and disclosed future action to reform leasehold. Although hopeful and ambitious in scope they remain to me a gap in terms of how the level of social housing required will be met.

In the afternoon Andy Burnham gave his extraordinary leaders speech. I suspect many members would have watched it and I’m therefore reluctant to summarise it.

What struck me sitting in the hall listening to Andy Burnham was how clear an argument he set out of what had gone wrong with our politics over the last 40 years – “privatisation, Brexit, and the concentration of power”.

This analysis linked to the new economy and new politics he believes we need to achieve. He set out a” theory of growth that we need to take control of the fundamentals devolve more power locally and optimise conditions for business”. While he promised more detail would come with the Ten Year Plan to be published later in the year, there was a clear direction of travel, and there were major changes announced in relation to the establishing a national care service, the ‘adjustment’ of the Triple Lock from April 2030, the establishment of a commission on electoral reform and an option for a new long term relationship with the EU to be put forward at the next General Election.

Day 4 of the Conference – Wednesday

I regret I missed the final short morning session on the Wednesday as I had to get home for the work the next day. I have subsequently watched it on youtube. The key speech was from Yvette Cooper who talked very movingly of the need to address the chronic failings in maternity services, a reminder of the relevance of our Conference resolution, even of it was not selected. She also talked of restoring health services into the family hubs to rebuild the Sure Start model.

To end this report, I would highlight the benefits of the many Fringe meetings I attended and the quality of the presentations and discussions there. Another duty which I fulfilled as a delegate was attending the Policy seminar organised every morning at 8.30am across different policy areas with a panel of junior ministers giving a summary of their priories and inviting questions and comments, with a promise to feedback to the NPF.

I hope this report offers a bit of flavour of the Conference, will encourage us as a party locally and also motivate other members to attend Conference in the future.

Andrew Dunsmuir