***CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY***

Andy Burnham MP, Shadow Home Secretary, in a speech to Labour Party Annual Conference in Brighton, said:

Conference.

What a welcome - not bad for a runner-up!

I’ll be honest, though: it was a hard campaign.

Near the end, I held a meeting at a church in Sheffield.

I spoke with my back to the altar.

When I sat down, the Chair called the first question from a man at the back.

He said: “Andy, I like what you’re saying. But do you realise you’ve been speaking for 20 minutes under a sign which says ‘Repent: JC is coming’?”

It’s fair to say that I knew then it really wasn’t going my way.

Well JC is here - and Labour is rebuilding, renewing, reviving.

We’re coming back stronger.

And we need to.

Because we face ruthless opponents who think nothing of playing politics with the lives of vulnerable people.

Demonising anyone receiving benefits.

Describing desperate people as a “swarm”, like insects.

Dismissing the entire Muslim community for “condoning” extremism.

Conference, this is what we are up against: a Tory Party that seeks to divide us one from another.

There is no dog-whistle these Bullingdon Boys won’t blow.

And the truth is we’ve let them get away with too much.

We’ve failed to take a stand for fear of ending up on the wrong side of the PR battle.

Well no more.

This country needs a Labour Party with the strength to call these Tories out.

A Party that puts principle before presentation.

That’s what we’re going to be again, and it feels good Conference, doesn’t it?

It’s what your new Shadow Home team will always do and I’m proud to introduce them to you: Jack Dromey, Sarah Champion, Sir Keir Starmer and Lyn Brown.

Principle before presentation - and we start with the most urgent situation of all.

What is unfolding across Europe is the biggest crisis of its kind since the Second World War.

How we respond will define us a generation.

Conference, be proud it was your Party which forced the Government to act.

And join me in paying tribute to my predecessor Yvette Cooper who led the way.

But the Government’s plans are nowhere near equal to the scale of this humanitarian catastrophe.

They say they won’t help those already in Europe because they are the fittest and strongest.

Have they seen the TV images?

People struggling over fields on crutches, in wheelchairs; parents carrying exhausted children for hundreds of miles.

We can’t turn our backs.

Britain didn’t do it 75 years ago and we shouldn’t do it now.

Prime Minister.

Have compassion. Help our neighbours. Give people shelter in their hour of need.

Show the world that this country still stands for higher ideals.

And, you know what, it is in our own interests.

It would build goodwill and help us get changes on EU migration ahead of the referendum.

Conference, I want be clear with you about this: I believe changes are needed.

I am setting myself a tough challenge in this job: to reframe the debate about immigration and our approach to it.

I make no bones about it: I am on mission to win back those lost Labour voters from UKIP.

Not by copying them in any way.

But by being true to our own values, Jeremy’s vision of a social Europe - and rejecting the new-liberal, free market approach of today.

For too long, Labour has gone along with the idea that free movement on the current rules benefits everyone and affects all areas equally.

Well, you know what: it’s just not true.

In places, it has benefited private companies more than people and communities.

And the truth is this: free movement, as it currently works, is widening inequality.

Yes, it has built the economic power of the big cities.

But it has also made life harder in our poorest communities, where the rules have been exploited to undercut people’s wages, undermine their job security and create a race-to-the-bottom.

And those same places get no extra funding to deal with the pressure that comes on primary schools, GP services and housing.

So no wonder they feel neglected.

The coming referendum presents a chance to change that.

Let’s seize it as an opportunity to put Labour back on the front foot and back in touch.

Let’s take on the Right and their scape-goating rhetoric which won’t pay anybody’s bills, feed anybody’s kids or protect anybody’s job.

Let’s put forward our vision for a social Europe, that puts people before profits; a floor beneath all workers.

Let’s welcome people here to work, as we always have.

But let’s make it work for everyone with new EU rules to protect the “going rate” for skilled workers, stopping undercutting, and direct EU funding for places where the pressures are greatest.

Common-sense, practical changes and I will go to Europe to argue for them.

Because they will free Labour to make the case for staying in with clarity and confidence - and, if we do that, we will win.

Conference, there’s another battle we need to fight - for the safety of our communities.

Right now, George Osborne is sharpening his knife.

He is preparing an ideological spending review that will cut public services to the bone - and the Police in particular.

12,000 front-line police officers have already gone; crime starting to rise.

Police cars are already doubling as ambulances; police cells as mental health beds.

But Osborne plans to hack that safety net away.

He wants to cut the Police by at least 25 per cent and even more in Labour areas.

Imagine what that will mean.

Neighbourhood policing and PCSOs a thing of the past.

Crimes uninvestigated, calls unanswered, victims abandoned.

All the progress on domestic violence under threat.

In places, the thin blue line will be rubbed out completely.

Theresa May talks of asking volunteers to fill the gaps.

Well I’m sorry, Home Secretary, but you’re not on.

Your part-time police force will put people at risk.

So, Conference, the battle for our public services is now.

And you know where my loyalties lie.

I have shown I can fight for our NHS.

And my message to our Police today is this - I’m ready to do the same for you.

Not just because I value you and your service.

But because I don’t want to live in a society where we leave people to fend for themselves.

I want this Party to fight for our Police as we have for our NHS.

The future of policing - and the safety of communities - is on the line.

So Jack and I together with our PCCs will mount a national campaign against the Tory Police cuts.

Of course, savings can be found. The Police say 5 per cent to 10 per cent over the Parliament is just about do-able.

But, Chancellor, go beyond that and it won’t just be Tory Conference cheering you; it will be every burglar in the land.

And I warn you now - we will hold you personally to account for what follows.

Conference, there’s one more thing I want to say.

A police service fit for the future requires honesty about its past.

In recent years, we have learnt more about how we were governed in the 20th century.

What we know isn’t good. But we still don’t know it all.

We don’t know the full extent of the collusion between police and press and that’s why the second inquiry recommended by Lord Leveson must go ahead.

We won’t know the full story of Hillsborough until we know what the same police force did to the miners in the aftermath of Orgreave.

And to understand how an anti-trade-union culture developed in parts of the Police, we need the full story about the false convictions and imprisonment of building workers in Shrewsbury.

I will make it my personal priority in this job to put the pieces of this jigsaw together - alongside other historical injustices we have seen: the abuse of stop and search powers against black and asian young people; and particularly child sexual exploitation.

Why?

Because it’s our story - the people’s history - and they need to know it.

It’s a story of powerful elites riding roughshod over ordinary people.

Today’s Police service has come a long way and people will ask why this is still relevant.

Well let me tell you.

A Bill is going through Parliament forcing trade unionists to give two weeks notice to the Police before posting comments on social media.

A country which doesn’t face up to its past mistakes is destined to repeat them.

So we’ll fight this illiberal Bill with all we’ve got.

And we’ll defend the Human Rights Act - which, had it been in place in the 70s, 80s and 90s, could have stopped working people being treated like second-class citizens.

And I say this to the Government.

No more delay.

Give us the full truth about Shrewsbury.

Give us the full truth about Orgreave.

Justice demands it.

We can only build a more equal society in this century when we know about the injustices of the last.

Conference, I will fight in this job for justice for those to whom it has been denied.

For the freedoms of our trades unions.

For the police and the safety of our communities.

For our country and its place in Europe.

These are the new battles of our time.

We will win them if we stand as one.

I stand here because I promised you I would always put this Party first.

I ask my colleagues to do the same.

Get behind our Leader.

Put this Party first so we can put the country first.

A voice for the vulnerable.

A Party of principle.

Let Labour be a light for truth, justice and compassion again.