-CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY-

Iain McNicol, Labour’s General Secretary, in a speech to Labour’s Annual Conference 2014 in Manchester, said:

Conference, thank you.

I stand here as your General Secretary, proud to be Scottish, but just as proud to be British. To everyone who campaigned in the Scottish referendum, everyone who voted to stay together: thank you.

Engaging many people in politics for the first time. The United Kingdom. Not just a collection of disparate parts, but a Union, stronger together, better together, now and into the future.

There’s been a lot of talk about the break-up of Britain. But what of the other great threat to our unity?

I speak of course of the Tory Party. They threaten the UK, not with geographical break-up, but with a fracturing society, where the rich are insulated behind their gated communities, and the poorest are hammered with the Bedroom Tax, cuts to their council services, and an NHS straining at the seams.

This Coalition governs without a mandate, without compassion, without a moral compass.

They cling to power, even as the sands of their time in office run out.
And they leave Britain worse than before.

And talking of Tories, what about UKIP. There’s the great ‘man of the people’ Nigel Farage. So anti-politics that he’s been in politics all his life. So anti-politician that he’s stood for Westminster five times.

So anti-Europe that he’s taken his salary and expenses from the European Parliament for 15 years.

So anti-establishment that he was an active member of the Tory Party for a decade through the heyday of Thatcherism.

Nigel Farage was a Thatcherite then, and he leads a Thatcherite party now.

So conference, let us dedicate ourselves to a simple task today: to defeat UKIP wherever it stands, to take no pleasure if it chips away at other parties, and to be clear - they’re not the answer to the problems Britain faces.

We understand what the real issues are confronting our country. The economy. Youth unemployment. The NHS. The cost of living.

Every worker knows that wages are stagnant. Hours are longer. Job security a joke.

And every worker should know that we need trade unions more than ever.
Labour and the unions: stronger together, better together.

That’s what we reaffirmed at the Special Conference in March.

That’s what we worked together to deliver at the national policy forum in Milton Keynes. A more dynamic party. More supporters. More activists. More ideas, from the grassroots, more ways of working for a modern age.

And can I just say, all delivered under a fantastic chair of the NEC - Angela Eagle.

This has been a great year for Labour.

For all of us who took part in the local and the European elections can be proud of our achievements. It was a great night for Labour.

Seven new Labour MEPs, at least one in every region and nation of Britain.

And on the same day in May, we won control of councils in Croydon, Redbridge, Merton, Harrow, Bradford, Amber Valley, Cambridge, and Crawley.

And one other. I’ll give you a clue. It was the crucible of Cameronism.
Cameron’s most cherished council. The centrepiece of Tory reforms. Yes, Hammersmith & Fulham went Labour in May. Our victory.

The beginning of the end for Cameron. We now have over 7,000 Labour councillors. The bedrock of Labour across the UK.

And you don’t need me to tell you what that means. Not just better services, better value for money, better care and compassion for the vulnerable.

It also means an army of activists, supporters and friends when the general election comes.

Your work in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 has built a rock solid foundation leading up to the general election, so thank you.

We’ve lost some good friends and comrades during the past year.

Every time, at conference, when we remember those who’ve departed, I reflect that we stand on the shoulders of giants, that we inherit the party from those who’ve gone before, and pass it on to those who come after.

Our thoughts are with the friends and families of every party member who passed away this year.

Paul Goggins, who served so well as MP in this great city

Jim Dobbin MP, a man of principle and decency.

Helen Eadie, a stalwart of the Scottish Labour party.

Lambeth’s Mayor Mark Bennett, taken from us cruelly young.

Del Singh, selected as a Labour candidate for the European elections, and murdered by terrorists in Afghanistan.

And a colleague who served as chair of the Party, member of the NEC, Labour Cabinet Minister and member of the party for over 70 years - Tony Benn.

Since last we met, we’ve also lost a towering figure from the world stage, a man who addressed this conference in the year 2000 - Nelson Mandela.

When he came to Brighton to address the Labour Party conference, he singled out the Labour Party as a partner in solidarity in the fight against apartheid. We should be proud of our role in ending the evil of apartheid and we should never forget those who opposed us in that struggle.

Conference, we face a great test on 7th May next year. To bounce back after just one term in opposition.

There are some who say it can’t be done.

But you know what? We’re Labour. We don’t play by the political rules. We write them.

We’d never seen socialists elected until 1900, when Labour rewrote the rules.
We’d never seen a Labour government until 1924, when Labour rewrote the rules.

We’d never seen two consecutive Labour majority governments until 2001, when Labour rewrote the rules.

And next year, with Ed Miliband as leader, we will rewrite the rules once more.

As we look at this Coalition, no government has been more deserving of defeat.

But wanting it and willing it and waiting for it, is not enough. It won’t happen by accident. Labour only wins when we organise, when we fight.

That’s why we’ve selected candidates early in our battleground seats: a wonderful battalion of men and women, from every background and from every part of our country.

The next generation of One Nation Labour. Backed by organisers on the ground. Backed by the real people’s army: Labour’s members and supporters. Tens of thousands across the battle-ground seats.

That’s what I promised three years ago; that’s what we’ve delivered.

The job now is reaching out, on every doorstep: conducting the conversations, listening to the concerns; building the party’s strength; energising supporters; getting out the leaflets, and when the day comes, getting out the vote.

There’s another political rule we rewrote and a victory I didn’t mention earlier.
On 5th July next year, we will celebrate 70th anniversary of the Labour victory of 1945. The year Clement Attlee led us to Labour’s first-ever landslide.

A manifesto demanding work for all, new homes to be built, a welfare state from cradle to grave, a plan to tame unfettered markets, new international institutions to protect civil rights, and peace amongst nations.

And a One Nation appeal across every community.

That’s what One Nation Labour is all about: no ground conceded, no voters left behind.

228 days.

That’s all there are until polling day.

228 days to win the victory.

So let us summon up the spirit of 1945.

The spirit to defy political gravity once again. The spirit to win a majority after one term in opposition. The spirit to put Ed and the Labour team into government. The spirit to make this country, so close to disunity and break-up, truly One Nation.

Let’s have a great week. But then the serious work continues.

Thank you.

Ends