A speech made by the then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to the 2009 Labour Party Conference serves as a timely reminder of the good a left-wing government can do in society.
The Labour conference has got under in Liverpool this week, but with Keir Starmer’s government plummeting to record levels of dissatisfaction, the political mood is downbeat.
So what better time to flashback to 2009, when Gordon Brown delivered one of the great Labour conference speeches, reeling off a lengthy list of policies his party had introduced.
In his speech, Brown listed off the accomplishments, which would have materially benefitted swathes of people across the country.
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He said: “If anyone says that to fight doesn’t get you anywhere, that politics can’t make a difference, that all parties are the same, then look what we’ve achieved together since 1997: the winter fuel allowance, the shortest waiting times in history, crime down by a third, the creation of Surestart, the Cancer Guarantee, record results in schools, more students than ever, the Disability Discrimination Act, devolution, civil partnerships, peace in Northern Ireland, the social chapter, half a million children out of poverty, maternity pay, paternity leave, child benefit at record levels, the minimum wage, the ban on cluster bombs, the cancelling of debt, the trebling of aid, the first ever Climate Change Act; that’s the Britain we’ve been building together, that’s the change we choose.”
Watch the speech below:
Labour’s 2025 party conference has been taking place in Liverpool this week.
On Monday, chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered her speech to the conference, in which she hinted at potential tax rises at the autumn budget.
Her speech was also interrupted by a protestor holding a Palestine flag.