Advancing women’s equality is central to the SNP manifesto, and a strong team of SNP MPs at would champion gender equality at Westminster – defending and extending women’s rights, protecting women’s incomes, and pressing for comprehensive action on gender-based violence in the UK and around the world.
Near miss with track workers between Audley End and Great Chesterford, Essex, 21 April 2017.
At around 11:33 hrs on 21 April, some members of a group of four track workers narrowly avoided being struck by a train between Audley End and Great Chesterford. They had been taking measurements, and moved out of the path of the train and reached a position of safety beside the line about two seconds before the train passed, travelling at about 73 mph (117 km/h).
We have undertaken a preliminary examination into the circumstances surrounding this incident. Having assessed the evidence which has been gathered to date, we have decided to publish a safety digest.
The safety digest will shortly be made available on our website.
2 Jun 2017
SNP government officials privately admitted they DID break the rules over a controversial Glasgow funding deal before last month’s local elections, the Scottish Conservatives can reveal.
Freedom of Information documents published today show that civil servants and even the First Minister’s official spokesman conceded privately it was “the wrong call” to announce £8.35m funding for Glasgow just two days before Council elections.
The revelations call into question Nicola Sturgeon’s senior officials’ handling of the scandal.
After complaints by the Scottish Conservatives into “cash-for-votes” affair, the Scottish Government’s permanent secretary, Leslie Evans, insisted that there had not been a breach of pre-election guidance.
The Scottish Conservatives are today calling on Nicola Sturgeon to launch a full investigation into affair.
The party is also today publishing all the FoI material it has received.
Scottish Conservative North East MSP Ross Thomson said:
“After we pressed them, Nicola Sturgeon’s top official tried to claim in public that the government had done nothing wrong.
“Now we know the truth – officials admitted they made ‘the wrong call’, and then the SNP government tried to cover it up.
“Nicola Sturgeon must now launch a full investigation into this entire murky affair.
“First, the SNP government unveiled a spending announcement in its key target area of Glasgow, just days before the council elections.
“Now we learn, ahead of next week’s general election, it tried to cover up its mistakes. “This whole affair stinks – and it has shone a light on the SNP’s culture of secrecy, denial and evasion.
“Nicola Sturgeon cannot wash her hands of this any longer. She must act.”
After Ross Thomson complained, civil servants exchanged a number of emails. In one of the first of these, the Director for the relevant team apologised and said it was the wrong call:
3 May 2017, 18:47
Lesley Fraser, Director for Housing and Social Justice, Scottish Government To Sarah Davidson, DG Communities ‘
Just spoken to [redacted] who is apologetic for not having questioned this further…my apologies to you and Perm Sec, Sarah. I think this has been a genuine error of judgment about regular announcements that affect communities across Scotland – but clearly the wrong call on this occasion. I think that Barbara will also want to consider the comms role here, and happy to work with her and James H to learn lessons.’ (p95)
How did we consider and apply the guidance on activity during the pre-local government election period?
Both communications and policy colleagues were aware of the guidance. The view was that as this was the third of 3 regeneration announcements this year, there was a pre-existing format and process for this third announcement and an element of comfort afforded in this. Other considerations were: the previous 2 had attracted little attention [more reasons are listed]…All colleagues in policy and communication teams now recognise that this was an error of judgement.
Note: this clearly follows the line taken in Fraser’s previous email, implying the error of judgement was to breach purdah guidelines.
Lessons learned
These decisions are ultimately a judgment call and it is clear on this occasion the wrong call was made. Both the Communications team and policy team were aware of the guidance and raised it in the email exchanges they had. With hindsight specific question should have been asked about who had been consulted (senior management, cabinet secretarit, etc) and if there was any precedent for such a geographically specific announcement to be made at a politically sensitive time. There was no pressing time factor behind making the announcement at this time. All those in the policy and communications teams involved have been spoken to and understand why their judgement was wrong in this instance. They will all be coached further in gaining a full understanding of the pre-election guidance. ’ (p132)
Sarah Davidson, DG of Communities, replied on 4 May at 21:44 saying ‘Great note Lesley, really clear and professional.’
The First Minister’s official spokesman agreed ‘we called it wrong’.
In exchanges editing the report, Shirley Laing specifically left in an explicit reference it was the wrong decision:
4 May 2017, 15:40
Shirley Laing, Deputy Director, Social Justice & Regeneration Division, Scottish Government
To: REDACTED
‘The version I have sent back takes on board the bulk of your changes.
I have however left in the judgement call reference and an indication that we called it wrong on this occasion as Lesley and I felt it was important to address that up front.’ (p124)
The First Minister’s Official Spokesperson replied saying:
4 May 2017 15:16 From First Minister’s Official Spokesperson To Shirley Laing
“Hi Shirley – I am ok with that – I just thought it was implicit that it was a wrong call given where we are.”
James Hynd then watered-down the meaning of ‘error of judgement’
In the first instance, and a primary concern, is that colleagues failed to follow the guidance to seek advice from senior management/Cabinet Secretariat etc on cases like this. If I had been asked, I would have been concerned that this could have been perceived as falling within the scope of the restrictions, and I would have instructed colleagues to seek further advice from Cabinet Secretariat.’
In other words, Hynd’s report and Evans’ subsequent letter misrepresent what Leigh and Fraser said, contradicts the view of the communications team, and of the FM’s Official Spokesman.
QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY PARTY SPEECH, Thursday 1 June 2017
Your Excellency Mr President,
Your Excellency former President of the Republic, John Agyemang Kufuor.
Please allow me also to mention His Excellency John Dramani Mahama who sent a kind message regretting not being able to join us but who I would like personally to thank for our extremely close working relationship during the first 2 ½ years of my posting here.
Likewise, we are sad that His Excellency Jerry John Rawlings could not join us this evening but we are honoured to have his whole family join us.
Honourable Ministers and Honourable Members of Parliament, Mr Deputy Speaker and Mr Minority Leader
Your Excellencies and colleagues from the Diplomatic Corps
Religious leaders, with a particularly warm welcome to the Chief Imam through whom we wish Ramadan Mubarak to all our Muslim guests, with thanks to them for breaking their fast today with us here this evening.
Traditional leaders, with warm greetings to the Okyenhene, to Togbe Afede, the President of the National House of Chiefs, and the Oblempong of Jamestown who are here with us this evening.
Niimei, Naamei, Nananum, Torgbewo, Mamawo
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Guests, Friends one and all and – this may be the last time I ever get to say this in Ghana – All Protocols Observed! You are all very welcome here tonight.
This is my fourth and final Queens Birthday Party in Accra, my first having taken place three weeks after my wife, son and I arrived in May 2014, and this last one comes just three weeks before we leave Ghana at the end of our posting.
At my first Queen’s Birthday Party hardly anyone listened to my speech – partly because most guests were more interested in watching England losing to Uruguay in the World Cup at exactly that same moment – but partly, too, because, yes, I spoke for too long.
So, this time I’ll keep it a bit shorter. Or to quote Winston Churchill who once said: “I am about to give a speech. My job is to speak and your job is to listen. But let me know if you finish your job before I do.”
As we prepare to leave Ghana, my wife Carolina and I would like to thank all my wonderful British High Commission colleagues and so many Ghanaian friends for their support, friendship, kindness and solidarity through so many good times and … well, a few tough times too.
I’d also like to thank our kind sponsors who helped make this evening possible, particularly Vodafone, Vitol Upstream Ghana, GE Oil and Gas, Vivo Energy, G4S, Apex Health Insurance, Invest in Africa, Stork, Guinness Ghana Brewery, Blue Skies, Voltic, Labadi Beach Hotel, WARA, McVities, DecoKraft, TT Brothers, Swiss Spirit Hotel and Suites, the Movenpick, Oxford Business Group and Shampex wine company. Sincere thanks to all of them.
Thanks, too, to the artists entertaining us this evening – to Jollof Balls, Dark Suburb, Blakk Rasta, Mutombo Da Poet and of course to such a good friend of ours, the Ghanaian international diva superstar, Noella Wiyaala! And if our other artist guests here tonight like Becca, Manifest or Shatta Wale want to jump up on stage later on to join in, they’d be very welcome!
I believe our guest list tonight reflects the fact that our High Commission is profoundly integrated with so many different strands of Ghanaian society – in politics, the civil service, the judiciary, armed forces and police; in sports, music and the arts; in the media and social media; in religious and traditional communities, academia and civil society.
We are extremely proud of those links. Without such links no foreign diplomat can hope really to understand the country they are posted to, or succeed in developing real partnerships.
We are proud, too, that there is so much else that links the UK and Ghana, particularly through people-to-people networks, exemplified by the hundreds of thousands of British citizens of Ghanaian family heritage and by organisations such as GUBA, with their huge celebration of the UK and Ghana this weekend in London.
Working with that diaspora for the benefit of Ghana is a key part of the job of my opposite number, the Ghana High Commissioner in London, and we wish Papa Owusu-Ankomah much luck and success as he takes up that role. Good luck Papa!
Ladies and Gentlemen
We are proud of the work we do here – some of it famously, or infamously, covered in the media, and sometimes highly inaccurately so – but most of what we work on and have achieved together with our Ghanaian partners goes largely unreported.
So, please allow me to mention a few, perhaps lesser known highlights of our work over the last three years.
I recall particularly how our – always politically impartial – election-related assistance last year helped the police, judiciary, electoral commission and civil society prepare for elections which further cemented Ghana’s reputation as a leading African democracy. We congratulate again the Electoral Commission for a well-run election, the seventh consecutive peaceful such and an example for many others.
But we call once again on all political parties to disown and disband all so-called vigilante groups which should simply have no place in a 21st Century democracy. And where such groups act violently or usurp the role of the State, they should face the full force of the law. Violence can so quickly spiral and can kill as we have, so sadly, seen this week. In that context, please allow me to extend our deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Captain Maxwell Mahama, RIP.
I recall, too, how our development programme – amounting to several hundred million pounds in just the last three years – has contributed so much to so many necessary tasks, whether by providing millions of bed nets; or through start-up funding to some of Ghana’s brightest young entrepreneurs with Ghana’s best new business ideas; whether by supporting women and girls through improved educational and reproductive health opportunities while addressing the scourges of domestic violence, the mistreatment of so-called ‘witches’, female genital mutilation and child marriage; or whether by helping to underpin successive governments’ commitment to the LEAP programme, to improved agricultural production and market access, and to tackle the too often hidden and stigmatised problem of mental illness. And in these last three years we have also helped 700 young UK volunteers under the International Citizen Service programme to come to Ghana to assist local communities.
In short, our DFID programmes have directly helped hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians and will continue to do so, and I salute the huge contribution to all that of Jim McAlpine, the Head of DFID Ghana, who also concludes his posting and leaves Ghana later this month. Thank you Jim!
Ladies and Gentlemen
I also recall how our British Council colleagues have hugely increased UK support to young entrepreneurs to develop their digital and social enterprise skills, while building the Connecting Classrooms programme bringing together UK and Ghanaian schoolchildren, and supporting UK universities to expand our higher education links, of which our Chevening Scholarship programme – now with nearly 300 Ghanaian alumni – is a jewel in the crown.
Plus, there are so many other areas I could mention, such as our large training and other support in the military sphere to the Ghana Armed Forces and Kofi Annan Centre, including in peacekeeping cooperation and counter-terrorism work; or our hugely expanding law enforcement cooperation to tackle drugs trafficking, people trafficking and other forms of organised crime; or our work to improve prison conditions at Nsawam and elsewhere.
In short, we are very proud of our work in all those areas, all aimed at assisting Ghana on its path to fuller economic development and out of poverty. The President has spoken of his aspiration to move to a “Ghana Beyond Aid” – and it is our honour and duty to help Ghana where we can to achieve just that. People often forget what the long-term aim of an aid programme ought to be, namely to assist its recipient to reach a point where it is no longer necessary. We remain highly confident that Ghana can reach that point in the years to come.
Ghana is a fantastic country, a country I feel such affection for and such hopes for. Or to put it simply – I love Ghana, medoh Ghana paaa! This is a country full of potential, talent, human dignity and inner strength. I have travelled widely and consistently been touched by the warmth, hospitality, generosity of spirit and good humour of so many Ghanaians, including many whose daily lives are ones of real struggle just to get by. Ghana’s people, its human capital, is a real treasure. That is why we are fundamentally optimistic about Ghana’s future.
But it is not all rosy of course. Those who pretend everything is just fine when they know it isn’t, or who refuse to recognise problems which are as plain as day, do a disservice to themselves, to those they work for and with, and ultimately to their country.
In the last three years, for example, our total UK-Ghana bilateral trade has fallen much too far – in fact, by nearly a third from its 2012 peak. We must look to recapture and then exceed those levels soon, underpinned we hope by significantly improving macroeconomic management, and a better business and investment climate here – both areas in which we are also making a contribution in line with the government’s priorities. The signs are good and British companies are again looking to Ghana, while our new UK Ghana Chamber of Commerce is motoring ahead.
At the High Commission, we have also seen far too much attempted visa fraud, including by people occupying high positions commanding societal respect who seem to think that the rules apply to everybody else but themselves, or that they can break those rules with impunity. I think we have made it clear enough: we will not tolerate visa fraud against us and we will ban those who attempt it.
It may, however, interest you to know that, during the last three years, we have approved more visa applications by Ghanaian citizens than we have refused – yes, an approval rate averaging over 50%, contrary to some claims we see. Or, to put it another way, we have approved visas for nearly 50,000 Ghanaian citizens in the last three years. But it is, and will remain, our absolute sovereign right to control entry into our country by visitors, workers and would-be immigrants.
And, of course, we have seen far too much greedy, wanton corruption in too many spheres – in government, in politics, in public administration, in religion, in traditional leadership, in business, in football, in the media – and at too many different levels from top to bottom.
I refer, for example, to highly padded single-source contracts and unfairly awarded tenders; I refer to obvious conflicts of interest by those who use state positions to promote private business interests; and I refer to numerous egregious cases on which no action is taken, such as the arson fire at the Central Medical Stores in early 2015 in which over £4 million worth of UK-funded medical supplies were destroyed and for which nobody – yet at least – has faced justice.
Indeed, nobody – not a single person – of any high standing has been sent to jail for corruption in Ghana for more than a decade. I know many Ghanaians who say, at least privately to us, that it is high time that changed. They are right and we support them.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Yes, we have made and we will continue to make an issue of corruption. We make no apology for that. Corruption is a long and sophisticated word for which a much shorter and clearer word suffices, namely – theft. Corruption so enriches the few and so impoverishes the many, and is therefore such a huge obstacle to Ghana fulfilling its true potential.
Those who steal state resources or abuse their positions of trust to enrich themselves, their families and their friends are effectively robbing millions of their own Ghanaian compatriots of their best possible future. When someone buys a luxury property here in Accra or overseas, it is perfectly legitimate to ask whether the money invested in this way was legitimately obtained. But it seems to me, after three years here, that everybody knows that these questionable practices are happening but few dare to talk about it openly. So, we end up in a scenario, like in that fairy tale about the emperor’s clothing, where it is simply taboo to talk openly about what is staring us right in the face, and a kind of hypocrisy risks becoming hardwired into the national discourse.
There is, I submit however, a direct line to be drawn between, on the one hand, a few people right here in Accra who own fleets of V8s – each one of those vehicles costing multiples of their official annual salary – and, on the other hand, the still far too many examples throughout Ghana where children are forced to go to school under a tree rather than in a classroom – a classroom, incidentally, that could cost much less than the value of just one of those V8s to build. That seems to me a particularly apt comparison today, the first of June, which is UN International Children’s Day.
The moral of this story? It seems that for a few people easy money is a better choice than hard work, and that self-interest hugely trumps the national interest.
So, we salute you, Mr President, in your determination to address this scourge of corruption which has simply got worse in recent years and sometimes veered out of control; and your determination to punish – finally – its worst perpetrators with real sanctions. We hope that all political parties and Ghanaians from all walks of life will take this chance to act. Few things are more important for Ghana’s future. The UK stands ready and willing to help your efforts to combat corruption for the undoubted benefit of the whole of Ghana.
Ladies and Gentleman, I note in conclusion that these last three years have been more than averagely eventful, and not just here in Ghana.
In the UK, during that time, we had a general election with an unexpected result, a referendum about Scotland’s continuing place in the United Kingdom, and another resulting in the UK deciding to leave the European Union. And a week from today, somewhat unexpectedly, we have another general election, now in the wake of the cowardly and heinous attack in Manchester early last week. These are turbulent times. But through all of that we have enjoyed one constant, as we have indeed for the last 65 years, namely Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, our wonderful Queen, whose 91st birthday we mark here tonight.
And through all of the political ups and downs, bound by a long common history, first of colonialism but now of a 60-year track record of partnership between equal, independent Commonwealth nations, UK-Ghana relations have endured, grown and flourished, producing real results for real people in both countries. Long may that continue.
And, so, with sincere thanks to each and every one of you, with fondness and sadness in equal measure, I take my leave of you. Ghana will remain in our heart and thoughts throughout my family’s next chapter of a three-year home posting in London and far beyond. We and all of us in the UK want nothing more than the very best possible future for Ghana as a nation and for all its wonderful people. And you can count on us to accompany you on that journey as a steadfast friend.
Thank you, Medaase
York has a proud industrial past.
In the nineteenth century, many of the
sweets and chocolate brands we all know and love, such as Terrys and Rowntrees,
started production in York. By the end of the century, confectionery production
was a major employer here, second only to the railways.
Confectionery production maintains a
presence in York. But, like many industrial communities across the North of
England, the industry has faced significant challenges.
Only a few weeks ago, Nestle announced
job cuts across a number of factories, including York, and the move of Blue
Riband production to Poland.
The decline of these industries and,
indeed, other key manufacturing hubs across the country, has been largely due
to the economic choices made by successive governments.
They didn’t just leave a gap in the jobs
market and a gaping hole in our economy. Their exit from places up and down
Britain quite simply ripped the heart out of communities, leaving many areas
struggling to bounce back.
Those communities felt left behind, their
pride, hopes and dreams shattered.
But in the last few weeks, Labour has
used this election campaign as an opportunity to lay out a bold vision of a
different Britain.
A Britain that will rebuild these
communities.
A Britain that looks after its sick and
its elderly.
A Britain that gives every child the
chance to reach their full potential. And in which going to university doesn’t
leave you saddled with tens of thousands of pounds worth of debt.
A Britain in which everyone who works
earns enough to live on, and everyone who doesn’t work has the chance to find a
decent, fulfilling job.
A Britain that is quite simply: fairer;
richer; and happier.
Today, I am here to talk about how we
build that Britain.
Because we can’t do it with an economy that
relies on debt-driven consumption to drive growth. Families using credit cards
just to get by.
We can’t do it with an economy that is so
imbalanced that people in London earn £134 more a week than in Yorkshire.
And in which the top 1 per cent own 24
per cent of wealth.
Now, Labour’s manifesto is a promise to
rewrite the rules in favour of the majority of people in this country. And
today, I will set out how we will do that for our economy.
For years, Britain’s economy has been
rigged in favour of narrow but powerful interests in the financial sector in
one corner of England.
We were led to believe that, released
from the shackles of regulation, the growth of the City of London could sustain
the whole economy.
That we shouldn’t worry about our once
proud industrial communities being sent into managed decline, because we had the
welfare state to redistribute to areas of the country left out of London’s
growth.
That we shouldn’t worry that swathes of
the country were seeing their potential wasted – or that the activities of the financial
sector grew more and more detached from people’s needs – because all that
mattered was headline growth.
The 2007 financial crisis showed us the
dangers of an economy overly reliant on an unfettered and highly volatile
financial sector.
But Britain is yet to learn that lesson.
Headline growth may have recovered since
the crisis, but the structural weaknesses of Britain’s economy remain.
Our economy continues to be grossly
imbalanced – sectorally, towards the service sector, and geographically,
towards London and the South East.
Productivity and investment are stagnant.
Our balance of payments deficit shows no
sign of shrinking.
And average earnings are not expected to
return to 2008 levels before 2021.
It is completely unacceptable that, 10
years on from the financial crisis, people who played no part in creating it,
are still paying the price.
And the country’s decision to leave the
EU last summer has raised the stakes even more.
When Britain leaves the EU, developing a
new economic model, and a new role for Britain in the world, will be not just
desirable but essential.
The Conservatives have set out their
stall – choosing bombastic rhetoric over a serious strategy for negotiations.
They have picked winners, offering
bespoke deals, whilst leaving most businesses out in the cold.
They insist that no deal is better than a
bad deal.
But businesses I speak to all across the
country know that that is nonsense.
If we crash out of the EU without a deal,
it will destroy what remains of our industrial base, and fire the starting gun
in a race to the bottom on wages and workers’ rights.
Labour’s vision couldn’t be more
different.
We have said repeatedly that we will put
our economy first in Brexit negotiations.
But we will go further.
We will break with the failed economic
policies of the past, define a new relationship between government and the
economy, and rebuild our economy on a better model.
Unlike the
Conservatives, Labour will not shy away from making full use of all available policy
levers, working in partnership with business and trade unions, to rebalance our
economy so that it serves the many, not just the few.
Our
National Transformation Fund, and £250bn of lending by our new National
Investment Bank and network of Regional Development Banks, will transform our
economy and deliver one million good jobs over the course of the Parliament.
Now, Labour’s plan for the economy is
centred around three pillars.
First – national missions to address the
biggest societal issues of our time.
Second – a set of cross cutting policies
to create a fertile ground for business growth.
Third – collaboration and support at a
sectoral level.
Following the work of leading economist, Mariana
Mazzucato, Labour will set national missions to tackle the defining problems of
our age.
To meet these missions, the public sector
will make strategic investments that catalyse private sector innovation.
Our first mission is to ensure that 60
per cent of the UK’s energy will come from low carbon or renewable sources by
2030.
Climate change is, quite simply, the
biggest challenge confronting humanity.
Our ambitious target will spur the kind
of bold and decisive action that has so far been lacking.
It will also help our economy and put us
at the forefront of the emerging global renewable technology market.
For climate change is a
threat, but it is also an opportunity.
Transforming our energy
system and investing in renewable technologies will create good jobs, boost our
exports, and lower the price of energy for everyone.
Britain is home to the greatest
innovative minds of our time. We have led the world in science and technology.
As a child, I marvelled at the
technological advances my region had contributed to Britain when my dad took me
to the museum of science and industry in Manchester. We invented the computer,
we discovered graphene, we led the world in energy, to name but a few, and I was
proud of my rich industrial heritage.
But I don’t want our pride in innovation
consigned to mere school trips to museums.
I want us to write a new chapter for the
history books, where Britain leads the world in science and innovation, where
we lead the next industrial revolution.
Where our sense of pride comes not only
from the greatness of the British people and our history, but also the services
we deliver and the products we manufacture in the future.
An industrial patriotism.
So our second mission is to put Britain
at the forefront of world innovation and to ensure that the products and
services we create are manufactured and delivered here in Britain.
We will create an innovation nation, with
the greatest proportion of high-skilled jobs in the OECD and 3 per cent of our
GDP spent on research and development by 2030.
Innovation is essential to improving our
productivity, which is the best means of raising wages and boosting the
competitiveness of British industry.
The UK has world leading technological
industries and research institutions, but we are lagging behind in terms of
investment in R&D – spending only 1.7 per cent of GDP compared to an OECD
average of 2.4 per cent.
The next Labour Government will
immediately invest £1.3 billion in the first two years of Government, a proven
way to galvanise the private sector into investing much more.
We will establish two new Catapult
Centres – one for retail and one for metals, reflecting the breadth and
diversity of the UK economy.
In setting these missions, we are laying
down the gauntlet to business.
Central government will do its part by
providing the foundations on which they can be met.
We will invest in people, and ensure that
businesses can access the highly skilled workforce they want by setting up our
National Education Service, allowing everyone to upskill and retrain at any
point in life.
We will harness the £200 billion the Government
spends in the private sector each year, to promote responsible businesses.
We will direct public money back into
local economies, so that local pounds create local jobs.
We will take action to reverse the
offshoring, seen in recent decades, by bringing supply chains, and good jobs,
back to the UK.
But we will do so by highlighting and
extending Britain’s strengths, because we know that we can’t win a race to the
bottom on wages and conditions.
Labour will also take action on excessive
energy prices, which put our industries at a disadvantage.
Labour will reverse years of
under-investment in our infrastructure, investing £250 billion over the next
ten years through our National Transformation Fund.
We will introduce a Universal Service
Obligation for superfast broadband, at three times the speed promised by the
Tories, future proofing the UK economy.
We will transform our transport system
across all our regions and nations. Here in Yorkshire, we will deliver
Crossrail for the north to connect the wonderful northern cities.
But it’s not just in terms of public
sector investment that Britain has been falling behind – businesses need help to
invest more too.
That’s why Labour will set up a National
Investment Bank to fill gaps in lending to the private sector, and provide the
patient, long-term finance businesses need to grow and prosper.
Finally, our industrial strategy will
have a strong sectoral element.
As the work of economist Ha-Joon Chang has
shown, the strongest industrial economies in the world – Germany, South Korea,
Japan – got to where they are today because their governments nurtured, and
supported, key sectors as they grew.
A Labour Government will do the same;
breaking with the failed ideologies of the past and learning from the world’s
best, by supporting sectors in which Britain is already a world leader and
cultivating new strengths.
We will set up sector councils for each
strategic sector – modelled on the highly successful Automotive Council – to bring
together government, employers and workers and their trade unions as part of a
new era of economic cooperation.
Through collaborative effort between
Government and industry, Labour will create the winners of the future.
We will make sure that Britain is viewed
by the world as a symbol of innovative and industrial excellence.
We will produce a million high quality,
high-skilled and high paid jobs.
We will deliver economic growth to every
region and every nation.
Quite simply, Labour will build an
economy that works for the many and not the few.