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Conference.
This is it.
And it’s been a long time coming.
For too long now, Scotland has needed a bigger voice in the world.
I say – it’s time.
We have needed a Scot to take on our biggest enemies.
I say – it’s time.
We have longed for the day when our leading man speaks with a Scottish accent.
And I say - it’s time.
But in just a matter of months the wait will be over.
Yes, Conference
Not long now till Peter Capaldi takes over as Doctor Who.
Friends
It is wonderful to be here in Perth.
Here, at Scottish Labour Party Conference.
I want to begin by paying tribute to you, our members and our activists.
Over the past year we have won Scottish Parliament by-elections.
We have taken back council seats.
And we have made our argument across the country.
Conference
It’s because of the hard work you’ve put in.
The commitment that you’ve shown.
That as we gather here today in Perth we can say that the SNP have not won a single council by-election in nearly two and a half years.
These are the polls that matter.
And we’re not going to let the SNP change that any time soon.
Because next Thursday, Conference, Scott Thomson.
Labour’s candidate in Kilmarnock.
Will be out there trying to secure another victory against the SNP.
Conference
We’ve achieved a lot in the past few years.
And I want to thank the staff of this party, our General Secretary Ian Price and his entire team, who work tirelessly day in and day out.
And I want to take this opportunity to welcome our two new MSPs – Cara Hilton and Alex Rowley – who join a great Labour team in the Scottish Parliament.
And let me thank also our Scottish Labour MPs.
Our great deputy leader Anas Sarwar.
My deputies in the Scotland Office team, Gordon Banks and Russell Brown.
And our Scottish whip, Davie Hamilton, who has the great pleasure of keeping me in line.
Conference,
We have seen this year our movement at its best.
We have worked together as a united Labour team.
And we have shown that when we work together as Labour, we win together as Labour.
And leading our charge here in Scotland.
One very special woman.
A woman who I’ve called a friend for over 30 years.
Our leader, Johann Lamont.
The woman who stands up every week to the bluff and bluster of our First Minister.
And consistently comes out on top of the argument.
And if ever a man was qualified to talk about bluff, bluster and bullying, it is Alex Salmond.
And, can I say here, I am very proud of Scotland’s women who – according to every opinion poll – are ahead of Scotland’s men, in seeing right through him.
Conference, we know a chancer when we see one.
And we are not going to trust our jobs, our pensions or our children’s future to a man who makes it up as he goes along.
This is the man who, month after month, claimed to have legal advice on EU membership.
Who went to Court in an effort to conceal the truth, before the big lie finally emerged.
This is the man who glibly asserted that the country he wants to walk out of would share its currency and all the risks that separation would create.
Well, the answer now could not be clearer. It won’t.
And if we couldn’t believe him on that, why should we believe him on anything?
Alex Salmond is like the man coming home with the broken pay packet. Eventually, Conference, even if you want to, you just can’t believe any story he spins.
So let me give you this message today – Scotland is not going to be bluffed, blustered or bullied into agreeing to an outcome which the great majority of us do not want.
The appointed date for the bluff to be called is 18th September and we relish that challenge.
That is Scotland’s day to call Nationalism to account for the divisive, negative and – make no mistake – reactionary force that it is.
THE CHALLENGE AHEAD
Friends
We are 180 days from the referendum.
And Scots have a choice.
To stay or to go?
This isn’t a choice of the next government.
It’s not a choice for the next 5 years.
This is a choice that lasts.
We are being asked to do something that even our parents and grandparents never had to do.
We are making this choice for generations still to come.
And so when our children and grandchildren ask us.
What did you decide?
Will we say that we choose a path that made Scotland’s voice smaller?
Will we have to explain to them why we broke up something that worked?
Or will we be able to tell the story of a confident nation.
That said it was big enough to see that its influence was enhanced, and not diminished, by being part of the UK?
And, conference, when we tell this story to the next generation of the Labour movement.
To the party members, the trade unionists, the activists and the Labour supporters – north and south of the border.
Will we tell them that we failed to fight for sharing, for solidarity, for social justice that benefits us all?
Or will we say with pride that we started from our principles.
And said “by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more together than we achieve alone.”
Not just words in our constitution.
But a truth that guides our way.
Conference
In the next 180 days, we will make the case for Scotland to stay united with Britain.
And we will make this argument as Labour.
We will fight as Labour.
And we will win as Labour.
SCOTLAND’S CHOICE
This is Scotland’s choice.
And today I want to say this to people across Scotland.
If we want a better, fairer Scotland, the way to achieve it is by changing the government – in Edinburgh as much as in Westminster - not by changing the constitution.
Working people and their families in Scotland will gain nothing from turning our backs on people with exactly the same needs and interests in Newcastle and in Cardiff.
Because the problems of energy bills are as much of an issue in Exeter as they are in Edinburgh.
When Ed Miliband talks about ending exploitative zero hours contracts that means as much to a young man in Dalkeith as it does in Doncaster.
And, conference, while we will offer the guarantee of a job to every young person in Scotland, the SNP can’t even offer a guarantee of what is around the corner.
The only thing that the SNP’s plans guarantee is uncertainty in Scotland and permanent Tory government in what is left of the United Kingdom.
Permanent Tory Governments when the whole Nationalist case is based on assumptions about what these Tory governments would agree to for Scotland, after we had walked out.
It does not make sense.
The SNP want to share a currency.
But even they have to admit it would be run in the interests of a country ten times our size without Scotland having a say.
They know that every one of our major employment sectors – from engineering to financial services – are overwhelmingly opposed to independence.
Ninety per cent of the customers for our financial services industry are in England.
The jobs are here in Scotland because we are part of one UK market.
Why would we vote to destroy that?
The Nationalists talk about negativity. But what could be more negative than trying to divide our small island into separate states in the 21st century?
In a world that is crying out for greater unity and for people to come together, why would we set out to create a new division between people who speak the same language and share the same interests?
The Nationalists ask for our positive case.
I say they should look at what we have achieved together.
SCOTLAND’S VOICE AND INFLUENCE IN THE UK
Our voice.
Our reach.
Our ambition.
Has never been contained. And never will be.
We have sent our people, our ideas, and the products of our labour around the world.
We have played our part.
And we have made our mark.
From the enlightenment to the industrial revolution to modern Britain.
Think of what we have achieved together.
The BBC – founded by a Scot.
The Bank of England – founded by a Scot.
And our own Labour Party.
Founded by a Scot – Keir Hardie.
Representing a constituency in Wales.
And working across Britain to change the lives of working people.
An industrial and then a political alliance in Scotland, yes.
But crucially reaching out to create an alliance across Britain too.
To stop a race to the bottom in wages and conditions.
To strengthen the collective voice of Labour.
To organise and influence.
To deliver redistribution.
This is the story of our union.
Founded in the 18th century to secure trade with England on good terms.
Secured in the 19th century as a means to providing liberty and security.
And, in the 20th century, recast as a union of social justice.
Where we in the Labour Party secured and raised common rights for all.
Employment rights.
Free health care at the point of need.
The minimum wage.
And then, at the close of the 20th Century,
Renewing our partnership again.
With a “new voice in the land”.
A Scottish Parliament which strengthened our voice and our place in the Union.
This has always been our vision.
A strong Scotland inside a strong United Kingdom.
Speaking with a loud voice.
And that is what we will carry on.
That is why we supported more powers for the Scottish Parliament in 2012.
And that is why we will support more powers again.
Powers over tax, benefits and getting people back to work that will make a real difference to people’s lives.
These aren’t powers for the sake of it, but powers for a purpose.
Conference, I was proud to be a member of the Scottish Parliament for twelve years.
I have been proud to be part of our Devolution Commission, and to set out the next phase of devolution for Scotland.
And I will be proud to be the Secretary of State for Scotland in the next Labour Government that brings forward a new Scotland Act to make our proposals a reality.
THE DECIET OF NATIONLAISM
Conference, this is the future we want for Scotland.
But where we set out to reform Britain, the Nationalists just want to reject Britain.
Independence is always the answer.
But I say this to you. Nationalism is only a solution when we think the problem always lies outside our borders.
So we don’t hear from the SNP about the inequality that exists within Scotland.
They don’t want to talk about the sick and disabled people who can’t get basic services because of SNP cuts to local government.
They deny the one billion pounds of cuts they’ve made to anti-poverty programmes.
The forty thousand jobs lost in public services.
The lowest house building since the Second World War.
All of these are political choices made by an SNP Government.
And they don’t talk about any of this.
Because they want to use these problems of their own making to justify their grievance.
Conference, this is the deceit of nationalism.
And in the White Paper we saw it writ large.
They searched for an economic case for independence.
And couldn’t find one.
They searched for a social case for independence.
And they couldn’t find one.
They have even searched for a progressive case for independence.
And they couldn’t find one.
That’s because there’s only one case for independence.
And we’ve known the answer all along.
Yes, Conference, it’s the Nationalist case.
But friends, our ideas are bigger than nationalism.
This has always been true.
And the SNP have always been on the wrong side of the debate.
It was true in 1979 when they voted with the Tories, brought down a Labour Government and let Margaret Thatcher walk into Number 10.
It was true in 1997 when Alex Salmond predicted Labour voters would come to the SNP, even in the face of an historic Labour victory.
It was true in 2010, when Salmond told people to vote for Nick Clegg to keep Labour out.
And it is true today when the SNP line up with the Tories to oppose our energy freeze, support tax cuts for big business and refuse to back the 50p tax for the wealthiest.
On every occasion, Conference, not just on the wrong side of the argument, but on the wrong side against the people of Scotland.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SCOTLAND’S CHOICE
Conference, this is why our choice this year is fundamental.
Because the decision we make isn’t just one about whether we stay or go.
It is a choice, here at the outset of the 21st century, between nationalist values and progressive values.
Across Europe, and around the world, people will look to us for a signal of how this century might be defined.
And as we are emerging from a great crisis.
A crisis not just of finance, but of values.
A crisis of values that cut to the heart of our politics.
What we do will matter.
This is our opportunity to make the case for working together.
For solidarity and co-operation.
Celebrating the achievement of the past.
And making the case for the future too.
Bringing change to Scotland and Britain.
Because Alex Salmond knows Scots don’t really want independence.
What they want is a Labour Prime Minister and a Labour Government.
And rest assured, Conference, Alex Salmond know that his biggest threat is Ed Miliband is throwing David Cameron out of number 10.
CONCLUSION
Conference this is our year.
This is our year to show that our Labour values can triumph.
Let’s use this year, and this opportunity, to celebrate Scotland and its people.
This is an unprecedented time.
The Commonwealth Games will bring the world to Glasgow this Summer.
The Edinburgh Festivals celebrate a landmark year.
And the referendum will draw the world’s eyes to our politics.
What will they see?
I want them to see a smart, dynamic, modern nation.
Where our shipbuilding and our oil and gas industries.
Can sit alongside life sciences and our great art and culture.
A nation built on solid foundations.
But constantly able to adapt and change.
A nation full of people who can be passionate and proud in their patriotism.
But who won’t let that create bitterness and division.
Conference,
Let’s send out a message today.
In this year.
When the eyes of the world are on us.
Let us show Scotland at its best
With the Labour values that have taken us to our greatest achievements
The values of
Justice
Solidarity
And equality
And in this year let us fight and win for these values again.
21 March 2014