Ed Miliband comes to campus

On Saturday, November 12 the Labour Party held their West Midlands Regional conference 2011 at the University of Warwick, with Ed Miliband in attendance as the keynote speaker.

The conference, held in the Ramphal building, focused on employment and economic policy, with Labour launching a five-point plan for jobs and growth in the West Midlands.

The plan included: the creation of 8,500 jobs for young people; the building of 1,900 new homes in the region; a temporary reversal of this year’s VAT rise; cutting VAT on home improvements to 5 per cent for one year; and giving up to 170,000 small firms a tax break to encourage them to take on extra workers and to bring forward investment projects in the area.

The conference speakers argued that the current Government is out of touch with the economic reality of the West Midlands. Those in attendance argued that the Conservatives had cut too far and too fast, as well as failing to focus on areas such as Coventry and Leamington Spa.

Ed Miliband was not available for comment, but several shadow cabinet members spoke to the _Boar_ about the content of the conference and their hopes for university students over the upcoming years.

Tom Watson, Deputy Chair of the Labour Party, said: “One of the key issues today is that of the new £9,000 fees and growing barriers to higher education.”

He also expressed his support for the recent student protest in London: “I thought it was great that there wasn’t a repeat of what happened at the previous occasion, when a tiny minority of violent protestors distracted from what was a really great and important protest.”

Liam Byrne, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions referred to Labour students as a key part of Labour’s campaign to persuade the government to change its course.

Reaction to the content of the conference was positive amongst student attendees, particularly members of Warwick Labour. The Vice-President of Warwick Labour, James Entwistle-Wilkinson, argued that the conference “demonstrates that Labour is communicating with local elements in the West Midlands, and is reconnecting with its base – including students – at a time when the Tories seem to be abandoning theirs. It’s an essential step on the road back to government.”

The conference for the West Midlands Liberal Democrats was held on 5 November in Birmingham, while the Conservative Party held their Women’s Organisation Conference in Birmingham on 4 November.

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**Geoffrey Robinson, MP for Coventry North West**
_Q: How do you believe the conference has gone so far?_
A: There’s growing optimism that the party is moving along the right lines on policy, and increasingly the government is getting into trouble because it has got completely the wrong policy; we believe that we will now begin to build the basis of winning the next election. I back Ed Miliband as Labour leader 100 per cent, and believe he can lead us to victory.

_Q: Do you believe that protests such as that last Wednesday still have a role to play in national politics, and that they still have a chance of effecting change?_
A: Protests and marches are an essential part of a free society, and I 100 per cent support the objectives of the fees protests, and hope that they continue.

**Tom Watson MP, Deputy Chair of the Labour Party**
_Q: How do you think the conference is going?_
A: I think it’s great that the Labour Party decided to situate its conference on the campus of one of the best universities in the country. The process of winning the next election starts here, as regional parties coordinate with the national party to provide a policy basis for the rest of the parliament.

_Q: Have any student issues been discussed?_
A: One of the key issues of today is that with the new £9,000 fees and growing barriers to higher education. I believe that it is absolutely right that fees protests such as that on Wednesday continue. I thought it was great that there wasn’t a repeat of what happened at the previous occasion, when a tiny minority of violent protestors distracted from what was a really great and important protest.

_Q: Do you believe that we will see more revelations over the next couple of years about the role of phone-hacking and such other unethical practices within News Corporation?_
A: Yeah I think we’re only half-way through this scandal. The company seems incapable of coming clean about the revelations. It seems to be that will take civil cases and parliamentary inquiries to incrementally expose what is going on. I think that the next scandal will concern computer and e-mail hacking, and will easily be as widespread as that of phone hacking.

**Liam Byrne MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions**
_Q: Do you support the upcoming industrial actions? Is there an official perspective on the planned strikes on the 30 November?_
A: We’re still hoping that this can be resolved by talks, since talks are better than strikes, but there’s got be give and take on both sides. We are worried about what would be a three per cent tax rise for public service employees because the risk is that they will pull out of their pension schemes, then those pension schemes collapse, and then you’ve just got another generation of pensioners who are in poverty, and the credit pension bill just goes up. Pension schemes were invented to help people save for the long term, the risk is now that those pension schemes break up, so that’s not sensible politics, and it’s not sensible policy.

_Q: Why do you believe that so many pension schemes are being targeted by the government?_
A: I think they’re out of touch, and I think it’s as simple as that. They want to have a divisive row with public service unions, and it’s another example of how we’re not all in this together.

_Q: We’re in the West Midlands. If this is a Government that only seems to focus its energy on one square mile in London, do you think that the areas like these can become Labour heartlands with the right strategy?_
A: Yeah I think they can, but you win votes by having the right ideas for the future, not trading on past successes, people want to know what you’re going to do for them next, and that’s why policy review is so important. It’s meant that we’ve spent the last year getting back in touch with people and what they’re worried about, and the next step over the next year and a half is to start developing specific ideas that we think will make a difference for our country. The Five Point Plan for Jobs and Growth that we’re launching now is a good example of that. What we’ve said about energy companies and tuition fees are good examples of ideas that have come through from the policy review now.

_Q: What does Labour demand from Labour students in the coming years?_
A: Labour students are part of Labour’s national campaign to persuade the government to change its course, there isn’t an election tomorrow but the government can change policy now and stop cutting so fast, and act decisively to get jobs and growth back, and that’s why it’s our responsible as the opposition to provide an alternative, and now Labour students have to be part of a team in getting the message across to the public.

_Q: Are you optimistic about the Party’s chances over the next few years?_
A: I am, I think there’s real anger and disappointment that the government isn’t doing the right thing now, and crucially, people do think long-term and they can see the government is setting us on course to become a low-pay economy that is not fit to fight against the rising economic powers on the world stage.

**Harriet Harman MP, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party**
_Q: How do you think the conference has gone so far?_
A: It seems to be absolutely buzzing and it’s packed, and it’s a great venue for us, as people can come from all around the West Midlands, so we always get a very good welcome here.

_Q: In your speech you argued that the Coalition’s austerity drive is affecting women much more than men. What do the Labour Party offer women?_
A: If you look at what we did when we were in government, we really built up childcare services, we helped with the cost of childcare, we doubled maternity pay and leave, and we took action on domestic violence and strengthened the laws on equal pay. The trouble is that this government is pushing back on our victories. We’re seeing the Sure Start centres being cut, Number 10 policy gurus suggesting that they cut maternity pay and leave, and with the cuts in the police, there will be fewer resources available to deal with issues such as domestic violence. What we want to do is to carry on with our progress, as although we had made progress, we had not achieved equality, and now they’re starting to turn the clock back.