Angela Rayner’s Conference Speech: The Highlights

On Sunday, the 2023 Labour Party Conference started in Liverpool with Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner, giving a speech. Rayner made several commitments in relation to housing, devolution and the living wage.

Rayner on the government’s past 12 months

“They’ve had quite a year since we last met. The Leader who lost to a lettuce. The Chancellor forgot his own tax return and forgot to declare it too. Gavin Williamson, forced to resign because it turned out he was a bully. Who knew? Dominic Raab, also forced to resign as a bully.

“Then there was the Home Secretary, sacked as a threat to national security. The same Home Secretary, reappointed the next week. I think they call that ‘time served’. Apparently, she believes in the rehabilitation of offenders after all.

“Now we have the Prime Minister refusing to hand over his WhatsApp messages. I assume Jacob Rees-Mogg has also refused to hand over his carrier pigeon. Throughout all of it, the Prime Minister simply can’t stand up for the country against his party.”

Rayner on Levelling Up failures

“The Tories also have one singular focus – to desperately cling to power. That’s why their Levelling Up project was dead on arrival. You cannot level up from the top down. The Tories only know how to centralise power and hold wealth where it benefits them.

“It’s under their watch, that the places that once built Britain have been abandoned. Communities crumbling, high streets emptying, crime rising. Streets that were once bursting with pride. Shut down. Boarded up. Denied a brighter future.

“There’s that lingering sense that Britain is broken. Collateral damage from the swing of the Tories’ wrecking ball. For the Conservatives, “growth” isn’t for everyone. It means jobs for the boys. A free ride for vested interests.”

Rayner on devolution

“Growth – under a Labour government – will be in all places for all people. Growth in the hands of the communities and people that built Britain. To once again provide decent work, secure homes and strong communities. To truly level up our country.

“Giving powers to our elected local leaders – the people who know their communities best.

New devolved powers on skills, employment support, transport, and of course, new housing.

This is how Labour will give local people control of their futures. We know this can and will work because the march to devolution of the last Labour Government has been an almighty success.

“Our Mayors, Sadiq, Andy, Steve and Tracy continue to champion locally-controlled transport, delivering cheaper tickets at a time when everything is getting more expensive.”

Rayner on the living wage

“I’m proud that the last Labour government created the national minimum wage. Back then the Tories hated it, they said it would crash the economy. How wrong they were. But so much of Labour’s progress has since been reversed.

“Young adult workers are getting a raw deal when their bills are as high as everyone else’s.

There’s no doubt we need to raise the floor on wages – and build lasting change with a genuine living wage that working people can actually live on.

“We will change the Low Pay Commission’s remit so that the minimum wage will for the first time take account of the cost of living.”

Rayner on social housing

“The Tories look down on people living in social housing. Well I say, let’s stare right back and never be ashamed. We’ll start by salvaging the system that the Tories have taken a sledgehammer to.

“Where the Tories have snatched billions from affordable housing, Labour will unlock government grants to deliver new homes by making the Affordable Homes Programme more flexible so that every penny gets out the door to build the homes people need. And by working with the local leaders – who know their areas best – we’ll use these funds more effectively”.

“Second, we will strengthen the rules to prevent developers from wriggling out of their responsibilities and we will speed up the building of new social and affordable housing. We will do this by reforming the planning system. Elected local leaders will be given the powers they need to stand up to vested interests in building new developments, through a specialist government Take Back Control Unit that will work with them to rebalance the scales.”

Rayner on Labour’s New Deal for Working People

“Labour’s New Deal for Working People is our plan to boost wages, make work more secure and support working people to thrive. We’ll ban zero-hour contracts, end fire and rehire, and give workers basic rights from day one.

“We’ll go further and faster in closing the gender pay gap, make work more family-friendly and tackle sexual harassment. But, we won’t stop there – we’ll ensure that unions can stand up for their members and we will boost collective bargaining, to improve workers’ pay, terms and conditions.

“Make no mistake, this is an agenda that we will deliver hand in hand with the trade union movement. The work has already started but it can only be completed with Labour in power – and as Deputy Prime Minister, I will personally table the legislation implementing our New Deal, within 100 days of taking office.”

Final thought

Angela Rayner certainly didn’t pull any punches in her speech at the 2023 Labour Party Conference. The Tory cabinet took a beating from the Deputy Labour Leader while she was very forthright in her commitments to certain policies should Labour win the next general election.

Most interestingly, she revealed that she would be personally responsible for implementing Labour’s New Deal for Working People within 100 days of taking office which indicates that she does have the full trust of Sir Keir Starmer.