As you know, I’ve been around a time or two. A long time ago, back at the start of the 1980s – yes, that far back – as a teenager, I went to the people’s march for jobs rally in Queen’s Park in Glasgow, near where I grew up.
At a time of high unemployment, factories closing everywhere, hope was in short supply. But in the midst of all of that, people organized themselves to march to say that they wanted the pride and purpose that came with having a job. Now, that march and that aim were in line with Labour’s history.
It is a long time ago, but now many years on. The task for me and for this Labour government is to once again put work at the heart of our mission for the country, because Labour’s mission has always been to match the good society with a strong economy, to give people a chance, not a grievance.
And we who steward that mission today stand on the shoulders of those who made change before us. People who built the NHS, created the welfare state, lifted millions out of poverty.
The twin goals of opportunity and security have run through every Labour Government. 100 years ago, the very first Labour government in office for only a matter of months, made the rules fairer for the unemployed.
The evolving Labour welfare state
Attlee’s government created not just the NHS, but the modern welfare state and national insurance, the principle that people pay in when they can and benefit when they need. Wilson’s government comprehensive education and expanded state pensions, a recognition that opportunity must start in the classroom and security must extend into old age.
And in more recent times, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown reformed the welfare state, brought in tax credits and created the new deal to take people from welfare into work. And with the national minimum wage, they created the greatest anti-poverty measure in modern times, something we should always be proud of.
This is our tradition. These are our values, and this is what we believe in. And none of these governments regarded the welfare state as a museum to be preserved exactly as it was on the day that they took office.
Each one of them changed it to meet the demands of the times, as we must, too, and Labour the party that more than any other, built the welfare state did it not to keep people down, but to be a platform upon which they could rise.
We built the NHS not as a charity, but as a right. Auto-enrolment, because we wanted security in retirement for all workers, and now in this Labour government, we will rebuild work as the foundation for dignity, independence and pride. Because let’s face the truth, the Tories left us a welfare state that was broken, battered, shamed.
They talked about welfare reform, but what did they actually do? They promised to make work pay and then trap families in poverty. They spoke of compassion and sent children to school hungry. They talked about responsibility and left millions on benefits.
That’s not responsibility. It’s not a hand up, and it’s not a system that should just be left as it is. And as we saw last week, reforms welfare policy fell apart before it had even been announced, not so much a policy as a missile aimed at the Tories, but within it, a pledge to turn on people who have come here legally, worked here legally, and paid tax legally well conference, let me tell you breaking your promise to people who have contributed to this country, in some cases, for decades, is not the British way.
‘The opportunity welfare state’
So the right can wage war on one another. Our job is different. Our job is to wage war on the hopelessness and the lack of belief that they left behind, because we believe in a system which has work at its heart and support when times are tough, a Britain which gives security in retirement, the triple lock protected worth up to £1,900 a year more by the end of this Parliament because of the actions of this Labour government.
A Britain where no child should go without food, no disabled person should live without dignity, and no worker should labour without decency. And it’s that which drives us to extend free school meals, to provide new pathways to work and to guarantee a decent living wage.
So, here’s our mission: we will turn this Department of Work and Pensions into something new, not a system that counts the cost of failure, but one that invests in success and protects those who need it most.
And we will give this mission a name, not a dependency welfare state, but the opportunity welfare state.
And opportunity starts with work. The jobs market is changing faster than at any time in living memory. Many of the jobs in it today didn’t even exist 20 years ago, and that pace is only going to increase as AI both creates jobs and replaces old ones, and if we just stand back and let that unfold, we will be failing in our duty to give people hope in a changing world, because the task of leadership is to prepare for the world that’s coming, not just the one that we have today.
And that is why skills is at the heart of our economic plan, and that matters most to those without money or financial means, because this is about equality, too.
Fighting for opportunity ‘is rebellion’
Conference, fighting for opportunity is an act of rebellion against people’s fate being decided by their circumstances.
And I know that some of you quite like about rebellion, so we want apprenticeships that lead to real careers, training, not just once, but throughout life, taking the ambitions that we have as a country to build more homes, strengthen our defenses, ensure clean energy and equip our people to do the jobs, that is how we will make work pay.
That is how we will fire ambition and hope, not only a matter of rights, but of responsibilities and opportunities too.
And no one needs this more than young people today, almost a million of them not in education, employment or training. It’s wrong in human terms, and it’s costly for the nation too, and we will not stand by while a generation is consigned to benefits almost before their lives have begun.
We will never accept that children should graduate from school onto a life on benefits, and we will not allow wasted talent to become Britain’s story.
So, as the chancellor spelled out this morning, Labour will make a new offer: if you are young, you will not be left to drift. You will have a pathway, an apprenticeship, a place in training, or real work experience that leads to a job, a youth guarantee, meaning opportunity is not just for the few, but for all.
And we will bring the help to where young people are, with a doubling of the number of youth hubs throughout the country over the next three years.
A duty to accept help
And with that opportunity comes responsibility. too: to take up the training, the apprenticeship or the work that is offered, and the youth guarantee is how we will offer every young person a chance to get up and get on.
And of course, every person who’s in work who’s no longer on benefits, not only has a better life for themselves, but it’s better for the public purse too.
Our pledge is to pay for better chances in life, rather than just paying people to survive.
Because when young people succeed, Britain succeeds. When working people thrive, Britain thrives. And when work is fair, secure and properly rewarded, then Britain is stronger, too.
This is our tradition, and our task now is to recast it anew. Because let me tell you conference this battle between opportunity and grievance is with us.
It is the fight of our times and the fight that we will wage in the coming years.
So let us be ambitious. Let’s offer hope to those who feel forgotten or who can’t see a clear path to the future. Renew the bond between work and the welfare state, make work the pathway to dignity, security and pride, and in doing that conference together, let us build that opportunity welfare state.
Your thoughts