News from Labour Matters

Ministers meet in the Midlands

The Prime Minister and the rest of the Cabinet have travelled to Birmingham for the first of Gordon Brown’s regional Cabinet meetings. It’s the first time that the Cabinet has met outside of London for more than eighty years and is part of a Government initiative to demonstrate that the Government is listening to the whole country.

In the morning ministers visited organisations and groups involved in manufacturing, healthcare, community policing and employment and skills. Later they will hold an engagement event, including a Q&A session, with members of the public.

In what is thought to be part of a theme leading up to the Labour Party conference, the Prime Minister has promised to provide leadership by “squaring up to hard truths, being open with the British people about the choices we face, and making tough decisions,” suggesting that ministers will forge “a new deal for this new world” based on the fundamental principle of fairness.

“Our task, as a party, as a government, now is to ensure that our country and all of our people make the most of these opportunities and are protected against the risks that accompany radical change,” the Prime Minister says.

“Meeting this challenge will not be easy and it will not happen overnight. There are no easy or quick answers. It requires leadership, squaring up to hard truths, being open with the British people about the choices we face, and making tough decisions on priorities for public spending.

“I do not underestimate these challenges but I believe that Britain’s future is bright. We will bring resolution to the task and determination to build, brick by brick, the foundations for success in this new world.”

The state of the economy will be top of the agenda at today’s Cabinet meeting in Birmingham. The PM and Chancellor Alistair Darling will join Business Secretary John Hutton to launch a £150 million programme to support low-carbon industry, which Mr Hutton believes could help generate one million “green collar” jobs in the UK. There will also later today be an announcement of a new £75 million scheme to help jobless parents pay for childcare while they undertake skills training.

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