News from The Labour Party

Alistair Darling: “History will show we were right and they were wrong”

Alistair Darling MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, speaking to Labour Party Conference today, said:

This may well be the last time I’ll make a speech from this platform.

I am not sure who is more relieved.

You who have been forced to listen to me over the last few years.

Or me, who has gone through the anxiety of preparing year after year for these moments.

Forget Budgets, PBRs, the Lord Mayor’s Banquet or even the Trade Union Congress.

This has always been one of the hardest speeches to give.

For at its heart, there is a tension.

Between what I know you as a party would like to hear – and what I know I have to say.

I’m sure I would have enjoyed a stint as Conference Darling.

But as Vince Cable will find out, in the long-run, it is better to resist the urge to go for easy applause.

As a keen ballroom fan he should know that even the niftiest dancer can’t face both ways at once.

To hear him talk you’d think that one day he was in Government, the next day out of it.

It’s political Hokey-Cokey.

So I am truly delighted to say that preparing today’s speech was a good deal easier.

Not because I am now stepping down from the front-bench after the privilege you have given me of 13 years in the Cabinet.

But because, before saying a few words about our future, I want to talk about some things I know you want to hear.

First, about the fact that in Ed Miliband we have a new leader with the determination, the ability, and the commitment to win back the trust and support we need from the people of this country.

He knows what needs to be done.

It’s our job to get on and do it, together.

And secondly, about the pride we should take in what we have achieved.

Pride in the way we changed Britain for the better, in ways big and small.

And pride as well in how we stopped the worst financial crisis for over 60 years becoming another Great Depression.

Because that’s what the Tories and Liberals conveniently forget as they try to con the country into believing the deficit is a result of extravagant spending or reckless decisions.

It wasn’t.

The deficit is the result of the banking crisis – and the economic crisis that followed it.

It is why every other country in the developed world is facing higher borrowing.

Yes we did take decisive action to stop businesses closing, people losing their homes and thousands more being thrown out of work.

And, without this action, borrowing would not have been lower in the long-run but higher.

Of course there was another choice.

We could have sat back and done nothing, letting people sink or swim.

If we had listened to the same Tories who now decry our record, that’s exactly what would have happened.

When Northern Rock first ran into trouble, the Tories said let the market take its course and let the bank fail.

When we intervened to support the wider banking system, the Tories opposed us.

We understood that if the banks failed, it wouldn’t have been the bankers who paid the price.

It would be the businesses who used them, the jobs they supported, the millions who used their services to save or to borrow.

And, as I said at the time, we will get every penny of taxpayer’s money back.

We’ll do more than that. But you can be sure you won’t hear the Tories admit this.

And let me pay tribute here to the leadership of Gordon Brown.

Had Gordon not been in the driving seat at the G20 conference in London, we would not have seen the co-ordinated international effort to stop the global crisis turning into catastrophe.

It is a real tragedy that the momentum that we built in the G20 has now virtually collapsed. The new Government has to accept its share of the blame for that.

As the impact of this crisis infected the real economy, we also took the decision to step in to help families and businesses.

Again the Conservatives opposed.

History will show we were right and they were wrong.

Even though the global crisis led to an economic contraction much more severe than the Tory recessions of the 80s and early 90s, unemployment and repossessions remained far lower.

Our judgement was proved right. Our approach worked.

These were extraordinary times. The like of which I really hope no one has to live through again.

Decisions that would normally take months were made in hours.

And none of us involved knew for sure what was going to happen.

We hoped, but truthfully we did not know.

But we acted because we, in our party, believe that we have a role in protecting people and creating opportunities.

A role which individuals by themselves cannot fulfil.

That’s the real Big Society – in action.

The Tories don’t share this view.

They believe Government is always the problem, never the solution.

And that’s what’s driving their approach now.

The cuts they are making are the same old right-wing ideology dressed up as necessity.

Their approach is dishonest.

To hear them speak, you might conclude it was the Labour Government’s investment in new hospitals and schools which somehow brought the US and global economy to the brink of disaster.

Borrowing has soared, here as around the world, as a result of the economic collapse.

Tax receipts fell as companies’ profits fell, and people spent less money in shops.

And yes spending rose, because we chose to support the economy while the private sector was weak.

But that’s why people stayed in their jobs. It’s why people stayed in their homes.

And as for the Liberal Democrats, they went within a week from saying Tory plans for spending cuts were an unjustifiable risk, to claiming they were the only way forward.

No matter how many times they try to justify their extraordinary change of mind, it doesn’t wash.

But for the avoidance of doubt, and for their benefit, I’ll say it again.

Borrowing was less, not more, than we forecast.

Growth was stronger than we thought.

Britain was never going to go the way of Greece.

I know that, you know that, and so should they.

The Liberals are doing nothing to soften the Tory stance.

They are window-dressing – selling this Tory Government to the country.

You and I also know that we cannot ignore the deficit. That would be as foolish as standing back and doing nothing when the crisis hit.

We had in place tough plans to halve borrowing within four years.

But don’t let anyone tell you there is no difference between us and the Coalition Government.

We never have been, and never will be, the same.

The Tories are using the need to reduce borrowing as a way of dismantling the support millions depend on.

This is not new politics. It is very old politics.

And the approach they have chosen – and it is a choice – is a huge gamble with growth and jobs.

For ideological reasons, they are putting at serious risk the recovery we worked so hard to bring about.

We have to expose the gamble they’re taking.

Our approach is measured – and balanced.

What we did over the last two years has worked.

That’s why our economy is growing, why borrowing is coming down.

To abandon that balanced approach, as the Tories and Liberals are doing, will put tens of thousands of jobs at risk, and hit the living standards of millions of families.

As Ed said on Saturday, if we set out a credible plan, with conviction and confidence, we can win back the trust and support we lost in May.

I’ve seen this party in power and, for too long, in opposition.

We all came into politics to make a difference. And you do that in Government, not out.

We know what we need to do. And we should have the confidence to get out and do it.

We need to stay in the centre ground of British politics.

We must be credible and confident to regain the people’s trust.

And with Ed as leader we will do that.

We should be proud of our record in Government.

Proud of public services transformed.

Proud of the minimum wage – fairness entrenched.

Proud of support for pensioners – securing dignity in old age.

Proud of the children lifted out of poverty.

Proud of constitutional reform and civil partnerships.

Proud to have saved hundreds of thousands of jobs when the country was on the edge of depression.

So let’s be clear what we stand for, for what we believe.

It is a privilege to belong to the Labour party and be part of a Labour government.

Let’s be proud of the changes we’ve made.

Let’s look to the future with confidence.

Thank you.

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