Speaking at Labour Party Conference
Reporting from the afternoon of day 2 at Labour Party Conference 2018
The main business yesterday was Social Security and Skills including Early Years, Education and Skills Policy Commission Annual Report, the Work, Pensions and Equality Commission Annual Report, along with:
- Contemporary Composite 3 – in-work poverty; and
- Contemporary Composite 4 – Schools System.
We were very disappointed that our motion on Universal Credit did not receive enough votes to be debated. We decided that the in-work poverty motion offered an opportunity to talk about the issues addressed in our UC motion. Heavily encouraged by the rest of the delegation, I took the opportunity to make my maiden Conference speech on this issue.
I have been to Conference on a number of occasions previously (once as a delegate) and utterly failed to attract the attention of the Chair and thus never able to speak in a debate. Previous etiquette on how to get seen by the Chair often involved waving colourful inflatables, can-canning on chairs and disco dancing ridiculously right up at the front! This culture of extreme non-disabled exhibitionism was a barrier to aspiring speakers who were unable to do any of those things. Disabled delegates in particular were excluded from taking part in Conference debates.
Happily, the Conference Arrangements Committee (they, who must be obeyed) decided to level the playing field this year. Disabled delegates who wanted to speak could be supported by an Access Steward, who would stand behind them, attracting the attention of the Chair. When the Chair saw an Access Steward gesticulating, this meant that a disabled person wanted to speak and they would be called.
I spent a considerable part of the afternoon being loomed over by an Access Steward, helping me to indicate that I wanted to speak. And in the end, I was successfully called!
Speaking at Conference is really quite daunting. Though not able to see Conference delegates arrayed in hundreds of rows in front of me, I could certainly hear them, and could feel the lights and what seemed like the eyes of the world on me. Conference is televised in real time and can be accessed on some form of catch-up, so my maiden contribution has been captured for posterity. Celia, our delegation leader, was also filming it on her phone.
The bulk of the afternoon was spent in delegates either speaking about education or in-work poverty. Many touched on inequalities in education, with a number of speakers relating their experience as disabled school students, who were on the autistic spectrum. Other contributions were heard from disabled people talking about the effect on them of Universal Credit and other draconian benefit regimes. The afternoon was remarkable in the numbers of disabled people (roughly half) taking part in the debate on both topics, many supported by Access Stewards to indicate they wished to speak. For the first time in my memory at Conference, disabled people were heard contributing to the policy debate, instead of only being heard complaining about exclusion.
The afternoon was topped and tailed by excellent contributions from Richard Leonard, Leader of the Scottish Labour Party, Richard Corbett, MEP and most notably Angela Raynor, the Shadow Secretary of State for Education, on the national education service, full inclusion in education for disabled and Special Educational Needs students, the ending of Academies and the support for teachers and teaching assistants to decent wages, conditions and respect. Haringey has a particularly proud record of inclusive education.
Haringey Labour is also committed to actively campaigning around Universal Credit. The in-work poverty motion committed the party to campaigning against Universal Credit and a more positive social security system.
You can find out more about our manifesto and what’s going on in Hornsey and Wood Green on our new website, Twitter, and Facebook.
