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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Jeremy Corbyn pledges to nationalise failing care homes amid NHS crisis - Politics live

Jeremy Corbyn speaking at the Fabian Society conference.
Jeremy Corbyn speaking at the Fabian Society conference. Photograph: Vickie Flores/REX/Shutterstock

Jeremy Corbyn's speech and Fabian conference - Summary and analysis

Here are the main points from the Fabian conference so far.

  • Jeremy Corbyn has announced that Labour would take care homes that are going bust into public ownership to protect residents. He made the announcement in a keynote speech to the Fabian Society conference in which he said Labour was committed to giving social care “the funding it needs”. His speech did not say how much this proposals might cost, or how it might be funded. (I’ve asked his press officers about this, but so far have not had any reply. I will update later if I get one.) Corbyn’s speech came as Sarah Wollaston, the Conservative MP who chairs the Commons health committee, floated the idea of raising national insurance by 1% to fund social care. (See 10.14am.)

UPDATE: Labour sources are saying that the proposal to take failing care homes into public ownership could be “effectively self-financing”. Some care homes are already paid by the state to lease buildings, and in those cases payments could just continue, a source indicated. In other cases, where care firms own property outright, the buildings could be purchased using money set aside for capital spending. This would be cheaper than building a new home from scratch, the source said. But he also said Labour’s current demand was for the government to find money for the system now by cancelling planned corporation tax cuts and other tax cuts for the rich.

  • Corbyn has said that Labour would offer “a complete break with this rigged system”. (See 8.46am.) His speech used the word “rigged” in relation to the system, the economy or rules etc ten times and it confirms that he is determined to portray himself as an anti-establishment insurgent. According to briefing from his team Corbyn wants to learn some lessons from Donald Trump’s electoral success and this was perhaps evident in the speech where Corbyn made a virtue of taunting one of the newspapers hostile to him, the Daily Telegraph. (See 10.42am.) The speech was one of the most polished and well-crafted he has delivered as Labour leader, something being attributed to the influence of his new speechwriter, the former deputy prime minister’s son David Prescott. Corbyn argued that people voted for Brexit because they felt they were being ignored. (See 10.47am.) Theresa May makes almost exactly the same argument. Ironically on this point May agrees with Corbyn but not her chancellor, Philip Hammond, who uses an interview with this week’s Economist to say that he does not accept the May (and Corbyn) analysis. Here’s an extract from the Economist’s Bagehot column.

In a speech on January 8th [May] argued that the Brexit vote was about much more than EU membership: it was a rejection of “laissez-faire liberalism”. Mr Hammond recognises no such crux: “Where’s the evidence for the assertion that the Brexit vote was saying something about this or that or the other? It was saying something about Britain’s membership of the European Union.”

  • Corbyn said that, if he became prime minister, dealing with the housing crisis would be his top priority. During the Q&A he revealed that he had said this during a visit to a primary schools. “And primary kids got it and applauded straight away,” he said. (See 11.20am.)

You’re quite right. There are small businesses, small shops and others, that would initially struggle to pay the kind of living wage that we would all want in this room. We’re committed to the TUC figure of £10. So I think there has to be a combination of measures to get you into that position, one of which would be to reduce the levels of business rates and taxation on small enterprises and small businesses. But also use public procurement as a leverage towards it. So we are talking to the CBI, the Federation of Small Business and others about this.

  • Jonathan Bartley, the co-leader of the Green party, has been jeered by Labour members for defending his party’s decision to put up a candidate for the Copeland byelection only minutes after saying Labour and the Greens should form an electoral pact. In a panel session Bartley said that if progressive parties like Labour and the Greens cooperate, they could achieve “seismic change” at the election.

Anyone who wants to stop progressive politics dying needs to actively support real democracy and proportional representation and the best route to that is through a progressive agreement of some sort. I know that any sort of progressive pact is not an easy concept for any of us, especially for people like you and me who spend hours banging on doors for a party that we all really believe in. But my plea to people in this room is actually quite simple. Let’s at least explore whether some form of joint working might better deliver us a progressive government in 2020 ...

When it happens, when we find agreement, when we work together, there can be seismic change. Just think back to 1997 when Martin Bell stood against Neil Hamilton in Tatton, a rock-solid safe Tory seat where Neil Hamilton had won 55% of the vote and the other parties withdrew. Martin Bell stood there and overturned that rock-solid majority, and overturned it very significantly. It’s not just marginal seats we could win. We could kick out safe Tory seats. We could have seismic change in this country if we were prepared to put aside our differences, maybe have open primaries, maybe stand aside for one another, maybe involve the community in selecting those candidates.

But it was put to him that the Greens are not adopting this spirit in the Copeland byelection where they have decided they will field a candidate, even though this could increase the chances of Labour losing its small majority. Members of the audience jeered at Bartley over this. He defended his party’s move, saying:

We have a system whereby the local party decides.

That’s all from me for today.

I won’t be covering the afternoon sessions but there is some good coverage on the Fabians’ Twitter feed, @thefabians.

Thanks for the comments.

Updated

Richard Angell, director of Progress, a group on the right of the party seen as Blairite, is speaking in the “uncertain times” session. Earlier he tweeted these about Jeremy Corbyn’s speech.

He also tweeted this about Jonathan Bartley. (See 12.07pm.)

I’ve now nipped into the “uncertain times” session, addressing the question “Is Labour prepared for 2017”.

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, is on the panel.

The Labour MP Rushanara Ali is speaking now in the “metropolitan elite” session. She says Labour sometimes makes the mistake of appearing to take certain voters for granted, like working class voters and ethnic minority voters.

Even in the inner cities Labour can lose if it appears to take people for granted. She says she represents a seat, Bethnal Green and Bow, which was Labour for decades but which Labour lost to George Galloway’s Respect.

She also says she is unhappy about the phrase “metropolitan elite”. Using the phrase sounds like an attack on London, she says.

On immigration, she says she does not have all the answers. But she thinks that Labour must find proposals on immigration rooted in Labour values.

The party also needs to get better at producing ideas, she says. At the moment ideas are being generated by a narrow circle. The party should get better at using ideas from outside bodies, like the Fabian Society.

There are now various break-out sessions taking place. I’ve come to the “metropolitan elite” one, addressing the question “Is Labour for the inner cities?”

Maria Eagle, the former shadow culture secretary, is speaking. She says, if Labour wants to form a government, it has to win seats in rural and suburban areas.

She says before the 2015 election Labour had three policy documents relating to rural areas. She was shadow environment secretary at the time. But she could not get the documents published early enough to ensure that people knew about them.

She says another problem is that Labour’s habit of focusing on key seats has led to it ignoring seats in rural areas. The party has not build up it relevance and visibility in places that are not key seats.

Labour’s Stella Creasy asks how many people in the audience watched the President Obama/Joe Biden “bromance” video clips. “That is what an echo chamber looks like,” she says.

She repeats the point about how quickly the world is changing. We need to prepare for a world in which people have seven jobs over the course of their career, two of which haven’t even been invented yet, she says.

Green co-leader jeered after calling for electoral pact then defending Greens' decision to stand in Copeland

Jonathan Bartley says Labour and other progressive parties could take “rock-solid Tory seats” if they were willing to form an electoral pact.

Members of the audience ask why the Greens are not standing aside in Copeland. Stella Creasy, the Labour MP, also challenges Bartley on this.

Bartley says the Greens have a system that allows local parties to decide whether or not to put up byelection candidates. That provokes jeers from the audience.

The Green party announced yesterday that it was putting up a candidate in Copeland, the byelection triggered by the resignation of the Labour MP Jamie Reed.

Updated

Here is Tim Farron, the Lib Dem leader, responding to Jeremy Corbyn’s speech.

Again Labour have failed to make a commitment to fight to stay in the single market. They have failed to represent the views of the millions who voted to stay in Europe and instead opted to fall in line behind the Conservative Brexit government.

Christian Wolmar, Labour’s candidate in the Richmond Park byelection, has been tweting about his question to Jeremy Corbyn. (See 11.11am and 11.18am.)

Jonathan Bartley, the Green co-leader, says he got into Green politics after confronting David Cameron during the 2010 general election. He was taking his child to a hospital appointment in a wheelchair. A Tory aide saw the wheelchair and asked if Cameron could pose for a picture beside Bartley’s child. Bartley agreed, and then challenged Cameron over inclusive education. The subject dominated the news for a day.

They are taking questions now. The Institute of Ideas’ Claire Fox says she backed Brexit, for the reasons first set out by Tony Benn. She asks the audience to consider that perhaps they might be wrong about the EU. Her argument does not go down well at all. There is a lot of shouting from the audience, with people replying “no” and “rubbish”.

Corbyn's speech - Reaction from the Twitter commentariat

Here is some reaction to the Jeremy Corbyn speech from political journalists and commentators.

From the Sun’s Steve Hawkes

From the Evening Standard’s Kate Proctor

From Business Insider’s Adam Bienkov

From the Mail on Sunday’s Dan Hodges

From ITV’s Paul Brand

From the Independent’s John Rentoul

Paul Mason, the Guardian column, says Brexit has unleashed “a torrent of darkness”. He has had to stop his mother reading what is on his Twitter timeline because it is so vile; for example, people saying there are too many black people in A&E.

He says, if you want an alliance with the Lib Dems, you must understand who they are. They are “Tory-lite”. They want to stay in the EU because they like TTIP, he says.

Claire Fox, director of the Institute of Ideas, says the left are mistaken if they think people voted for Brexit because they were too stupid to see that the leave campaign was lying. It is a mistake for the left to sneer at populism, she says. Progressives should make an effort to understand identity politics, she says.

She says, sadly, it is people on the left who currently assume that “the demos” are not capable of taking decisions for themselves.

Green co-leader Jonathan Bartley urges Labour to consider electoral pact

Jonathan Bartley, the Green party co-leader, says it was good to hear Corbyn talk about listening to primary school. Maybe he watched the Green party political broadcast.

He says progressive politics is not deal. The Green’s membership is more than four times as big as it was five years ago.

And it is not as if the government is succeeding.

We are failing when we should be winning, he says.

He says some people blame Corbyn. That is ridiculous. He says the Greens have their criticisms of Corbyn, but he is not responsible for the failure of progressive politics.

He says he will focus on two problems.

First, progressives have failed to make a persuasive case on the economy. They have failed to understand how people feel.

And, second, people on the left have been too quick to shut down the idea of progressive parties forming alliances.

No one party has a monopoly of wisdom. We are better working together, he says.

He says support for proportional representation is growing. But it will only happen if parties work together.

He says he knows this is hard. But he makes a plea for Labour and the Greens to explore the prospects of a pact before the election.

  • Green party co-leader Jonathan Bartley urges Labour to explore prospects for a pact before the general election.

Panel session - Future Left: Is progressive politics dead?

There is now a plenary session in the main hall with the title, “Future Left: Is progressive politics dead?”

The panel members are: Labour MP Stella Creasy, Jonathan Bartley, the Green party co-leader, Paul Mason, the Guardian columnist (standing in for Owen Jones, who cannot be here), Claire Fox, director of the Institute of Ideas and Andrew Harrop.

Creasy starts. She says politics is becoming increasingly irrelevant to people.

Progressive politics needs an intervention. It is like the frog in boiling water. A frog will jump out if thrown into boiling water, but if it is in warm water, and the heat slowly goes up to boiling point, it will stay in and die. The same could happen to progressive politics, she warns.

She says echo chambers are not just the preserve of the right. And they are not new either, she says.

She says policy must focus on the future. For example, in America a woman has died from a bug resistant to all antibiotics. Policy must address this.

Labour must not be the frog boiling to death, sitting in an echo chamber.

Updated

Q: How will we restore the links between the voluntary sector and privatised public services?

Corbyn says he is worried about good quality services being undercut by private providers paying low wages.

And that’s it. The Q&A is over.

Q: What are your views on the Bank of England’s impact on house prices.

Corbyn says people have a view that property is there for investment. But homes are for living in. We should invest in building homes, he says. And stop councils being forced to sell off good quality homes.

He says he was asked at a primary school what he wanted to do on day one if he became prime minister. Deal with the housing crisis, he says. And the primary kids got it, he says. They want homes when they grow up.

This gets a big round of applause.

Updated

Q: Do you think people like Peter Shore were right saying joining the EEC was a mistake?

Q: Since 65% of Labour supporters backed remain, why are you so keen to take us out of the EU. [This question gets a strong round of applause.]

On Europe, Corbyn says he is talking to fellow European socialist parties. It is important that EU parties fight against racism together.

He says he recognises the result of the referendum. Article 50 will be invoked. But Labour will put a strong case to parliament on the need to maintain market access and the need to maintain labour standards. He does not want the UK to become a low-tax islands.

He says, without migrant workers, many parts of the economy would be in a mess. And universities benefit from the interchange of students.

But totally unscrupulous employers have exploited the system.

He says both parties suffer from this: those who are exploited, and those who lose their jobs.

This contributes to community tensions, he says.

He says anyone who thinks a deregulated economy is a good thing should read the select committee report on Sports Direct.

He does not answer the question about whether joining the EEC was a mistake. (He voted against joining in 1975.)

Updated

Q: I work for a small business, and it can only afford to pay me the minimum wage. How does Labour reconcile the need to help companies like this one with the need to increase the minimum wage?

Corbyn says this is a good point. Some shops and businesses would struggle to pay the minimum wage Labour wants, £10. So there are things you could do. One would be to reduce business rates. Another would be to use public procurement rules.

But he is determined to drive up wage levels, he says. He wants a culture where people are paid a living wage. We have to develop that culture.

He understands the transitional issues. Labour is talking to business about that.

Corbyn's Q&A

Corbyn is now taking questions.

Six people ask questions before Corbyn starts to reply.

Q: I work for a small business, and it can only afford to pay me the minimum wage. How does Labour reconcile the need to help companies like this one with the need to increase the minimum wage?

Q: Do you think people like Peter Shore were right saying joining the EEC was a mistake?

Q: What are your views on the Bank of England’s impact on house prices.

Q: Since 65% of Labour supporters backed remain, why are you so keen to take us out of the EU. [This question gets a strong round of applause.]

Q: How will we restore the links between the voluntary sector and privatised public services?

Q: How will you enforce minimum wage standards?

UPDATE: It was Christian Wolmar, the Labour candidate in the Richmond Park byelection, who asked the question about why Labour is backing Brexit.

Updated

Corbyn ends with his announcement about social care.

Corbyn says May is 'in denial' over NHS funding crisis

Corbyn turns to the NHS.

Jeremy Hunt says there are problems at “one or two hospitals” … the prime minister says there have been “a small number of incidents”.

Contrast that with what the professionals say:

… the BMA says “conditions in hospitals across the country are reaching a dangerous level”

… the Royal College of Nursing said this week that NHS conditions are the worst ever

… And the Royal College of Physicians said that the NHS is “underfunded, under doctored and overstretched”. But the prime minister tells us this morning that the real reason we have a crisis in the NHS is not because her government has slashed billions from social care budgets and underfunded our health service.

No. She’s told her No10 advisors to tell the media the real people to blame are the hard pressed and under pressure GPs.

The BMA has accused the prime minister of scapegoating overstretched GP services and deflecting blame because funding is not keeping up with demand.

This is another example of a prime minister in denial.

A Prime Minister who would much rather listen to spin doctors than real doctors.

Corbyn says Labour is committed to bringing the railways into public ownership.

That’s not ideological … it’s straightforwardly logical.

When Labour took the East Coast line into public ownership, over six years it delivered a better service, improved passenger satisfaction … and gave £1 billion in profit back to the taxpayer!

And he turns to housing.

The next Labour Government will give people a fair chance … by putting decent, affordable homes at the heart of our programme for the country.

We’ll build thousands more genuinely affordable homes to rent and buy … give renters a new charter of rights … end rough sleeping … and help young people on ordinary incomes to buy a home of their own.

And we’ll also end the ridiculous restriction on local authorities’ ability to build the council homes local people need.

This last proposal also gets a round of applause.

Corbyn turns to pay, one of the subjects of his big speech on Tuesday. (There is a summary of his proposals here.)

As I highlighted earlier this week … the average pay of a FTSE 100 chief executive has rocketed to £5 million … more than 130 times more than the average UK worker.

That’s not only grossly unfair … it also underlines a serious economic problem.

Britain needs the many to have better pay … not least because that means more money to spend with businesses, which grows the economy … Growth means more tax receipts for the exchequer, which means more money for our NHS.

People know that the wealth isn’t trickling down, it’s flooding up … Curbing excessive pay would be a benefit for everyone.

Corbyn says business leaders increasingly support some of Labour’s ideas.

Many businesspeople and entrepreneurs are increasingly realising … that Labour has something to say to them as well … that the rigged system and a government that stands by … is letting them down too.

The CBI has continually warned against the cliff edge of a chaotic Brexit … Sadly, the government’s Brexiteers seem to be following the advice of lemmings.

So it is Labour that’s fighting for tariff-free access to the single market for firms to trade … with our biggest trading partners … in the interests ofbusinesses, workers and our economy.

But the CBI and Labour also have common ground on other issues … from rebalancing growth and investment across the UK … to fast-tracking infrastructure spending … to building the crucial transport and digital links to maximize our country’s potential.

Corbyn says he is hosting a summit of European socialist leaders shortly. And he has invited the director general of the CBI, Carolyn Fairbairn, to attend too, he says. He says she’s coming.

Labour wants more devolution, he says.

My colleague Jon Trickett – a proud Yorkshireman if ever there was one – talked yesterday about the need for more powers for the North of England … We both believe that a people’s convention on how a federal Britain could work is something that is overdue.

Hopefully the Fabians will be a trailblazer for this devolution revolution … by holding its next New Year’s Conference somewhere outside North London.

The idea of holding the conference outside London next year also gets a round of applause.

Corbyn says Labour councils are in the vanguard of innovation.

From the 19th century onwards, local authorities pioneered welfare provision to reduce poverty. …They rid their towns of slum housing, built new homes, parks, hospitals, museums and libraries, swimming pools and playing fields … They reduced inequality and improved the lives of many.

In the face of a government that cuts and neglects … Labour councils today are finding that pioneering spirit once again.

… Brent Council became the first in the country to offer business rates discounts … as an incentive for local firms to pay the ‘living wage’ … boosting living standards for low paid workers.

… Hull City Council not only successfully campaigned to get Siemens to build Greenport … to develop a new generation of wind turbines and create 1,000 local jobs … They also won the chance to become the new UK City of Culture, delivering £30m of increased investment.

… And Nottingham City Council became the first authority to set up its own energy supply company … to challenge the ‘Big Six’ by offering low cost energy … Literally giving power to the people!

He says Labour can learn a lot from councils like this.

Corbyn turns to immigration.

But just as no community should be left behind … no community should be scapegoated either … The shocking rise in racist attacks post-Brexit shames us all.

As politicians we have a responsibility to cool our language … Words have consequences and the language used by some in the referendum campaign gave a green light to hatred.

Migrants come here to work … tens of thousands of them keep our National Health Service going.

The passage gets two rounds of applause (after the “racist attacks” sentence, and after the one about migrant workers in the NHS). This is the most enthusiastic response he has had from the audience so far.

Corbyn sets out Labour’s Brexit demands.

Labour will push to maintain full access to the European single market … to protect living standards and jobs.

But we will also press to repatriate powers from Brussels … for the British government to develop a genuine industrial and regional strategy … essentialto invest in our economy so that no community is left behind.

Corbyn says way Britain is run is 'lop-sided, unbalanced and unfair'

Corbyn turns to regional inequalities.

Tory misrule has not only created a postcode lottery in health … but in jobs and economic prosperity as well.

Since 2010, only 2% of new jobs have been created in the North East.

By 2021, the amount spent every year per person on transport infrastructure … will reach £1,900 in London … In the North East it will be less than £300.

And you’ve only to look to our second chamber, the House of Lords… to see how skewed it is to the South … Nearly half of all peers making decisions for our nations and regions … are based in London and the South East … Just 5% are from the North West.

The way this country is run is lop-sided, unbalanced and unfair.

Corbyn says people voted for Brexit because they felt ignored

Corbyn turns to the lessons to be learnt from Brexit.

So is it really a surprise … that when people were offered the chance to ‘make their country great again’ … or to ‘take back control’ … that many voted for it?

For some, it was their first chance to exercise a bit of real power … and say what they thought about asystem stacked against them.

In the US, the Democratic favourite lost the presidency … to a reality TV star.

In the UK, a prime minister and his chancellor were seen off by a slogan on a bus.

But the Leave and Trump campaigns succeeded … because they both recognised the system was broken …and the people weren’t being listened to.

Recognising that your car won’t start, however, is one thing.

Knowing how to fix it is another.

Updated

Corbyn mocks one of David Cameron’s slogan.

The Conservatives promised to fix the roof while the sun was shining.

… Instead they’ve carried on fixing the system for an elite few at the top and ignoring the needs of the roof.

Corbyn criticises the government for cutting tax for the “super rich” while not giving more money to the NHS.

Right now, they’ve rigged the rules to suit themselves … The super-rich few have benefited from tax break after tax break under this government.

Cuts to capital gains tax … to inheritance tax … ditching the 50p rate … slashing corporation tax … reducing the levy on the banks.

But remember … they couldn’t find a penny for the NHS or social care … in their autumn statement.

That’s why week after week … at prime minister’s questions … I’ve been challenging Theresa May over the crisis in the NHS and social care.

Corbyn says Labour would do things differently.

Labour under my leadership stands for a complete break with this rigged system.

… We will hand back wealth and control to people and communities.

… We will put the public back into our economy … and break the grip of vested interests.

… We will shrink the gap in income and wealth … and build a more equal society.

… We will make sure the corporations and the richest pay their fair share of taxes.

… We will end the race to the bottom in the jobs market and guarantee education and employment rights for all.

… We will build the homes people need and invest in a 21st century economy that leaves nobody and no community behind.

Corbyn says what he is about to say next might anger the Daily Telegraph. And Chris Grayling, the transport secretary. But he is going to say it anyway.

I would rather stand on a picket line for a safely staffed railway … than stand with the fat cat rail bosses … charging rail passengers an arm and a leg … the most expensive fares in Europe for a second rate service.

Corbyn goes into more detail about how the system is “rigged” against ordinary people.

We are not a poor country … together we create immense wealth … but the rules of today’s race-to-the-bottom jobs market rig the system for the few … while millions of the rest of us carry the can.

None of that delivers a good deal for consumers either … because those same workers get fleeced as consumers too … simply for wanting a home or trying to get to work.

Hundreds of thousands of people live in a house which was built by the council … but which is now owned by a private landlord … who makes a fortune from housing benefit … charging rents higher than the council ever charged.

People are fed up with getting ever higher energy bills … from energy companies that raked in record profits again … and handed out inflation-busting pay deals to their pocket-stuffing executives … but nothing of the kind to their regular staff.

Corbyn turns to working conditions for the young.

For a generation of young people … job security means nothing … it’s a relic of a distant age … They work through a temp agency … or on a zero hours contract … not knowing whether they’re working from one day to the next … or what they’re earning from one week to the next.

The stress, insecurity and misery this brings with it … who benefits exactly? … Only those employers who can squeeze a bit more profit out of workers with fewer hours … lower pay and fewer rights.

Corbyn starts now with the passage I quoted earlier about wanting “a complete break with this rigged system”. (See 8.46am.)

Corbyn starts by saying the Fabians backed a minimum wage in 1906. The Labour government eventually introduced it at the end of the century, he says. So Fabian gradualism can work.

Jeremy Corbyn's speech

Jeremy Corbyn is coming onto the stage now. He gets a warm round of applause.

Ernst Stetter, secretary general of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies, is speaking now. He says it is “inconceivable” that EU leaders would let the UK stay in the single market without accepting free movement of people.

He says the European project has been a joint enterprise. He says it has brought many progressive benefits to Europe, not least securing peace.

He says Europe must not revert to nationalism and protectionism. That did not help in the past and will not help in the future, he says.

“Ugly forces” at at work, trying to destroy these successes, he says. And not just in the US; in Europe too. He mentions the terror attack in Germany, his home country, and says attacks like this are undermining people’s faith in politics.

Kate Green, the Labour MP and Fabian Society chair, is speaking now.

She says the Fabians celebrated their 133rd birthday recently.

Harrop says the Fabians have today published a report setting out the progressive principles that should apply to the Brexit negotiations. It identifies six. Here they are.

PRINCIPLE ONE: Retain the benefits of the Single Market and commit to a transitional arrangement

PRINCIPLE TWO: Reform free movement while making the positive case for migration

PRINCIPLE THREE: Expand the UK’s role and influence on the world stage, and maintain the crime and justice cooperation that keeps Britain safe

PRINCIPLE FOUR: Defend rights and protections and prevent a race to the bottom

PRINCIPLE FIVE: Build a new political economy that works for everyone in our country

PRINCIPLE SIX: Win the consent of parliament and involve elected representatives from across the nations and regions

Andrew Harrop, the Fabian Society general secretary, is opening the conference.

He lists the many things that have changed since last year’s Fabian Society new year conference.

But we still have a “divided Labour party”, he says.

He refers to the report he published recently arguing that Labour cannot win. The party must prove those gloomy predictions wrong, he says.

Tory health committee chair Sarah Wollaston proposes 1% national insurance increase to fund social care

Since we’re on the subject of social care (see 8.46am), it is worth flagging up what Sarah Wollaston, the Conservative MP and former GP who chairs the Commons home affairs committee, is saying on the subject in an interview in the Times today (paywall).

Like Jeremy Corbyn, she wants to improve funding for social care. But she is also proposing how it could be done. This is what she told the Times.

Already, she warns, care blackspots are developing in parts of the country — including her constituency of Totnes — because providers cannot afford to maintain a service with the money they receive from the local authority. “These packages are now underfunded. More and more people can’t get care at all in some rural areas.” Many care homes are already teetering financially. “If you are a nursing home and you are providing care for people with very complex needs such as dementia, the costs are much greater but the increase in the reimbursement doesn’t meet the extra cost. It’s not a social care pound or health pound, it should be a patient pound and taxpayer pound.”

There is, in her view, a fundamental unfairness that those with conditions requiring social care such as Alzheimer’s have to pay while other illnesses including cancer are fully funded by the state. “At the moment who pays is a lottery, one in ten end up losing everything. If you are worried your house is going to catch fire, you don’t save up for it catching fire but you buy insurance.”

Dr Wollaston believes the government should consider raising national insurance by 1 per cent — she is attracted by the idea of introducing a social care levy for the over-40s to increase fairness between the generations. Means-testing the benefits paid to older people, such as the winter fuel allowance, would be another way of raising funds. The prime minister should set up a cross-party group of MPs to make recommendations, she says. “The public need to have the facts laid out for them in a calm way without the brouhaha of politics, then we need to have political parties agree and sign up.”

The Labour MP Frank Field has also proposed a 1% increase in national insurance, although he is saying the money should go to the NHS. We don’t know what Corbyn thinks about a 1% national insurance increase, but he is opposed to means-testing benefits for wealthy pensioners.

Here we are.

The Fabian Conference is at Friends House, a large venue owned by the Quakers opposite Euston station in London. The main events are taking place in a room called The Light and that’s where I am now. There are probably around 300 people here and the room is still filling up.

I’m told they are running a bit late, and Jeremy Corbyn is not expected to start his speech until about 10.30am.

Jeremy Corbyn promises 'complete break with this rigged system'

This week Jeremy Corbyn has engaged in something of a relaunch. Any speech in January given by a leader who is behind in the polls tends to be described as a “relaunch”, but in this case there is a deliberate attempt to recalibrate the way he presents himself, best explained in this Politico Europe article. Essentially Corbyn plans to stir things up a bit more, stressing his credentials as an anti-establishment insurgent.

Newspapers love relaunch stories because they always pave the way for the follow-up, “Relaunch flops”, and Corbyn’s week hasn’t been universally acclaimed as a success. In some accounts he has been strongly criticised for muddling his message on free movement and maximum pay caps. But other assessments, like this one and this one, have been more positive. At least the media have been talking about Labour and its policies to curb excessive pay.

And relaunch week isn’t even over. Corbyn is giving a keynote speech to the Fabian Society conference this morning and it will include an eye-catching policy announcement - a commitment to take care homes into public ownership if they are risk of going bust. Labour released some details overnight, and here is the Guardian’s preview story.

But the speech doesn’t just cover social care. Other extracts released overnight make it clear that Corbyn is going to launch a sweeping attack on the economic system works, promising a “complete break with this rigged system”.

Last year’s global political earthquake didn’t just come out of the blue.

There are many of us who had felt the tremors growing for years.

The people who run Britain have been taking our country for a ride.

They’ve stitched up our political system to protect the powerful.

They’ve put the country at risk by taking us into disastrous foreign wars.

They’ve rigged the economy and business rules to line the pockets of their friends.

They’ve slashed taxes on the richest - £70bn from now till 2022 - and cut pay and vital services for the rest.

They’ve sold off our country’s assets and handed over public services to be milked by tax dodgers.

They’ve piled up debt while failing to invest in the jobs and industries of the future.

The truth is the system simply doesn’t work for the vast majority of people.

Labour under my leadership stands for a complete break with this rigged system.

The point about this is that it is as much an attack on New Labour as it is on the Conservatives.

Here is the timetable for the morning.

10am: Kate Green, the Labour MP and Fabian Society chair, and Andrew Harrop, the Fabian Society general secretary, open the conference.

10.10am: Jeremy Corbyn delivers his speech.

11am: Plenary session entitled “Future Left: Is Progressive politics dead?”, with Labour MP Stella Creasy, Jonathan Bartley, the Green party co-leader, Owen Jones, the Guardian columnist, Claire Fox, director of the Institute of Ideas and Andrew Harrop.

12.15pm: Five breakout sessions, on various topics, with contributors including Jonathan Ashworth, Kate Green, Maria Eagle, Rushanara Ali, Dawn Butler, Margaret Hodge and Bridget Phillipson.

The conference does run into the afternoon, but I will probably be wrapping up around 2pm.

I’m just on my way to the conference now. I will post again after 9.30am.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time. Alternatively you could post a question to me on Twitter.

Updated

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