Angela Rayner's speech to the Convention of the North

Thank you, Leeds.

When I was passing over the M62 this morning, I went past that farmhouse stuck in the middle of the motorway that you’ll all have seen before.

The story goes that the stubborn farmer wouldn't move and instead the motorway was built around him.

Refusing to move or get with the times - sounds a bit like our Prime Minister!

But seriously, what a setting we have here today.

This entire area around Leeds dock and the South Bank is an absolute success story, made possible by committed Councillors and a Mayor who is a genuine champion of this City.

And it’s not just Tracy, James and Tom - it’s because of Judith and all those who came before them too.

It’s still not a patch on Manchester of course, but you’d expect me to say that!

And what you have achieved here in Leeds is all the more incredible…

Because it is against a backdrop of national decline, inflicted on us all by the Tories.

A government that crashed the economy and expect the North to pay for it.

Now I want to start today with a story - and don’t worry, it won’t be a history lesson about the ‘theologies of devolution’.

Michael covered that bit of fiction.  

Anyway - back to the story - picture the scene.

A baby boy is born.

Lined up by his parents for Eton, or Harrow or Winchester.

Then PPE at Oxford - just like his Dad.

He grew up being told that there’s no barrier in his way…

Which is true.

Lawyers, bankers, politicians - all friends of the family.

A network he could use to his advantage.

When he walks into the Houses of Parliament he feels no imposter syndrome.

Only the feeling that he is home. He is exactly where he should be.

He doesn’t struggle to make his voice heard.

No hesitation to steal a well-made point and call it his own.

Remind you of anyone?

On the other side of the country, a girl grows up on a council estate.

In a family that doesn't have enough to get by.

Told that her future starts and ends on the estate she calls home.

Told that no one listens to people like her…

And told that politicians are there to do things to us, not for us.

She is overlooked, undervalued, underestimated.

For too many young people growing in Britain today, this is the reality.

But it’s not written in stone - I got into politics to be a voice for the underestimated…

And that’s what I’ll be if I’m our Deputy Prime Minister.

A Deputy Prime Minister for the overlooked, undervalued, underestimated.

A Deputy Prime Minister for the North.

Because in Tory Britain today, where you are born has too much say over where you end up.

You’ll all have heard before that across the Pennines people in Blackpool have a life expectancy of 10 years less than those in Westminster.

But it’s not enough for politicians to say how shocked they are and then move on.

Let’s ask ourselves why that is.

Why are you more likely to live a shorter life depending on where you were born?

Why are you more likely to get a better education depending on where your parents are from?

For me, it comes down to a fundamental injustice in the way our country is run.

Those who put the graft in, don’t always get the rewards.

The North gets less than what it puts in.

We’ve always been the engine that fuels our economy.

But over the last decade, the government just hasn’t matched our ambition…

Hasn’t given northern towns and cities the tools or opportunity to live up to their best potential.

Well, that changes under Labour.

Because, no matter what the Tories say now - and Michael, it was a great speech - we have heard it all before.

Levelling up.

Take Back Control.

Get Brexit Done.

Brexit means Brexit.

Stop the Boats.

Build Back Better.

Strong and Stable - remember that one?

Britain Deserves Better - that one I can certainly agree!

But these are just three word slogans

Empty promises

Broken as quickly as they were made.

Well let me say this to Michael.

Name drop Boris as much as you like.

He didn’t invent Levelling Up.

Here in the North we’ve been doing it for long before any of you noticed.

And now we’re reclaiming it - because the Tories haven’t delivered a thing.

I remember Michael’s earliest speeches on this, when he quoted Engels…

..or when Boris would talk about the French at Trafalgar, or Osborne went on about the Northern Powerhouse.

They never followed through - they never delivered.

All talk, and nothing to show for it.

The North was made with Victorian graft…

Great architects and engineers are rightly remembered.

But we know it was the workers of the North who built the places we call home with their own hands.

It was the Dockers in Liverpool, cotton spinners of Manchester, and the steelworkers of Teesside that built this land and make us proud of where we’re from.

And under a Labour government, it will be the bricklayers and the bus drivers - but also the businesses and the tech engineers that level up the North and give us our renaissance.

But the difference this time around - what sets us apart from those who came before us - is that those workers - and the North as a whole - will have a voice.

And you won’t just have the Mayors and council leaders at the table…

Ministers in every department will be tasked with bringing local voices into the discussion at the heart of government.

And I’ll be Deputy Prime Minister for the North, representing your views at every stage.

What this means is that those who grow the economy, feel the benefits.

The North will be in control of its own destiny.

And what I will say is I do genuinely welcome a lot of what Michael said today.

I’m glad he’s bringing forward these new powers.

But he is fighting against his own Prime Minister for every inch.

If you listened carefully to his speech, you’ll have heard he’s already had to backtrack by saying Yorkshire mayors won’t get single settlement powers yet.

He promised a power-surge, but frankly, this Government has run out of juice.

As Tracy says - it’s about deeds not words.

And that’s what you get with us.

Keir and I are in lockstep when it comes to our determination to deliver a bold devolution agenda…

We have form when it comes to delivering on this.

Labour is the party of devolution; we created the Mayoral model, the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Senedd and Northern Ireland Assembly.

The Tories’ sluggish patchwork approach to devolution just hasn’t kept up with the ambition that people have for their places.

Labour will go further and faster.

No more waiting in line…

But a new starting principle of moving power out of Westminster

Including new departmental style funding settlements for housing investment..

And giving mayors more control of strategic planning in their areas.

But it doesn’t end there.

With Bridget Phillipson in education, Louise Haigh in transport, and Jonny Reynolds in business, Labour will have Northerners fighting for where they’re from…

Fighting for what the North deserves - and fighting for the country as a whole.

If you want a job done properly, put a Northerner in charge.

And I use the word fight because fight is exactly what we’ll all have to do.

If people stand on their doorsteps today and look out on where they live…

And ask themselves - is my town, or my city, a better place to grow up than it was 14 years ago?

Are our streets any safer?

Is our high street as busy, as tidy as it was in 2010?

Do we have better opportunities than we did back then? Are there better jobs? Is it easier, quicker or cheaper to get into town?

How many can truly say - yes.

And just look around at the impact that the Tory chaos on HS2 has had right here in Leeds.

The redesigning of the city centre to make way for the new line - only for the Prime Minister to cancel it on a whim.

Billions spent by the government on preparing, planning, promising.

Consecutive Prime Ministers pledging this flagship railway would level up the country.

And then Rishi caves in and scraps it.

He announced it wouldn’t go to Manchester… from a stage in Manchester.

You couldn’t make it up!

The great rail betrayal.

Delivered at the scene of the crime.

And then a so-called Network North that doesn’t increase capacity at Leeds Station… now not just the busiest but the most congested in the North.

So next time Rishi Sunak gets in his helicopter and promises your city a new tram network - my message is, don’t believe a word of it.

Because until there are spades in the ground, I know I won’t.

And I say that because on HS2, deep-down, I think we all saw it coming.

Just take the housing crisis as another example.

Whatever happened to the idea that every generation will have it better than the last?

I’ll tell you what happened - the Tories have been too scared to stand up to vested interests.

Just look at the news last week on renters’ rights.

Michael himself promised that they were finally going to end no-fault evictions…

And then it turns out Tory MPs have been colluding in WhatsApp groups to kick it into the long grass.

Again, I’m sure we all saw it coming.

Because Rishi’s not just scared of his own shadow, he’s scared of his own backbenchers’ shadows too.

And it’s that same attitude which means we don’t have the houses where we need them - and the ones we do have are falling apart.

Acres of brownfield and grey-belt land - often absolute eye-sores - going to waste.

That ‘s why my promise to local leaders today is that we will work with you to get the North building.

And I don’t just mean houses.

From my department, we will give Northern leaders the tools they need to turbocharge growth.

Our Take Back Control Act will give metro mayors in Greater Manchester, Liverpool, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and elsewhere access to integrated funding…

And new powers over skills, buses, housing, planning and more to boost local growth - where they need it, when they need it.

As welcome as today’s commitments might be, it will be my ambition to go further and faster.

And that is not my only ambition.

I will not rest until Labour delivers our New Deal for Working People.

We will make work pay across the North.

That means new rules to improve pay and conditions across the country.

We will abolish zero hours contracts.

End fire and rehire.

And boost conditions in adult social care with a Fair Pay Agreement.

Our plans will particularly benefit workers in the everyday economy, which makes up more than two thirds of jobs in the North East and Yorkshire and the Humber.

And we won’t stop there.

The North is essential to our plans to make Britain a clean energy superpower.

That’s why Ed Miliband is drawing up plans to take back control of Britain’s energy with a Local Power Plan to unleash thousands of clean energy projects that will cut bills for millions of families.  

Our Green Prosperity Plan will deliver industrial decarbonisation in Merseyside, Teesside and the Humber…

Create investment in the North West and North Wales renewable cluster…

Upgrade ports in the North East…

And protect thousands of good, clean steel jobs in Sheffield, Scunthorpe and Rotherham.

Our plans will lead to more than 130,000 new jobs in the North alone.

On transport, Louise Haigh will deliver integrated, publicly owned rail for the North.

Unlike this government, we will always take transport - including railways - seriously.

Building connectivity from Liverpool to Hull and across the North.

Labour will bring our railways into public ownership when their contracts expire.

Creating an integrated system based on the interests of local communities.

And Labour will get the North building.

Local leaders across the North are leading the way on housebuilding.

Not least in Leeds and Manchester.

But national planning policy is holding us back and councils don’t have the support they need to deliver affordable and social housing.

That’s why Labour will unblock the planning system to get shovels in the ground for new houses and infrastructure.

We will build 1.5 million houses across the country…

And most importantly - the biggest wave in affordable, social and council homes for a generation.

This is all part of Keir’s five missions for government.

Not a plan built on catchy slogans or empty promises.

But a plan built on clear, measurable goals, to end short term sticking-plaster politics and get Britain its future back.

It means a complete renewal of how national government works.

But what I will say to you is this…

The north isn't the only part of the country that needs levelling up.

Things aren’t getting better for anyone - and yes that includes down South.

You won’t meet anyone who’s more of a proud Northerner than me - and I know that the way we get the best for the North is to work with the rest of the country on the problems we share.

We are the Party for everyone, and for everywhere.

And central to that, is breaking the link of where you come from, determining where you end up.

But we know we’ve got a challenge on our hands, because the Tories haven’t just strengthened that link.

They’ve Gold-plated it.

And when I talked earlier about the girls from council estates who are left behind and forgotten - I want you to know that giving them control over the future is what gets me out of bed in the morning.

Because many years ago - that girl was me.

And it was only through the minimum wage, a council house and a sure start at the end of our own road that gave me the opportunities to make my life what it is today.

Well I’ve got a message for the Tories who want to take those things away.

Don’t underestimate the North,.

Don’t underestimate our towns, our cities and our families.

And don’t dare underestimate me.

Because this is personal,

I will be a champion for every last family - in every house and home from the Tyne to the Mersey and back again.

Labour will rebuild the foundations of British life that the Tories have taken a wrecking ball to.

Us Northerners stand on the shoulders of giants -

Of Barbara Castle and John Prescott

Of Harold Wilson and Mo Mowlam.

I am asking to be your Deputy Prime Minister, of the North, and for the North.

And I do so as part of a political tradition that dates back centuries.

A tradition of Northerners who are proud of the place they call home - and will fight to the bitter end for its future.

Thank you.