Emma Bishton’s Conference Diary
– Emma was Labour’s parliamentary candidate for South Suffolk at the general election and a long-time party activist and campaigner in the constituency.
Sunday with Angela Rayner, Andy Burnham and Feargal Sharkey
Conference is busy – and buzzing! I’ve been to Annual Conference before but this is the first time I’ve attended as a CLP delegate entitled to vote on the motions being debated. Simon Whitney, our CLP chair, is here as a visitor and we were both in the hall to hear Angela Rayner give the headline speech this morning. She is a hugely persuasive speaker, always energetic and impassioned about what drives her but also relatable and witty. I was really moved when she described the necessity of her role in government being to deliver on good homes, secure jobs and strong communities. She reminded us of what is being done already in her department – the Employment Rights bill will come to parliament in October, for instance. She’s a very popular and inspiring figure in the party and we gave her a standing ovation both when she came to the podium, and when she finished speaking.
Conference can feel a bit baffling at times just because of the sheer volume of people and activity, and the processes to be followed as a delegate. But some people are old hands at it, not least David Evans, the outgoing General Secretary of the Labour Party, who was today attending his 39th Annual Conference! He gave his last speech in that role and, later, our new General Secretary, Hollie Ridley, whose position was ratified in our vote this afternoon, gave her first.
There are masses of exhibitors and campaign stalls at conference and a wide range of fringe events. It’s a bit like being in a campaign sweet shop and it can be hard to choose between equally interesting events! Plus, of course, there’s the opportunity to meet other Labour members and some of the new MPs. It was great to chat in the breaks this afternoon with two of our four new Labour MPs in Suffolk, Jenny Ridell Carpenter in Suffolk Coastal and Peter Prinsley in Bury St Edmunds & Stowmarket.
I’m a member of Labour’s environment campaign group, SERA, so this afternoon I went first to a fringe SERA event on fixing pollution in our rivers and coastal waters. This was led by Fergal Sharkey (SERA chair) and Emma Hardy MP – the new ‘minister for wet things’ as she has apparently been described! Like so many people I have heard speak in the last two days alone, she is impressively on top of her brief. Her evident enthusiasm for tackling water pollution and flooding, and Fergal’s energy and drive to ensure that water companies and the regulator are finally held to account, made for an unexpectedly hopeful event. Trust in our water companies – or rather the lack of it – was one of the themes at this event.
The need to rebuild trust in politics was also a key theme at the next fringe event that Simon and I attended: a debate about the need for Labour to introduce Proportional Representation. I am a member of the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform (LCER) and our CLP has long supported PR. Our conversations during the general election campaign really reinforced that view but it isn’t currently party policy. Usefully, the speakers at this session included an amazingly succinct and coherent explanation by Professor Rob Ford of exactly why, despite the huge electoral success we enjoyed on July 4th, we urgently need a change in the voting system. Andy Burnham – a powerfully engaging speaker on any subject but here with the added zeal of a convert to the need to change our voting system – followed this with a clear speech about the need for PR and wider democratic reforms. He ended with a call to government to carry out a review of the First Past the Post system within this parliamentary term.
Simon and I finished the day by attending a SERA reception – complete with vegan snacks. Rousing speeches from Feargal Sharkey, Liam Robinson (the leader of Liverpool city council) and Dale Vince (the founder of Ecotricity) were a great way to end an inspiring and refreshing day.