‘Our big task’

Speaking at the opening of Unite’s national industrial sector conference today (Monday November 18) in Brighton, Unite general secretary Len McCluskey in his keynote speech, delivered  an impassioned rallying call for Labour ahead of next month’s general election.

 
“We’re in the fight of our lives to seize this once in a lifetime opportunity to elect a government that gives working people hope” said Len McCluskey. “That will give our industries a fighting future.

 
“We need to stop a No Deal Brexit, which only a Labour government is pledged to do. We need the Labour victory that will transform our prospects as a country.

 
“Labour is the only party trying to bring the country together on Brexit. Not just half of it, while dismissing the other half, as the Tories and the Liberal Democrats are doing.

“Never has a general election been as unpredictable as this one.

“Our big task now is to ensure that the Labour vote holds. In striving to do that, never has the need been greater to take the debate beyond Brexit, to start dealing with the issues that affect the lives of ordinary people every day.

 
“Johnson made a big speech the other day. He pledged to end inequality and the heartbreak of poverty. We can do that, by ending his dishonest reign.

 
“Whatever he may claim, austerity is not over and never will be as long as the Tories are in power. The damage and destruction they have imposed on our communities has been absolutely devastating.

 
“And so we must drive our message home.

 
“Come home to Labour. When Labour wins we all win. You all win, wherever you work, wherever you live.

 
“Ultimately this election is about trust. Who do we trust to charter our communities out of the troubled waters, to a better future?

 
“Is it Boris Johnson, a man whose privileged upbringing has given him such an arrogant sense of entitlement to rule, and would appear to be prepared to stop at nothing to keep the keys to No 10. Eton’s answer to ‘Del Boy’.

 
“Or is it Jeremy Corbyn, the only leader able and determined to speak for our whole nation, on Brexit as on other issues?

 
“I’ve waited all my life for a Labour leader dedicated to transforming our nation into one that mirrors our values – and where the government serves the people, for the many, not the few.

 
“Jeremy Corbyn is that leader – and the time for a change of government has never been more urgent.”

Unite’s sector conferences continue this week through Wednesday (November 20). Stay tuned on UniteLive for more.