{"id":18943,"date":"2019-09-21T16:53:25","date_gmt":"2019-09-21T15:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=18943"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:55:33","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:55:33","slug":"jennie-formby-unite-member-and-labour-general-secretary-gives-a-heartfelt-address-to-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=18943","title":{"rendered":"General election: \u00e2\u20ac\u0098We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re ready for it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Jennie Formby\u00c2\u00a0opened this year’s Labour conference on Saturday September 21 – here’s what she said:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wonderful to be here with you all here in Brighton for what I know is going to be a great Conference so thank you all for coming.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Conference allows Jeremy and our Shadow Cabinet team to showcase our transformative policies which will create a more equal society and a sustainable green economy. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also your opportunity to have your say on the key issues and policies that matter most to you and I know that like me you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re looking forward to some really thought provoking and exciting debates.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been another very busy year for all of us and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve achieved a lot over the past twelve months. But I want to start by saying a few thank yous.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Firstly, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has given me so much support over the last six months. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not quite there yet but the love and solidarity that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve experienced from across our party and our movement has been incredible and I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tell you how much it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been appreciated by me and my family.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And I also want to say a heart-felt thank you to all the incredible nurses, doctors, health care assistants, support workers, theatre staff, lab techs, porters, cleaners, and every other NHS worker who has given me such outstanding care, as they do for so many every day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve saved my life. But we all know our NHS is under existential threat. The predators are circling and the privatisation we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already seen is nothing in comparison to the threat posed by a Johnson-Trump trade deal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In America, my cancer treatment would cost upwards of $100,000 dollars \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s without reconstruction. For far too many unable to afford health insurance, a cancer or other health diagnosis can be a death sentence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But Labour won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let that happen. Not only are we determined to stop what would be a disastrous No Deal Brexit, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve promised that the next Labour government will reverse the privatisation of our NHS and return our health service into expert public control. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something worth fighting for.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And so is our promise to take back into public control our railways, our buses, our mail, our public utilities.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The same goes for all our public services. They should be run for the people, not for profit \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and they will be under a Labour government.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Brilliant staff\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I also want to say a massive thank you to Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brilliant staff. They organise, they train, they support, they build campaigns, they create materials, they research, they develop policy, they encourage members. And, of course, they organise conferences too \u00e2\u20ac\u201c thank you Carol and to all your team for everything you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done to make this happen!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Every day our staff go over and above whatever is asked of them. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re talented and committed and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m incredibly proud to lead such an amazing team.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So what have we been doing over the last twelve months? As Wendy Nichols outlined earlier, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve continued to work on delivering the outcomes of the democracy review. We held a fantastic Women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Conference earlier this year which was an outstanding success with over a thousand women attending.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Our community organising team, working with all our regional organisers, has gone from strength to strength. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve brought thousands of people together in their ground breaking events, delivered some incredible outcomes, politics for the people by the people. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so inspiring and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re making a huge impact in communities across all our regions and nations.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Our regional teams have put on dozens of training events, helping our members and candidates to develop first class skills, giving them the resources they need to build their own campaigns and to be election ready. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve launched the Bernie Grant leadership course and have just seen the first cohort of members graduating from a very diverse range of BAME communities.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve also done more to modernise and streamline our disciplinary processes. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve taken further action on antisemitism, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve published updated statistics on the complaints process and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve given a commitment to do this transparently on a regular basis. We have improved the speed with which we deal with complaints, and strengthened our systems.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098No Place for Antisemitism\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve launched our members\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 booklet and webpage, \u00e2\u20ac\u0098No Place for Antisemitism\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> dealing with this vitally important issue. And we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re working on developing further educational materials to help our members to understand and challenge racism in all its forms wherever it raises its ugly head.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We have the shame of an openly and unrepentant racist Prime Minister, presiding over a Conservative Party with many proven Islamophobes in their numbers, steadfastly refusing to care enough to take any action.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let us off the hook. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re Labour and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re better than that. We always have been and we won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tolerate discrimination of any kind in our party.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And that brings me to unity. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re experiencing a Conservative government that has caused greater divisions in our nations than ever before.\u00c2\u00a0 Having lived through 17 years of Thatcherism, believe me that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quite an achievement.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so important that every one of us in our party, whether members or elected members, focusses one hundred percent on defeating the Tories and their vicious policies that are causing so much damage. We owe it to everyone in Britain who needs a Labour government more than ever before.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We owe it to the countless thousands living in substandard homes or who are living on the streets. To the millions of children living in poverty. To the workers exploited by zero hours or insecure work. To all those people, most of them in employment, forced to turn to foodbanks because they simply can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make ends meet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And above all we owe it to the thousands of sick and disabled people who have died because of austerity. What an absolute disgrace.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We know a general election is coming, and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re ready for it. So my last thank you is to all of you, our incredible members. Thank you for everything you do day in day out, week in week out to get our message across of how a Labour government will rebuild Britain. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re half a million strong and growing. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re the backbone of our movement. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re nothing without you so thank you, each and every one of you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I know with your passion and determination, with our policies to transform Britain, and with the incredible leadership of Jeremy and his team, we can and we will win a Labour government with Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jennie Formby\u00c2\u00a0opened this year’s Labour conference on Saturday September 21 – here’s what she said:   It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wonderful to be here with you all here in Brighton for what I know is going to be a great Conference so thank you all for coming.   Conference allows Jeremy and our Shadow Cabinet team to showcase […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18949,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[360,1111],"wps_subtitle":"Jennie Formby, Unite member and Labour general secretary gives a heartfelt address to conference","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18943"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18943"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25001,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18943\/revisions\/25001"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}