Mandelson: 'We are the underdogs but we can still win'

Monday, September 28, 2009

A Labour government has never been more needed than now, Business Secretary Peter Mandelson told the party conference in Brighton.

"Needed to fight back against the recession," he said. "Needed to build and secure our future economic strength. And needed to ensure we pay down debt in a way that is fair and protects jobs, homes and our frontline public services."

And yet, electorally the party was in the fight of its lives, he warned delegates, and it starts that fight as the underdog. "But if I can come back… we can come back," he said, repeating his claim that he was a fighter, not a quitter.

Then he turned on David Cameron and George Osborne, labelling the latter – who Labour have apparently identified as a Tory weak spot – "Boy George".

"I hope these two can find the humility to acknowledge that at every point Tory policy would not just have put the recovery at risk but have made this recession deeper, longer and far far worse," Mandelson said. "As we get closer to the election, I want to see them and Tory candidates across the country explaining why they wouldn't provide the money to help small businesses and families in this recession when they needed it most. No extra money to boost family incomes. No money for the tax deferment for business and no VAT cut. No additional money to help those who have tragically lost their jobs. No funding for the car scrappage scheme. They got it plain wrong at every step along the way and I say to every Labour member and campaigner across the country: do not let them off the hook."

The Business Secretary said that there were encouraging signs that the economy was picking up but recovery remained fragile and uncertain, especially in manufacturing and the car industry. The car scrappage scheme had been so successful, he claimed, that the money was running out and the industry has asked for more, so it is to be extended to include another 100,000 cars and vans.

Mandelson added: "In support of our car industry too, this government will stand behind Vauxhall workers in Ellesmere Port and Luton where the workforce themselves have been the main driver of change. And the same goes for Jaguar Land Rover too."

Stating that the UK is the world's sixth biggest manufacturer, he said that the country will remain a modern manufacturing nation as long "as I and the government remain in our jobs".

Then, showing a little humility, he went on: "But we do need to accept that, during this time, we have not got everything right. The truth is growth was so strong we started to take it for granted. We nurtured finance – not wrongly, but we should have done more to nurture our other strengths as well. The potential is there in Britain – we know that. In the services sector, the creative sector, the biosciences sector and in hi-tech advanced manufacturing. But to release this potential we need a clear plan for growth and this is my mission."

His mission included no cap on talent, more innovation, and making finance more available to industry by building up new public channels to deliver private funds to innovative and fast growing companies. This meant there would be less financial engineering and a lot more real engineering, he said.

Mandelson said the government had committed three quarters of a billion pounds to new manufacturing innovation in Britain, investing in low carbon cars and aircraft, new digital platforms, plastic electronics, life sciences, industrial biotechnology, wind turbine development and wave power.

He went on: "The Tories say abolish the regional development agencies. We say 'go for growth, let's see what you can do'. This is the industrial activism we need more of in this country and I am determined to provide it. Where are the Tories on all this? When did you last hear David Cameron or George Osborne last say anything about Britain's industrial future?

"The truth is these Tories have nothing to say about an active government economic role because their dogma prevents them. They just don't get it. This failure, I believe, speaks to a wider truth about our opponents. David Cameron has been pursuing a strategy not of real change, but of concealment."

Repeating the right-wing allegations that other Cabinet ministers had included in their speeches, Mandelson said: "The two faces of the Conservative party are increasingly on show. The one they want to present to the public of a revamped Tory party. And the other that betrays the reality of traditional right-wing Conservatism."

"The truth is that the old Tory right that was rejected in 1997 are quietly feeling at home again with David Cameron. At home with his tax plans. At home with the barely disguised glee a new generation of Conservatives is showing at the prospect of deep and savage cuts to public services. And at home with a position on Europe that sees them aligned with extremists and sidelined in Britain's biggest market. That is not change. Its the same old Tory policies."

Following his claim that there was a "chasm" between Labour and the Tories, Mandelson said the choice for voters was "between a Conservative party whose judgements on the credit crunch were wrong, or a party providing leadership in the toughest of times. A choice between a party that lurches to the right the second it sees a chance of doing so, or our party that is resolutely in the progressive centre. A choice between a party that does not understand the new world we live in or even what has happened in the last year, or a Labour Party that knows the world has changed and we have to change with it. Experience and change with Gordon's leadership. Or the shallowness of David Cameron."

Mandelson added: "This election is up for grabs."