I thought this speech was very good and well delivered. I think it was over one hour long with numerous interruptions from genuine standing ovations. How on earth can he memorise it all? I can't even remember a 3 minutes speech!
It projected him as a potential Prime Minster and national leader “who will not only stand up for the weak but also stand up to powerful”.
He is making a obvious play towards the self employed and those on low wages by stressing how disillusioned many people are who work hard but still find it impossible to make ends meet. "They used to say 'a rising tide lifts all boats'. Now the rising tide just seems to lift yachts." Not much detail.
He rightly hammered home that you can only trust Labour with the NHS and that the Party will have to rescue it again from the Tories mishandling when we return to power.
He made an excellent point about the Tories received £25 million from Hedge funds and surprise, surprise Hedge funds receive a £145 million tax break. He might have said "trade unions are the cleanest money in British politics" - but he didn't.
Not really sure why he kept using the term "we are Britain" rather than we are "British"?
A welcome commitment to build 200k new homes a year and "use the land or lose the land" threat to builders and speculators who are sitting on large land banks. Not sure how he will do this? Nationalisation? Compulsory purchase? Tax?
Beforehand we were wondering what new policies he would announce during the speech. We agreed that they would be headline grabbing but not cost very much to a future government. The votes for 16 and 17 year olds and the welcome freeze on energy prices met those tests.
The Scottish Nationalists will not like the example he used of a Liverpool hospital caring for a patient from Glasgow as a reason why we are "better together" but I think it is a fair point and I’m glad that we are finally making the case for devolution and the United Kingdom.
Overall, I thought he is looking more like a credible Prime Minister than Cameron and now the election is getting nearer he can come out with policies that will make the difference between Labour and the Conservative clearer and give people positive reasons to vote for us.
Overall, I thought he is looking more like a credible Prime Minister than Cameron and now the election is getting nearer he can come out with policies that will make the difference between Labour and the Conservative clearer and give people positive reasons to vote for us.
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