I was worried the morning would be boring; the topics were International and the Economy; but it was brilliant. Very inspiring. Many issues were covered for International – safety, adapting to change, global situation and of course Brexit.
There were calls to be aware of perils regarding Brexit including free marketeers. The 48% who voted remain should not be silenced and we should advocate an outward looking UK. There was also a call for patriotism to mean more than jingoistic populist polices and that we should be demanding debate and discussion around Brexit and that we must protect workers rights many of which were hard fought for.
We cannot let the Tories dismiss them as red tape and waste. Subsidies for deprived areas which we received from the EU are protected til 2020 but what then. There was a demand to treat refugees with respect and Emily Thornberry stated that peace would never be achieved by dropping bombs.
Len McClusky of Unite said that we need a better policy that laissez-faire – one where wealth and prosperity was redistributable.
John McDonnell’s speech on the economy was electrifying- he promised a socialist economy – with a minimum living wage which would be at least £10 an hour. He promised to abolish tax evasion and avoidance and monitoring of tax havens.
It was a speech of hope. He said that in Liverpool the birthplace of John Lennon perhaps we could ‘imagine’ a fairer economy.
