When people say to me: ‘you’re just like the Tories’, I challenge them to look in detail at our legislative plans for the coming year. It is an exciting package of measures, rooted in Labour’s values of fairness, equality and social justice. Only a Labour government would put at the heart of its programme a package of measures to ensure that your life chances are not determined by the circumstances of your birth.
Take child trust funds - opposed by both Tories and Liberals - a Labour policy to ensure that every child has an asset by the time they reach adulthood. Labour isn’t willing to leave children’s opportunities to the lottery of birth. So all babies born after 1 September 2002 will receive a nest egg to give each child some of the chances in life that the well-off take for granted.
And only a Labour government would want to extend the opportunity to access higher education - an opportunity that some are able to take for granted. That is why we will bring back grants, defer upfront fees and ensure that no one has to pay the cost of their course back until they are earning a decent wage. It is a system that will be free at the point of access, and fair at the point of repayment. The Tories say they will fund universities by cutting the numbers going to university by 250,000.
And the Liberals say they will fund universities by a new top-rate tax: yet they also plan tens of billions of other spending commitments from that same small pot of money. Only Labour wants to ensure a decently funded university system, accessible and affordable by all.
And only a Labour government would put the protection of occupational pensions at the centrepiece of its legislative plans. I’ve seen the devastating effects on workers who have paid into a pension fund all their working life, seeing their company go bust and being robbed of their pensions. In the future, we will ensure a pension protection fund secures pensions in the event of a company going under. We will also make it easier for companies to set up schemes, and enable individuals to plan with greater certainty for their retirement.
So, Labour will change laws in the next year to extend opportunity for all - from birth, through education and into working life and retirement - because we are on the side of the many, not the few.
Labour also knows that too many people in our society face inequality. It is our commitment to social justice for all that drives us to legislate to enable same-sex couples to gain legal recognition for their partnerships: and equality under many areas of the law will come with that recognition. And despite the protection that we have delivered under the Disability Discrimination Act, we will now go further and extend that protection to an additional seven million jobs and widen the definition of disability - because Labour believes that disability should be no bar to full access to work and discrimination must end.
And because Labour believes in rights at work, we will extend information and consultation rights to end the scandal of workers learning that they have lost their jobs by text message. We will also strengthen protection for workers dismissed while on a lawful strike and enable tougher enforcement of the minimum wage. The Tories would never improve workers’ rights - unions and employees suffered eighteen years of their attacks. The Liberals opposed this year’s increase in the minimum wage and want to axe the Department for Trade and Industry, which enforces these rights.
Labour’s legislative plans for the next year will also include firm steps to protect vulnerable children and crack down on abuse, including setting up a children’s commissioner, an independent person to champion children’s views. We will also tackle the scourge of domestic violence, which, shockingly, claims the lives of two women every week and accounts for one quarter of violent crime. We will ensure that in future the law is put firmly on the side of the victim. And because Labour believes in a fair asylum and immigration system, we will bring in a simpler appeal process while reaffirming our commitment to offer refuge for those genuinely fleeing persecution.
And only a Labour government would be committed to improving the day-to-day lives of those in our communities. The next year will see changes in the law to improve the housing system, tackle bad landlords and make it easier to buy and sell homes; provide for better management of traffic and road works to tackle congestion; and improve protection of the environment by promoting greener energy and tackling our nuclear liabilities.
The Tories will no doubt oppose the next steps of our radical programme of constitutional reform, including our plans to create a supreme court, which will replace the law Lords in the House of Lords as the highest court in the land, abolish the post of lord chancellor and guarantee and increase the independence of the judiciary. They will also oppose our plans to honour our manifesto pledge to remove the rights of the remaining 92 hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords. This will not be the final stage of reform, and we will seek to secure consensus as we move forward, but I know all in the party will support the long-overdue end of the hereditary principle.
So, the dividing lines between our Labour government and the Tories and Liberals are clear in this packed legislative programme. As we advance towards the prospect of a historic third term, it is vital that the whole party unites in getting out these key messages to our communities. Because, as a party committed to extending opportunities to all throughout their lives; a party committed to social justice and equality for all; a party committed to creating safe and secure communities and improving people’s day-to-day quality of life; in all these ways, this is a true Labour government - and one that couldn’t be more different from the alternative that will be put before the country by the Tories and Liberals at the next election.