I’m not in Brighton this week, so I’ve decided to put the conference to the ‘breaking through’ test that I called for in last week’s column. What’s the impact of the conference on people who aren’t there and probably didn’t even know it’s happening? In one sense, I can never really do this properly as my newspaper reading, my Twitter feed and my TV watching will all be heavily skewed towards the conference news.
But, as I write this on Sunday evening, these are the issues and announcements which have caught my interest out of the general conference hubbub.
First, I noticed that Ed’s been talking about immigration again. I’m impressed with the way that he is developing an approach to immigration which recognises the benefits, but also mitigates the impacts. Of course, I would be keen on this as it’s an argument I made as home secretary and have been writing about since this piece in Progress magazine in September 2011 outlining a ‘something for something’ approach to immigration where employers who take on workers from outside the EU have to provide training places for UK workers.
Second, I heard that Labour will get rid of the ‘bedroom tax’. This housing benefit cut has caused considerable suffering for those losing out. As we learned this week, over 50,000 families have been forced into debt by the fall in their income. Furthermore, because of the shortage of houses, it hasn’t even delivered the impact that the government suggested they wanted with people moving into smaller homes and freeing up larger homes for others. This government’s welfare policy is an object lesson in the challenge of delivery. It’s not enough to announce popular reforms if you can’t make them work.
This policy promise is the one which Labour activists on my Twitter feed have been most enthusiastic about. While I support it, I would just give a note of caution. Most people are not affected by this policy and most people still support the government’s stated welfare reform aims. This policy promise is right, but it’s not an election-winner.
Third, I had mixed feelings about the announcement on wraparound childcare for all primary pupils. This is exactly the right policy, which is why we did it when we were in government. It makes sense to use schools to help deliver our childcare plans – the buildings are already there so marginal costs are minimised; parents don’t need to shift children from one place to another before and after school. But in promising this for the next Labour government, we need some analysis of why the last government’s programme has disappeared. In 2010, 99 per cent of schools were providing extended school days, but many of these activities have now been cut. It’s partly because the money Labour made available for extended schools has been scrapped by this government. Money is a necessary but not sufficient condition to make this work. While I can understand Rachel Reeves saying that this policy will not require new money, many school governors and headteachers facing real pressures on their budgets at the moment will not welcome this policy with the enthusiasm we will need them to show to deliver it when we get into government. But I also suspect it is a good case study of what needs to happen to make policy stick. I’m glad that Progress is hosting an event on this at conference, because one thing we learn from the disappearing provision is that, while money and top-down direction can deliver this type of provision, it won’t really stick unless there’s a fundamental change in the culture of schools in delivering it and in the expectation and involvement of parents and others that it will exist.
Finally, I learned that Damian McBride is willing to admit to some pretty vile practices while a government adviser. The Labour politicians, their advisers and the activists who are in Brighton this week don’t deserve to be cast in the dirty light shed by McBride’s memoirs, but they will be.
So the test for the rest of the week is a leader’s speech which provides the guiding theme for some good policy announcements made so far and the chance for Labour to show that politics is actually carried out by decent people willing to devote considerable time and energy to making the lives of British people better. I know that’s what’s happening in Brighton – I hope others will see it too.
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Jacqui Smith is former home secretary, writes the Monday Politics column for Progress, and tweets @smithjj62