‘THE CAPITALIST system still faces a crisis of legitimacy stemming from the crash,’ Jeremy Corbyn told the Labour Party Conference in Brighton yesterday.
In a speech lasting nearly one-and-a-half hours, frequently interrupted by lengthy standing ovations, Corbyn declared: ‘Now is the time for the government to take a more active role in restructuring our economy; now is the time that corporate boardrooms must be held accountable for their actions; now is the time for us to develop a new model of economic management to replace the failed dogmas of economic liberalism.’
Pledging that a Labour government will renationalise the public utilities, Corbyn said: ‘Take the water industry – of the nine companies in England, six are now owned by private equity or foreign sovereign wealth funds. Their profits are handed out as dividends to shareholders while the infrastructure crumbles.
‘The companies pay little or nothing in tax and executive pay has soared as the service deteriorates. That is why we are committed to take back our utilities into public ownership to put them to the service of our people and our economy and stop the public being ripped off.’
Tory ‘disdain for the powerless and the poor has made our society more brutal and less caring,’ said Corbyn. Now that degraded regime has a tragic monument, the chilling wreckage of Grenfell Tower, the horrifying fire in which dozens perished, an entirely avoidable human disaster, one which is an indictment not just of decades of failed housing policies and privatisation and the yawning inequality of one of the wealthiest boroughs and cities in the world, it’s also a damning indictment of a whole outlook, which values council tax refunds for the wealthy above decent provision for all and which has contempt for working class communities.
‘Before the fire, the tenants’ group of Grenfell residents had warned, and I quote the words that should haunt all politicians: “The Grenfell Action Group firmly believes that only a catastrophic event will expose the ineptitude and incompetence of our landlord.” Grenfell is not just the result of bad political decisions; it stands for a failed and broken system which Labour must and will replace.’
Corbyn then pledged that a Labour government would adopt a housing policy for the benefit of local people. He said: ‘Families need homes. After Grenfell we must think again about regeneration schemes. Regeneration is a much abused word. Too often what it really means is forced gentrification and social cleansing as private developers move in and tenants and leaseholders are moved out. We are very clear, we will stop the cuts to social security, but we need to go further, as conference decided yesterday.
‘So when councils come forward with proposals for regeneration, we will put down two markers based on one simple principle. Regeneration under a Labour government will be for the benefit of the local people, not private developers, not property speculators. First, people who live on an estate that is to be redeveloped must get a home on the same site and the same terms as before, no social cleansing, no jacking up of rents and no exorbitant ground rents. And secondly, councils will have to win a ballot of existing tenants and leaseholders before any redevelopment can take place. Real regeneration yes, but for the many not the few.’
Ending the public sector pay freeze, Corbyn said, ‘isn’t an act of charity. It is necessary to keep our public services fully staffed and strong. And let’s give real support to end the oppression of the Palestinian people, the 50-year occupation and illegal settlement expansion and move to a genuine two-state solution to Israel-Palestine conflict,’ he said to a sustained standing ovation.
Corbyn had few words to say about the threat to thousands of jobs at Bombardier. Declining to pledge that a Labour government will nationalise the company, he said: ‘If the special relationship means anything it must mean that we can say to Washington that way is the wrong way. And that’s clearly what’s needed in the case of Bombardier, where thousands of jobs are at stake, thousands of jobs at risk.’
