Nandy: “Housing isn’t a market. It’s a fundamental human right”

Below is the full text of the speech delivered to the Labour Party conference by Shadow Levelling Up Secretary Lisa Nandy in Liverpool today.

Conference. Comrades. Friends. We meet today in one of the country’s historic northern cities. Where, at the water’s edge, so much of modern Britain was shaped. Dockers who looked outwards to the world to build Britain’s wealth through difficult, often dangerous work and fought the longest battle for dignity, respect and fair reward in the history of Britain.

Those were the struggles that formed the backdrop to my childhood. I grew up not far from here with a Tory government that waged war on its own people. Brought up by my mum when the Tories were attacking single mums. With an Indian dad when they said Britain was being swamped by immigrants. They came for us, they came for our jobs and they came for our community. But we stood together, we fought together and we won together.

Now they’re at it again. So when your boss earns £3.5m and gives themself a 32% pay rise – and you ask for a below inflation rise – you’re the one to blame for inflation. And when you keep our country moving during a pandemic and then they cut your pay, threaten your job and refuse to get round the table to discuss it – you’re the one who’s militant. Conference, this country’s problem isn’t militant workers. It’s a militant government.

This is Tory Britain, where the foundations of a decent secure life have been slowly eroded leaving us with an economy we work hard for every day – but doesn’t work for us. Where the contribution of most people and most places has been written off. So in towns across the country, too many young people, have to get out to get on. Taking with them the spending power that once sustained our high streets, banks, buses and post offices. People are left to grow old hundreds of miles from children and grandchildren. And our cities are plagued by soaring housing costs, air pollution and strain on public services.

Now Liz Truss says her government will grow our economy by turning the North into Singapore-on-Sea. So they can stash their wealth in our towns and cities, pushing up the cost of housing and dodging tax. Slashing taxes for big corporations so the rest of us can grind for a living in an Amazon warehouse. Handing £55,000 to millionaires while people can’t afford to pay their rent, feed their kids and heat their homes. More money for millionaires than the whole North of England. In the words of Liz Truss – That. Is. A. Disgrace.

Conference. It’s time to stand up and fight again. Not just to see off the Tories. But to build the country I’ve believed in all my life – where everyone can contribute and everyone has a stake in our future.

It will be about the real wealth creators – the women and men who work in our shops, who drive our buses, who deliver our mail, who produce our food, who care for our families and teach our children – who make sure we have what we need to live every day of our lives. To those people, we say you are the foundation of our economy.

We believe that when people have a stake in the outcome, they work harder, they try longer, they think more creatively and they do more. The people of our country are our great untapped asset. Labour will tilt the balance of power back in their favour.

In the first 100 days, we will end fire and rehire, repeal the 2016 anti-trade union Act and raise wages for the lowest paid. And we’ll usher in a great rebalancing of power, with wealth, security and opportunity spread across the whole country.

They say you can power a modern economy using only a handful of people in a handful of places in one small corner of the country. We say that’s like trying to fly a jet on one engine. This country doesn’t belong to a few of them, it belongs to all of us.

So we will invest to bring clean energy jobs to the industrial and coastal towns across Britain, so that young people in places that were once the engines of Britain can power us through the next century like their parents and grandparents powered us through the last. The road to net zero is paved with a million good jobs, and we’ll bring them to Britain.

Empowering our brilliant leaders – Steve, Tracy, Andy, Marvin, Shaun – with new powers to drive growth in every part of Britain. And handing power back to our people with a community right-to-buy land and assets – the football clubs, historic buildings and pubs that make a place home. So those with skin in the game, who are in it for the long haul, will feel the whole system pulling in behind them. That – Liz Truss – is how you grow the economy.

But I have learnt that progress is not inevitable. If we want to live in a country where children don’t have to go to school too hungry to learn. Where people with disabilities can live the richer, larger lives they deserve. Where people don’t have to fear growing old without dignity or warmth. If we want that country, we have to go out and fight for it every single day.

So I am asking you today to get ready. Because together, with every person, in every place we’re going to rebuild this country from the ground up. And I can say to you today that in government, I will make it my priority to tackle the housing crisis because nothing, nothing is more important than a home.

The Tories have turned housing into a racket. Incentivising speculation and profiteering while millions languish on waiting lists in cold damp homes. So we will mend the deliberate vandalism of our social housing stock. Because the idea of a home for life handed on in common ownership to future generations. Is an idea worth fighting for.

Council housing is not a dirty word. So today, I can announce we will be the first government in a generation to restore social housing to the second largest from of tenure. This will be our mantra. Council housing, council housing, council housing.

We’re going to rebuild our social housing stock and bring homes back into the ownership of local councils and communities. With home ownership opened up to millions more.

And for private renters we will tilt the balance of power back to you through a powerful new renters charter and a new decent homes standard – written into law. Because security in your home, the right to make your home your own and most of all the right to live in a home fit for human habitation, is non-negotiable. Because housing isn’t a market. It’s a fundamental human right.

It’s tempting at a time of national crisis, to retreat and to play it safe. That’s not who are. It was with ambition, courage and conviction in the darkest times. That out of the devastation of war, we built more council houses than any government in history. We built the NHS, the Race Relations Act, the Equal Pay Act and the minimum wage. And rebuilt our great northern cities from the ashes of Thatcherism.

Conference, we led global action on climate change and flew the pride flag in countries where love is a crime. A light on the hill at home and overseas. And we are going to finish the job. Because we know – we are the only party that knows – that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone.

So, conference, let’s rise to meet this crisis in a great national mission to rebuild our country. We have done it before. We’re going to do it again. And we will do it the only way that counts – together.