Louise Haigh sets out plans to reform government – her speech in full

Thank you, Conference.

I wasn’t nervous until the Prime Minister joined me on stage.

Thank you.

The last time I was here with you as your Transport Secretary, I spoke about my political hero – Barbara Castle.

A diminutive Yorkshire red head with a grit and determination that occasionally found herself in trouble.

Barbara once said “in politics, guts is all”.

I often think about that line.

What Barbara meant was that there’s no point being in politics if you’re not prepared to be brave.

I believe she was right then. I believe she is right today.

And I believe that our Labour movement is at its best when we are brave and we are bold.

And that’s exactly what this new Cabinet and new Prime Minister are doing.

We’re putting the guts back into governing and we’re putting the public back in control.

That is the task that Andy has asked me to rise to, as his First Secretary.

To radically reform the government and this country.

Building on the strong economic foundations laid by our first female Chancellor, Rachel Reeves…

The Labour Chancellor who brought stability back to our public finances and ended the pernicious rise in child poverty by scrapping the two-child cap.

Thank you, Rachel.

And in the face of economic headwinds, from the Middle East crisis, to the cost of borrowing – it is more important than ever that we are a bold, reforming government.

One that treads where others have shied away from.

My motto at Transport was to ‘move fast and fix things’.

The mantra that finally ended the failed Tory experiment with privatised rail…

And working with my fantastic ministerial team, we’re taking that mantra…

And we’re applying it to the very wiring of the British state.

Every year, £90bn of taxpayers’ money is spent by the public sector.

And how that money is spent matters.

In my first days in office, I took radical action to rewrite the rules that govern how that money is spent…

So that businesses who want to win Government contracts…

Are in no doubt about what we expect from them.

Good jobs, skills and apprenticeships for people here in Britain.

No-more hiding behind red tape and jargon.

No more box-ticking exercises.

No more pointless hoops to jump through.

And for the first time in years, our defence sector will be held to the same standard and told to create British jobs and British opportunities in return for the billions they receive.

The Chancellor John Healey and I have been very clear, if your business is bidding for government contracts to defend our country, then you will be judged on your commitment to backing high quality, British jobs.

And just in case Kemi Badenoch is watching – that’s what we mean when we say social security and national security go hand in hand. That’s the Labour way.

And that same logic, relentlessly applied, will now be extended to our utilities as well.

Because the big water companies, the energy giants – these are not free marketeers.

These are not Adam Smith’s merchants, in fierce competition to outdo one another on price or on quality.

These are monopolies with a vice-like grip on British people and British businesses.

So today I want to be clear that we expect private utility companies to use their own procurement to back British jobs and skills in manufacturing.

To create thousands of new, unionised British jobs and training opportunities…

To support our young people with new apprenticeships.

To begin reindustrialising our country.

And this Government will lead the way.

We will hold ourselves to those same standards we are now enforcing on our suppliers and on those utility monopolies.

As First Secretary, I am taking responsibility for that in our public sector.

So when existing contracts end in 18 months’ time we will begin bringing more than a thousand outsourced cleaning, catering and security jobs across Whitehall back in-house.

And that is just the start.

We will establish a dedicated Insourcing Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to work across departments, share best practice and accelerate the insourcing of thousands more jobs across Whitehall.

Because Government must lead by example.

And good jobs are the foundation on which good growth is built.

They are at the heart of our own procurement process;

At the heart of our new expectations for utility companies;

And at the heart of how Government hires, trains and looks after the people who keep this country running.

We are putting the public back in charge; we are moving fast and fixing things.

We are putting the guts back into Government.

And Conference, we are going to play to this country’s strengths.

We are ready to put the full weight of the state behind the world-leading industries and capabilities that have the potential to reindustrialise our country.

Take our shipbuilding industry – skills and expertise from the Clyde to the Mersey, in Appledore and Belfast – they are the envy of the world.

Instead of being a passive observer to their decline, watching contract after contract move overseas, and with them the good jobs and opportunities they support, this Government is stepping up.

We are strengthening our National Shipbuilding Office so it takes responsibility for the procurement of all civil ships across Government.

To map out a long-term strategy that meets our national requirements, safeguards our national security and backs our national industries.

To bring an end to the feast and famine of public contracts and drive a new era of reindustrialisation through our shipbuilding sector.

And that process won’t start ‘in due course’ or at some vague point in the future.

It begins here and now.

We have redesigned the procurement processes to reflect this Government’s priorities.

And I can announce today that we will commission a new state-of-the-art marine research vessel, designed to meet the new challenges we face.

And it will be procured and built here in the UK by our workers, in our shipyards.

This is just one example – a small but important one – of how this government is doing things differently.

Of how we are getting a grip.

Of how we are putting the guts back into government.

Because when government focuses on what matters.

When it is strong and brave at the centre.

When it is clear in its agenda.

We can get things done.

And Conference, this government will get things done.

That same philosophy will be applied to the exciting, emerging technologies that are rapidly reshaping our economy.

When Barbara Castle was in government, Labour talked of the ‘white heat’ of the scientific revolution.

Today, we are faced with technological advances that have the potential to transform every aspect of our lives.

I want us to be as clear-eyed and ambitious about the possibilities of AI today as Labour was sixty years ago about mass computation and communication.

Labour has always looked to technology and science as a means of improving the lives of ordinary people.

Of raising working standards and lifting wages.

We should approach this next wave of technology in the same way.

Heeding the warnings, vigilant to the risks.

But optimistic about the progress it can help to drive.

Because we can’t stick our heads in the sand, or wish away these advancements. We have to grasp it.

We have to ensure that it’s the public who are in control…

That it’s the public who feel the benefits…

Because change is inevitable, but progress is not.

That is why we will apply the same deliberate approach to how this Government deploys AI.

So we can deliver the modern public services that taxpayers deserve.

Building our sovereign capabilities and backing our own incredible tech sector.

Refusing to be in hock foreign giants.

And it is because I believe in the power of public services to make a real difference to our lives that I refuse to accept the status quo.

We can no longer afford the waste of duplication within the state.

Or the social cost of missed opportunities when people deserve so much better.

Twenty years ago, it was a Labour government that pioneered a new way of thinking.

They looked at how all public money was spent in a particular place.

All the competing objectives and requirements placed on local services.

And they asked the question: How do we empower public services with the freedom and flexibility to deliver for people?

This idea – the concept of ‘Total Place’ – recognised that breaking down local barriers leads to joined up thinking.

With services designed around people, using public money to deliver more public good.

We all know what happened next.

In 2010 the Tories, propped up by the Lib Dems, ended any prospect of that agenda when they hollowed out our public services and slashed local government funding as part of their austerity agenda.

But just as Total Place was right then, those principles are still true today.

That is why I am picking up the baton.

I want to make it easier for local leaders and services to pool resources around shared ambition and the needs of the people we serve.

Central government has an important role to play in removing barriers and facilitating that more holistic approach.

So we will use the AI expertise we have built within government – and a commitment to deeper and more effective data sharing – to integrate public services and to shift public spending from crisis to prevention.

Alongside our ambitious programme to rewire the state, this will be the biggest and most important reform to how the state delivers in generations.

 There’s one other Barbara Castle quote that has always stayed with me.

‘The fight never stops’.

She was right about that too.

Labour values matter – no matter the context, no matter the technology, no matter the challenges our country is faced with.

We must make each moment – the moment we find ourselves in – work for the British people.

That is our constant mission.

Conference, we are putting the guts back into government.

We are putting the public back in charge.

We are going to move fast and we are going to fix things.

We are backing good jobs and creating great places.

This is our chance. This is our moment.

To be brave. To be bold.

To finally deliver on the promise of change that our country is crying out for.

And Conference, we are going to grasp it.

READ MORE: Labour Party Conference 2026: Full LabourList events programme, revealed

Become a friend of LabourList and join our community. Our friends support our vital non-factional work and get access to exclusive content and events. 

Subscribe here to our daily newsletter roundup of Labour news, analysis and comment– and follow us on TikTok, Bluesky, WhatsApp, X and Facebook. You can also write to our editor to share your thoughts on our stories and share your own. The best letters are published every Sunday.

• • SHARE: If you have anything to share that we should be looking into or publishing about this story – or any other topic involving Labour– contact us (strictly anonymously if you wish) at [email protected].
  • SUBSCRIBE: Sign up to LabourList’s morning email here for the best briefing on everything Labour, every weekday morning.
  • BECOME A FRIEND: If you enjoyed this, why not consider becoming a Friend of LabourList? Help sustain our journalism, and of course Friends do get benefits…
  • PARTNER: If you or your organisation might be interested in partnering with us on sponsored events or projects, email [email protected].
  • ADVERTISE: If your organisation would like to advertise or run sponsored pieces on LabourList‘s daily newsletter or website, contact our exclusive ad partners Total Politics at [email protected].