Judging by the reaction in the conference hall, Hilary Benn’s speech was the best of this afternoon’s session. Several people gave him a standing ovation.
His task was rather easier than Ed Miliband’s on Marr this morning, because the Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary could talk about hopey-changey Labour ideas, rather than the nopey-changey Labour opposition to English votes for English laws (EVEL). So Benn focused on the devolution to English cities and regions that Labour has been working on and talking about for months, arguing that it was the true way to respond to the referendum result. He said:
‘Our deal is for all parts of England. Conference, this will be the biggest economic decentralisation in a century. But it won’t be enough. We will go further in changing the way decisions are made so that we can free local communities, the people of England, to shape their own destiny.
‘Not something cooked up in corridors of Whitehall, but a deeper, more profound change involving people from every part of the country. A national debate – leading up to a Constitutional Convention – as fervent as the one that paved the way for devolution in Scotland. This isn’t about the long grass; it’s about the grass roots telling us why they want in the long term. A Convention with a purpose.’
It’s a nice contrast: something cooked up in the corridors of Whitehall against an exciting debate that will apparently be as energised as the Scottish referendum (although of course it won’t be anywhere near as exciting, even if the English were offered a referendum on their new powers). But it’s a false contrast: you can devolve powers to English cities and regions while addressing the West Lothian question.
And though EVEL has indeed been cooked up in Whitehall, it is still based on a sound principle, rather than mere politics. Labour’s honest answer to it is mere politics, but it must find something that sounds principled. Benn just about managed it today, but the party will struggle to maintain that line when Parliament returns and David Camerom hurls the policy across the Commons at Miliband.
Benn also linked Labour’s latest ‘new politics’ push to his long-standing policy to give local communities a ‘real say’ over development in their areas. He said the party would deliver more homes and a better private rented sector ‘by being bold and offering a different kind of politics, by giving people the responsibility to make it happen and the means to do so’. This is clever politics, as it suggests that there is insufficient power for communities in anything the Conservatives have passed in government. But the Labour party will need to find cleverer politics to outwit the Tories on EVEL, even if they’re managing it on planning and localism.
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