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.
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