DAVID Cameron and his Conservative Government are “poverty deniers” Jeremy Corbyn will say this afternoon in his first keynote speech as Labour leader when he addresses the TUC conference, Michael Settle writes from Brighton.
The new party leader, expected to get a hero’s reception when he arrives on the Sussex coast, will tell trade union delegates that Congress is a “shared celebration of our values as a Labour and trade union movement; values of solidarity, of compassion, of social justice, of fighting for the under-privileged, and for all working people at home and abroad.
“Those are the values that have shaped me and my political life. They are the values I took around the country to 99 public rallies in this extraordinary summer. And that a quarter of a million have stood up for and voted for.”
Mr Corbyn will invoke the memory of Margaret Thatcher and tell union delegates that for the Tories they are “still the enemy within” and that the Prime Minister believes he will put him and Labour on the back foot by highlighting their support for trade unionism.
“I am a proud trade unionist,” the Labour leader will declare. “We will fight this(Welfare Reform) Bill all the way and if it becomes law we will repeal it in 2020.”
Mr Corbyn – due to visit Scotland later this week - is expected to rush back to Westminster for the vote on the contentious Government legislation, that, among other things, will cut tax credits. Sources have suggested that Mr Cameron is facing a potential Tory rebellion, which, given his working majority if just 12, could threaten getting the legislation through in this evening’s vote.
On the Welfare Reform Bill, he will say his MPs will oppose it “in full”, insisting: “We oppose the benefit cap. We oppose social cleansing.
“We will bring the welfare bill down by controlling rents and boosting wages, not by impoverishing families and socially cleansing our communities.”
Also in his speech, Mr Corbyn will attack the Government on austerity, saying: “They call us deficit deniers but then they spend billions cutting taxes for the richest families or for the most profitable businesses.
“What they are is poverty deniers; ignoring the growing queues at food banks, ignoring the growing housing crisis, cutting tax credits when child poverty rose by half a million under the last Government to over four million.”
He will tell conference: “Let’s be clear austerity is a political choice not an economic necessity.”
ENDS
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