Rt Hon James Purnell MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

- Check against delivery -
 
It's an honour to take part in this debate on strengthening our communities.

Because Culture and Sport bind our communities together.  A community without a culture is nothing.

So, any debate about communities should always be about people. Yet we have a tendency to discuss the forest without mentioning the trees. When governments say they will build communities they often mean they will create buildings. But it's what people do that matters.

This weekend I was talking to a man called Neil Lonergan.  Five years ago, he was diagnosed with MS.  Of course, it hit him really hard. But then he found out that his local football team was about to fold.
So he got involved.

Today, he's chairman of the club.  There are seven teams. Over 100 youngsters.  New pitches for the players and new bonds for his community. He says he couldn't have done it without money from this Labour government and the Football Foundation. We can be proud of our help. But he did it.

There are thousands like Neil across the country. Taking coaching on a Tuesday evening.  Driving the coach on a Saturday morning.  Helping children to find their talent. And in that process building their community.

Because you don't build a community by holding on to the hands of time. You build a community by teaching the next generation. From the early days of workers' education, through to the creation of the Open University and today with SureStart our movement has always been a crusade for talent.

Britain really has got talent. But some of that talent never catches the light. If anyone remains whose talent lies hidden, then the essential job of Labour politics is not yet complete.
 
My grandfather taught me this lesson, by example. As a teacher dedicated to giving everyone a chance, his life was a statement of his beliefs.
 
I always remember his quiet anger:
- that ability could be discarded so carelessly;
- that poverty could stamp so hard on aspiration.
  
He lived under too many governments that looked away. Privileges were unearned; rewards went to the undeserving. The society he grew up in offended his most basic moral idea: it just wasn't fair.
 
And that is why, whenever I sense that aristocratic attitude, I know that politics is not over. I know that the differences between political parties still count. I know the big cause is still to be fought over.
 
That cause is simple: to give everyone the chance to develop their talent. To unlock the potential inside everyone.
And the method is clear - breaking the stranglehold of privilege over life chances.

The Tories don't agree. They are still elitist.
 
They still believe that if something is for everyone, then it can't be good.

And to anyone who doubts that this elitism is still coiled through the Tory DNA, I say two words: free museums. Parents love them. Attendances have doubled.Even the French are copying the idea.
 
Everyone loves free museums. Everyone... except the Tories. They've only announced one cultural policy so far: and that was to bring back charging. An idea so daft that the u-turn came within hours. An idea so daft that the spokesman went within weeks.

But an idea that reveals so much. That they haven't changed.That they don't understand that everyone pays for culture and that therefore culture must be open to everyone. Over the last ten years, thanks to the leadership of Chris Smith and Tessa Jowell, culture really has been given back to the people.

And what's striking is the consensus about our success.  The message is the same, time after time: Britain is world class. The culture is alive. Don't go back.

Here's a game if you get bored in the bar later. Name your top ten greatest things about Britain.
 
Here's a game if you get bored in the bar later. Think of your top ten great things about Britain. Of course, there are great events, great institutions like the NHS, but art and culture, thriving modern cities will be amongst them.  The FA Cup and the Tate Modern. The Edinburgh Festival and the Angel of the North.
 
At the heart of each is quality, something world class, something that is the best it can be. That is Labour's vision for Britain: the best it can be.

And in the 21st century, that can only happen if each child, each person is the best they can be.
The Tories think that talent at the top trickles down to the masses.
 
But the opposite is true - that we need to be world-class at the grassroots so we can be world class at the top. 
That is the opportunity of the Olympics. In five years, we will host the greatest sporting show on earth. What a catalyst this could be. What an opportunity to lift the sights of a generation. The Olympics are not five years of construction followed by a fortnight of competition.
The Olympics can be a great sporting summer, flanked by a decade of aspiration. 
To seize that opportunity, we're transforming school sport. We will spend 100 million pounds to give all children the opportunity to do five hours of sport a week.

But we need to do even more.  The Olympics will be the greatest recruiting sergeant for sport ever seen in this country.  
So, when children pick up a racket for the first time, I want someone expert alongside them.  When they put on their running spikes for the first time, I want someone who has been trained to be there to train them.
 
So, today, I am launching a campaign for coaching.  With 3000 new professional sports coaches in our schools and clubs.  And now 10,000 new volunteer coaches, people like Neil, who can teach their children new skills, and their communities new confidence.
 
Behind each volunteer, invisible but indispensable, will be the support that we can offer through the privilege of government, the only privilege I ever want to defend.
 
So as we debate the future of our communities, let's put a stronger culture at the centre of our vision.
A public realm in which the arts are flourishing; in which all children are given the chance to learn an instrument, to hear a concert, to visit a museum, to make a film.
 
Let's have a society that would recognise the sheer joy of taking part. That would take people's potential seriously and understand that ordinary people love extraordinary things.

Let's have a society in which culture would be thought of as something we all share, something held in common. A thriving culture is a community alive. This is the common wealth of the nation, ours to increase from generation to generation.