Labour

Our country is changing. The economy,technology, our population, society, and politics, at home and abroad, are all being transformed, and these five revolutions, linked together, are taking us into a new world. Never before have so many changes taken place simultaneously in so many different spheres, so quickly, and with such potentially radical consequences. And new times and new challenges have to summon forth new answers.

This new world is one of huge promise and opportunity. Our children could live lives of which our parents could only dream.

The world economy will double in size and wealth over the next twenty five years, bringing new prosperity and opportunities. We can be certain that some countries will benefit disproportionately, and so will some people: the wealthy and powerful can always seize the opportunities of change.

Our task, as a party, as a government, now is to ensure that our country and all of our people make the most of these opportunities and are protected against the risks that accompany radical change.

The quest to ensure that power, wealth, and opportunity are in the hands of the many, not the few, is fundamental to our purpose. This is why the Labour Party exists. It is what enabled us to rise to the challenge of the times in 1945. And again in 1997. And it is why we will now rise again to meet the challenges of this new world.

The changes we are witnessing bring with them new challenges in every aspect of our lives:

> Economic restructuring, driven by globalisation has meant increased opportunity for many but also reduced security for lower skilled workers; unskilled jobs, once in the majority, are now rare: so, we need to ensure that everyone has the skills to work and prosper in this new world;

> Growth intensifies the pressures of climate change which we must tackle for the sake of all the generations who come after us;

> Greater freedoms than our people have ever known have also brought with them new strains on communities and family life;

> The boundaries which mark out civilised society have been eroded;

> New risks from abroad mean we need to reduce our dependence on oil to ensure energy security;

> New threats from terror need to be tackled at source, whether at home or abroad, and require a more joined-up response;

> Parents face new pressures of time and money in raising their family and the increasingly difficult task of juggling work and family life;

> People are living longer and healthy lives but we need to ensure that everyone in the older generations who has given so much to our country receives the security in old age they
are entitled to expect;

> Since 1997, the accelerating advances in technology have completely transformed the way that people communicate, do business, and share ideas with each other;

> Political change has opened up new opportunities for individuals to participate and mobilise but has also created new challenges for political parties and governments to meet such rising expectations.

So instead of repeating the solutions of yesterday we must embrace the new policies of tomorrow and restate the case for our party and our values. Meeting this challenge will not be easy and it will not happen overnight. There are no easy or quick answers. It requires leadership, squaring up to hard truths, being open with the British people about the choices we face, and making tough decisions on priorities for public spending.

I do not underestimate these challenges but I believe that Britain’s future is bright.
We will bring resolution to the task and determination to build, brick by brick, the foundations for success in this new world. We have already acted to help many of those most directly affected by the economic difficulties sweeping across the world: those struggling to pay higher energy and fuel prices, and those who have to move home.

In this document, we will set out the argument about the new approaches we need to meet the new challenges:

> immediate support for those struggling with the impact of global instability;

> investing in the education and skills of all people;

> help for older people;

> new support for parents and new approaches to delivering public services;

> and the long-term decisions on transport, energy, and climate change.

We must reach out to work with individuals, communities, and business, for all the people of our country. The yearning for fairness, the unremitting quest for it, and the delivery of it in everything we do, is fundamental to our Party. Our policies today and everything we have done since 1997 are driven by our belief in fairness. Throughout our history, this nation has repeatedly demonstrated a proud spirit of cautious and practical optimism and we call on that spirit once again.

I know there are people who feel that modern Britain has been unfair to them. Some of them are right. But there is nothing that is bad about Britain that cannot be overcome by what is good about Britain, as long as we keep faith with our belief in fairness.

Fair rules, fair chances, and a fair say for everyone: that is the new deal for this
new world.

My own response to the great challenges in my own life has been to confront them, resolute in the belief that there would always be something that could be done to overcome them. And there always has been. Now, once more, I am confident that we can come through this difficult economic time and meet these challenges a stronger, more secure, and fairer country than ever before.

None of us can address all the new challenges we all face on our own. We are all in this together - individuals, families, business, trade unions, civil society and Government - all with our part to play.

Together, in this new world of opportunity and change, there is nothing Britain cannot do.

Gordon Brown
Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party

In 1997 the new Labour government faced big economic challenges: A volatile, boom and bust economy; chronic under-investment in our public services and infrastructure; and too many low paying jobs. We laid the foundations for an unprecedented decade of low inflation, high growth, high employment, and rising living standards. The achievements of that decade give us strong foundations for weathering the current storms in the world economy.

Today Britain’s economy faces fresh new challenges from the double hit of a global credit crunch and a global commodity price hike. Over the last decade, the world economy has become increasingly interdependent. So a housing market crisis in the United States creates a credit crunch that ripples round the world. Rising incomes for millions of people in China and India lead to a sharp increase in demand for commodities and trigger a spiralling up in prices. As a result, whereas the economic challenges we once faced were primarily domestic, today they are primarily global. The globalisation of finance, while bringing more prosperity and jobs, also increases the risk that instability in one country will spread to others. And we must adapt.

The first job of government in this new world is to be on the side of hard working families, especially the most vulnerable. This does not mean a bigger state. But it does mean a government that works to help people support themselves and promotes fairness. We want an open, enterprising economy because we know that is the way to create more wealth for our people, but we also understand government needs to stand by people helping them cope with the more difficult times that economic turbulence brings.

That is why we are helping people cut their energy bills with a ground breaking programme of investment in energy saving, raising the Winter Fuel Payment this year for 12 million people, and providing long-term help for families. And it is why we are postponing increases in petrol duty for the full year. In addition, 22 million people, who will get this month’s tax cut, will be able to use the £120 extra to help meet their bills over the next few months.

But, in this new more integrated global economy, Labour believes government must take the measures needed to secure our prosperity for the future. We will take steps to reduce our overdependence on imported oil by taking tough decisions on energy to invest in nuclear power, a massive expansion of renewables, and carbon capture and storage. We will invest in the critical transport infrastructure our country needs to ensure that we remain competitive in the global economy, to the benefit of all nations and regions of Britain. We will maintain our world-class leadership in science through sustained investment in scientific research, innovation, and the development of new technologies. And we will continue to raise the skill levels of the British workforce, through expanding apprenticeships, widening participation in Higher Education, offering new rights to training to lower skilled workers, and new opportunities for all to learn at home or in the workplace. Only in this way can we be sure that all our people have the chance to get well-paid and fulfilling jobs.

Housing

A critical component of prosperity is that everyone should be able to afford a home of their own to buy or rent. In the short-term, that means ensuring greater support for homeowners and taking targeted steps to boost the housing market. That is why earlier this month we announced a comprehensive £1 billion housing package. A new first-time buyers initiative will mean 10,000 more young families having the chance to get onto the property ladder and a one-year Stamp Duty holiday for all homes costing under £175,000.

For vulnerable homeowners in difficulty, a new mortgage rescue scheme and a more generous safety net will help prevent repossessions, with all the implications these can have for families. And because new social housing will be vital in the next few years, we are bringing forward £400 million to build up to 5,500 new social rented homes in the next two
years.

Since new Labour came to power, the demand for housing has been steadily increasing, driven by longterm demographic and social changes. So we need to respond to these longterm changes in the housing market by ensuring that more houses are built to satisfy the demand. This is the only response that will produce the affordable housing that is needed.

The environment

For the generations to come, we must tackle climate change which threatens not just sustainable prosperity in this country but the well-being of our planet. The key strategic challenge we face is how to guarantee prosperity while at the same time making the transition to a lowcarbon economy.

The years of cheap energy and careless pollution are behind us. We must set ourselves on a new path - a path that delivers a transition to a low carbon energy economy, that is less dependent on oil. Our commitment to 60 per cent - and maybe to even greater - reductions in carbon emissions by 2050 will have profound implications for the British economy. It means supporting new technologies, such as electric cars and innovative ways of increasing energy efficiency in homes and businesses.

As higher global energy prices hit families in Britain hard, we will do what we can to help families reduce their energy bills – not just this winter but permanently. To achieve this, we have acted responsibly to ensure that energy companies help hardpressed customers on middle and modest incomes save money and save energy. This will lead a national programme for household energy efficiency, providing loft insulation and cavity wall insulation free of charge to elderly and low-income households and at a 50 percent discount to others. We will also target extra help for the most vulnerable consumers.

Globally it is estimated that environmental industries, including renewable and nuclear energy, waste management, pollution control, and energy efficient products will be worth $700 billion by 2010 - equal to the size of the global aerospace industry. By 2050, the overall added value of the low carbon energy sector could be as high as $3 trillion per year worldwide, and it could employ more than 25 million people. Britain can be a world leader in these industries.

In part the solution requires international leadership - we must secure an ambitious global agreement on climate change in Copenhagen next year. But we also need to empower local areas to take action.

Tackling climate change is also central to our ambitions for tackling global poverty, since the impact of rising temperatures will fall most heavily on the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world.

Through both moral imperative and our global self interest, Britain must continue to lead the fight against global poverty and injustice. In recent years we have seen the enduring power of global movements in securing change: through collective efforts of governments, businesses, ordinary citizens and others, there are 40 million more children in school; two million more lives are saved every year by immunization; and polio, leprosy and neonatal tetanus are on the verge of elimination. Britain must continue to be at the forefront of harnessing this collective power to accelerate action on justice and opportunity for all.

At the same time we must ensure that our natural environment flourishes and is open for all to enjoy. So we are legislating to protect our seas, open up our coastline to everyone, and will continue to improve the purity of the water we drink and the air we breathe. And we will continue to support a strong and thriving farming sector. And because we must adapt to the new challenges climate change will bring to Britain, we will invest in new flood defences to protect thousands more homes.

Technology

In 1997, only 10 per cent of British people had access to broadband internet. Last year, access reached 45 per cent, and today it is now nearly 60 per cent. This rapid growth in broadband access has made communication easier, driving a boom in global communication and business. It has connected us with the world and its opportunities. But while technological transformation is expanding our scope for new markets and enables us to exploit our potential to compete and sell British technologies and products to the world, these opportunities also bring risks to people not equipped to tap into these new networks being left behind. Therefore we will work to make digital inclusion a reality for all.

Enterprise

We must also continue to ensure that Britain remains one of the best places in the world to do business. There are four and a half million businesses in Britain today - more than ever before and the OECD says we have the lowest barriers to entrepreneurship of any OECD country. Britain remains a magnet for overseas investment and we have one of the most robust, independent competition regimes anywhere in the world. But we must meet the needs of business, particularly when it comes to our crucial infrastructure: from reform of planning laws to supporting sustainable aviation growth, we need to face up to difficult decisions squarely, and not back away from hard choices.

Only Labour can meet these new economic challenges because only Labour has the determination to take tough decisions for the future.

Our changing world

Over the last eleven years Labour has been at the forefront of progressive change. In July we ensured the passage of the Lisbon Treaty through Parliament, ensuring that the EU can accommodate its historic enlargement to 27 member countries. We continue to work in close partnership with our European colleagues to respond collectively to our common economic challenges - the global credit crunch, the rising price of oil, and the escalating cost of food. In Iraq we are making marked progress towards our goal of handing security and policing back to the Iraqi people. We are playing a crucial role in Afghanistan in the frontline against terrorism. We will continue to combine military support with development assistance, helping to put the Afghan economy and people on the path to a stable and prosperous future.

We have led the world on cancelling third world debt; fighting poverty; introducing the first ever climate change bill; banning landmines and now cluster bombs; and combating injustice in Burma, Darfur, and Zimbabwe. We have stood up to aggression and fought for fairness and justice across the globe. We should be proud of our record.

This is a unique era - globalisation and growing interdependence are bringing change of unprecedented scale, speed and diversity. Seismic shifts in economy, culture and communications mean that the world now faces interwoven strategic challenges - from security, and the environment, to development and global economic change. We are witnessing the rise of new economic powers in Asia, increasing migration, the rise of fragile states and terrorism, the growing global development emergency, and the relentless competition for natural resources - all of which are transnational in nature and impact.

These global challenges require global solutions; facing these challenges and promoting fairness for Britain and the world will need more cooperation, not less. It means working with international partners to build a new global society with effective rules and institutions fit for the 21st century. It means building a new framework for global security to deal with new international terrorism, regional conflict, energy competition, and failed and failing states, as well as supporting armed forces capable of playing their full part in protecting the UK and countering global instability. It means we must continue to lead the campaign to eradicate diseases, combat poverty, and ensure a global climate deal. And it means working for a Europe better equipped to counter shared challenges such as climate change, migration, and economic uncertainty, standing solidly alongside those who build
democracy and human rights, and playing a leading role in wider progressive alliances
for change.

In a world being transformed by changes in population and society, public services are more important than ever in giving people the support they need and the opportunities they deserve. Today people depend on public services for longer and in more complex ways than ever before.

In 1997, the priority for our public services was investment and the restoration of adequate levels of delivery after decades of neglect. Now these goals are being achieved.

In 1997 the NHS debate was about how to get waiting times below 18 months. We are now on course to hit the goal of no one waiting more than 18 weeks between initial referral and treatment.

A decade ago the priority was to repair school buildings, introduce minimum standards, and build a basic system of nursery and childcare. Since then, school standards have risen substantially, with investment per pupil funding more than doubling from under £2,500 in 1997-98 to £5,520 in 2007-08, with the next three years seeing spending rise to over £6,600 by 2010-11. Nearly 3,000 Sure Start Children’s Centres are now embedded in the fabric of local communities.

Today we face a fresh challenge on public services - we need to empower professionals and users more, including through working with the voluntary sector. New Labour must now deliver the new public services needed for this new world.

Education

Education is our passion. We believe that every child has the right to an excellent education, personalised to their needs and aspirations. Our ambition is a world class education system, where all children can realise their potential and no child is left behind. Raising standards in education is the platform on which we will build a more upwardly mobile Britain for the future - through more personal tuition and all schools reaching high standards, so that parents everywhere can be confident their child is at good school and has access to all the opportunities of a new digital age.

We want all children to be happy, healthy, and inspired to fulfil their talent, and that means looking beyond the classroom and their results. That’s why we made our National Museums free, encouraging 23 million extra young people to visit them. Already, over 86 per cent of young people now do two hours a week of sport, many of them already excited by the prospect of the London Olympics and Paralympics in 2012. We have promised that all our young people will be taking part in five hours a week of sport by 2012 and we have launched ‘Find Your Talent’ to offer young people at least five hours of culture in and out of school.

We are proud of our record of achievement in education. But we will not be satisfied until we have achieved world-class levels of education in our country, and closed the gaps in educational attainment between children from different backgrounds. Nor can we stand still when the world around us is changing so fast - when every successful country is investing more in education, skills and science. Education is the best policy for a successful economy and a fair society, so it is both an economic and moral imperative to invest in the education and skills of the British people.

So we will build on our achievements to offer everyone the chance to rise as far as their talents can take them. We will continue to expand early years provision, the launch-pad for education, and raise the quality of pre-school learning and daycare. We will ensure that all children who are able to do so reach the expected levels of literacy and numeracy in primary schools, and that no child ever attends an under-performing secondary school. We will expand the number of academies, trust and specialist schools, and break down the damaging barriers between academic and vocational education by developing new diplomas. And we will give everyone a chance of going on to an apprenticeship, college, or university by raising the participation age to 18, with a fair system of higher education funding and free tuition at further education college or training at work up to the age of 25.

In the coming decades the global economy will create more and more skilled jobs - on some estimates, one billion more. Successful nations will be those that harness all the skills of all
their people, attracting more than their fair share of the top global jobs and companies that will create better jobs and increased prosperity. We need to seize the opportunities created by the growth of the global economy to create more upward social mobility in Britain - giving every young person the chance to do better than their parents, and every adult the opportunity to develop a career, not just hold down a job. Building on the platform of improved educational standards and skills training of the last decade, we will seek once again to accelerate social mobility in Britain.

Families

We have every reason to be optimistic about the future for families in Britain. Since 1997, the opportunities for children have improved. With more parents in work and 600,000 children lifted out of relative poverty, British families have better choices and better chances than ever
before.

The family remains the foundation for every individual and the bedrock of society but there are new pressures on families. Parents have to balance the demands of work and childcare. Childhood itself faces pressures as parents try to raise families, often competing with new influences that weren’t there when they were young: the internet; more easily accessible depictions of sex and violence on a new range of media; new advertising strategies targeted at children; and a new intensity of peer group pressure.

To support families and to give children the very best start in life, extending high quality childcare and early years provision must be a strategic priority. We have increased the provision of higher quality childcare places and have introduced free nursery education for all three- and four year olds. But we have some distance left to ensure that every parent can get what they need: high quality childcare that is affordable and close to home.

In the Nordic countries, the introduction of universal high-quality child care coincided with an increase in social mobility: the chances of completing upper secondary school for children of parents with low levels of education have almost doubled for those born in the 1970s compared to the previous generation. High quality early years care is also one of the most effective and cost-effective ways of tackling social problems like crime, anti-social behaviour, and indiscipline at school. There are vitally important decisions to be taken here: should we prioritise further investment in childcare and early years provision over other potential spending? Just as importantly, how do we ensure that the quality of that care and learning continues to rise, and that childcare entitlements are clear to parents and easy to access?

In addition, we must act to support families through extending the provision of parental leave, so that parents have even greater choices over how to balance work and family life. In particular, we must respond to the rising aspirations fathers have to spend more time with their children. We will work to set new boundaries so that children get the space and protection they need to grow up safe and secure. And we will take bullies off the street and out of the classroom.

We will continue to bring in the policies that will eradicate child poverty by 2020 and halve child poverty by 2010. We have lifted 600,000 children out of poverty. But we can never call ourselves a truly civilised country while a single child lives in poverty. So we reaffirm our pledge to abolish child poverty.

One of the most remarkable achievements in recent times has been how much longer people live. In the last twenty five years, the number of years a 65-year-old man can expect to live has risen by nearly a third and around one-quarter of this increase happened over the last four
years.

This is a cause of celebration but we also recognise that this has profound implications for public policy. Older people living on a fixed income are more likely to be vulnerable to inflation, at greater risk of ill-health, and separated from their families, so they must receive reassurance that their needs will always be met, not for a year or two, at the whim of government, but always. And our public services must change to respond to a new generation of older people who want active, full lives with high quality, preventive health care to support their aspirations. That is why we are introducing free swimming for the over 60s, and will work to build our preventive services. It means new action across a wide range of policy. Retired people want a decent pension; many older people want to continue to work beyond a fixed age; and all want the opportunity to lead active, fulfilling lives, and the certainty that good care will be there for them if they need it. We have dedicated ourselves to helping older people who need greater security; now we will also work to help all older people lead full, active lives and enjoy their later years.

We have put pension policy on a stable footing for the first time in a generation. Now we must build on that foundation to provide all the reassurance that the elderly and their families in our rapidly ageing population need and deserve.

Social care is an issue that goes to the heart of New Labour’s ambition to create a fairer country. At one time or another it will affect all of Britain’s families. Grandparents worry that they will be a burden on their children; middle-aged families worry about how they will simultaneously cope with their children and their parents; and younger adults are increasingly aware that much of their parent’s hard earned housing wealth may disappear into payments for long term care. We understand the anxieties people have about how to provide the necessary care for their loved ones.

We are already introducing personal care budgets to give people control over their care needs. And we have moved to make it easier for families to help with the care of their elderly relatives through giving them a right to request a more flexible work pattern from their employer. But we will go further. Families want to know that their elderly relatives will receive the highest possible quality of care in their old age without risking all their assets. The current system is increasingly unable to offer that security. It is unfair and unsustainable. So, just as we have set pensions on a sustainable footing for the 21st century, we will bring forward new plans for reforming the funding and provision of social care.

Health

We are living through a revolution in medical science. Our understanding of genetics has entered a golden era, treatments for once dread diseases are making astonishing advances, and new therapies emerge all the time. We are developing a new comprehensive understanding of how to stay healthy and for longer.

In 1997, the NHS was in crisis, underfunded, ideologically attacked, and held up only by the dedication of those who worked in it. Today staff are supported by unprecedented investment in the NHS and medical science and technology. In 1997, you could wait up to two years for a heart operation - today virtually no-one waits for more than three months. In 1997, over a quarter of a million people were on a six month inpatient waiting list - today there are fewer than 100.

The task now before us is to ensure that the NHS can take the fullest possible advantage of these revolutions in medical science and technology and understanding so that Britain can lead the world in the medical care and support it provides to everyone, not just those who can afford to pay for it.

We will build a new public and preventative health system that builds on new research and analysis. Obesity rates in the UK have soared and we now understand how damaging this can be.So we will provide clearer information on diet, improve school meals, and place more emphasis on exercise. We are introducing check-ups for everyone over 40, focused on a range of vascular conditions, and free on the NHS - checkups which evidence shows will prevent 10,000 heart attacks and strokes every year. And we will go further and extend the range of vaccines, diagnostic and screening tests available, and the range of lifestyle-change services such as smoking cessation and prescriptions for fitness.

This new NHS will only be built through a partnership between government, patients, and professionals. Services will be made more accessible to everyone who needs them. We are already ensuring that at least half of all GPs will be open for routine appointments in evenings or a Saturday morning. And to further increase choice in primary care, we are also opening GP-run health centres in 150 of our towns and cities. These will be additional to existing GP services, open from 8am to 8pm seven days a week, and will offer patients the opportunity for bookable or walk-in appointments without needing to change their registration at their existing GP practice.

And patients will gain much greater control over services. All expectant mothers will be able to choose not just their maternity unit but also the type of birth that best suits them. And the new maternity service we are building will offer one-to-one support for parents both during pregnancy and in the period after birth - formative not just for children but for whole families.

End of life care will be transformed, so that when the time comes, people can die with dignity, without pain and in the setting they choose, surrounded by their loved ones.

We will provide new rights for the 15 million patients with long-term or chronic conditions, who will all receive their own prospectus on the full range of treatments on offer to them in their local NHS. And for the first time we will introduce personal budgets for those with continuing health needs.

These ambitions for the NHS can only be achieved through front-line professionals.Targets continue to have a key role as a guarantor of standards across the country but the move from a good to a great service will not happen through more top-down control. A world-class NHS needs to be built bottom-up.

So within the context of tough minimum standards, and much greater diversity of provision, we will strive to ensure professionals have greater control and responsibility for the services they provide. We will introduce a new generation of nurse-led services in primary and community care; we will back foundation trusts in transferring control over services directly to clinical teams; and clinicians will be in charge of the process of modernising local health services.

Only Labour can transform our public services because only Labour believes in the fundamental place of public services in our society and in making them available to everyone and most available to those who need them most.

Strong Communities

Labour is proud of our country: our communities are getting stronger.

Throughout the country, in every neighbourhood, people are giving their time and energy to help others and improve their communities: half of all people volunteer every month; almost four in five give money to charity every month; almost half have done something to develop strong and empowered local communities. So we are optimistic about the future. We are not the broken society the Conservatives claim. There is nothing wrong in Britain today that cannot be put right by what is good about our country.

There is no easy way to meet these new challenges. Solutions depend on hard choices being made about funding, about how to strike the balance between liberty, the founding value of our country, and security, and about how best to develop new answers. Pretending, in the interest of short-term political manoeuvring, these hard choices do not have to be made, betrays all those who depend on government to protect them - and that is nearly all of us.

It is the fundamental duty of government to provide security for all its citizens. The challenges we face in doing so have changed radically over the last ten years. New issues have emerged in our communities and they are particularly damaging to families and the most vulnerable members of our society.

There are some issues we must address about acceptable public behaviour and the culture in which children and young adults grow up. So we will tackle problems such as pervasive gambling, binge drinking in our town centres, and growth in lap-dancing clubs, all of which take place in our shared public spaces.

People care deeply about their local area, the local environment, and the quality of local services. They want their communities to be in control and, for all the talk of globalisation, perhaps more than ever, their sense of pride is rooted in their neighbourhoods. Communities want more power and to play their part in what goes on around them.

We also know that there is an important role for government in supporting local communities. Labour does not believe in an absentee state that allows communities just to sink or swim, or one that just hands problems over to voluntary sector groups. Instead a strong community and a strong civil society depend upon energetic but flexible state action.

So we will work with local communities:
> to develop neighbourhood policing to improve people’s perception of community safety;
> to develop Sure Start Children’s centres to build pride in communities;
> to help local areas which have faced rapid population change not just to cope, but to flourish on the back of increased immigration;
> and to help continue the regeneration of once run-down inner cities.

Crime
Crime has fallen dramatically under Labour: a third down overall since 1997. But as well as being ambitious to reduce it further, we recognise that these falls are not reflected in people’s perceptions. Moreover, some areas have developed new problems such as knife crime, young people joining gangs, drug use, anti-social behaviour, and binge drinking. Often these are linked to deeper social causes: young people who get into serious trouble often come from dysfunctional families, or neighbourhoods where the culture of work is weak. Though these challenges need to be kept in perspective, Labour must continue to be unrelenting in both punishing and preventing crime.

Labour has introduced neighbourhood policing and set out a clear neighbourhood pledge for every community. Where Neighbourhood Police teams have been in place for some time, they have become hugely popular. But now that we have a basic infrastructure in place which is more focused on local people’s concerns, we need to think about how we can go further.

So we will cut red tape to free the police to spend more time on the beat, tackling crime and reassuring communities. We will press on with our targeted campaign against knife crime, focusing on the ten areas where it is a serious problem - including more searches, tougher penalties for those caught, closer cooperation between police and schools and hospitals and local councils, and a range of measures to tackle the causes of youth crime, including more youth activity on Friday and Saturday nights. We will bring in a set of clear national standards for what you can expect from your local police team. And with local meetings, new elected police representatives, and online crime mapping, people will have more information and more influence over what their local team is focused on.

We are committed to doing more to prevent domestic violence and to increase the conviction rate for rape. We are continuing to support The Survivors’ Trust and rape crisis centres, and investing in more Sexual Assault Referral Centres for victims.

Global migration is bringing a great new wealth to our culture and our economy but also dangers from organised criminals who traffic people and drugs into our country. So we will ratify the European Council convention against human trafficking by the end of the year and we will continue to work with the Poppy scheme which supports women who have been trafficked into Britain.

There is also a new threat from international terrorism, which is different in scale and intent from previous decades, involving global networks willing to inflict mass casualties with no warning.

Our National Security Strategy published in March, showed how we are working to respond in a more joined-up way to these new challenges, to safeguard the country, its citizens, our prosperity, and our way of life. We will be hard-headed about the risks, and about our capabilities. We will continue to meet security challenges early and at source by tackling the causes of extremism, at home and abroad, and by putting measures in place to target threats like illegal immigration or drugs before they reach our shores. We have led the way internationally, delivering a treaty to ban cluster munitions. We must push forward our work on arms control and countering nuclear proliferation, and on defusing conflicts before they emerge, as well as contributing to international efforts to stabilise them if they do occur.

Everyone playing by the rules
In this new world, it is not just crime that can make people feel insecure. In such times of rapid and profound changes, people need to feel order in their world and that the rules which underpin it are fair.

That is why we are putting victims’ rights more centrally at the heart of the criminal justice system. We are introducing tougher new rules on community payback.

Welfare rules need to be fair to taxpayers, hence our new welfare reforms designed to ensure that those who can work, do work. We are creating a more demanding system for all benefits recipients who are capable of work. All claimants will receive support. But in return claimants, including the vast majority on incapacity benefits, are also expected to seek or actively prepare themselves for work, for example through training, or face a cut in their benefits. We have shifted the system to support people to find work that they can actually do, rather than focussing on what they cannot do. And for drug addicts we are moving to making receipt of benefits conditional on both taking up treatment and making efforts to move back to work.

Fair rules must apply to all: so while we call for public sector pay restraint to combat inflation, so too must we call for restraint and responsibility in the boardroom.

The great waves of migration around the world that have accompanied the globalisation of national economies and helped generate global prosperity have also unsettled many communities. There has been a significant change also in the pattern of migration, with many migrants only coming for short periods of time rather than settling for longer periods, as they have always done in the past.

In this new world, people need to know that the rules for immigration are fair and that coming to Britain is a privilege, not a right. That is why Labour has introduced the Australian-style points based system for immigration, reducing overall numbers of migrants but more importantly ensuring we attract those with the skills our economy needs. It is a system which is tough, selective, fair to applicants and flexible to the needs of business. That is why for the first time we are regulating all employers who hire migrants, with big fines for those who break the rules. And that is why for the first time newcomers won’t get the right to stay, simply based on settling here for a certain number of years, but will be required to learn English and play by the rules - supporting themselves, working and paying taxes, and obeying the law - if they want to become permanent residents or full British citizens.

Only Labour can deliver security for everyone in this new world because only Labour has the determination to make the hard choices that are needed - whether it is international cooperation to defeat terrorism and nuclear proliferation, ID cards for foreign nationals, or powers for the police to detain terrorist suspects whilst complex investigations are underway.

In a society of fair chances matched by fair rules, people also need to know that they can have a fair say. People increasingly demand greater control over the services they receive and input into decisions that affect their lives.

They want the same sort of control in their dealings with government that they experience in other parts of their life. Many of the biggest challenges we face, from reducing carbon emissions to tackling obesity to driving up standards at school, can only be addressed through partnership between government, individuals, and communities.

At the same time, the opportunities to create a genuinely empowering and enabling state are greater than at any time in history precisely because of the progress Labour has made. Investment and reform has meant that our public services now meet decent standards, so we can devolve power to local government and cities with greater confidence. Our commitment to reform and change must remain strong so that public services keep up with rising aspirations.

So Labour’s vision for the coming decade is not of an absentee government. And it is not of a traditional bureaucratic government. Instead we must spread more power to more people and ensure a fair say for all. Change in the 21st century can only be delivered through an enabling government that knows its role and knows its limits.

Responding to what people need today
In our public services this means responding to people’s rising aspirations that services should be shaped by them, giving them choices where that is sensible, available when they need them, and tailored to meeting their own personal needs. We need to improve access to services, as we have done through extended schools and extended GP opening hours. We need to ensure that patients and parents have a real say over services, for example, through jointly agreed care plans in health and more regular feedback of personalised information on pupil progress for parents. And as we continue to reform our public services we need to draw more on the expertise and commitment of professionals, including in voluntary sector organisations.

It also means a step-change in the use of information as a tool for empowering public service users. Ten years ago it was seen as a major innovation that government collected information on schools or local authorities. But now new technologies provide the opportunity to improve the availability and timeliness of far more information, giving citizens and communities greater direct power than before. Whether it is real-time patient feed-back in the NHS or local crime maps, Labour’s future reform agenda will rest on the transparent provision of information which will empower citizens.

In our local communities this means empowering local people to hold local services, like policing, to account. Labour’s neighbourhood policing, where we have set clear minimum standards for every local area, will transform the ability of local people to shape policing priorities. It means a step-change in the use of petitions to help local people get things done. Looking ahead, on other issues such as licensing laws, control over public spaces like parks and town centres and the mix of shops on the local high street, people should never feel powerless. We must use approaches like local petitions to ensure that local people have a stronger say in how their local area develops.

Democratic and Constitutional change
Nationally it means seeing through constitutional reform that increases the trust that people have in politics. That is why Labour will implement a wholly or mainly elected House of Lords; why we have empowered Parliament to hold the executive to account; and why we will bring forward plans for a Bill of Rights and Responsibilities.

Constitutional reform is not just about the grand issues that populate textbooks: it is about protecting the individual against the state and about balancing liberty and security. It is also about overcoming the daily frustrations of public life, the concerns people have about local authority rubbish collection, the ability of parents to get schools admission authorities to listen to what is best for their children. It is about getting support to tackle anti-social behaviour. It is about tackling the discrimination and prejudice many of our people still face.

The constitution of the union has always evolved to meet the modern needs and rising hopes of our people as it did most notably when we created the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly within the United Kingdom. We’re proud of having created devolution and it works well. We’re committed to devolution as a way of meeting the needs and hopes of different nations within the Union. The challenges that face all of the nations within the Union keep changing. That is why we along with others have set up the Calman commission in Scotland to examine how best to develop devolution in a way that meets their needs and strengthens the Union.

In Northern Ireland, devolved government has been restored since May 2007, and in partnership with the Irish government and the devolved Northern Irish executive we are working towards completing the final steps on the path to full devolution of power according to the St Andrews Agreement.

Where power is located, how it is distributed, and how it can be exercised, go to the heart of the most elemental human aspiration: for each of us, to live our lives fulfilled, peacefully, free from arbitrary interference and control by others.

This always matters but when times are good it is sometimes easy to forget the importance of the equitable distribution of power. When most are prospering, concerns about whether people have adequate control over their lives may slip into the background. But when times are tougher, and people feel more vulnerable and threatened, then a sense that they do not have adequate control over their own life, and that others are controlling it for them, creates risks for the peace, stability, and cohesion of society. We saw this over and over again in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

That is why we will drive forward our programme of constitutional reform, in the face of Conservative indifference and hostility, so that it delivers the fairest possible distribution of power in our society.

Our ambitions for Britain are high.

We recognise that achieving these goals will not be easy but we are also optimistic about our country’s ability to win through. We do not have a pessimistic view that runs Britain down all the time. This country has never been broken. It is not now. Nor will it be.

Instead with government passing more power and control to patients, parents, communities, and citizens, we have a real opportunity to forge an even fairer and more prosperous society.

Only Labour can deliver this. Labour supporters can be proud that we have reduced poverty, created millions of jobs, reformed and renewed our public services, and cut crime. We should be proud but not satisfied. To achieve our goals and ensure lasting change for our country, Labour must continue the work of reform, enabling Britain both to weather the storm of global economic turbulence and at the same time take the steps necessary to equip our country for the challenges of the future.

We are going through a period in human history when radical change offers extraordinary new opportunities for those ready to seize them. This is not the world we inherited when we came into government in 1997. We came into office determined to serve the country and its needs at that time. We remain determined to serve our country now.

And it is because we live in an era of accelerating change that fairness matters more: fair chances for all, so that everyone can share in the new benefits that progress brings; fair rules for all, so that no one feels unprotected; a fair say for all, so that people have more power over their local communities and services; and a fair deal for all, so that no one is let down or left behind.

New times ask new questions and demand new answers. Only Labour can provide them for all the people of our country. In this document, we have set out how we intend to address these new challenges and in the months ahead, we will continue to put forward new policies as part of a new deal for this new world.

With your help and support, we will seize these opportunities and continue to build the new Britain everyone in our country deserves.