Labour Conference 2023: Monday in Liverpool with Alexander Brown

The Scotsman

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:03 Hello, my name's Alexander Brown.

00:10 I'm the paper's Westminster correspondent.

00:12 And I'm here at Labour Conference in Liverpool,

00:14 where in all my years of coming, I have never

00:16 seen a mood so buoyant.

00:18 Today we heard from Rachel Reeves, we heard from Manas

00:20 Sawa, and we heard from Ian Murray, all of whom

00:23 gave speeches that were incredibly light on policy,

00:25 but extremely high in positive vibes.

00:27 I was actually speaking to one MP earlier,

00:29 and they said it wasn't about the policy,

00:30 it was about the vibes.

00:32 There was a time when the Labour Party had no money here.

00:34 There was very little investment.

00:35 Businesses had not attended.

00:37 That is not the case anymore.

00:38 And in a clear sign of how the party is feeling buoyant,

00:41 after the election win in Rutherglen and Hamilton West,

00:46 Michael Shanks, wherever he goes,

00:47 is getting applauded and cheered,

00:49 and everyone's going absolutely wild.

00:50 It's a bit like Beetlejuice.

00:52 You say his name repeatedly, and he just appears.

00:55 And Scottish Labour have had a very tough time of late.

00:57 They have not won for a long time.

00:59 To have that seat, the mood has now

01:00 changed from thinking they could perhaps win six seats

01:02 at the next election, as Jackie Bailey said,

01:04 to perhaps winning as many as 28.

01:07 That's now the list for target seats,

01:08 but they're not putting a ceiling on it.

01:10 The idea is still 40.

01:11 From Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor

01:13 of the ex-Chequers speech, the main line

01:15 was clearly that we should have got an endorsement

01:17 from Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England.

01:19 Well, it's only going to enrage Brexiteers, who always

01:21 thought he was of the liberal left alignment.

01:24 The fact that she's talking about fiscal discipline

01:27 will only be a boost for business,

01:28 and just shows really why all these people here

01:31 are starting to believe that Labour really

01:32 are the next government and waiting.

01:34 We'll hear whether Sir Keir Starmer can cement that

01:37 tomorrow when he makes his speech.

01:38 And for all that and more, stay tuned to thescotsman.com.

01:41 [MUSIC PLAYING]

01:44 (upbeat music)

01:47 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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