My Labour Conference 2014

Being working poor with a large family, I could not afford the cost of Labour Conference. The pass was £63 for the low paid/unwaged and £109 for everyone else. Accomodation was quite frankly extortionately priced for budget accomodation. £120 per night plus on average. Wanting desperately to go I crowd funded my way there and I am eternally grateful to the many people ( including MPs) who put their hands in their pockets and paid for me to attend. I then began a campaign which I will continue to take up with Labour Gen Sec Iain McNicoll entitled #ForTheManyNotTheMoneyed
The campaign was to give a voice to every person who simply could not afford the best part of £1000 to attend conference week. The campaign continues for 2015 as Mr McNicoll looks into it.

Attending Labour Conference is an experience like no other. Every member rich or poor should be given the opportunity for a "seat at the table", a chance to engage with their party, meet people, smell the politics and in my case most importantly, learn from the event and come out wiser than when I went in! Of course it is useful to sit in the main conference hall and listen to the speeches by the party leader and shadow cabinet, but the fringe events on a wide variety of topics from What makes a working class MP, to the Cuba and Venezuela Solidarity campaigns are where you have to be to learn the most. I was like a political kid in a sweet shop! Scouring the days events in my conference book and making a list of MPs and other speakers I wanted to hear from most, made the entire conference all the more enriched. Of course while I was there I had my own article coming out, announcing my intention to stand for Parliament in 2020 and that it was truly a time for working class MPs who have compassion and the human touch to be  elected to change the make up of the current establishment. I had a terrific response to my Morning Star piece, with one lady rushing to the Morning Star stand to subscribe to the paper having read the article!

People make conference. A wide variety of people though, not just suits who can afford to be there. I met with  some grandmothers in their 80s who told me of their experiences after the war when the welfare state was being set up, I met with a young man whose mum was being hounded by the DWP and faced sanctions as due to her mental health she couldn't understand the letters being sent to her demanding her constant appearance at assessment centres, I met a whole array of feisty disabled people demanding change from the Labour Party and fighting to mould disabled policy within the party. These experiences were my education. Of course I also met with my own Unite the Union General Secretary Len McCluskey for the first time, and was delighted to meet up with the MPs I admire most, Ian Lavery, Grahame Morris and Ian Mearns. These four men have something in common more priceless than diamonds; the ability to connect, engage and care about what you are saying. No one feels the hurt of austerity on their people and constituents more than these guys believe me! And they are not just empty words. They act immediately. When you have heard  Ian Lavery deliver a hell raising speech on how children at a school in his constituency are stealing bread from the school kitchens as they are hungry and how there is simply no need for austerity in one of the richest countries on earth, you can be damned sure that speech will be seared in your brain forever! Christine Blower from the NUT telling delegates that teachers are hoarding cereal snack bars and the like to feed hungry pupils in school, the realisation from newly qualified and perhaps middle class young teachers that teaching is only part of their job, and social worker and feeding children is also part of their remit wrenches your insides literally. Kevin Macguire of the Daily Mirror sitting alongside 91 year old Harry Smith at a fringe event when he weeps as he tells of his sister dying from TB aged 10 because there was no NHS. These speakers told the real stories of conference. The stories that were happening to ordinary people. To me these were far more important than any policy announcements taking place in the main hall as they told the real story of what is going on under the watch of Cameron's Britain.

I was also involved in an incident concerning myself and other disabled people prior to the leaders speech taking place. Huge queues had formed and all disabled people were allowed in first, but the queuing system was pretty haphazard as of course there were people on mobility scooters and  in wheelchairs as well as the "walking wounded", the deaf  and blind. All week long  on the front row of the floor level balcony seating, stewards reserved seats for the disabled who couldn't climb the
balcony. I was among them. However, when stewards showed us to this front row, 2 party officials insisted we could not sit there as they were reserved for other party members. Despite vehement protestation from the stewards and also myself, I was told to move up to the balcony seating. However by this time a lot of the upper seats were occupied so there were quite a few stairs to climb. The stewards did their best to assist but I lost my footing with my crutch and fell. Thank you to the steward who picked me up and saved me! On seeing the scene, the party officials quickly urged stewards to fetch chairs from outside the hall and put us seated next to the wheelchair users in the main part of the hall. Myself and a few others who had attempted the balcony climb were very angry and of course shaken and in disbelief this was happening to us at Labour conference.  We felt frankly like 2nd class citizens, a bit of a nuisance to the female party suits desperate to avoid a scene and get their people seated in the reserved disabled seats.

At the end of conference all became apparent as Ed Miliband and his wife Justine walked to the back of the hall and shook hands with the long line of party members sitting in the reserved seats. Of course Ed himself would have been oblivious to the fact we had been ousted from this area, and the feeling of somehow not being good enough or photogenic enough for the cameras following him pervaded our thoughts.  I was very angry on leaving the hall and gave my account of what had taken place to a Morning Star reporter. Whilst Luke James reported the facts, another Tory paper copied the story and added its own right wing twist for public gain. Not what was intended.  Labour got it wrong for disabled people, but it was a time for bringing this to the attention of Kate Green, shadow minister for the disabled and not for Tory rags to gain politically from it. Both Kate and John McDonnell MP are raising the issue seriously with Ed Miliband and  looking into the behaviour of party officials. For the record it is up to people like me to speak out and ensure that at future events this is never repeated. With the arrival of Disability Labour as a new group I will work with them as a voice to  improve procedures for disabled people at conference. It is not enough to moan. Change must come by fighting for it personally.

The  conference centre foyer was packed full of stalls ranging from Unions to the Campaign for Real Ale (popular with delegates for samples!) and all had stacks of information; leaflets, free pens and fridge magnets etc. I have much to read in the coming weeks! The sheer volume of stalls and causes made me swivel- headed but again enriched the experience for me.

Finally I would like to thank the cleaners, the stewards, the  workers providing us with food and drinks, the centre receptionists, the centre guides. These were the unsung heroes. People like us on minimum wage and perhaps  a short term contract, all working to 200% to ensure conference was enjoyable to all. A special mention to the security guards on the gate who always opened up the main gates when they saw myself and other disabled people coming along, rather than the turnstiles for others. They were cheery every day and always glad to welcome us. The Manchester police were obviously present but again did their jobs and directed us to taxis etc when needed. The taxi drivers were animated and asked lots of questions about conference and what Labour would do in certain areas, and I hope I converted a few!

I marvelled at the cheapness of the tram tickets (£3 return)  and how safe and welcoming Manchester was to a lone female. Thank you Manchester, a truly great city.

Labour now has to knuckle down with a huge job of work leading up to May 2015. Trying to change the narrative and how  the right wing media perceive the party and leader will be a difficult task, but we have it in all of us grassroots members, us the people, to campaign to ensure a Labour victory next May. Just view the alternative on offer: Cameron, Clegg and Farage, or a combination of all 3, for the next five years. Stand with Labour, and campaign for change from within.