Monday, September 10, 2007

Southwark Labour Conference


Labour Party members from across Southwark gathered on Saturday for our first annual borough conference. It was a terrific day, with speeches from Harriet Harman, Tessa Jowell, Hazel Blears and Val Shawcross. There are not many boroughs which can organise an event like this and attract three Cabinet ministers! Harriet spoke of her work as Deputy Leader and Chair of the Labour Party; Tessa spoke of the need for a new politics to tackle the problems we face - particularly in inner-city areas like Southwark; and Hazel Blears spoke of the challenges and opportunities facing us in local government.

There was a truly positive feeling during the day, which was held at InSpire in Liverpool Grove, and there is certainly a feeling that the Labour Party has a renewed optimism about tackling the problems which we face in national and local government. The day also included six working group sessions which discussed papers which had previously been prepared, and which will begin to form the basis of our manifesto for the 2010 local elections.


Over 100 people attended the conference, which I hope will be the first of many in the years to come. The event really demonstrated that Southwark Labour Party is one of the most dynamic and progressive borough partys in the country!

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