Blog: Taking our demands to the Labour Party

I’m just back from Brighton, where I went to bring UNISON’s demands on public services and social care into the Labour Party at its annual conference. As I’ve said in many of my recent speeches, we are at a major crossroads. The head of our delegation, Linda Hobson, moved our motion on public services that was unanimously supported. She said: “We are calling time on business as usual’’, and that’s because we need a new deal for public services and public service workers. We also heard from vice president Andrea Egan on decent housing and secure homes, while Liz Cameron seconded a motion on mental health, Tracey Wainwright proposed the Labour women’s conference motion, Women’s equality after the coronavirus pandemic, Graeme Ellis spoke in the Department for Work and Pension debate, and Davena Rankin spoke about the challenges facing members in higher education. In line with UNISON’s successful motion calling for a national social care service, Labour promised they would deliver one. But we need to see more on what their vision of a national social care service is. When I moved our motion – my first time speaking at Labour Party conference – I sent a message to Boris Johnson. I warned him that the British people would never forget he cared more about giving contracts to his cronies than he did about people in care homes. The conference ended yesterday with a speech from Keir Starmer. In his first live conference address as leader of the Labour Party, he...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: General secretary's blog News Source Type: news