all around the world, countries are gearing up for an almighty race for the opportunities of tomorrow. britain must be on the start line, not back in the changing room to the laces. some nation is going to lead the world in offshore wind. why not britain? some nation will create the first generation of quantum computers. why not britain? some nation will design medicines personalised to match our unique dna. why not britain? pause applause. why not? because sticking plaster politics holds us back. pick any of the current problems, energy security, productivity, immigration, we could be here all day. but it wouldn t matter, the pattern is always the same. distracted by the short term obsessions that fixate westminster, held back by a cynicism
give them the trust, the power and the control. we won t accept decline. won t write off our country. won t leave britain in a brace position buffeted from crisis to crisis holding on trying to make it through. that s no way to live. and it s no way to run a country. applause so this year, in place of sticking plaster politics, we will set out a case for change. the case for a new britain, the case for hope that the country will get better, politics will be a force for good, britain can be run in the interests of working people. we can t feel the public looking at it again, and we won t let up, we will work every day to end their trust, show them a new
senior management, of course they have to take some of the big decisions and strategic ones. you wouldn t have them taking every decision, would you? standing over your shoulder telling you exactly how to use a robot arm. getting them to write the code for computer aided manufacturing. of course not. nothing would get done. big decisions would get put off because he wouldn t be able to see the wood for the trees. other decisions taken ijy for the trees. other decisions taken by the wrong people not close enough to the action would get botched. yet, this is exactly how we try to run britain. it is why, for all the talk of levelling up, nothing ever happens. it sjust talk of levelling up, nothing ever happens. it s just that all game of passionately identifying a problem, rather than facing the real solution and accepting westminster must give power away. well, no more. no more sticking plaster politics, no more westminster holding power, no more
politics, sticking plaster politics and a last minute frenzy and it sometimes delivers relief. but the long term cure, that always eludes us. and it s at the heart of all the problems with the across the country right now. i will give you an example energy and the cost of living crisis. now, thank heavens we have a price freeze this winter, that a labour s campaigning in the summer brought the government eventually to our position and it senses. but truth be told, the price freeze is the perfect example of sticking plaster politics. necessary of course, but nonetheless, an expensive, last minute fix, papering over cracks in our energy security that had been on display for years. don t get me wrong, nobody criticises the government for the effects of the war in ukraine, but