How to win with Labour values
Venue & Address: Manchester Town Hall, Albert Square, Manchester, M60 2LA
Start and End times: Sunday 26th September – Tuesday 28th September 2010
Ticket price: Free
Given the backdrop of a newly elected party leader, the Fabians used this moment to reflect and debate the next chapter of Labour’s future vision and strategies.
Our thanks to everyone who came along to our Question Time events, to our debates on the future of relations between Labour and Liberal Democrats, criminal justice, the poverty challenge and to our Dragon’s Den session ‘Change or no Change’.
| Sunday 26th September |
| Dragon’s Den: Change or no change – 1pm |
| Speakers: |
| David Lammy MP |
| Deborah Mattinson |
| Sadiq Khan MP |
| Mehdi Hasan |
| Can Labour speak to England? – 6pm |
| Speakers: |
| John Denham MP |
| Jon Cruddas MP |
| Gisela Stuart MP |
| Kwame Kwei-Armah |
| Yvette Cooper MP |
| Patrick Diamond |
| Question Time – 8pm |
| Speakers: |
| Sunder Katwala |
| Douglas Alexander MP |
| Toby Helm |
| Fraser Nelson |
| Partnered with Observer |
| Monday 27th September |
| The Poverty Challenge: Is the Coalition delivering on fairness? – 1pm |
| Philip Blond |
| Kate Green MP |
| Alison Garnham |
| Julian Astle |
| Nancy Kelley |
| Partnered with CentreForum, CPAG, Respublica |
| Is the Lib/Lab Coalition gone forever?- 6pm |
| Speakers: |
| David Blunkett MP |
| Dr Evan Harris |
| Polly Toynbee |
| John Leech MP |
| Sunder Katwala |
| Partnership with Centre Forum, Kindly supported by ERS |
| Inside out: should there be fewer people in prison? |
| Jack Straw MP |
| Juliet Lyon CBE |
| Sunder Katwala |
| Peter Kellner |
| Mary Riddell |
| Chuka Umunna MP |
| Kindly supported by Prison Reform Trust, Criminal Justice Alliance |
| In partnership with CentreForum, Policy Exchange |
| Tuesday 28th September |
| Where did all the women go? – 6pm |
| Fiona McTaggart MP |
| Bonnie Greer |
| Julie Mellor |
| Caroline Flint MP |
| Seema Malhotra |
| Sunder Katwala |
| Partnership with Fabian Women’s Network |
| YES to reform – winning the battle |
| John Denham MP |
| Stephen Twigg MP |
| Peter Hain MP |
| Tessa Jowell MP |
| Neal Lawson |
| In partnership with Compass, Progress and ERS |
| Skills and social mobility: next steps for access to professions |
| The recent economic crisis has further exacerbated inequality, and reversed many of the gains made to social mobility over the last 13 years. Given this tighter fiscal environment, how far can we support pathways to professions and secure the jobs of the future? And what role can employers, communities and the Government play in harnessing aspirations and breaking down barriers to reaching professions? |
| David Lammy MP |
| Michael Izza |
| Patrick Diamond |
| Tessa Stone |
| Martin Bright |
| Kindly supported by ICAEW |
| Low Carbon 2050: what’s stopping us? |
| Perhaps the biggest challenge for all policymakers and energy suppliers will be translating the 2050 low carbon agenda into policy action given a tighter fiscal context. What would a realistic level of success in the development of low carbon energy sources look like by the end of this parliament and the next? What are the political and public barriers to achieving this and how can we overcome them? |
| Malcolm Wicks MP |
| Alan Whitehead MP |
| Janine Freeman |
| David Norman |
| Kindly supported by National Grid |
| Next Left: insecurity, fairness and the new social democracy |
| Issues of immigration, crime and welfare dependency have provided very difficult electoral challenges for centre-left parties across Europe, so why have modern social democrats struggled to develop a sufficient response to economic insecurity? This seminar will aim to connect the British Labour Party’s inquest into its election defeat of May 2010 and political debates about its future, with pan-European debates about the ideological and political challenges for social democracy and democratic socialist parties. |
| John Denham MP |
| Dr Alfred Gusenbauer |
| Catherine Fieschi |
| Sunder Katwala |
| Kindly supported by the Foundation of European Progressive Studies |
| Do we need a state education system? |
| Public education reform remains an area of contention between policymakers and practioners, and in light of new Government interventions there are growing concerns around the future configuration of education services. The following seminar will seek to identify these areas and to draw some consensus on balancing standards and expectations, the role of the state in the public education system and ownership of the quality of services provided in schools. |
| David Blunkett MP |
| Geoff Whitty |
| Christine Blower |
| Lucy Heller |
| Kindly supported by the Institute of Education |
| Jump Starting Green Jobs |
| With UK unemployment now at 2.5 million, this seminar will assess how we can jump start green jobs given the backdrop of deep cuts and limited public spending. What defines a green job and what sectors can benefit from low-skilled green employment? What role should Government, the private and third sector play in delivering green skills and what are the pathways to green employment at a local level? |
| Emily Thornberry MP |
| Tim Horton |
| Tony Hawkhead |
| Michael Jacobs |
| Kindly supported by Groundwork UK, Respublica, CentreForum |
| Who are skills for? Can we meet the fairness test in an age of austerity? |
| This seminar will explore how the broad political consensus on the need for fairness and social equity in public policy can and should inform decisions about the provision of skills and training, particularly when it comes to prioritising resources given the focus on deficit reduction. What kind of indicators would demonstrate these policy choices have been designed to credibly meet this “fairness test”? How will the new Coalition Government marry a high skills future and a political economy based on economically liberal scepticism? |
| Pat McFadden MP |
| Andrew Sich |
| Frances O’Grady |
| Alessandara Buonfino |
| David Coats |
| Kindly supported by City & Guilds and the Trade Union Congress |
| Road to recovery: the role of UK manufacturing and competiveness |
| Perhaps the key long-term public policy challenge facing the UK is where its future jobs and prosperity will come from. This seminar will assess how far the noticeable shift in public and political discourse towards ‘bringing manufacturing back in’ as part of a sustainable future UK economy led to any consensus about the future role of developing and protecting British owned manufacturing. And ask the question – does size matter? |
| Adrian Bailey MP |
| Adam Lent |
| Juergen Maier |
| Sam Fleming |
| Kindly supported by EEF and the Food and Drink Federation |
| The Work Programme: learning the lessons from Labour or condemning the hardest to reach? |
| The Work Programme will effectively replace all FND1 programmes underway and reign in on FND2 contracts agreed, streamlining all benefit claimants into one scheme and reducing the complexity of the system to include all people on incapacity benefits and single parents. This seminar will therefore explore the policy challenges of the new coalition government’s welfare to work agenda – in particular whether the Work Programme will sufficiently deal with those hardest to reach groups. |
| Anne Begg MP |
| Janette Faherty |
| Gavin Poole |
| Tom Hampson |
| Kindly supported by Avanta |
