Speech by , Shadow Attorney
General
Conference, it’s a pleasure to be back in Liverpool.
But I must start with an apology. The last time I stood here in
2018, I was shadowing . When our conference was
cancelled in 2020, I was shadowing .
So, I don’t know what this curse is, but I apologise in advance
for the catastrophic period in our national history that will be
the premiership of .
It could get worse though. We may need an emergency motion
stating that Keir cannot under any circumstances make me shadow
.
But whoever leads the Tories, we know they are hell-bent on
tearing apart the society that we have sought all our lives to
make stronger and fairer. That is why we are all in politics.
That is why we fight to get into government.
But we can never build that society without the foundation of
laws that apply equally to everyone, and a criminal justice
system that enforces them; a foundation becoming weaker every day
the Tories stay in office.
Think about the almost 99 out of 100 women who suffer the ordeal
of being raped but never see their attacker charged, or the tiny
minority who do, but have to wait three years for their day in
court. Those figures should shame ministers, but instead they
just shrug and let them get ever worse.
Think about the epidemic of fraud sweeping Britain, destroying
lives and wrecking dreams, cheating workers out of their wages
and pensioners out of their savings.
Asked about that seven months ago, said that fraud was not the
kind of crime “people experience in their day-to-day lives”, just
the kind of insight and empathy which gets you promoted to
Chancellor under .
But if the consumer fraud gangs are able to ply their parasitic
trade with impunity, it is nothing compared to those committing
corporate fraud.
In 2013, I published a report urging the government to tackle
those companies committing fraud at the expense of their
employees, their competitors, and all too often the public
purse.
In the decade since I published that report, just seven companies
have been convicted of corporate fraud. In that same period,
5,000 times as many people have been convicted of benefits
fraud.
That shows this government’s double standards, but also their
downright indolence. Faced with a complex challenge, they have
simply waved the white flag to white collar crime, and stop
trying to convict those responsible.
Another addition to their special club of criminal impunity,
along with burglary, vehicle theft, street robbery, and to their
eternal shame, rape and sexual assault.
But that will all change under a Labour government.
As Steve and Yvette will spell out, we will end the era of
criminal impunity. We will give protection and security to women
and girls, the elderly and the vulnerable. And we will send the
message loud and clear to all those who prey on our communities,
that we are coming for you.
That goes as well for corporate fraudsters. As I have set out in
a new report today, we will change the law to make it easier to
prosecute companies for fraud, and send the message loud and
clear to unscrupulous bosses, that if you refuse to play by the
rules, then we are coming for you too.
But when it comes to out-of-control individuals who consider
themselves above the law, the biggest problem facing our country
is not the criminals on the street or in the boardroom, but this
current Tory government.
From Rwanda and Northern Ireland to Covid contracts and workers’
rights, this is a government which treats the law not as a
guardrail to keep it on the straight and narrow, but a barrier to
be torn down whenever it gets in their way.
That does not on its own explain the fact that so many crimes now
go unpunished, or the record backlogs that have brought our
courts to breaking point, or the collapse of legal aid as our
guarantee of equality before the law.
But what it does explain is how those cracks can emerge in the
foundation on which our society is built, and the government
could not care less.
That is why, like every other crisis facing our country, we will
only start to repair our justice system when we succeed in
changing our government.
So let the message go out loud and clear from this conference to
a Tory government that treats the law with contempt and threatens
the foundations of our society, your own era of impunity is
over.
Labour is stronger than ever, more united than ever, more
determined than ever, and you’d better believe that we are coming
for you.
