00:06 Matt Wrack: Well, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, friends and comrades, I want to just say a few words about how my union has debated this issue, which is a difficult and complex issue for many people, and how I approached it personally as a socialist within the trade union movement. And a starting point for us was that this is not our referendum. This is not a referendum of our choosing, at our time, on our question. It arises out of wrangling in the Tory party, about a battle for power in the Tory party and about a threat from the right within the Tory party grassroots. And as a result, regrettably, as has already been said, the agenda has largely been set by those people, and it's — and I'll come on in more detail — it's inevitably reflected a debate around migration and about migrants.
01:09 And one of the outcomes we might face is that we replace one prime minister with another, we replace one Old Etonian with another Old Etonian, because the immediate gainer in my view is likely to be Boris Johnson from an exit, if that's what happens in the referendum. And I have to say I struggle myself to understand the enthusiasm with which some of my comrades on the left have embraced this referendum. I see no positives from the prospect of a vote to leave.
01:39 Secondly, we approach this question from an independent labour movement approach, because in reality this debate has largely been an argument between two groups of the elite in this country: between businesses who want to exploit us in the EU and businesses who want to exploit us better outside the EU. And for us the labour movement can't ally with either of those factions of what I would call the ruling class. They both represent the interests of banks and billionaires, not of ordinary people. So we don't — we, my union, we've argued within the TUC we should not line up with any of the official campaigns as a result of that, and we welcome initiatives like Another Europe is Possible as a result.
02:10 Thirdly, I want to take up one of the points that is raised by some on the left in relation to this debate, and I'll say it before they do: the European Union is a bosses' club. There's no gloss from me on that issue. We don't defend the status quo in the EU. It is a bosses' club. It does support neoliberal policies. Many in this room and many in the trade union movement have been appalled by the treatment of the Greek people in relation to the fight against austerity. So we don't gloss over that. We don't prettify the EU. The EU acts to promote the interests of capital. But brothers and sisters, so does UK plc, so does the British state. And if you look historically at the history of the past 35 years, you will find in fact that British governments of various descriptions have pioneered neoliberal policies internationally, in Britain and in the EU. [applause]
03:46 So for me, yes, we have enemies in the EU and its institutions, but on many of the issues our main enemy is actually here: in the City of London, here in Westminster, here running the government in the UK. [applause] And the trade union movement — and I think that many — the trade union movement does need to seriously assess its position in relation to some of these issues. But the truth is the EU has made concessions on workers' rights, despite its origins, despite its lack of democracy. And these would be under a clear and immediate threat in the event of a British vote to leave. And those calling for such votes within the labour movement have nothing to say in reality about what happens on day two, what happens in year one and year two of an exit. What will the government do? What will happen to EU-based law? What will happen to those workers' rights which have been won as a result of those concessions that I mentioned?
04:16 These are dismissed by some as secondary. They are not secondary to millions of ordinary working people in this country. Millions of jobs depend upon the state of our economy and upon trade, and it's not surprising therefore that those unions representing workers in manufacturing have asked searching questions about this and are concerned and are broadly supporting the campaign to remain.
05:17 And just thinking about those calling for exit, one comment that struck me: Professor Patrick Minford — many of you may remember him from the days of Margaret Thatcher — he's an economist at Cardiff University. He supports Brexit. He wasn't trying to keep this a secret, by the way, because he wrote it in the *Sun*, so he's aiming it at a mass audience. And he says: "Over time, if we left the EU, it seems likely that we would mostly eliminate manufacturing, leaving mainly industries such as design, marketing and high-tech. But this shouldn't scare us." Well, I tell you what: it will scare millions of working people in this country who rely for their livings on such jobs. [applause]
05:49 Leaving will benefit the far right, the racists and the xenophobes in Britain and indeed across the continent, and it's already happening. Make no mistake, Brexit will mean that the key political debate in the UK for two years or more will be about numbers — numbers of immigrants who are allowed into the country, the rights of those people who are here and whether they stay or not. That will be the focus of the debate if there is a vote to leave.
06:20 And I've started from this point, I've said it before, let's be clear: workers are suffering as a result of a long-running economic depression. It was sparked in the banks in the pursuit of profit, not by migrants. Housing shortages — housing shortages that are affecting, that are meaning millions of young people have no real prospect of a decent place to live and getting on the so-called housing ladder — that's a result of the failure of the housing market, not of migrants. [applause] Stretched public services, like my own public service, the fire service, suffering record cuts [?], on a level never seen in history — it's a result of austerity policies pursued by George Osborne and David Cameron, not a result of migrants. And for those in the trade union movement who are concerned about negotiating decent living standards for people: low pay is caused by rip-off bosses and not by migrant workers. [applause]
07:53 So we have to say, from our point of view, that a vote to remain is not taken as an endorsement of the status quo whatsoever, but a recognition that at the present time we have not been in a position to put in place something better. A vote to remain for us means a cold, realistic assessment of the balance of forces we face today and the prospects of the different outcomes in the referendum. But it must be the start of a build of a campaign to build a new alternative.
08:25 And there are two aspects for that, for me, that I'll finish on. Firstly, we want to see democratic change in Britain and across Europe. Let's end the secrecy that does surround many of the EU institutions. Let's see what the European Central Bank discusses. Publish the minutes, hold their sessions in public, for God's sake. Let's see what these people are plotting against us. If it's realistic for citizens in every single European country to see what happens in their parliament and in the European Parliament, let's see what goes on behind closed doors when ministers get together or when the Commission gets together. Let's put on the agenda a campaign for fundamental democratic change across the board.
08:55 And secondly, we need to develop a European-wide campaign for a real alternative to austerity, to xenophobia and to climate disaster. Let's take the recent debate on steel. We should be demanding that we establish an alternative plan, a people's plan, a workers' plan for steel and other industries on a European-wide basis, that actually talks about what could be delivered and about how we do protect jobs here and across Europe. We should develop an alternative workers' plan to tackle unemployment in Britain and across Europe. On the question of public ownership, my own union has published articles and moved at the TUC that we should actually put on the agenda the public ownership of the banks and the financial institutions. I have to say, in the modern world we have to raise on a European-wide basis as well if we're really going to tackle the threats that we face.
09:59 We've faced years of austerity threatening to undermine all the gains that the labour movement has campaigned for for generations. Yes, the EU has played its part in that austerity attack on our people. A further economic downturn is likely to mean a renewed onslaught against our people here and across the continent. That's their future. Our future is different. Our future has to be a future — a Europe of democracy and of solidarity. Can that be done within the current EU? That's a debate we need to have, brothers and sisters. But our strategy in response to that international crisis is based upon that internationalism: for a fight for democracy, for a campaign based upon solidarity, for another Europe, for a workers' Europe, for a fundamental change here in the UK and across Europe. That's the approach we take. Thank you very much.
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