Labour Party conference: Gordon Brown keynote speech

Labour Party conference: Gordon Brown keynote speech; Gordon Brown speech continued SOT - And in the last twelve years we created the first legal national minimum wage/ And in every year of the next five years we will increase it/ The minimum wage was the dream of Neil Kinnock – and he's with us today/ It was the dream of John Smith – whom we remember today/ And it was one of the achievements of Tony Blair, and we thank him today/ And when the minimum wage rises this month it will be 60% higher than when it started. - And I can say today that not just the minimum wage, but child benefit and child tax credits for families will continue to rise every year with Labour/ And for all those mums and dads who struggle to juggle work and home, I am proud to announce today that by reforming tax relief we will by the end of the next Parliament be able to give the parents of a quarter of a million two year olds free childcare for the first time. - I do think it's time to address a problem that for too long has gone unspoken - the number of children having children/ For it cannot be right, for a girl of sixteen, to get pregnant, be given the keys to a council flat and be left on her own/ From now on all 16 and 17 year old parents who get support from the taxpayer will be placed in a network of supervised homes/ These shared homes will offer not just a roof over their heads, but a new start in life where they learn responsibility and how to raise their children properly/ That's better for them, better for their babies and better for us all in the long run - We won't ever shy away from taking difficult decisions on tough social questions/ Because we have to be honest – its not just bankers and politicians that have lost the people's trust/ Even though there is so much that is amazing about Britain, if you ask your neighbours or your workmates how they feel right now in this fast changing world, they will probably talk about their sense of unease. - The decen...