We caught up with Chatham and Aylseford MP Tris Osborne on the move at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool.
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00:00First of all, it was about celebrating the result in Kent. We ran a record number of
00:05Labour MPs, and that is actually the result of Kent people, people electing their Labour
00:10MPs across Kent, from Folkestone to Dover to Citybourne and Sheppey. So a thank you
00:16for putting their trust in us. Also, the difficult decisions. This is going to be a 10-year
00:21project of renewal to improve our public services, and that was something you heard throughout
00:26speech around public service, giving service back to the nation.
00:31We keep hearing about a government of service, we keep hearing about difficult decisions,
00:34but the difficult decisions we're hearing about this conference is about whether to
00:38accept Taylor Swift tickets, about whether to accept tickets to football games. Has the
00:44freebie scandal derailed this conference?
00:48Look, we need to ultimately accept that there's a conversation, we've had this for 20 years
00:56where people have donated to the Conservatives, to Labour, and I think this has been a distraction,
01:01and I'm not the only one that's said that, from the agenda, which I want to talk about,
01:05which is improving people's lives to get public services improved. So I accept that this has
01:11been a distraction, and I think I'm hopeful that this conference now has reset that and
01:16we can actually set the agenda going forward.
01:18Your predecessor, Dame Tracey Crouse, was Chaston and Aylesford Conservative MP, was a big driver
01:24of change surrounding the idea of an independent football regulator. How can we believe that's
01:30now going to happen under a Labour government when we keep hearing about tens of thousands
01:36of pounds of donations from the Premier League, or in regards to football tickets? How can
01:42we believe that?
01:43Obviously, we will be working in partnership now we've got into government. I will be speaking
01:49and writing to ministers to ensure that that agenda is promoted, as I'm sure Tracey will
01:54be doing in her new role as well. So, you know, these issues, of course, come and there
02:00are distractions, and quite rightly so, they deserve scrutiny, and I think you have rightly
02:05scrutinised them, but that doesn't derail us from our fundamental programme.