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"Conference, a decade ago our cities were in a spiral of
decline. High unemployment, rising crime, bad housing, poor school results.
People abandoning our cities.
Not now. Labour policies have changed that. Thousands of new
jobs. Yes, crime down. Decent homes. School results up. Cleaner, greener, safer
places to live.
Take just one small example. The canals of Manchester and
many cities were symbols of urban decline. When we came to office we changed
the Treasury borrowing rules to allow publicly owned bodies like British
Waterways - and local authority airports - to be more enterprising, using
public private partnerships to unleash their full potential. They have become
major engines of urban regeneration. As a result, we transformed derelict
canals into flourishing urban centres: profitable assets instead of the
decaying liabilities the Tories left behind." |
