At last year’s Labour Party Conference, Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith both spoke passionately to a packed room about Keir Hardie, one  of the founders of the Labour Party.  Both are contributors to the book ‘What would Keir Hardie Say?’ and the session was about exploring Hardie’s vision and relevance to C21st century politics.

A lot has happened in the intervening year and this year’s conference will begin with the result of the leadership contest that has been between Jeremy and Owen.  The majority of members hope to put the contest behind us and to turn our full attention to opposing the divisive and unnecessarily harsh policies and measures of this Conservative government.

Conference provides an opportunity for the Party to give full consideration to the whole policy spectrum.  Delegates from across the country will make decisions about the direction of the Party and the nature of Labour’s policies going forward.  South Thanet Labour sends a delegate each year and a good number of other members and councillors will be going also.

Issues that are particularly important here in Thanet are our housing and homelessness crisis (see our blog post on the weekend’s Sleep Out Saturday), our local health services and social care provision and the government’s latest plans for grammar schools. These are all topics that will be under discussion at the conference.