Labour's Leader in the European Parliament, Glenis Willmott MEP speaks to Labour Party Conference - 2009-10-07

Glenis Willmott MEP, delivered her first address to Labour conference as Labour's Leader in Europe.

Glenis reflected on Labour's European Elections performance and the need to win the argument on Britain in Europe. Speaking as part of the Britain in the World debate at Labour Conference Glenis also used the speech to argue that the Conservatives policies on Europe are damaging to Britain's influence in the world. In a speech before the Foreign Secretary David Miliband MP, Glenis also attacked the Conservatives allies in the European Parliament saying that:

"Since the elections, they've left the centre right, and jumped into bed with some extremely strange people.  From Polish homophobes to anti-Semites, to Czech climate change deniers, and let's not forget the Latvians who have such admiration for the Nazi Waffen SS."

Glenis Willmott MEP continued:

"After a massive row, they lost one MEP, lost control of the top positions in the European Parliament, and then lost the leadership of the new political group they'd only just formed!

Glenis argued that for Britain to achieve influence in the world, it needs to play an active role in the European Union to deliver on economic recovery, tackle climate change and protect and defend equal rights.

The full text of the lecture is available here and you can watch Glenis deliver the speech here.

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