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Conference, over the last ten years we have learnt that the best way to secure the prosperity and progress we all want to see is to ensure our economy remains dynamic and competitive. One that is capable of responding to the challenges and opportunities of globalization. One that shares opportunity and prosperity across every part of Britain.

A thriving economy is fundamental to everything we wish to achieve for our country and our people.

We have learnt that Britain's success as a nation depends on us looking out, not in. Leading in Europe to seize the opportunities of globalization, not turning away. Building a modern labour market that is both fair and flexible.

That has been our approach - it has seen 2.6 million more people in work and each with more rights than they had in 1997. Growing wealth and personal security, with 600,000 children lifted out of poverty. And rising standards for working people. Including, from next week, additional rights to paid leave.

A commitment developed by our National Policy Forum, delivered by our Labour Government, determined to do right by Britain's hard working families.

No one should be fooled by the Conservatives. They just don't get the modern world, the future challenges which it brings and the new solutions which are necessary.

Just read John Redwood's latest plan for the economy. It's all there. From the people who brought you three million unemployed, sky high mortgage rates and Black Wednesday.

Yesterday's men with yesterday's solutions taking Britain back to yesterday's problems.

An outdated agenda to hit every business and working family in the country.

For the sake of every man, woman and business in Britain, we need to make sure the only opportunity David Cameron has of getting into No 10 will be as the next former Tory leader popping in for tea with Gordon.

In a time of global change, we must be the 'country of change'. Capable of advancing fairness at work and the conditions for full employment.

A business which fails to value and support its workforce will fail to prosper in the future. The vast majority of British companies understand this - that is why the CBI are standing together with the TUC to root out rogue employers and ensure every single worker in Britain benefits from the improved protection this Labour government has introduced.

We must find new ways to support our most vulnerable workers. Some of them migrant workers, prepared to travel a thousand miles in search of a new life who find themselves victims of 19^th century employment practices. Forcing workers to take accommodation as part of their employment terms - confiscating their passports - these scandalous practices have no place in modern Britain. We must work together to stamp them out.
So I applaud the GMB, UCATT and Unite for the way they are working with employers and the government in the vulnerable workers forum to tackle this injustice.

Yet - in a global age where firms will rightly move across the world to find the best business environment - we also need to be clear: it's not progressive or family-friendly if new rules makes firms think twice about taking on extra workers, or at worst, put people out of work.

It is because we understand that the right to work itself, to enable people to provide for themselves and their family, is so fundamental to delivering social justice, that we want to make Britain the best place in the world to do business.
If globalization means companies can move across the world - I want them to choose to come here and create British jobs.

That is why I made clear at the TUC that - as we fulfil our agreement at Warwick to seek progress in Europe on the Agency Workers Directive - we balance a commitment to the principle of equal treatment with a determination to protect jobs, and continue giving people the choice that agency work currently offers.

Full employment remains our goal. And it is within our grasp. We will only achieve it if we do more to support British companies to grow and compete in the global market place. That means harnessing the potential of every region and every community in Britain. That is why we created the Regional Development Agencies - which the Tories would scrap - that have helped either create or safeguard more than 600,000 jobs in every part of Britain.

But we must do more. If we believe in equality of opportunity, it cannot be right that there are fewer new business start-ups in the poorest areas of Britain. Enterprise can help us create a fairer, more progressive society. That is why I am working with some of Britain's leading entrepreneurs to understand what more we can do to spread new business creation and growth across every part of the UK.

A country of change must be capable of confronting the most fundamental challenge of all - not simply sustaining economic growth in Britain in the years ahead, but tackling the immense challenge of climate change. Nothing is more fundamental to our economy or our society than how we source our energy.

We must now make the transition to a low carbon economy.

Government will play its part.

The Government Gordon Brown leads will not be among those who say they want to tackle global warming by moving to low carbon energy sources but then oppose every opportunity to do so.

The Government Gordon Brown leads will not shrink from taking the critical decisions on the future security of our energy supply - including whether to allow investment in new nuclear power stations.

And the Government Gordon Brown leads will drive forward with delivering a step change in our use of renewable energy.
We must lead at home as well as abroad. A country of change must be prepared to embrace tomorrow's energy sources.
So today I can announce that the Government will now start work on the feasibility of a Severn Barrage.
A truly visionary project, unparalleled in scale, potentially generating 5 per cent of the UK's electricity from renewable sources. As we undertake this work, we must understand the true environmental, social and economic impacts of such a project.
They are potentially considerable.
But so too is the challenge of climate change. And we must all have open not closed minds about how we meet the energy needs of tomorrow.

And with Labour on their side, I know British business can step up to the challenge and the opportunities of a low carbon economy in the years ahead. Going green shouldn't mean going slow. One of the fastest growing investment funds in the City of London this year promises to be a climate change fund, investing in industries that combat climate change and help people cope with its effects.

I want British companies to lead the way in developing those new technologies and seizing those opportunities. I want to consider how best we can equip British companies to maximise the potential of new markets in green business.

A thriving manufacturing sector - supplementing the blue and white collar jobs of today with a new wave of 'green collar jobs' tomorrow.

That is the way to secure the future of our manufacturing base - not turning the clock back, not subsidizing some jobs today only at the expense of more jobs in the future, but embracing future markets and new opportunities.

With a new strength of unity and a common purpose, Britain - under the leadership of Gordon Brown - can be that country of change.
We can win for Britain.
And British business can win in the global economy.

Ends