LABOUR SPRING CONFERENCE

5th March 2008

Spring Conference was a good event this year for Europe. The Party agreed that European legislation and policy would be an integral party of each session and that MEPs would attend the policy seminars on the top table with Ministers. As you can imagine, this was very well received by all the MEPs. Our legislative work has a real impact on everyone's life in the UK. Maybe European Directives and the processes by which they are debated and agreed is at last getting the right level of recognition.

I was fortunate to speak in three sessions: the closing Women's Plenary on trafficking of human beings with Harriet Harman MP, Barbara Keeley MP and Marianne Mikko, one of my MEP colleagues from Estonia. I also addressed the Education Policy Seminar in my capacity as Spokesperson on Culture and Education, and a workshop on women and the web, discussing uses for new technology.

The EPLP organised a session for the European candidates on the Sunday morning. This was a good event, and it was cheering to see a number of candidates there. No doubt we shall see much more of each other during the next year or so.