Freebie scandal a "distraction" says Chatham MP

We caught up with Chatham and Aylseford MP Tris Osborne on the move at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool.

Transcript

00:00First of all, it was about celebrating the result in Kent. We ran a record number of

00:05Labour MPs, and that is actually the result of Kent people, people electing their Labour

00:10MPs across Kent, from Folkestone to Dover to Citybourne and Sheppey. So a thank you

00:16for putting their trust in us. Also, the difficult decisions. This is going to be a 10-year

00:21project of renewal to improve our public services, and that was something you heard throughout

00:26speech around public service, giving service back to the nation.

00:31We keep hearing about a government of service, we keep hearing about difficult decisions,

00:34but the difficult decisions we're hearing about this conference is about whether to

00:38accept Taylor Swift tickets, about whether to accept tickets to football games. Has the

00:44freebie scandal derailed this conference?

00:48Look, we need to ultimately accept that there's a conversation, we've had this for 20 years

00:56where people have donated to the Conservatives, to Labour, and I think this has been a distraction,

01:01and I'm not the only one that's said that, from the agenda, which I want to talk about,

01:05which is improving people's lives to get public services improved. So I accept that this has

01:11been a distraction, and I think I'm hopeful that this conference now has reset that and

01:16we can actually set the agenda going forward.

01:18Your predecessor, Dame Tracey Crouse, was Chaston and Aylesford Conservative MP, was a big driver

01:24of change surrounding the idea of an independent football regulator. How can we believe that's

01:30now going to happen under a Labour government when we keep hearing about tens of thousands

01:36of pounds of donations from the Premier League, or in regards to football tickets? How can

01:42we believe that?

01:43Obviously, we will be working in partnership now we've got into government. I will be speaking

01:49and writing to ministers to ensure that that agenda is promoted, as I'm sure Tracey will

01:54be doing in her new role as well. So, you know, these issues, of course, come and there

02:00are distractions, and quite rightly so, they deserve scrutiny, and I think you have rightly

02:05scrutinised them, but that doesn't derail us from our fundamental programme.