"Three years ago in Blackpool some of my colleagues and I presented our social action projects.
At the time there were some cynics who said that "social action" was just part of a new touchy feely image the Conservatives were trying to portray.
They said it didn't mean anything.
It was just a new fad - we'd grow out of it.
And let's be honest, some in our own party thought that too.
But as we've seen just now,
I'm proud to say
That's certainly not the case.
SOCIAL ACTION RE-CAP
Today I want to talk to you about why social action matters.
Why it's at the heart of what we're doing in our Party,
And why it's so crucial to cohesion in Britain.
Three years on from that conference in Blackpool, look at all the good work that's been done.
In 2006, in Bournemouth, Tobias Ellwood led the transformation of St Mary's church into the Bourne Spring Centre.
Today it serves over seventy people a week with ballet classes, music sessions, and drug and alcohol awareness programmes.
That's the power of social action.
In 2007, in Blackpool, Councillor Ron Bell and Paul Maynard got the Party behind the Grange Park Community Garden.
Today the garden is thriving and it's used daily by the community.
That's the power of social action.
And in 2008, as I speak, a fantastic football festival is taking place on Welsh House Farm Estate.
It's one of a number of projects going on there, bringing hope and optimism to the estate...
And a lot of fun and laughter.
That's the power of social action.
Over 100 of our parliamentary candidates are either supporting or leading social action projects in their areas. And Andrew Mitchell took social action to a completely new international level with the tremendous work he did on Project Umubano in Rwanda.
NOT A NEW PHENOMENON
Conference, social action might be a modern expression, but it's not a new phenomenon
It's an idea that's always been at the heart of this Party.
When I'm asked to define it I simply say "it's doing your bit" or as they'd say in Yorkshire "it's mucking in. "
And as I look around this hall I see people who do that in their own way everyday.
Individuals who are involved with their local church, charity or community organisation...
...Whether it's Neighbourhood Watch, the PTA, Oxfam or the WI.
Because the sort of people who are involved in our party are just the kind of people who are involved in their communities.
Trying to make a difference, trying to make things better.
SIMON AND RACHEL
And no one embodies the spirit of social action more than Simon Jay, the youth worker you heard from in the video, and his wife Rachel.
Simon was born in Oxfordshire, adopted by a white family and grew up in Yeovil, came to University in Birmingham, met Rachel his wife who herself was bought up in Dorchester in a comfortable home.
The type of people who could have graduated and simply moved on to a cosy comfortable life.
But instead Rachel became involved in Welsh House Farm through the church working with the kids on the street,
realized how much needed to be done , and moved to live on the estate
Simon followed 6 months later,
they got married ,
fostered two children from the estate,
and now live in a house a few doors away from the Haven Centre with their foster children and two children of their own.
Their door is always open and their ability to motivate young people there is amazing.
Simon and Rachel are an inspiration to me, because they are individuals who are not prepared to sit back or walk by.
And I want to thank Deidre Alden, too, our PPC for Edgbaston.
She is the one who spotted the potential of the Welsh House Farm project, and she has worked tirelessly to help them succeed.
Simon, Rachel and Deidre know you get results
When you give them the opportunity and the responsibility to change their own lives, and the lives of their communities.
If you trust people.
Simply put, individuals and communities truly succeed when you give them a hand up, not a hand out.
WHY SOCIAL ACTION MATTERS TO SOCIETY
And never has social action been more important, more necessary, than it is today.
We live in an increasingly atomised society.
As the world outside becomes more frightening, people pull back...
...And when they retreat, communities are fragmented.
COHESION
As Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion I witness the unease and alienation in our communities every day.
Whether it's a sense of being left behind,
anger at a lack of fair play
or simply anxiety about the pace of change in some areas in Britain.
STATE BRITISHNESS
But what concerns me deeply is the government's attempt to unify us through a state form of Britishness.
An identify forged out of gimmicks, slogans and flag planting on lawns
As opposed to an identity forged on real opportunities for all, steeped in our history
and built on a shared national language.
Let me tell you my story
My Dad came to the UK nearly half a century ago, from a village in the Punjab.
As a teenager, he arrived in London with £2.50 in his pocket and paid 10 shillings for a coach ride to Yorkshire.
Home was a two bed terrace in Batley Carr which he shared with 11 other young men.
Work was packing rags at a local mill,
It was hard for a young lad, but then his luck changed.
He met my mum and got married.
He got a job on the buses...
And I was born
Working originally as a conductor and then as a driver, volunteering for what was known as a tag on, effectively a back to back shift he saved enough to start his own furniture manufacturing business in a converted three bed roomed house,
Within a decade the business had a multi million pound turnover.
My mother worked from home sewing.
She learned how to drive in the early 70's, insisted on higher education for her five girls and spent hours at her English language classes.
They had the good fortune to move in next door to Mr and Mrs Goodlad.
Who embraced our family, in a very British understated way.
Mum did the school run for Mrs Goodlad, and Mrs Goodlad introduced Mum to the very English pursuit of gardening.
Conference, I tell this story because it is the journey to my identity.
Where faith, origins and culture from different lands came together
And where my parents muddled through trying to take the best of all that surrounded them.
Where fish and chips was as much a dinner dish as a chicken biryani,
where English was spoken as much as Punjabi
And where there was no conflict between reciting the Lord's Prayer in assembly and a Quranic verse at the mosque.
Yet all too often these days difference creates a sense of unease,
identity manifests itself in outward symbols
and loyalty is measured by the place we choose to worship in.
I was recently asked by a journalist "Are you a Muslim first or are you British?"
I found the question quite bizarre and deeply insulting.
It was aimed at assessing my loyalty.
I answered as follows, " Both my grandfathers served in the British Army, a great uncle was taken as a Japanese prisoner of war; my family, I'm proud to say, were giving their loyalty to this country long before my parents even landed on these shores."
My parents instinctively knew about integration, they knew what Britain stood for and they wanted to be a part of it.
And it was a Conservative Government that provided them with their opportunities to get on.
Contrast that with Labour over the last 10 years - presiding over a decade of state-driven multiculturalism which has played on our differences
And let's be honest, too often for what Labour saw as selfish political advantage.
It has sent out the message that we're not sharing a society; we're just co-habiting a space.
It's led people to retreat into separate cultures rather than reach for a shared community...
Its policy of hand outs as opposed to hand ups has led to appallingly low levels of social mobility
And their obsession with self appointed community leaders and crude use of patronage politics has led to communities divided against each other.
With people losing that inner instinct of what it is to be British.
In some places, we've completely lost the feeling of neighbourliness.
The ease of sharing the little things - the school run, the cup of sugar, the chat over the garden fence.
Our communities are going to carry on changing...
...Different cultures are going to carry on coming up against each other...
...And to fix our society, to revive that spirit of community, we're going to need to recapture that feeling of neighbourliness.
So many of my childhood memories are of moments shared with our neighbours the Goodlads.
So if we want a more cohesive society, a Britain where all young people feel themselves to be part of a great nation, we need to be better neighbours.
We have got to tear down those barriers that divide neighbours, so that people of all colours and creeds have common ground to share.
COMMUNITY COHESION THE CONSERVATIVE WAY
My team and I are putting integration and neighbourliness at the heart of our policy making.
Good neighbours talk to each other.
That's why we will ensure that English is spoken by all who choose to make Britain their home.
Good neighbours understand each other, where they're from and where they're going.
That's why we will ensure that we properly teach British history in schools so that our young people know who we are as a nation.
Good neighbours don't resent each other.
That's why we will support community groups based on their effectiveness, not on the basis of race or religion.
Good neighbours look out for each other.
That's why we will tackle unacceptable cultural practices, not turn our backs and say it's sensitive and none of our business.
And most importantly, good neighbours share with each other.
That's where social action comes in.
Because, after all, social action is simply about being good neighbours.
And I can tell you conference, when it comes to social action we've got great cause for optimism.
Because you know what I have come to realise during my last year in this job?
It's that there are Simon Jays and Rachel Jays and Deidre Aldens everywhere, living and working in communities across the UK.
And I believe it is our duty as politicians, as candidates, as councillors, as members of local associations to seek out these social entrepreneurs and support them in the fantastic work they do...
To trust them and help them to deliver results.
CONCLUSION
Conference, let's be proud of the social action we as Conservatives have taken so far, and what we're doing up and down the country...
But let's strive to go further because
Whatever financial crisis blows,
Whatever world crisis hits us
And whatever the failures of yet another bankrupt Labour Government
Social Action can start making a much needed difference now.
Last thing Conference -
Like you I have been a Conservative in good times and in bad.
And at the root of that loyalty is that
I know it is always this Conservative Party that Britain looks to in a crisis.
Always this Party that has to pick up the pieces,
Always this Party that is called upon to make the difficult decisions,
And always this Party that has to sort the mess of yet another failed Labour Government
So Conference,
Let's fight for the sake of this great country
Let's go out there and earn the trust of its people and
Together let's do it again!