In the second of his Conference diary blogs, Steve Bassam explains how Labour is connecting with the public - old and young alike

This is turning into a very good Conference, as we set out our stall for what will be a long election campaign. Monday saw Ed Balls commit to having an independent audit of our spending plans. His speech went down well with the invited Party members who had a tour round the Royal Pavilion and put my boss (Baroness) Jan Royall, Caroline Flint MP and I through our paces as we explained how Labour's policies are as relevant to the south as all other regions and nations.

Yesterday's other now annual treat is the Labour Lords fringe event on how to lobby and win in the Lords. A great turnout heard campaignig tips-a-plenty from our leadership team as we set out our stall. My contribution was on the increasing power of social media, in summary: "by the tweets of our common endeavour we can achieve more than we achieve by tweeting alone". It was a theme many in the audience warmed to.

Today got off to an early start with a trip to BHASVIC with Jan Royall and the MP Tristram Hunt, as we tried to persuade students to register and vote. Quite a few admitted they weren't. Michael Sani from Bite the Ballot gets the students going imagining they are setting the nations budget. Jan is on a mission with young voters and gets them enthused. The Q&A warms up outside on the college steps and we get challenged on the economy, tuition fees and why they should vote Labour rather than Green. We seem to be winning the argument.

Back to the Conference for the main event and this year Ed Miliband makes his central theme the spiralling cost of living. He tells the country that Britain can be better than the mean-spirited place that David Cameron's race to the bottom. Ed sets out a picture of the Government he will lead and gives those watching in the hall and at home an idea of what We will do to tackle low pay, rising fuel costs and inequality. Ed nails it for me by saying we can be  "better than this". He's right and the audience loves it, with a long standing ovation. Brilliant!

Steve Bassam, Lord Bassam of Brighton