Lessons From Stoke…
Last weekend, for the first time since beginning to campaign for the Labour Party, I ventured out of the Labour stronghold of North East London. British politics is moving to a place where there is the South East and ‘The Rest’. This is becoming increasingly worrying, and finding myself firmly in the group that supposedly has no understanding of the other I wanted to see if we really are as different as we are lead to believe.
The prevailing narrative surrounding the Richmond Park by-election was that it would be a verdict on the government’s handling of brexit to that point, and, indeed, it lived up to this. However, in Stoke the overwhelming Despite people being worried about the NHS the Stroke by-election has an overwhelmingly local flavor. This is due in part to the complexity of the local politics and the repeated failures of the city council. What voters really want is someone that will stand up for Stoke, indeed this may be the tide of localism shown in both the EU referendum and the election of Donald Trump.
The first thing that I was struck by when arriving in Stoke is the level of deprivation. It seemed to be in stark contrast to London where there is comparable deprivation but is confined to small pockets surrounded by areas of affluence. The chronic underinvestment was evident with boarded up shops on the highstreet and the crumbling housing in residential areas. Against this backdrop it’s hardly surprising that there is low turnout (50% in 2015) and a general apathy in the constituency, successive governments have failed the people of Stoke-on-Trent so it’s little wonder half of them don’t have confidence in elections to ensure their voices are heard.
Given this by-election is being fought along local lines it is not surprising that the actions of the city council are part of the debate. When Labour controlled the council it attempted to regenerate or, in the eyes of some, create a city centre. This began with the Smithfield project which involved moving council offices and trying to one definitive city centre rather than smaller ones in each of the six towns. However, with the council not being able to sell the land on which its offices had previously stood the project has since been marred with controversy. The current council, a large coalition whose sole piece of common ground seems to be their despise for the local Labour Party, has no clear vision, or coherent, for the city. This surely sowes further seeds of mistrust amongst voters when politicians whose sole responsibility is the local area repeatedly fail its community.
Knocking on doors one thing that was very clear is that people care about the NHS. People of all ages fear what the Tories will do to the NHS, not just those that need it the most. Indeed one of the easiest lines when talking to people who are flirting with voting UKIP on the doorstep was: do you want a man that has openly endorsed further privatisation of the NHS. What was worrying is that some people, although they recognise the NHS is in crisis, suggest that change is desperately needed in the NHS and privatisation may be the answer. Labour needs to take heed of this sentiment going forward because as people become more desperate for improvements in the NHS privatisation could become more popular. If we want to remain the party of the NHS then Labour must create a compelling vision for an ambitious NHS renewal while keeping it entirely publicly funded.
Current polls suggest there is a lot that Labour needs to learn if it’s going to win the country back. Labour is the party of the NHS and our record in power shows that, the last Labour government tripled yearly spending on the on the health service, people may not like Tony Blair but they are surely thankful that his government saved the NHS. I found that going out of my community, where I know what the main issues are, I was able to understand how where there are the same problems facing other communities but in a different manifestation. If Labour wants to win the next general election it needs to be the party that bridges as many of the divides we see in our society as possible. We have to the Party of the North and the South, speak to ‘leave’ and ‘remain’ voters and have policies that resonate across generations.
