With Labour Britain Belongs
How to re-frame our ambitions for the country by understanding what drives both us within the Party and the people it exists to represent.
There is no escaping the disappointing results The Labour Party had to endure in the May 6th elections. In Hartlepool, across the North and much of the Midlands, voters continued to reject Labour candidates. It is rare for a sitting government to make council gains in local elections, but this one did, in droves.
This dire state of affairs cannot be explained away by vaccine bounces or previous Labour leaders, the ignorance of the electorate, nor the populist appeal of Boris Johnson. Starmer will have expected progress in England. For most of the weekend he had to witness the opposite.
Despite success in Wales and the metro mayoral contests, the uncomfortable truth is this: nothing in last week’s election results suggest Labour will win a General Election in just a few years time.
Now, in response to that depressing reality, activists, journalists and politicians offer up the same diagnoses given in 2015 and 2019. Centrists want to see the Party finally purge all leftist thinking. The left believe this proof insurmountable traditional socialism is the only way to inspire the electorate.
This tortuous debate needs to end now. Both wings of the Party are explaining away repeated failure by turning to old arguments, from an age that no longer exists. Ripping up the Party, changing leader, settling old scores, fighting internal battles will, as ever, play straight into the Tories’ hands. None of those all too obvious, all too easy actions will change Labour’s standing with the electorate. Instead, the Party must comprehend this simple truth: we, all of us, will continue to fail unless we are prepared to step out of our trenches and shake hands on the common ground.
This common ground doesn’t have to be treacherous; doesn’t have to undermine either side’s sense of self-worth. This isn’t a compromise. Renewal simply requires a re-framing of everything Labour wishes to achieve in a new, forward thinking vision. In our search for change, we must start not with the ‘what?’ or the ‘how?’, but with the ‘why?’
Why should today’s voters look to the Labour Party? Why should they engage with anything we do or say? Why should they invest their hopes and aspirations for the future in us? Why does the Labour Party exist in 2021? This is the answer I suggest to you and it’s the answer I would give to them…
Because Labour in power will offer you dignity as a valued citizen. Because Labour in power will support your sense of community and local pride. Because Labour in power will make you feel you belong.
Above all else, we should want every person in Britain, regardless of personal wealth, geography, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, gender, age, disability to feel they belong. Because they should belong. Belong in their village or hamlet, belong in their town or city, belong in their nation and belong in our United Kingdom.
When we talk about what Labour can do for Britain, it must not be in terms of archaic dichotomies. Not in terms of nationalisation versus privatisation, of state intervention versus free market capitalism. The wider public do not care about these dogmatic battles. They do not have time for the philosophical and ethical debate that engulfs our internal discussions. They simply want to know what politicians can realistically do to practically improve their daily lives. They also know how they feel.
Thriving in some cases yes, and we are grateful for that, but in all too many cases, anxiously surviving; scrimping and scraping by; worrying where the next pay cheque is coming from; how they can progress their career; how they will afford to send their children to university; when they will receive the medical treatment they need; or wondering why, despite putting in a full day’s work, they still have to queue at food banks to feed themselves and their loved ones.
I believe people are acutely conscious of these injustices, of their sense of being left behind, of a disconnect somewhere; of being disregarded; of being ignored by politicians of all stripes. Even those who do thrive, look around at their communities, their high streets, their public spaces, too often seeing depression and decay, and wonder why it doesn’t register.
With The Labour Party it should register. We should be able to give people back that sense of self-worth, a sense of community, of solidarity in a modern Britain. We should be able to return that feeling of belonging to people all across our country.
And so, if we can agree on the ‘why’, we can also agree on the ‘how’. How do we achieve this sense of belonging? Firstly — and this is going to sound counter-intuitive to many in the Labour movement— we cannot get drawn into the Tories culture war.
Trap after trap is being laid for us and we continue to fall willingly into each of them. When statues fall, we must condemn the unlawfulness. When protesters act violently towards police officers, we must vehemently denounce aggression towards authority. We may all feel solidarity with the cause, may instinctively want to be seen as active allies, but the Labour Party is not a campaign group, it is a political party, and as hard as this is for all of us to accept, it needs to act like one.
That doesn’t mean we don’t tackle these issues head on. Of course we want to address racial inequality, transphobia, anti-immigrant sentiment — we have agreed we exist to make all Britons feel they belong — but shadow ministers and Labour MPs aren’t elected to enact change on the streets, they are elected to enact change in our Parliament; through arguing for and passing new legislation that will provide the real, lasting change for all minorities in our society.
The public understand the unwritten contract between the people and politicians and they do not accept one law for them and another for those partaking in violent protest on their television screens. If MPs in the Labour Party do not demonstrate a belief in the capacity of our political and legal systems to bring about positive, meaningful change, peacefully and lawfully, then why would anyone bother to vote Labour into power at all?
Identity politics too has become unnecessarily destructive. It is pitting sections of our society against one another, suggesting the success of one is to the detriment of another. We know this isn’t true but by allowing ourselves to become entangled in the Tories culture war, we are distracted from the constructive discussions that can build consensus and understanding; we allow ourselves to be seen as acting only for certain sections of society rather than for all Britons.
Secondly, we are currently in the midst of two great global revolutions, digital and green. The first driven by scientific ingenuity, the second a result of existential necessity, both will define the decades to come.
Britain, with its long history of scientific innovation, discovery and advancement, is uniquely placed to harness the potential of these new technologies; to enrich peoples lives and further the public good through developments in artificial intelligence, robotics, educational technology and the expansion of renewable energy, battery technologies and electronic propulsion.
Labour must be the Party that captures the potential of this new paradigm for the progressive cause; must ensure these new technologies liberate people rather than imprison them. We are the only Party who can harness this innovation to provide secure, well paid jobs, whilst also renewing and revolutionising our public service provision, enriching and expanding child and adult education and, most importantly, preventing the catastrophic climate change that risks our very way of life.
It is through understanding and implementing the cutting edge engineering concepts and technological developments of today and tomorrow that Labour can make Britain a global industrial powerhouse of which all Britons can be proud. And yes, we shouldn’t be ashamed of plastering our union flag all across that national triumph.
It is in this way that Labour can expand our economy from the middle out, strengthening and diversifying, so we no longer rely solely on the financial sector for our prosperity and can provide future security from the shock of worldwide financial crises and global pandemics.
This expansion of the economy will bring secure employment, but it will also generate the prosperity to allow us to invest in renewing our town centres, with new learning hubs, maker spaces, sure start centres and leisure facilities, all of which will offer a focal point of togetherness for people within their local community.
It will also permit our investment in infrastructure and the NHS, education and social care, but we will only justify this investment to the public from a position of economic strength, breeding confidence we can achieve our goals responsibly.
And so, if we agree on the ‘why’ and the ‘how’, then we can also agree on the ‘what’. What do we need to do to realise this new, modern Britain? What specific targets do we set ourselves in this project of economic and societal renewal?
Here we must clearly communicate our pledges and welcome being measured against them. We can’t offer up platitudes or generalisations. Our promises must have specific relevance and meaning.
So if we say we are going to kick start a new green industrial revolution, we are honest about the need to tax the highest earners and raise corporation tax, whilst at the same time being brave enough to put a figure on the number of jobs this will create for working people. If we say we are going to build new, good quality, affordable homes, we again put a number on how many more people will enjoy the benefits of home ownership as a result. If we say we’re going to regenerate town centres, we have a clear, considered plan for what that would look like in reality. How many new community centres? How many new police support officers?
We need to do this whilst also offering up a bold re-imagining of the purpose of our public spaces for fostering community and belonging. We must not over promise. These must be realistic, considered goals, but if we are not willing to quantify them, the public will have every right to dismiss us out of hand for our empty rhetoric and fantastical wish-lists.
I accept some of what I’ve said here might appear counter to our instincts. But I do believe it’s the only way we can reinvent ourselves as a Party that chimes with the modern needs, hopes and aspirations of the people in every region and nation of the United Kingdom.
If we can agree as a movement this strategy now, we still have two or three years to convince the electorate we are competent, capable, responsible and determined enough to make our vision of Britain a reality.
Everyone understands Labour’s strengths are its beliefs in a fairer, more equal, communal and compassionate Britain. Our task is to explain precisely how those qualities will directly lead to security, dignity and respect in our country. We really do owe it to ourselves, to this movement and, above all else, to the British people.
There is an opportunity now to build the unifying vision we, within the Labour Party, can come together to fight for. It can also be the bold and striking vision the people of this country are longing for. In this way, we can bring people back to Labour and take Britain forwards into the future. It’s with Labour we all belong. It’s with Labour Britain belongs.
