Labour – 2020 Vision
By Martin Kerin
AS the dust settles on the comprehensive defeat my Party suffered in May, I feel ready to offer some thoughts on the last 5 years, and the years ahead. Firstly, though, in order to win again, we have to acknowledge the twin achievements of David Cameron and Jackie Doyle-Price. Mr Cameron is the first Conservative Prime Minister since Margaret Thatcher to increase his share of seats in the House of Commons; Ms Doyle-Price is the first Conservative MP in Thurrock to ever be re-elected – these two facts should serve as a metaphorical wake up call.
The reason we didn’t win is two-fold: Firstly, in my opinion, we didn’t have a narrative for the deficit. There were only two possible lines we could have taken: (1) “We didn’t cause the deficit. In fact, we averted disaster when the Global Financial Crash hit and prevented a run on the banks” (2) “Sorry about spending too much, but it wasn’t as bad as when David Cameron was advising the Treasury during Black Wednesday – you gave him a second chance, how about us?” Of course, Option 1 is what happened, but we spent 5 years not acknowledging or owning either narrative
Secondly, our offer to the electorate was too narrow. If you were not on a zero-hours contract or were not in a low paid job, there wasn’t much on offer. Yes, we were right to fight against zero hours and the bedroom tax. But, in eyes of many voters, that was all we were fighting for. In order to help those who need help, you also have to be elected to government by those who do not. As Andy Burnham has said, the longer the driveway, the less we had to offer on the doorstep.
Having said all of this, there are some, albeit small, glimmers of hope. Mr Cameron’s majority is far smaller than the one achieved by John Major in 1992 – a majority that whittled away to the point that his government was dependent on the support of the Ulster Unionists; we won 232 seats this time around – a very poor amount, but still higher than the 165 achieved by the Tories in 1997; Jackie Doyle-Price received less votes in 2015 than in 2010; in many seats defended by Labour, the share of the vote increased – as evidenced in Hyde, Islington North, Leicester West and Normanton, Pontefract & Castleford; in Scotland, the SNP, who have been in government for 8 years, can only go on posturing as an insurgent opposition for so long.
To win again, we need to go back to first principles. Our Party is the Labour Party – the party of work. The duty of our Party is to provide the conditions whereby people can access secure and well-paid work, which enables them to provide for themselves, and, through progressive taxation, for society. For those who can work, we must channel the aspiration and ambition that comes with the dignity of work. For those who cannot work, we must show care and compassion and ensure that they have equal access to the dignity of participating in society. Aspiration and ambition, coupled with compassion and care is the reason we need the Labour Party.
As a Party, we need to celebrate the fact that our Party has become a mass organisation again. Ed Miliband’s legacy to the Party will be opening up the registered supporter and affiliated supporter categories. Once the current leadership election is over, the true value of having hundreds of thousands of registered supports will be more clearly seen. When he originally suggested that Union members should actively ‘opt in’ to party affiliation rather than ‘opt out,’ he was roundly criticised. It was bold move, as he knew that the fees from Union affiliation would drop (the GMB Union predicted a drop in donations from the millions of pounds to the thousands). However, we now have masses of Union members who have actively chosen to join us.
Following on from this, we should be proud of, and continue to nurture the Labour-Union link. Funding from the Unions is the cleanest money in politics. You know exactly where is has come from – the pockets of millions of ordinary, hard-working people. No other organisation has done so much for the betterment of the working man and woman.
In terms of policy, there are number of areas that we should focus on. Before we do this though, we should be proud of how the last Labour government dragged the much fabled centre ground to the Left, and forced the Tories there, too. We introduced Civil Partnerships, they introduced Equal Marriage; we introduced the National Minimum Wage (which was vehemently opposed by the Tories at the time), they are introducing a National Living Wage; we pioneered devolution, they are pioneering the Northern Powerhouse; we saved the NHS after 18 years of neglect, they ring-fenced NHS spending from departmental cuts. These examples are where former Left-wing ideas are now firmly rooted in the Centre. That is why you try to win power.
An issue that needs urgently addressing in order to foster ambition and aspiration is the lack of affordable homes. ‘Generation Rent’ are trapped in properties with sky-high rent, and with many people unable to own their own home without parental support. Our Party was on to something with the proposal for rent controls – but this did not answer the root problem of supply.
Affordable housing comes up time after time on the doorstep. That’s why it is great to see Labour-led Thurrock Council lead the way with the Gloriana house-building project. A national wave of high-quality affordable homes to rent, along with genuine ‘rent-to-buy’ schemes can unlock the pressure valve of the aspirational, ambitious and hard-working who want to leave the family home and have a home of their own.
In terms of welfare, I believe that the argument has been won about the benefits cap. So, as a Party with care and compassion, we should be arguing that, for those who are unable to work, the cap should be a minimum that they receive. Yes, crack down on the work-shy (we are a party for workers, after all), but then ensure that those who are unable to work (through no fault of their own) receive a fair allowance, and are able to participate in society. Ordinary people on the doorstep are decent people – they want those who can work to actually work; on the flip-side, they want the most vulnerable to be treated well.
An issue which has bubbled away and has recently exploded on the doorstep is immigration. As someone who has encountered the benefits of immigration, we need a policy that taps into those benefits: my immigrant doctor is fantastic; the immigrant midwives who delivered my children were very caring and skilled; my church has been saved from probable eventual closure due to the new, young immigrant parishioners in the pews; my immigrant neighbours are decent, hard-working people with high hopes for their children; one of the few times I have wholeheartedly agreed with John Major is when he recently praised the “guts and drive” of immigrants.
Simply drawing up the drawbridge would just deprive our nation of the benefits that immigration brings. However, we must ensure that employers do not use immigration as a way of undercutting British workers – this is unjust to both immigrants and the local labour force. Investment is badly needed in the amount of spaces at GP surgeries and school places. If people do not have to worry about their job being undercut and their children missing out on their school place, I feel that issue of immigration will steadily decrease as the concern that people bring up.
In order to win in 2020 and beyond, we only have to look to one place for inspiration – Clause IV on our membership cards:
“The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party. It believes that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone, so as to create for each of us the means to realise our true potential…”
If we frame our 2020 Vision around this (with a set of innovative policies to match!) we really will be able to march up to the doorsteps – regardless of the size of the driveway – with a manifesto that can propel us to a majority. Out of the rubble of post-war Britain, our Party created the NHS, a socialist institution which is universally loved by Britons across the spectrum. What’s next? Over to you Andy, Yvette, Jeremy or Liz.
