Be under no illusion, Labour can still lose this election: if Labour allows itself the luxury of believing it can coast to another majority rather than working for it; if it allows the cheap populism of Hague, Widdecombe and Co. to pass without challenge. If the party fails to motivate its supporters; new or traditional, young or old, north or south, then we genuinely risk being on the wrong side of the biggest upset in recent political history.
That’s a lot of ‘ifs’. The Conservative Party is unfit to wear the mantle of Opposition, never mind Government. The opinion polls, for what they’re worth, show relative contentment, if not enthusiasm, amongst the electorate. Even the media, be it sworn enemy or fickle friend, look set to give Tony Blair a fair wind towards his ‘historic’ second term.
But beware the strength of the ice over which we are effortlessly performing our victory glide. Should the future of our Government be based on the generosity of the Tory Party, or the reliability of the opinion polls, or the loyalty of our new comrades in the press? Remember April 9th 1992.
I see a number of obstacles between Labour and the election victory it both needs and deserves. All are easily surmountable, but all have the capacity to do great damage to our prospects if they are ignored.
The first is the belief developing amongst some in the movement that a ‘reduced’ majority at the next election would be a secret blessing, clipping Tony Blair’s wings and fashioning a radical edge to a Government made complacent by its huge majority. It is an argument as dangerous as it is illogical. To be concerned about the Government’s inability to project radical zeal onto an administration elected with the greatest reformist mandate in Labour’s history is legitimate.
Those who would attempt to ‘fashion’ a reduced majority should first explain to us all just how this electoral sleight of hand is to be achieved. Random abstention? That’s a sure-fire way of waking up on election morning with a Tory or Liberal MP in your constituency. Get real. Does anyone seriously believe that replacing Labour MPs with the standard bearers of the hard right, or reducing the buffer between Tony Blair and potential legislative embarrassment, actually makes a radical second term policy agenda more likely? Those of us who long for some radical steel at the tip of Government should be campaigning hard for every MP and seat, because the more secure the ground upon which the next administration stands, the more confident we can be that radical change can be successfully navigated through Parliament.
But there also has to be greater honesty on all sides about the nature of the campaign we are about to fight, and the scale of the task that is facing us. Everyone agrees that mobilising the voters, and in particular the voters of our so-called ‘heartland constituencies’, will be Labour’s greatest challenge. But it is one thing to identify the challenge, quite another to surmount it.
I keep hearing people talk as if all that stands between Labour and victory is apathy. This implies dull contentment. And our supporters are not content. They’re angry. They’re angry that the trains the Tories privatised are still in a shambles. They’re angry that factory after factory is being closed by companies who care so little about their workers that they leave them to learn about their redundancies on TV. They’re angry that the damage wrought on the NHS by eighteen years of Tory savagery does not appear to have been repaired. Motivating Labour supporters at this election is going to require more than just a warning that the achievements of the past four years could be squandered by their own ‘apathy’. It requires us to channel the anger they still feel about what was done to their country and their people, and to spell out unambiguously what the next Labour Government will do to put that right.
This Government has a number of truly radical achievements to its name: the minimum wage, devolution, the social chapter, the New Deal, the windfall levy on the privatised utilities and new employment rights. But all too often these achievements have been camouflaged for fear of antagonising business, or upsetting ‘Middle England’. We all accept the political realities attendant with pushing a left of centre agenda through the distorting prism of the media. But we have to start to nail the lie that producing and promoting policies that appeal directly to Labour supporters is incompatible with producing and promoting policies popular in the country as a whole.
The gap between the parties – on economic, social and foreign policy – is far wider now than it was even in 1997. But, if Labour wants to ensure that people don’t, as Alastair Campbell said, ‘think we’re just like the other lot’, then it is up to Labour politicians to force home the distinction.
Perhaps the start could be a significant increase in the minimum wage. Against the strong economic background fashioned by Gordon Brown’s prudent economic stewardship, an increase well above £4 per hour is easily affordable, would send a clear signal to Labour supporters that their Government is committed to wealth creation at all levels of society, and would be hugely popular with more than two million voters who would benefit directly from the rise. It would be a radical policy winning broad popular support.
We also need to provide real support for women in the workforce, such as paid maternity leave for all mothers. Our buoyant economy could easily support the move, and it would be the sort of ‘family friendly policy’ that would enjoy mass appeal.
In fact the more you think about it, the easier the task of producing popular policies with a radical edge becomes: training rights to properly equip our workers for the 21st century economy; employers contributing to staff pension plans; rights for workers to have some say in shaping the strategic direction of the plants and companies in which they work.
There are some who argue against this strategy. ‘Victory is ours’, they say. ‘Safety first. Say as little as possible and the Tories will win it for us.’ There is little doubt that the Labour Party’s greatest electoral asset is William Hague. And it’s true that the spectre of Mr Hague standing on the threshold of No.10 is a chilling one to contemplate. But therein lies the danger. No-one can contemplate it. And that’s why we need more than just a vision of Hague on Tony Blair’s doorstep. It’s why we need a radical vision of what a second Labour term would actually deliver.
By all means, spell out what Hannibal Hague would do to our public services over a nice Chianti. But the best way to energise Labour supporters is to keep repeating what Labour will do to clear up the mess the Tories left us. Let Labour tell the British people how they’re going to get our railways back on track, by bringing them back into public control with the money we will otherwise have to spend on subsidising their failure in the private sector. Let’s deliver the investment in our schools, hospitals and public services. If we do, we won’t have to motivate Labour supporters to get out and vote, we’ll find it impossible to hold them back.
Labour starts this election in a strong position. For the first time in over twenty years, it is Labour’s to lose. I would have liked more radical initiatives from New Labour, and the GMB has had to campaign harder than it would have liked for the success of trade union values and policies. But during the last four years the change in the public and political climate has been unmistakable. And that’s why Labour in its second term should not seek to limit its ambitions. The time for quiet reassurance has passed. Labour is now the party of government, and the people want to see what their Government is really made of.