Even within Labour s own ranks there are some who find it difficult to disguise their disdain for bleeding heart liberals . To them, the Guardian-reader obsessions of some in the party with a liberal social agenda civil liberties, crime and punishment, equality issues, and lifestyle issues like drugs are simply a distraction from the party s true mission of fighting poverty, securing full employment and investing in public services.
In reality, of course, the party does not have to choose. There is no conflict, for instance, between strong support for civil liberties and support for the Working Families Tax Credit. It s a rather narrow definition of equality and social justice that focuses purely on economic matters. Since 1997 Labour has shifted the centre ground of British politics on tax and spend . After years of fighting on Tory territory, the Conservatives have now been forced to fight on ours. This shift in the nation s political gravity has not, however, been extended to other areas. On the range of social issues on which we focus in this edition of Progress, Labour s ability to achieve a significant break with the past has been much more limited. We have, at times, displayed a socially conservative streak which is both bad policy and bad politics.
We should not, of course, over-emphasise Labour s alleged social conservatism. The government s decision to set up an inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence and the ensuing MacPherson report forced the country to come to terms with notions such as institutional racism and led to the commendable Race Relations Amendment Act. The government has shifted from a knee-jerk conservatism on drugs to a more considered approach which seeks to avoid criminalising those who choose to use soft drugs, while cracking down hard on the peddlers and traffickers of hard drugs.
However, Labour has not yet developed a convincing narrative to describe our social agenda akin to that which has been enunciated on the public services or fighting poverty. There remains a sense in which the alleged prejudices of middle England are driving the public face of our policy, with more liberal notions kept quiet for fear of provoking the Daily Mail. Take, for instance, the issue of crime and punishment. Crime is, of course, an important issue and one that Labour must not ignore. Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime is now such an over-used soundbite that we forget that this is exactly where a modern centre-left party should stand on this issue. But we need to be more intelligent in how we talk about it and recognise that voters want practical solutions. Punitive populist rhetoric is a poor substitute for considered, substantive policy especially when polling disproves the alleged hang em and flog em attitudes of the public.
New Labour has made much of its pragmatism. It travels light, preferring what works to the heavy baggage of outdated ideology. But we have failed to take on publicly the ridiculous notion that prison works . The result is that our prisons are packed to bursting point: as we lock up another 250 people every week, the prison population has hit a record high of 72,379. Around 70 percent of these individuals, furthermore, are inside for crimes not involving sex, violence or drug-trafficking.
Meanwhile, the government does little to educate the public by advertising the preventative policies which it is pursuing. There has been too much talk of locking up juvenile offenders and too little of the many schemes promoted by the government to try and divert first time young offenders from a life of crime.
On other issues, too, Labour too often appears to lack the confidence of its real convictions. Gay voters who gave the party strong support in 1997 are drifting away to the Liberal Democrats, not primarily because we have failed to deliver on issues like Section 28, but because we appear embarrassed about those aspects of the equality agenda that we have achieved.
The government has achieved much that any future Tory government would find difficult to undo the minimum wage or devolution, for instance. But sadly, on some issues particularly privacy and freedom of information it has not gone nearly far enough. It has done too little to strengthen citizens against the state: to ensure our right to privacy is protected and our right to know what government is doing is enhanced.
The Prime Minister was right when he declared Labour to be at our best when at our boldest . His government s record in so many spheres demonstrates it. It s now time to extend this boldness to embrace a liberal social agenda.