In the next six to nine months, Labour will have a new leader and the country a new prime minister. It’s no surprise, therefore, that many within the Labour movement have started to turn their attention to what a new Labour leadership would look like. Progress has opened this debate up to its members, supporters and Labour’s grassroots with a new campaign, entitled First 100 Days.
The aim of the campaign is to engage people, from Labour’s grassroots to government ministers, with current debates and to provide a focus for political renewal. It is this process – allowing people to add their ideas and thoughts into the mix – that is so important. 2007 will mark 10 years of a Labour government, and though it is only right we take time to reflect on the immense accomplishments it has achieved, it is even more important to look ahead at the challenges – as much political as policy – of the next decade.
First, the Labour party itself needs to look at how it reconnects not only with its members, but also with the country. Since 1997, the concerns and aspirations of people have changed dramatically, and Labour needs to make sure it understands, and responds, to these. On matters such as security and the challenges of globalisation, Labour must continue to prove itself the only party capable of offering positive solutions; in contrast to a Conservative party more concerned with photo opportunities and empty platitudes. Part of our success in 1997 was the ability to understand the issues of the day – these might be very different in 2007 but it is essential that we don’t stop listening.
Second, we must accept that the debate around our public services has moved on considerably since 1997. The emphasis on investment and reform was understandable when Labour inherited a health and education system severely crippled by years of under-funding. Now, however, we need to look at ways in which we can better personalise both our health and education services.
On the NHS, the language we use can sometimes sound too managerial, and we have often failed to take both staff and the public with us on recent reforms. This has parallels in education, where aspects of our policies on trust and academy schools have failed to convince the general public, leading to a degree of scepticism that could have been avoided.
Today, people want their public services delivering for them and their specific needs, which means that Labour must get better at developing and communicating the policies that will convince people we are the only party to be trusted with our public services.
Third, we need to think of ways to better engage with people and communities. So far, we have discussed concepts but have yet to fully grasp what is needed to give people the control they want over their lives. As Gordon Brown emphasises in his interview on page 10, we can no longer rely on top-down solutions. But Labour has yet to put forward a cogent vision of what this means in practise.
We should not fall into the trap of promising more than we can deliver – if we are talking about handing power to people on the ground, then we need to prove that this is actually happening in reality, and not just in thinktank papers. As Brown suggests, this requires a cultural shift that will challenge Whitehall, politicians and communities themselves. Labour has to prove it is ready to take this on.
These are only a few of the challenges ahead – any new leadership will also have to deal with the consequences of globalisation, both on domestic and foreign policy, as well as the surprises that foreign affairs inevitably throw up. So it is essential that campaigns like Progress’ First 100 Days continue to give Labour’s grassroots a chance to voice their ideas and opinions, and play a role in the important debates
to come.
During the campaign, we are asking people to submit their ideas for the new leader’s first 100 days in office. This can be done through our dedicated website, archive.progressonline.org.uk/100, and at our First 100 Day events. The website will also feature exclusive articles by ministers, councillors, academics, trade unionists and others, offering their ideas for the first 100 days. Progress has also prepared briefings for Constituency Labour Parties to hold their own debates, and afterwards to submit their ideas on the website. Over the next six to nine months we will be collating the best and most innovative ideas submitted through the website and from our events. At the end of the process, we will be presenting them to the relevant ministers and asking for them to respond.
To kick-start the debate, in this edition Ed Balls, Andy Burnham, Bev Hughes and Liam Byrne among others offer their ideas for the First 100 Days on the policy seven areas we have identified. But most importantly, we want to hear your suggestions on what the priorities of a new Labour leader should be. It is only by engaging with the ideas and concerns of the party’s grassroots that Labour will be able to say it has truly renewed.