It was our local government success which again gave us good news last week. Gaining some 15 councils, including eight London boroughs, and electing over 400 new councillors across England, shows that even in the toughest of times our local government campaigning is unrelenting.
Taking back control of important authorities like Liverpool, Coventry, St Helens and Doncaster – and re-electing our three mayors in the capital – does not happen by accident. It happens because of our winning combination of effective campaigning and local leadership.
Properly recognising this needs to be a crucial part of the debate around our leadership contest and our drive to renew. Thousands of Labour councillors up and down the country are a driving force in our local activist base, as well as been important and committed frontline ambassadors for the party each and every day.
Any candidate for the party leadership needs to take account of this and listen to what our local government base has to say. A renewed Labour Party must maintain and drive forward an ambitious and progressive vision of municipal leadership, which combines community empowerment, effective public service delivery, and strong local leadership. Given the financial pressures facing us and together with whatever Eric Pickles and the ConDems have planned for local government, we will need all the ingenuity, imagination and determination to craft progressive solutions to the local problems and challenges Labour councillors are tasked with addressing across the country.
The need to re-connect with core communities, which many speak of at the moment, can only happen with a strong base of Labour councillors. Labour councillors are key to this because we connect with the communities we represent every day through leading local regeneration, working with residents to drive local change, marshalling community regeneration and most important of all helping and assisting our constituents with their individual problems.
Councillors are certainly not alienated within the party structures and I do not seek to suggest this. Far from it, we have effective representation at every level including crucially on the National Policy Forum and the National Executive Committee. Given our significance numerically and in terms of our success electorally it is crucial the voice of Labour local government is listened to during this phase of renewal and reinvigoration of the party.
We face important council elections again next year, including in my own authority. There is no question that we can go on winning more council seats and winning power in more local authorities.
The party leadership contest presents an important opportunity to talk about the campaigning success of Labour local government and to showcase our leadership in communities. This proven recipe of success is crucial for Labour’s future.