We’ll be providing more details soon of the programme for the day, but we’re delighted that the leader of the Labour party, Ed Miliband, has already agreed to address attendees. Keep a close eye on ProgressOnline for the full programme.
– Progress’ honorary president Alan Milburn delivered a keynote address on social mobility at a joint event with the Helena Kennedy Foundation. Speaking to a packed room, he drew on his long experience as a minister and as the independent assessor of the coalition government’s social mobility policy. He covered issues in higher education and access to the professions. He was joined by Helena Kennedy Foundation chief executive Wes Streeting and Progress chair Stephen Twigg, who each drew on their individual experiences – Streeting as a child on free school meals who went to Cambridge and became president of the NUS, and Twigg as the former school standards minister who oversaw the beginnings of Labour’s academy programme.
– The Labour party’s review of its policymaking structures has been a big part of Progress’ work over the past month, with events taking place in Manchester, Liverpool, Leicester, Leeds and Birmingham asking ‘how does a winning party make policy?’ MPs, councillors, trade unionists and members of Labour’s National Executive Committee and National Policy Forum joined members across the country to discuss how all members can be involved in shaping Labour’s policy and how the leadership and different sections of the party should interact.