One of the best political events I have been to for a long time, the conference brought in old and new faces into an increasingly honest conversation about what we are facing and how we develop the right political strategy going forward.
Two things really struck me from the event, reinforcing conversations I’ve had recently at CLPs and Fabian local societies.
The first is that the issue of our perceived competence on the economy is still a big elephant in the room. There is an increasingly comfortable narrative that the coalition have pushed that Labour contributed to – even if it didn’t cause – the economic crisis. This has opened the door to Labour struggling with whether the best response is attack or defence. Now some voices are saying we should accept the Tory-led cuts. Personally I think this is a lazy response to the challenge and I don’t agree we should. I think there is a debate to be had about whether spending more than we received in annual tax receipts after 2003 was right – but this came on the back of having rebalanced the country’s books after Labour gained power in 1997. Nobody foresaw the crisis – so what could have passed as a short term economic policy concern is now disproportionately seen as the cause of Britain’s problems. However what was still clear from the conference and indeed talking to business outside is that many know – including many in the business community – that Labour’s leadership in the crisis saved the financial sector and, in doing so, the wider economy. Labour needs to do a better job of bringing out those voices of support, being bolder now in getting its message across on an evidence based and informed alternative narrative and a better explained, realistic and consistent response to where we are now – acceptance of needs for cuts, but not so fast and not so deep.
Secondly, the debate about Red Tory vs Blue Labour thinking has set out a challenge to other progressive parts of the Labour movement which have really dominated over the last 15 years. Maurice Glasman’s Soundings piece in January excellently articulated his position and the ‘generations’ of Labour thinking – as well as the ancestors, grandparents and parents of the current ‘siblings’ – or strands of thought in Labour’s family today. His argument that the power of associations is now the best way to challenge power of money/capital will resonate with many and will need to be part of the response we need to form. Tessa Jowell’s succinct and astute comment on guiding principles – community where possible, state where necessary, partnership absolutely, seemed to me to blend the best of mutualism and partnership with the state. The conversation wasn’t quite sure what to say about the market.
I asked (slightly facetiously) the question about whether the Fabians are now irrelevant as the conversation comfortably moved to a seeming consensus on communitarianism and how variants thereof was the new centre ground. I absolutely agree that a rebalancing of ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ is needed – but there is a temptation to, for want of a better phrase, throw the baby out of the bathwater. The invisible hand of the state has also been vital in empowering communities and transferring resources. The response from the Fabians to this question of the role of the productive and enabling state today that also has a focus on social outcomes we want to see being a reality is a vital one – to avoid it could well lead to a crisis of Fabianism and an irrelevance as the power of new arguments move us into a new normative space on political economy.
Perhaps the final reflection is that this is perhaps the most important phase of our time in opposition. The last year has seen us settle into a new reality, reorganise and refocus. The Scottish, Welsh and local elections are now over and have brought into sharp relief different organisational issues and the Scottish leadership challenges. The next year is a window to start coming up with the answers – to keep restating the questions we must address will soon no longer be enough. Once the boundary reviews are complete and we are into selections for the next election, there will be less time to think and refresh as administration takes over. This period of ‘divergence’ before we must ‘converge’ is a 1-2 year window which we must keep focused and ensure is well resourced now at all levels of our party to reach the communities and stakeholders we know must be part of Labour’s return to government.