Last week in the Progress office I was given the task of compiling the names of the leaders of Labour groups on local councils. This served as a depressing reminder of just how few Labour councillors there are, particularly in the south. Too often the council switchboard would treat me to lift music while they ran to find out if anyone had even heard of such a thing as a ‘Labour councillor.’
Far more encouraging, however, was the reception the campaigning group received last night when canvassing in St Peter’s ward, Islington. I met local residents who enthusiastically supported Labour’s campaigns in the area, particularly in opposing the Tory plans to reduce the number of safer neighbourhood sergeants. When asked if they intended to vote Labour, many replied with ‘of course.’ This attitude, and the view of Labour as a positive local force, will continue as long as Labour fights on a local level, fights to save services that their constituents rely on.
Connecting with voters on local issues is not only a proven electoral strategy – demonstrated by John Mann’s election success in 2010 – but serves to represent the core values of the Labour party to voters, to show that there is real substance behind our message.
Southern Discomfort Again, published by Policy Network following the 2010 general election, carried out a survey which found that only 32 per cent of southern voters were clear about what ‘Labour stood for these days’ compared to more than 60 per cent felt they understood what the Conservative party now represented. At a time of financial insecurity, voters in the south opted for what they felt that they knew, what they felt was safe.
The result of this failure to really connect with voters, to get across the Labour message, was of course devastating. In the south – outside of London – Labour now holds only 10 out of 197 seats, while in the south and the Midlands combined it holds only 49 out of 302 seats.
The electoral and subsequent reforming successes of the governments of 1945 and 1997 were borne out of a unification of constituencies and classes; out of a belief held by voters that Labour represented not only change and progress, but were also the responsible party of government.
New Labour won 133 seats in the south and the Midlands in 1997 because it identified the challenge of appealing to voters across the country and responded with a combination of offering social justice and a fairer society, but also – crucially – economic good sense.
Labour have to be in power, locally and nationally, to make a real difference, not just to act as the campaigners trying to mitigate the damage being wrought by the Tories. Getting out our message, knocking on doors and working locally is crucial and central to what the Labour movement is about; but in doing so we must also learn the lessons of 2010 and present a party which is ready to govern responsibly – restore Labour, as Harold Wilson put it, as the natural party of government once more.
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Jack Tunmore is a member of Progress