It was a real pleasure to welcome Progress, IPPR, Nic Dakin MP and Caroline Flint MP to Lincoln last night as part of Progress’ Purple Papers tour, discussing: Real Change for Britain: what should Labour’s priorities for government be? In Lincoln. As a party, listening to people (members and non-members), and discussing the issues that matter, in marginal seats like Lincoln, is a key part of what will enable us to form a Labour government in 2015. It’s vital that we develop the right policies that enable us to be seen as a party of government not just in Camden, Liverpool and Doncaster but in Lincoln and Broxtowe and Harlow too.
The backdrop against which any discussion of Labour’s policy priorities has to take place is that of the likely very poor state of our public finances in 2015. As a result of the Tories’ grave mishandling of the economy and their choking off of the recovery, we can expect there to be few proceeds of growth to allocate to many of the priorities that we as Labour party members (and indeed the public) care about, such as protecting our NHS and building fit-for-purpose models for social care and childcare.
With this in mind, the key questions become necessarily tough: which areas are most deserving for spending, and what are we willing to do to facilitate this? The second limb covers not only which areas of spending could be reallocated elsewhere but also how we could raise or save additional money, for example via a more effective approach to taxation or reforming the way we provide certain services.
Last night’s discussion involved a healthy and wide range of issues. Graeme Cooke of IPPR began by talking about his chapter in the Purple Papers series outlining policies which Labour could adopt with the aim of full employment. He was followed by Caroline Flint, who explained why 2015 will be a ‘cost of living election’. I then added a few thoughts of my own, including a Lincoln angle on some of our main national challenges.
Plenty of questions from audience members then followed – ably managed by the chair, Nic Dakin MP. It was important for me that the audience included both Labour party members and non-members too. The first question, on the need to move towards the living wage, prompted discussion of the possibility of legislating for the same, pay differentials, raising the national minimum wage and the campaigning power of the Labour party. A subsequent discussion then centred around rates of employment, and the fact that Lincoln is suffering from rising unemployment, plus a worrying rise in the number of people who have been out of work for more than 12 months. Graeme Cooke’s explanation of the ways in which the government is massaging the unemployment statistics – such as by classifying those on the work programme as employed – was of particular interest (and derision). The desirability of an industrial strategy and potential for more manufacturing jobs proved a related hot topic.
Concerns about the government’s bedroom tax were raised, prompting a wider discussion around the delinking of benefits and inflation. Further areas of discussion covered the powers of local government – particularly in relation to housing. Caroline Flint highlighted the fact that we can learn a lot from good local councils and should be open to adopting their best practice in certain areas. Further issues raised included immigration, engagement with non-voters, the government’s badger cull, interest rates and the price of petrol. In relation to this last issue, Caroline Flint’s comments regarding the rising cost of living and national inequities regarding access to public transport struck a particular chord.
All in all, it was an incredibly worthwhile evening and – as above – I think these kind of discussions are vital to the party’s development of a credible and inspiring policy platform for 2015. A big thank you to Progress (especially Richard and Felicity), Graeme, Nic, Caroline and all who attended.
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Lucy Rigby is Labour PPC for Lincoln. She tweets @LucyRigby