This year’s election was a dark one for the Labour party and progressive forces across the country. It was a long and gloomy night, from losing well-known members of parliament such as Ed Balls and Douglas Alexander, to the near wipe-out of the party in its traditional Labour heartlands in Scotland. But, rather than mourn the result, the Labour movement should seize the opportunity to look outwards and once again become the party of modern society and a party of government.

What Labour cannot afford to do is to move backwards – whether to 1945 or to 1997. Labour has to offer a positive, progressive and forward-looking vision for the future. We cannot simply rest on this party’s proud history and the ideologies of the past; we have to build on our foundations as a movement. That does not mean the past cannot be remembered and celebrated, but you cannot look forward while also looking backwards. Far-reaching change is necessary if this great movement hopes to have a future. Labour has to be a party that reflects everyone in modern society, from those on minimum wage to doctors and lawyers to business-owners, large and small. It has to be the party that lays a pathway out of poverty by giving everyone, regardless of their background, the opportunity and the foundation to achieve their full potential. This means investment into education and into the National Health Service. This means representing and taking care of everyone, rather than waging class war. This means embracing businesses and not fearing them. This means providing equal opportunities for everyone and not demanding equal outcomes. This means devolving more power to local councils and to devolved parliaments – bringing decisions closer to people. This is how Labour can once again be a party of society and of government.

Many have suggested that Labour has to move further to the left and re-embrace policies of high taxes, high spending and public ownership. What they fail to understand is that we face a vastly different electorate than we did in 1945. The middle class has since grown to include nearly half of the population, private ownership of homes and of industry has become an irreversible reality and people across the country, have aspirations that have to be realised and not ignored. Reconciling ourselves with the modern world does not in any way make us the same as the Tories. They say ‘There is no such thing as society’. We say that there is a place for society – even in the midst of a global competitive market economy. Society is made up of individuals and individuals could not realise their potential without society. One cannot exist and thrive without the other and that is what we have to recognise once again as a movement.

Some will say that it cannot be done. But we all know that it can. This party was founded against all odds and we can come back against all odds. But, it is not pre-ordained. It is not our birth right as a movement. The fightback started on 8 May and we have to work hard every day from now until polling day and beyond in 2020. This means creating a platform for sharing new ideas, reaching out to the public – from all walks of life, and taking nothing for granted. We have to reflect society as we find it and not how we would like it to be. There can be no place for empty-headed idealism but instead we must look for pragmatic and progressive solutions to the problems affecting people this country over. We have to build an inclusive model of what Britain can be and not what it is. Status quos exist to be broken.

What hurt the Labour party in 2015 was its failure to embrace the needs and concerns of everyone. We focused too heavily on demonising wealth and too little on finding ways to spread the creation of it. We looked back to the past and not to the future. But that has to change. With effort, re-evaluation and a positive vision, we can and will win in 2020.

Photo: Dominic Campbell