Sharing power, and reforming the Labour party to do it, could breathe new life into our politics
After Labour’s staggering defeat in 2010 few people thought we could go down even further, but in 2015 we did. We were wiped out in Scotland, have hardly any representation in the south of England outside London, and saw our majorities shrink in the face of a United Kingdom Independence party advance in our northern and Midlands heartlands. But if you think Labour has hit rock bottom, think again.
Ed Miliband’s pollster James Morris says in his post-election analysis that ‘the single most powerful doubt about Labour was that they would spend too much and can’t be trusted with the economy’. We failed to explain in simple enough terms why running a small deficit before the crash did not cause the crash, then the way we talked about protecting benefits and services over the following five years led voters to conclude we would overspend again.
We compounded that error by going to the country with too many small ideas that had been focus-grouped to death but lacked any big vision for the country to hold them all together. There was plenty of good policy, but voters were unclear whether we believed in centralisation or decentralisation, were pro- or anti-business, were for or against immigration, or wanted to safeguard welfare or scale it back. It was not that we were unable to communicate our policy, it was the opposite. We had too much to say about too little.
To win again we must get back on side with the electorate. After two catastrophic results in a row we must accept that anything that smells to the voters of ‘continuity Labour’ will be heavily defeated again in 2020.
Labour must return to the public, not wait for them to come back to us. They never will. Change must be – and must feel – very different.
Change means embracing fiscal responsibility. But it does not mean aping the Tories. Our party is right to focus on inequalities of wealth and opportunity, but we do not talk enough about the inequality of power that underpins them. Labour cannot simply continue to seek power for itself; we must learn to share it with the people we are in politics to help so their insights, experiences and preferences can help us do so much more.
In today’s less deferential, more diverse world people do not want hero politicians to save them; they want to be the heroes in their own lives. Giving people more control at work, in their communities, or over the public services they use is a way of tapping into their ambitions, ideas and creativity and unleashing them to benefit everyone.
The best of Labour local government is already doing this. Tenants have improved council housing estates where the managers have become directly accountable to them. Care service users have dramatically improved their own quality of life by sitting down with professionals to choose services by using personalised budgets rather than simply being allocated support. Early intervention in troubled families helps stop children going off the rails and ending up in crime.
This approach can transform public services, dramatically increase value for money, and improve people’s lives all at the same time. But it does not just apply to public services. Most people have very little power in their workplace either.
Zero-hours contracts, low pay, job insecurity and low productivity are features of Britain’s unsustainable economy. Unions represent only 14 per cent of private sector workers and a third of public sector workers. Like Labour, the union movement is in a state of decay, and like Labour they need radical reform. We need to find more effective ways of giving employees power at work. We should look at guaranteed places on company boards, a say over top pay levels, the right to take a share in the ownership of the company people work for – here are some bold ideas that could transform performance by giving more people a real stake in the place where they work.
Globalisation is changing economies around the world; education, training and skills can link our communities to the opportunities this brings instead of leaving them fearful and resentful of change. The digital revolution is changing the way people shop, socialise, learn, even find partners, but it has barely affected our democracy at all. Labour can harness this great transformation to allow people to participate in more of the decisions that affect them, open up the economy to entrepreneurs and innovators, and expose public services to scrutiny in a way that will drive improvement, creativity and new ideas.
But first, why not create a more open form of politics by reforming the Labour party along those same lines, with open policymaking, introducing primaries into our candidate selection, opening up our meetings and decision-making to supporters not just members, allowing people to engage with us on individual issues on their terms instead of on ours, creating new digital ways to get involved, expanding dramatically so we can become more representative?
English people saw Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland winning new powers and proudly championing their own national identity, while they felt Labour opposed the same opportunities for England. We now need an English Labour party to work alongside a separate Scottish Labour and Welsh Labour to make sure these big changes happen in a way that benefits England.
Could Labour die? The answer has to be yes. If we offer more of the same in 2020 Labour’s beating heart will beat no more. The question is: are we prepared to do what is necessary to get our party off life support?
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Steve Reed MP is a vice-chair of Progress
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Superficial nonsense from Progress. Unions have declined because they have been side-lined, marginalised and hide-bound by legislation. How can you counter pose putting some individual on the board of a company to the need for workers to organised and represented through a democratic union, with elected representative. What will buying a few shared do when the big institutions will own and vote with millions. (How many massive pay-outs to CEOP have been thrown out by share-holders?) The measures you put forward for reforming public services are largely the ones the Tories have used to atomise the workforce – making them powerless. Individual personalised budgets usually mean buying from the cheaper private sector, where staff are unorganised, low paid and have no pensions. Few individuals prefer these services to properly trained and reliable Local Authority services, but most are forced down this road by legislation to save money. These are the same employers that rely on zero-hours contracts, unpaid travel time, etc.. Alternatively people are employed individually as personal assistants. Often the people making the decisions are family members and carers – some of whom use the money to pay themselves, with little accountability. They may offer a way forward for some people who only have physical disabilities – but they are pushed onto everyone – people with learning disabilities and the elderly and frail. Day Care Centres are closed, in favour of people doing individual activities with carers – usually walking around town and going to the café. This doesn’t need a building or organised travel and is not usually welcomed by carers and families. Early intervention in families is not something particularly new. The Tories have trumpeted £m of savings but based on very dubious accounting. Intensive early intervention is no panacea of a solution – although agency co-ordination is vey important. Much of this was based in Surestart centres which are now being closed, and the work pushed to the private sector – where success is exaggerated to ensure payment and contracts. Tenant involvement in estates perhaps does work in some areas – but most council estates probably have a minority of tenants now due to right-to-buy. Very few of these are interested in the day to day running of their estates (unless you have a load of money to transform things). Like very few private estates have residents associations. People are too busy running their own lives and going to work. The result is a handful of people usually take over, with their own agenda – often political, but also people who are frankly just busy-bodies. Our local Neighbourhood Action meetings attract more representatives from organisations (people paid to attend) than local residents. Often these are potential councillors or party activists, or people with a specific axe to grind, or problem they want solved. They are no substitute for democracy and the role of elected councillors.
Are you barking mad?
“voters were unclear whether we believed in centralisation or decentralisation, were pro- or anti-business, were for or against immigration, or wanted to safeguard welfare or scale it back”
* boggle *
The voters are absolutely clear that Labour is pro-centralisation (referendum denial), authoritarian (laws against Islamophobia), anti-people (Muslim paedophile rape gangs hushed up because the perps are one of Labour’s client races), pro-immigration (because they go on benefits and vote Labour), and pro-scrounger (every benefit cut opposed, even the one that limited their “earnings” to the national average wage).
On top of all these choices is the denial and dishonesty. Labour lied about immigration all the while it was in power yet expects to be believed now. Labour increased spending by 50% but denies it overspent. Labour despises the white working class but protects paedophile rapists. Labour thinks there’s a Sikh vote. Labour cut housing benefit regionally then called it a “bedroom tax” when the coalition extended it.
First admit your mistakes and repent of your dishonesty. Until then you have no permission to speak.
Could Labour die? Inshallah, as they say in safe Labour seats.
Can I make a suggestion Steve? A really radical suggestion?
Stop lying about the NHS.
We’ve been hearing from Labour for the last 60 years about how the Tories want to destroy the NHS. If they actually wanted to do this, they’ve had ample chances to do so. Yet they haven’t. The only government ever to cut NHS funding was Labour and it was a Labour government that broughy back filthy Dickensian workhouses in which old ladies drank their flower vase water and starved to death by the thousand in their own poo.
Labour’s whole and entire problem is lying. As soon as Labour starts talking about the NHS a whopping great lie comes steaming out of Labour’s mouth and drops in a big, stinking brown pile. As soon as Labour starts talking about its performance in office it pebbledashes the audience with a machine-gun spackle of reeking dishonesty.As soon as Labour starts talking about tax and spend it’s as though Mr. Creosote has slipped into the room and broken wind.
Stop it. Stop lying. Everyone knows these are lies. You know they’re lies. The punters know they’re lies. We can always tell when Labour’s lying: your lips are moving.
So try something new. Try having a Clause 4 moment on the NHS. Try saying:
“Actually we think the Tories have done OK on the NHS.”
Try it. See how you like it. See how the voters like it.
Then try another one. “We really fecked the economy in 2008. We lost control of spending and we didn’t have the balls to raise taxes. We’re {gulp} sorry.”
Or stay in denial and be derided as liars. Your call.