Labour has been in shock since May, but it is now time to start building a positive case that we can take to the electorate in five year’s time. In doing this we must strike a balance between ideological purity and a programme the electorate will support. Jon Cruddas’ research shows that voters will elect a government that will balance the budget, but that also pledges to redistribute wealth, power and opportunity. Labour cannot win on an anti-austerity ticket, but we do not need to abandon our commitment to social justice and equality. Liz Kendall gets this. Her vision is based around traditional Labour values applied to the challenges our society faces today.
Looking at the specifics of Kendall’s five causes, I am delighted that Liz wants to restore working tax credits. In five years time the Tories will have rolled back many more redistributive measures, justifying the changes by changing the description of poverty. We can not allow this to continue. At the same time, Kendall’s commitment to eliminating low pay and building a caring society will put a stop to the demonisation of the poor and vulnerable. This is a vital first step towards turning around our culture in which people are increasingly sidelined and stigmatised. Her cause of investing in early years will bridge the divide between the circumstances of birth in the crucial early development years before school. I am particularly struck by the focus on frontline social care, currently badly underfunded and littered with zero-hours contracts, poor pay and conditions. These actions are still possible in the context of deficit reduction. It is the priorities you choose to implement as a Government that define you. These are Labour values that the electorate will get behind.
In the fifth cause, winning power to give it back, her offer is resolutely modern. She will introduce a ‘radical new political settlement’ that gives local bodies power over ‘welfare, housing, health, education, transport and economic growth’. And she will ‘create a more federal United Kingdom’. She is providing a bold and very clear alternative to the Tory devolution model which could also provide Labour in Scotland with a powerful message to take to the electorate, but also the north of England, which should be empowered by Government. Locally our annual budget has been slashed to almost-half since Labour left office nationally. Since then the public’s appetite for devolution has skyrocketed.
Having gone through some painful and difficult years in local government we are a very lean and efficient organisation that works with our partners and is adaptive. Local government now offers an agile platform to deliver modern services from. We have delivered services with far greater efficiency and better outcomes than central government, in areas such as getting people into work. Reassuringly Kendall specifically points to this as an area for devolution.
Through her causes Liz shows that she gets the challenges of the modern age. I am sure in Government we would go much further to address the inequalities that exist in our society. She offers to build the broadest consensus within the electorate in 2020 and we should back her to be the leader of the party.
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These are Rebecca Charlwood’s personal views. She is supporting Liz Kendall in the leadership election and is the Labour Chief Whip of Leeds city council
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Quite a refreshing article away from the usual the lady MP must get the job because she’s a woman….
What is happening in Wales or, even further devolved, Mid Staffs and the like may make it look at bit naff but still a bit more progressive than the Olivia or Emma types
What does Liz Kendall plan to do for England as a nation?
Surely we need a national investment bank and some attention to manufacturing and the employment that comes with it. Is the message in this article is hardly the radical stuff we need? Any of this could have been done by past administrations not faced with the radical changes we now need at this new period.