Labour can only win the country again if we win in Kent. When Labour wins support here, as we did in 1997 – 2005, it is a sign we are winning the argument in the country. However, from holding eight seats in 1997, there is now not a single Labour member of parliament in the county and Kent is a sea of blue. The voters who once trusted Labour to stand up for their concerns, passions and priorities voted Conservative on 7 May. Winning again in Kent – and understanding why we lost – needs to be a top priority for the next Labour leader. Liz Kendall has shown she is ready for that challenge and has the vision, ideas and passion Labour needs to change our party to win again in Kent and win in the country in 2020.
A Labour party led by Liz Kendall will win back the trust we have lost on running the economy and regain credibility on immigration – a key issue in many parts of Kent. However, what has really made her campaign stand out is that Kendall also instinctively understands Labour’s challenge in places like Kent runs deeper than that. The hard truth is that at the last election too many people associated the things they really cared about – security, family, home, community, hope for the future – with the Conservatives, rather than Labour and voted accordingly. The challenge for next Labour leader will be to demonstrate again that the values of the country are also the values of the Labour party. Liz Kendall is the only candidate facing up to that challenge and the only candidate winning that argument. Kendall’s five pledges; ending inequality from birth, eliminating low pay, building a caring society, sharing power with people and providing a future of hope for young people, begin the real work we need to do to make Labour a credible force in the areas of the county, like Kent, that we have to win back from the Conservatives to win in the country again.
Kent is a hugely diverse county. Entrepreneurial and ambitious in nature but also dealing with significant economic and social upheaval as result of the big changes in the economy caused by the decline of traditional industries in the 1980s and 1990s. In many ways Kent is a microcosm of the country as whole and that is why the electoral fortunes of Labour in Kent and in the country are so intertwined. The effects of a low wage economy are felt keenly here. That is why it’s so important that Kendall is committed to restoring working tax credits and delivering a real living wage. It is common to meet people that feel that the rules of our economy are staked against them – however, it is clear that Labour can not win by simply shouting loudly about inequality – voters will only trust us if we set out a credible vision of the future on how we rebalance opportunity and outcome in favour of the many, not the few. That iss why Kendall’s passion for extending and enhancing early years education will resonate in Kent because it speaks to those values of fairness, equality of opportunity and yes – aspiration to achieve and get on that are deeply felt and should be core to the Labour offer again. And despite geographical proximity, many communities in Kent feel they are a world away from Westminster. When Kendall talks about the crucial role of devolution of power to local communities working alongside a renewed sense of identity, belonging and pride about where we live and work, Labour will begin to reconnect with communities that the national party has too often felt distant from in the past.
Kendall understands that we will not win back Kent by simply reheating arguments from the past. That is not going to give people in my area a reason for vote Labour again and nor should we expect it to. Liz is a progressive, a modernist and an optimist – just as the Labour party is when we are at our best, defining the future. The challenge is never about defining what are values are – we know what our values are. It is always how to apply them in changing and often uncertain times for our local communities. Only one of the four candidates is rising to that challenge and it is Liz Kendall. When we offer a positive vision of what the future looks like, we win elections. Liz Kendall is offering that vision and with Kendall as Labour leader we will win back Kent – and win back the country.
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Jonathon Hawkes is leader of the Labour group for Dartford borough council, and writes in a personal capacity. He tweets @CllrJonHawkes
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The thoughts of Corbyn taking this party back to the 70’s is really scary.so i have decided to use my head.Will back Liz Kendall for Leader.Stella Creasey for Deputy Leader.listening to various young people who were’nt born in the 70’s think he’s the next coming.not back to the days of Militant.we have to have policies for today’s world.1997,and winning 3 elections were important.but we are in different economic times.we have to govern in a pragmatic way.we have to show we are a responsible party re the economy etc.please vote Kendall/Creasey for the country,and to save The Labour Party.
You may recall that it was a Militant lead council that won back Liverpool from the Liberal / Tory alliance that controlled it before 1983, and increased the vote every year until cllrs were removed from office by the courts. The Liberals regained control of Liverpool City Council in 1998 and held it until 2010 i.e. through-out the Blair years. In 1982 Labour had 54,000 votes in Liverpool. By 1984 it had increased to 90,000 and in 1983 Militant Terry Fields won the only (notional) Tory seat in the country – increasing the Labour vote by 50%..
You have forgotten something that many of us remember well.You kept thatcher in power!
Oh yes. Nothing to do with 13 Labour MPs, supported by the likes of the main funder of Progress, splitting the Party and forming the SDP. And the Falklands War which transformed Thatcher’s popularity. It this sort of wilful distortion of history which lies at the heart of the Progress campaign to make Labour safe for big business. Progress is the voice of big business in our Party – the real entryists.
The county of Kent along with others areas of the country will only ‘return’ (move) to Labour when the Labou Party has a strategy for growth. It is in this respect that Liz’s commitment to austerity is the weak link. Somehow she has got confused by the economics which suggests that the debt can be beaten without attending to the issue of growth and manufacturing base of the country and redistribution away from the EU supported finance corporatism. She has been caught out with an out-of date and essentialist Thatcher view of the family economic model. I am afraid that bland references to Corbyn being old fashioned and Liz as a ‘moderniser is now so misplaced it has become nothing more than an empty slogan.
Excellent piece Jon. To win in Kent we have to appeal to peoples aspirations. Building a coalition of our traditional support with people who may be open to a fairer society based on aspiration for everyone irrespective of your wealth and background.
The problem is Liz Kendal and all Labour Leadership are out of touch with the electorate . I like Liz however to echo the Tory Mantra that Labour caused the Economic problems and not the banks ,especially in America; is nothing less than treason against the Labour Party and its Activists . The Leadership has put itself above the membership . The Progress wing are now so out of touch with reality and the electorate and so into Corporate Fascism that many members ,and the Public ,are turning to Jeremy Corbyn for sanity . The other problem is that the leadership is surrounded by so many yes men /women that they dare not tell the truth about the Emporers New Clothes” ,for fear of losing status . Cllr John Knowles
This of course presupposes that “taking Kent” is realistic or achievable or indeed key to the return of a Labour government. I would contend that winning back non-voters or ex-Labour voters is probably slightly higher up the priority list. The chance of a 66-1 candidate earning the trust of Kent’s Tory voters is probably around, ooh, 66-1 ? Given that Labour have 13 seats (out of 84) on the County and score 22% against a UKIP+Tory vote of 66%, that’s one hell of a (completely unrealistic swing)
hon Liz Kendall can be the *Alphabet.Inc* Labour badly needs. Kindly get on with it quick, Liz as these Tories are becoming bothersome, tiring and very weird. ps.. where is Kent?