Nuneaton was number 37 on Labour’s target list in the 2015 general election. We had an excellent team of campaigners who worked tirelessly knocking doors in every street across the constituency for years before the election. We delivered leaflets, attended community events as party ambassadors and worked on engaging the local community in important campaigns. I was proud to lead this team of passionate people – volunteers who believed in the Labour movement and what a Labour government could achieve if elected. Unfortunately for everyone who supported us in the general election this year, our hard work was not enough to return a Labour victory. Naturally, the question my team and I have had on our minds since polling night is: ‘what could the party have done to win the trust of more people in key seats like Nuneaton?’
The importance of Nuneaton as a potential ‘swing seat’ in the 2015 general election is reflected in Sky news’ decision to kick off its political reporting, back in January, in Nuneaton. The BBC held the first Labour leadership debate, with all four candidates, in Nuneaton. Similarly, Jeremy Corbyn has chosen Nuneaton to finish his campaign tour.
So, looking to the future, who could win over the hearts and minds of people in Nuneaton in 2020?
From the beginning of the leadership race I made it clear who I would be supporting, and that is Liz Kendall. My reasons for supporting Liz are three-fold.
First, I believe she has a coherent, credible and aspirational vision for the future; demonstrated by her commitment to improving early years education, that will appeal to people across Nuneaton, whatever their background or voting history. And unlike some other voices in this leadership campaign, Liz has unrelentingly focused on talking about what is right for the future rather than resurrecting the tribal politics of the past. Ultimately, the vision Liz has set out so far is an insight into the direction the Labour Party would travel in, a direction I believe would convince more of those residents my team and I spoke to on the doorstep, to believe in what a Labour government could achieve beyond 2020 for them and their families.
Second, Liz is personable, confident and down-to-earth; I believe she will connect with people and the press in a new and exciting way. Having seen her speak to people in the street on the many occasions she visited Nuneaton, ‘give as good as she got’ in crowded pub Q&As and present strong economic arguments at press conferences, I know she is more than capable of appealing to a wide variety of voters and, most importantly, to voters who did not feel they could support us this time round.
Third, and perhaps most importantly, Liz has great potential. I believe Liz can, and will, grow into the role. She will create a new and invigorating kind of politics, which people will want to be a part of. Potential is rarely mentioned as an attribute for such a lofty position, yet when looking ahead, the next five years for our new leader will require stamina, guts and the ability to appeal to voters of the future. Thus, the ability to spot potential in someone is just as important as noting their past record.
Of course, I present these arguments for a reason. I believe these attributes will win over those people I met, who, in many cases, felt they had many reasons to vote for Labour. To protect the NHS for one, but that there was a certain je ne sais quoi they felt was missing. Naturally, everyone voting in the Labour leadership election will feel their chosen candidate has what it takes, but as someone who has lived, worked and campaigned in one of the key seats Labour did not win this time round – I feel Liz gives Labour the best chance of winning the next election. And let us not forget, that without a Labour government, we cannot help the people we all came in to politics for.
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Victoria Fowler was parliamentary candidate for Nuneaton in 2015
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she sounds like head girl on prize day giving our awards for duke of edinburgh
Labour didn’t win Nuneaton because the Labour council alienated the voters. It is a classic closed shop mafia that only includes those willing tow the line of the local leaders. The push through idiotic schemes against the wishes of voters in all areas of Nuneaton and are arrogant enough to suggest we will be thankful once it is done. We know our own minds NBBC and we know you are no longer fit for purpose as a Labour Council.
The fact you choose the Tory drone as your leader proves that we are right to vote against you at General Elections and upcoming council elections. You are no longer worthy of being part of the peoples party and should cross the floor and join the Tories where you belong.
It wasn’t Millband who lost Nuneaton, it was the council and the croneyism that as turned people away.
Once Corbyn is leader and has delivered his promise to revitalise local Labour Parties, I will be glad to return home.
…but you will pass many going the other way as so many friends, relatives, and colleagues have said a J. Corbyn led Labour Party is suicidal for the next 5 to 10 years. The split will come as it has an inevitability about it -both economic and foreign policy as in 1981 will do it – as many moderates/centre left cannot support maverick policies put forward by this inexperienced most Left-wing leader ever an MP only and an urban band of Leftist Vets and the lost SWP or Green youths seeking the true leader.
So the right wing splits, big deal. They are Tory anyway and they should take Bliar with them.
I don’t expect Corbyn to win the election, the media and the right wing drones left in Labour will ensure that. This is, like in the 1980’s, our chance to get our party back, to renew our links with working people at all levels and not just chase an increasingly limited core vote shared with the Tories.
Many feel disenfranchised by the antics of Labour at various levels of local government and are not represented by other parties. The fact that Kendall always makes business her priority over people, clones Tory policy and refuses to serve if Corbyn becomes leader shows how low Labour people are as a priority for her. She has a chance to moderate the rough edges, contribute to policy but instead chooses to take her bat away and sulk in the corner. Cooper as also said she couldn’t see herself working with Corbyn, which is a shame because she is a real talent, but clearly does not respect democracy. As for Burnham, what does he stand for, he changes too much and too often.
Labour must try something because the Tory Party have learned their lesson from the 1990’s and won’t split so easily again. They are back as the nasty party and aping them is not a vote winner.
If Labour fail and die, perhaps we can invite the Scot Nats to help us set up a radical alternative. Tory or Tory is killing our democracy.
‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ And so shall the Corbynites but far worst than the intellectual and experienced Leftist leader M Foot (1983 ) when Labour had its worse vote since 1918.
More serious in the Independent yesterday: Policy Network warned that Labour’s unpopularity in the Midlands, Southern England cripples the chances of returning to Government. ‘It must appeal to Middle England to have any chance of regaining power in 2020’ And the research warns against the lurch to the Left which Ed led to lost votes outside core Labour areas such as the marginals needed. This follows the previous day’s Independent survey of voters showing 66% believe Corbyn will damage Labour’s chances.
But for Corbyn’s followers none of this matters, evidence , social science of voters, political and sociological studies of the demographics ,no concern. For them its emotional , for them its the abandonment of intelligence. For them power does not matter. For them if you do not back the man who never held office, the inexperienced Leftist of Islington North you are labelled Right wing or Tory.
The crisis of the Labour Party now is the mirror of 1981-83 and paradoxically these Tory haters ( and yes no problem with that ) will reproduce exactly the same consequence as in 1983 in 5 years time when again Middle England will punish Labour far more seriously than Ed and the disadvantaged of the UK will suffer the same fate as they did under Thatcher. Inevitably we are close to a split I believe.
In 1983 I was a victim of Thatcherism. Jobs in my area where destroyed, never to be recovered. New Labour, or Red Tory as I’ve come to see it, did damn all for these people. Why? Because they are not Middle England which you revere so much. They are Workiing Class, not worthy of New Labours consideration.
You lost Scotland because you took it for granted and treated it as a cash cow for votes. The warning signs were there in the 1990’s, but you continued to impose Westminster doctrine on Scots Labour. You stopped listening long before the referendum and lost to the SNP long before then.
Once again you argue for New Labour. The whole point is Cameron has stolen your clothes and is a better operator than Bliar. He and Osbourne outbid you at every point and appear credible doing it. None of your 3 can do this.
You accuse people who think differently to you of lacking intelligience, and I suppose unworthy of your consideration. That is the arrogance that alienated so many of Labours core voters. UKIP, Green and evenTUSC must be gloating at the arrogance you show. That is why you have left New Labour scrambling around for the same voters as the Tories. You are no longer the broad movement of the past, and can’t even inspire your old core to vote for you.
New Labour started the dismantling of the NHS, a fact Cameron uses again and again to justify his own experiment.
New Labour broke up the education system leaving us with the utter mess we have now.
New Labour squeezed Middle England and the working class whilst courting the rich elite.
They encouraged the influx of cheap labour that pushed DOWN wages for many of your former core voters and caused many to move to UKIP or at one time the BNP.
New Labour isolated the unions until some looked to start their own embryonic party, TUSC.
New Labour in action in my local area shows the same arrogant disregard for people that you display.
If you bothered to read my initial post, you may understand that they and their like around the country are whats driving people away from Labour. Only Corbyn has promised to do something about this, none of the others have shown any interest.
Corbyn wants to be inclusive of left and right (unlike the 80’s), your lot refuse to consider it. He expresses a desire to have broad policies for all the people, your lot won’t work with him. Why? Do the wishes of the members mean so little to you?
You talk about the lurch to the left under Milliband and yet their lead in the polls fell away as soon as they accepted austerity.
They backtracked on every popular policy Millband had announced and fell back into New Labour mode.At each point, credibility fell away.
You now vilify Miliband so soon after the election when you shared the same platform, but they were your policies in the main.
You seem to think I am a looney lefty (to use 80’s terminology). Not at
all, centre to centre left would be my position. Depends on the issue. Most Corbyn voters are also intelligient enough to make a decision, and insulting them is not really the way to win them over.
You want to know why New Labour now loses, in a word, Arrogance.
To win we need to convince and persuade. Sometimes that involves challenging the oft repeated media and Tory mantras like we all need to tighten our belts to allow the banks to continue to speculate (and not invest productively). This will never be a winning formula for us. All we do is reinforce the presumptions the Tories have made. We get trapped into Tory set constraints when we fail to offer radical alternatives. As a result the winning elections then only comes by mimicking that which the establishment takes makes as common wisdom.
We need to adopt winning policies that are radically different from that which Labour has offered before, or the Tories are prepared to copy now. I cannot see any that Kendall has presented. Indeed if I was interested in early years, then the Tory offer of 30 hours child care considerable outbids the Labour 25 hours. You can see this repeated time and time again. If the Labour establishment offers to take 10,000 refugees the Tories will offer to take 20,000. Only radical change will do the trick. Kendall has trapped herself into austerity economics which says we can solve our financial constraints by diminishing the economy so that all deficits become unachievable (or alternatively return 6x Investment to repay PFI deals).
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