For all the countless hours devoted to devising policies and manifestos, the fundamental bond between voters and a political party is much more visceral. Who do I trust to speak for me? Who understands the way I see the world?

There was a time when, for Labour’s working class base, working in a big factory, being in a union, belonging to the social club, church or chapel, linked by family to many like you, living in the same community – and voting Labour – were all part of the same identity. It is what we do, Labour’s our party.

As the economy changes, the big workplaces close, the communities fragment, that identity is slipping away. It is crumbling in the areas that once knew it and millions of working people are in places and jobs that have never known it. New identities are rising in importance.

Labour’s Identity Crisis – England and the Politics of Patriotism is about one of the most important of those strengthening identities: England and Englishness. As Tristram Hunt argues, there are no progressive reasons why Labour cannot be the party that speaks for England. But Labour’s reluctance to do so risks confirming the fears that Labour neither understands nor speaks for the English voter.

Tristram has brought together 10 candidates from the 2015 general election, some successful, some not, to describe the role identity politics played in the election. For candidates like Naushabah Khan – who had to deal with that infamous tweet during her by-election – or Suzy Stride, who found some visiting canvassers could not conceal their disdain for the views of constituents she was trying to win – the culture of our own party was the problem. From the south’s John Ferrett in Portsmouth, to Cumbria’s Jamie Reed, UK Labour’s instinct to prioritise Scotland over England was the problem – and the source of fear for many English voters.

There is a common English thread here that Labour must express. ‘English issues’ will not go away at the next election. When asked how Labour will protect English interests against demands from the Scottish National Party we will need a better answer than last time. Making sure English Labour can win an English majority and gain the power to deliver for England is a priority.

But what also comes out, in a way the party so rarely communicates nationally, is how deeply and sympathetically our candidates were embedded in their communities. How Labour politics for them is a way of expressing the needs and values of the people they now, not something to be imposed from outside.

Within that common English thread, there are many England’s described, just as there are many different English people: Lisa Nandy, Indian father, born in Manchester proud, to be Wigan; Ben Bradshaw in thriving and successful Exeter; Rupa Huq showing that suburbs are places with real identities and purpose.

Labour’s successes in the London and Bristol mayoral elections may have owed something to policy. But I suspect the key was the combination of Labour values and candidates who embodied those cities’ sense of their own identity. Successful Labour councils may have deserved credit for handing cuts better than the Tories, but many votes will have been cast because in those areas we are ‘the people who will speak for people like me’.

Labour can speak for England, not with a formulaic and jingoistic pride, but with a warmth and honesty that simply says this is our nation, we all share it and we are building it together.

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John Denham is a former Labour MP and is the director of the Centre for English Identity and Politics at Winchester University. ‘Labour’s Identity Crisis’ is published by the University of Winchester and is available as pdf and hard copy from www.winchester.ac.uk/ceip

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