Labour suffered a painful defeat in 2010 and a worse one in 2015. Jon Cruddas’ review of our election defeat Labour’s Future showed that voters did not trust us on the economy and did not like where we stood on welfare, immigration, and business. In short, the party lost touch with the voters.
History tells us that there can be no path back to power for a party which doesn’t understand how the modern world is changing. Labour too often looks like an industrial-age organisation failing to adapt to the post-industrial world. We need a foundation for renewal built on radical but credible politics that shows not just that we can govern, but that we have a compelling vision for the country’s future in a rapidly changing world.
The challenges are daunting. Our traditional support has fractured, globalisation and digitisation are changing the economy and society, and a public experiencing more control over so many areas of their lives will no longer put up with a controlling form of politics. Trust in politicians was already ebbing away after the expenses scandal, but after the banking crash it broke completely. This is not a phenomenon unique to Britain, it is affecting centre-left parties across the world.
This week we launched Labour Together to foster a debate across the party about how we meet these challenges. Labour Together is about reconnecting the different wings of the party, the party nationally and locally, and the party and the voters. We will operate not as a faction, but as a sponsor of projects developed with partners, including Progress.
Our first initiative is the Labour Together communities fund, which will support Labour members and councillors to run projects that bring about change in their communities. Strengthening the link between Labour and our communities is an important part of renewing the party from the ground up.
Labour Together welcomes bids from party members and locally elected representatives to set up projects which put Labour values into action. We are hoping to support projects that improve our ability to win elections, develop leadership at all levels in the party and community, tackle inequality and bring about real change.
There is a wealth of ideas and creativity across our party that has gone untapped for too long. Our members and supporters are the only people who can really change our party for good. As the Progress Governing for Britain programme has highlighted, Labour can learn from where we are already in power by helping communities take back power for themselves.
Labour will only get rid of this divided and divisive Tory government by putting ourselves on the side of millions of people up and down the country. We need humility to learn where we went wrong, but the confidence that we can turn things around. By working with our members and their communities Labour Together hopes to put our party back on the path to power.
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Steve Reed MP is vice-chair of Labour Together and shadow local government minister. He tweets @SteveReedMP
Labour Party members can apply for funding for projects from the Labour Together Communities Fund by filling out an application form at http://www.labourtogether.co.uk/
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