The next six months provide a crucial opportunity for all of us who care about the Labour party, our shared values and the needs of the people this party was created to represent. Some are talking as though the result of the next general election is a foregone conclusion – the danger is that Labour people come to believe this themselves and a crisis of confidence sets in. There is just too much at stake for us to let this happen.
To win a historic fourth term would be momentous in any circumstances; the economic and political crises of the past 12 months make the challenge even greater. Convincing people that we have made the right choices is not sufficient, but it is an essential part of Labour’s fight back. Imagine if David Cameron and George Osborne had been in charge of the UK economy over the past year. The economic crisis has seen the Tories show their true colours, opposing the very fiscal measures that have prevented a recession from becoming a depression.
Labour’s task is to make an explicit connection between the starkly contrasting responses of Labour and the Tories to this economic crisis and our plans for the future. Let me illustrate this with what I think are three key policy priorities for our 2010 manifesto: early years education, housing and crime and anti-social behaviour.
Perhaps the most powerful signal of the changes we have achieved since 1997 is Sure Start. We all know that, whoever wins the next general election, there will have to be reductions in public spending. Far from shying away from this, we need to make the case that Labour is best placed to make the right choices in this area. Our investment in schools and early years should pay long-term dividends and should be a priority for us. Our philosophy is of an active public sector working with citizens and the voluntary sector to promote a better society – in stark contrast to the ‘slash and burn’ approach of the Tories. Sure Start is a great example of this and a commitment to protect it is both worthwhile in itself and a good symbol of our values in practice.
Thirteen years in power has, inevitably, meant disappointments as well as successes. We should acknowledge this. One area that Labour should have given priority to at a much earlier stage is housing. It is an area that should have prominence in the party’s next manifesto, with commitments to increased house building both for rent and for sale. Recent commitments are a welcome start, but we need to go further. It is a policy that makes economic and social, as well as political, sense. It can unite poorer families living in overcrowded social housing with middle-income earners keen to get on the property ladder. And it is a great way to showcase what we mean by a green new deal – creating jobs in building the sustainable homes and communities of the future.
Knocking on doors in Liverpool, the issues which come up most frequently concern crime, policing and anti-social behaviour. It was the same in Enfield Southgate. We must not cede this crucial ground to the Tories. ‘Tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime’ is as relevant today as it was in the 1990s. Let us learn from good practice in communities across the country – whether that is the neighbourhood policing piloted by Labour in London or detached youth workers on the streets of Liverpool funded by Labour councillors at a neighbourhood level.
It is very positive that most crime statistics have fallen, but people’s fear of crime has not. We have also witnessed a decline in basic standards of civility in our communities – an easy problem to describe, but not the easiest to solve. Our emphasis on strengthening communities should provide part of the answer. In addressing the causes of crime, we need to take the opportunity afforded by the Building Schools for the Future programme to open up our schools as true community hubs. It happens in some places, but it is still all too rare.
I have cited early years, housing and crime for two reasons: they are big, important issues for us to address and they provide real opportunities to contrast our values with those of the Tories. Of course, our manifesto must also address other key priorities on which we have made good progress -like the NHS, schools and eradicating child poverty – as well as big long-term issues like climate change, modern manufacturing and social care.
Part of the challenge here is about ‘how we do politics’. People are understandably cynical and disenchanted. The public realise that there are tough and difficult choices to be made. They know that we have got things wrong and we can earn credit if we acknowledge this ourselves. If we get this right, I do think that most British people share our values. The Tories are not in the strong position today that we were in at this stage in 1996. They can be beaten.
Labour has six months to persuade people to come back. Party activists, members and supporters rightly look to the government for a clear lead – a sense of confidence from leading figures in the party. We have seen glimpses of this over the past few months – the energy green paper, the summer debate on the NHS, the future jobs fund. Let us use the final session of this parliament to demonstrate the real, positive differences that a Labour government can make to people’s everyday lives.
In the past few months Progress has played an important role, with many others, in arguing for democratic renewal, including making the case for an early referendum on electoral reform and for Labour primaries to widen involvement in key decisions. It is an area that I have long campaigned on and I realise that there are real differences on it within the party. I hope that the government will use this next period to move forward on democratic and constitutional change – including calling the referendum on House of Commons reform on the day of the next general election.
When the next election campaign comes, we will need to translate our policy priorities into practical promises to the people. The 1997 pledge card made five policy commitments which were positive in their own right but also symbolic of the different priorities that a Labour government would have. Thirteen years later, it is even more important that we translate the often arcane language of a party of government into practical, popular policies – with clear pledges, for example, on new houses to be built, on new green jobs to be created and on new opportunities for young people.
The single most important issue for the next election will, of course, be the economy. I do think that the Tories’ poll lead on this is fragile and we need to do all we can to remind people that the Conservatives opposed the essential fiscal measures that we have taken. Incredibly, despite the state of the public finances, the Tories still advocate an inheritance tax cut for the very wealthiest. We should be relentless in reminding the British people of this – it is a symbol of how the Tories are for ‘the few, not the many’.
A Labour party that combines confidence in its values with honesty about the difficult choices facing the country can win again – above all, if we demonstrate that we remain the party that stands for ‘the many, not the few’.