Today’s economy, while growing, is doing very little to push people out of low pay. Add to this the fact that, according to a BritainThinks poll, many Londoners class themselves as ‘outsiders’, struggling to succeed and believing that owning a home is a pipe dream. You can therefore see why speakers at last week’s Progress event on the subject had their work cut out last week when explaining the politics and policies needed to ensure more workers have access to rewarding jobs and opportunities. ‘It’s far too hard for too many people who feel their aspirations just aren’t achievable any more. Asset inequality excludes people from opportunities. It’s crucial London works for everyone’, said leader of Haringey council Claire Kober, ‘irrespective of their income.’
Society has an insatiable appetite for simplicity and for solutions. More often than not this creates problems rather than solves them because politicians get caught up in the narrative of miracle cures that make little sense to voters who are experiencing uncertainty and anxiety about their future.
Earlier this year we learnt that young Londoners are more pessimistic about the capital’s future, and way of life, than older counterparts. They are gloomy about a whole load of things. Most of those below the age of 44 consider that they have to make large sacrifices to live in London with many inclined to think living in the capital entails accepting a lower quality of life that could be had elsewhere.
In less than a year Britain will have a new government, but Labour has not yet explained how it plans to help workers, including those on moderate incomes or in low-paid work. At last week’s event chaired by parliamentary candidate for Ealing Central and Acton Rupa Huq, Kober, Steve Reed MP and director of BritainThinks Deborah Mattinson were not offering miracle cures to improve social and economic inclusion. Instead they called for a greater focus on aspirations, tailoring policies to the concerns of voters about living standards, and localised approaches to housing, jobs and childcare, together with national responses.
For most of us, the opportunity of a job is the best guarantee against poverty, the best chance of personal dignity and is the best role model for children. Back in March 1999 Tony Blair set the then new Labour government a challenge more specific and arguably bolder than any previous government had attempted in the previous half-century – to end child poverty within a generation. Yet last month the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission told us that the target to reduce child poverty by half by 2020 would not be met. Its chair Alan Milburn said young people today, ‘simply do not have the opportunity to progress’. He added: ‘What is needed in government is a more rounded sense of what makes people poor’.
Providing solutions to the anger, stress and isolation many Londoners feel is a massive challenge against a backdrop when it is hard to believe your children can have a better life and when your own progress is blocked through insecure jobs, low pay and overwork.
Last week we celebrated Living Wage Week with more than 1,000 companies accredited as ‘living wage’ employers. Rhys Moore, director of the foundation, said, ‘We cannot wait for government to raise the minimum wage.’ Neil Jameson, an activist for the foundation, puts the success of the living wage campaign down to ‘Coming from ordinary people having an idea and acting upon it.’
Let’s hope, as we head towards May, politicians embrace the narrative of complexity and take a closer look at what Haringey and others are doing to localise solutions to tough problems and getting people more directly involved in policy. Council leaders like Claire Kober are empowering people to be capable by getting them directly involved in decisions that affect them. ‘We are not in the business of managing decline and we recognise we cannot achieve our ambitions on our own,’ she said. ‘Local government needs to be given the ability to become self-financing. I am committed to creating a more equal borough and a more equal London. Enabling our local communities by harnessing talent and opportunity, and by giving people the tools to make a difference where they live.’
Welcome to the humbler, braver, new world of politics where you don’t rely on policy miracle cures but where you build and utilise relationships within communities to find solutions to complex problems including low pay.
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Victoria Silver is a former councillor in the London borough of Harrow. She tweets @VictoriaSilver4
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Miss the event? You can listen to what was said here