I will not vote for any candidate who is not serious about winning in the south. Nearly a third of our target seats in 2020 will be in the south west, south east and east of England. In the coming years, Labour will have to reach out to voters in Basingstoke and St Albans as well as voters in the seats we failed to win in 2015.
Being a party of the south as well as the north is important if we want to continue to be a truly national party. It is also important if Labour want to continue to be relevant – as the economy slowly adapts to look more like that of the south and our population growth outstrips that of the rest of the United Kingdom (outside of London). Labour’s future is in a language and politics which resonates with southern voters.
This week, 13 of Labour’s candidates in key seats in the south we failed to win in 2015 joined hundreds of party members in calling for the leader and deputy leader candidates to outline how they plan to reach out to voters in southern England. There is still time to add your support at www.labourinthesouth.co.uk The campaign also calls for candidates to pledge to take a proactive and concerted strategy to win here, putting forward several practical proposals of how to start.
Southern voters core values reflect much of the same spread of views and priorities as the rest of the UK but they are less clear what we stand for. We are often seen as less active and enjoy a smaller lead on key policy issues.
We have to show, through our language and message, that we are rooted in the south and share, day to day, the concerns of southern voters. We need to show that our own policies directly address the issues and problems of southern voters and have been developed with them.
Establishing Labour as a southern party, with a tradition of support, will require a consistent strategy over many years, and one that looks beyond the ultra-targeting in key seats. Constituencies do not exist in isolation –friends, family and (increasingly) colleagues live in neighbouring non-target constituencies. Labour needs to recognise, support and encourage activism across the whole of our regions if we want to build our presence, be a party for the whole of the south and the UK, and win.
We need to build the organisation that demonstrates that we are an integral part of communities across the southern regions, and the effective media and communications that needs to accompany it.
I have asked candidates to respond before this Friday, and I will be posting their response on the Labour in the South website.
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Nathan Bennett is campaign co-ordinator for Labour in the south
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If you start trying to establish Labour as a party of and for England as a nation, instead of the ‘regions’, which almost nobody beyond the political class and a few other fanatics relate to, you might just get somewhere. Indeed, the phrase ‘ English regions’ should be treated as hate speech, and anyone using the phrase should be charged accordingly by the police, just as they would be if they used hate speech against any other demographic group.