A new group of Labour MPs says the party can still confound expectations, writes Malcolm Wicks
There are just seven or so months to go before the next general election. And this is not the best of times for Labour. There is a general malaise. The opinion polls predict a significant Conservative victory. The impact of the MPs’ expenses scandal has hit the whole political system, but the party in government is particularly hurt. It is a time of global economic recession and many of our most vulnerable citizens are suffering from the debilitating impact of unemployment. The young in particular – fresh out of school, college and university – are struggling to gain a foothold.
We need to counter the impression that Labour is intellectually exhausted. In reality, the progressive side of politics is the natural source of intellectual renewal, as the world sees the downside of free-market policies.
Labour Future, a new group of Labour MPs and peers, is putting forward a wide-ranging and positive agenda. This includes revitalising our politics and our constitution, thinking radically about social policy priorities, being positive about Europe, ensuring both liberty and security, and arguing for a citizenship that balances rights and responsibilities.
Yet there is a widespread perception that, after more than 12 years in power Labour has run out of steam and is intellectually exhausted. This view is misguided and unfair – witness the Rebuilding Britain’s Future document, new policy proposals announced at Labour’s party conference and, to take one policy specific, the radical green paper proposals on social care.
Nevertheless, the perception that Labour is a busted flush is a strong one. It needs to be countered with a positive agenda and intellectual confidence. Certainly, the electorate is less clear about what we stand for than in, say, in 1945 and at the general elections of the mid-1960s or 1997. Probably this is only partly because a clear narrative is easier to set out in opposition than in government.
When some of us first met to talk about all of this, we resolved to encompass Labour philosophy, principles and policy in our discussions and seek to present our ideas for wider party and public debate.
We believe the party needs to think afresh about the issues that confront Britain in the years ahead. Our country and the world face new and powerful challenges and a terrain very different to that of the late 1990s.
The most significant of these challenges is the global economic recession and the questions it poses for domestic policy. Just as Labour’s economic performance for more than decade was buoyed by growth and the beneficial aspects of globalisation, freer trade and so on, so we now need to fashion a more complex and difficult programme in the wake of globalisation’s new and cruel edge.
Restoring faith in our democracy represents a another challenge, following public anger and alienation over parliamentary expenses. We also need to address a longer-term detachment from conventional party loyalties. All this creates a grim backcloth against which to assess the role of Parliament and the state.
Yet, for those of us on the left, the importance of the state is only too apparent, whether in tackling global warming – where the commitment to reduce levels of carbon dioxide by a massive 80 per cent by 2050 surely ranks as the most demanding target ever set by government – or the task of re-building the banking and financial services sector in ways that promote social and economic integrity. The state also has a crucial role to play in re-fashioning policies, in testing financial circumstances, to reflect emerging new social, employment and demographic patterns.
The role of the state and the history of British politics are inextricably intertwined: from Clement Attlee’s Government’s substantial use of state authority to rebuild the peace, to Margaret Thatcher’s attempt to roll back the state, through to this Labour Government’s more nuanced approach to state-market relations.
Today the situation is problematic. On the one hand, the state has had to take on unprecedented responsibilities, including the full or partial nationalisation of banks following the near-collapse of the financial services sector. On the other hand, this has happened at a time of a loss of faith in both Parliament and the state. Politically, what should have been a significant opportunity for the left is actually leading to disappointment for social democratic parties and electoral success for the right across much of Europe.
So the prospect of a Tory election victory in Britain is a strong one – possibly ushering in a dozen years of Conservative rule. This would erode the opportunity to renew our democracy and negotiate recession in ways that promote justice and fairness. It would deny us the chance to tackle a range of emerging issues that require good government and a sensitive state.
In the absence of a clear progressive agenda, many people feel that the cheap populist initiatives offered by the Conservatives are worth a try – and this has the potential to open up the prospect of Britain sleepwalking into another generation of Thatcherite government.
To bring about a revival in Labour’s fortunes requires two things. First, we need a strong and coherent attack on a Conservative Party that is fast abandoning its modern and fluffy pretence and gleefully fashioning policies to cut back social provisions.
Second, there needs to be a clear statement of Labour’s purpose, our values, objectives and continued determination to build a Britain that is both economically strong and just.
Malcolm Wicks is Labour MP for Croydon North and co-ordinator of Labour Future, whose pamphlet can be found at www.labourfuture.net
