The election underway in the Labour Party is about much more than selecting the right leader for our party. It is also about choosing the right direction for our party. Get it right and we can chart a new course towards a more prosperous and just future for our country.
Labour did some great things over the past 13 years. When we came to power, public services were defined by leaky roofs, patients sleeping on hospital trolleys in corridors and children learning in portable buildings. Childcare was a luxury, not a right and paternity leave was a figment of the imagination. There was no national minimum wage and no tax credits. We should be proud of what we achieved in each of these areas.
But we also have to admit that we got some important calls wrong. And some of the ideas that were socially right and politically necessary in 1997 had begun to bind our hands by 2010.
So we need a new, braver approach for the future. We need to do better at staying in touch with the priorities of the British people we exist to serve. And we have to rediscover the moral cause that brought us into politics in the first place.
That new approach has to inform the way we think about the economy, society and the state.
On the economy, the New Labour combination of free markets plus redistribution got us a long way, but reached its limits a few years back. We do need a vibrant market economy, but one of the key lessons of the financial crisis is that it cannot be built on the same foundations as it was before.
Instead we need an economic policy that recognises the importance of ensuring that all of society, not just the people at the very top, benefit from economic growth. That means ensuring greater responsibility throughout society. We appeared too cavalier about City financiers making off with bonuses even when they destroyed wealth. And we didn’t do enough on ensuring rights for agency workers. In the future, we must make it core to our mission to ensure the benefits system supports responsibility.
Our slowness in addressing issues about the operation of the market didn’t just store up problems in the economy, it also stored up problems in our society. Immigration is a source of great strength to our country. It has made us a richer nation both culturally and economically. But it is no surprise that if people fear that increased immigration is driving down their wages, hostility rises. Just saying “globalisation is good for you” may be adequate for economists, but it is no answer for the British people. So we need to be bolder about ensuring everyone is entitled to a decent income for their work and that communities are not divided because they fear newcomers.
Tensions around immigration are just one of the challenges we face as we seek to strengthen society. We also need to do more about every other issue that really matters to people beyond their economic wellbeing: family, neighbourhood, community, quality of life, time, love and compassion. Of course, the state should not intervene in people’s lives to address these issues. But it should help to set the framework that allows people to make the most of life outside work.
Just as we need to strengthen society and reform the way the market works, so we need to reform the state. The New Labour approach of combining increased funding with centrally-mandated targets is one of the reasons why waiting times went down from 18 months to 18 weeks in the National Health Service, and why standards in education have risen. However, that approach has also run its course – and not just because of the tighter fiscal climate.
Our manifesto set out a plan to liberate our best public servants to do more and I believe we should build on that. We need to recognise that too much power held too tightly can lead to an overbearing government that does too little to protect civil liberties. We should trust public servants more and support them to ensure services meet the needs of local people. We need to ensure high universal standards, but we also need more accountability to the public and less diktat from the centre.
It will take time for us to agree on how to address each of these challenges. We need to do something our party hasn’t done for nearly two decades: have an open and honest discussion about our fundamental direction. That debate should involve as many voices as possible and it should not end when the leadership contest ends. We should find new ways to ensure party members can contribute to the party’s policy platform. And we must build an alliance of people beyond the party who share our values, which should start with involving them in a conversation about our future direction.
The next three months are a crucial time for Labour. With the right decisions about our party’s direction, we can put ourselves in a position to win back the voters who have deserted us since 1997. That is what we need to do if we are once again to be where we want to be: in government, serving the people of Britain.
