The Purple Book – new ideas for a new way of governing

Richard Angell, the Deputy Director of Progress, introduces The Purple Book, which sets out ideas for how a future Labour administration should govern.

Richard Angell is the Deputy Director of Progress

Rediscovering Labour’s non-statist tradition has been the principle aim of The Purple Book, which is launched today.

When Labour wins back the country, and the keys to Number 10, it will do so with less money to spend and having agreed with the British public that this time there will have to be a different way of governing – less spending and fewer central government programmes and initiatives.

Progress – with our friends at Biteback – have attempted with the project to join the debate on Labour’s future policy agenda and place New Labour firmly within the revisionist tradition of Tony Crosland and Hugh Gaitskell.

Some of the key proposals in The Purple Book include:

1. To encourage greater social mobility, we need to take radical steps to empower parents in schools that are officially assessed as consistently poor. They would have the right to choose an alternative state school, and be granted an education credit worth 150 per cent of the cost of educating their child in their current school. – Alan Milburn

2. We should have as our goal the transformation of childcare and elderly care into universal public services. The Teach First model – which brings the brightest graduates into some of Britain’s poorest schools and communities – would be applied to childcare with the piloting of Teach Early Years First. – Liz Kendall

3. Elected mayoral authorities should, therefore, be established for the six major city conurbations beyond London: Greater Manchester, Greater Birmingham, Greater Leeds, Greater Liverpool, Greater Newcastle, and Greater Bristol. – Lord Adonis

4. We should provide legally enforceable rights for the victims of crime, with a sentencing framework that puts victims’ experience first and gives them a greater say in determining the nature of community sentences, while exploring the possibility for them to make recommendations on the length and type of sentence, within clearly defined ranges. – Jenny Chapman and Jacqui Smith

5. We should consider the power of equity release, on fair terms, to transfer assets from one generation to the next. – Caroline Flint

6. The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) should be abolished with residual functions moving to the Cabinet Office. – Steve Reed and Paul Brant

7. While the Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland offices could be merged into a single Department of the Nations. – Patrick Diamond

• You can order The Purple Book here right now and join the debate.

25 Responses to “The Purple Book – new ideas for a new way of governing”

  1. Jake

    Published by Lord Ashcroft-owned BiteBack? I bet he gave them a good deal. Looks like Ashcroft is trying to push the Labour Party further to the right from the inside. Time to cut the Progress Tendency loose, I think.

    New Labour’s ideas have shown to lead to economic catastrophe, and they’ve shown to lose elections. They’re a party within a party that receives funding to the tune of £2.8m, http://www.leftfutures.org/2011/09/labours-party-within-a-party-latest-funding-figures/ that they use to influence the Labour Party for their sponsors ends. Why are they still allowed in the party again?

  2. Michael Bater

    So far The Purple Book seems to be a rehash of old ‘New Labour’ ideas that has got us in this mess in the 1st place At least The Red Book & Blue Labour are trying to be radical and different, taking us away from the same again Neo-Liberal Policies.

  3. Cheesy Monkey

    So in other words, populist Tory bullshit.Why are these people even in Labour?

  4. George Hallam

    Is that it?

    Seven points but nothing about jobs.

  5. Julian

    Why do we have to buy a wad of paper with glue down the back? Why can’t we read it online?

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