We need to appeal to the whole country, not just odd sections of it
Harriet Harman’s comments today that the leadership contest should be ‘public facing’ should be welcomed by all in the Labour movement.
While the party needs to have a deep inward think about how it operates, we cannot forget that ultimately the lessons to learn from defeat will be learnt not from any one candidate or union. Instead they will come from the public that, when it came to it, could not put their trust in us.
But within it all, we have to be prepared to stand up for our proud legacy in government. We should not seek to define ourselves by putting distance between the party we are now and the party that won three successive general elections.
How can we ever hope to secure the reins of power again if we cannot give a clear and robust defence of what we did when we were last in government?
For all the problems of the Iraq War, we would never have got a minimum wage and record investment in our public services had it not been for Tony Blair’s achievement in getting Labour into government. He did this by challenging the party to reach out to areas of the country that had previously been written off as no-go areas.
The peace process in Northern Ireland, the Human Rights Act and a Britain more confident in the world are all legacies of Labour. We must shout from the roof tops about the difference a Labour government could make come 2020, pointing to the radical changes we made when last held the levers of power.
The Labour party now stands at a crossroads, and the reality is that we will only get back into government by taking on and defeating the Conservatives in those marginal seats we should have won – seats like Nuneaton, Lincoln, Broxtowe and Hastings.
Let ‘s not forget that even if the party had kept its seats in Scotland, it would still be in opposition.
As a party we need to stop navel-gazing and reach out across the whole country, engaging with all those voters in marginal seats who could not bring themselves to put a cross next to their Labour candidate.
The blunt truth is that it is only by persuading voters as a whole that Labour is credible will we get back into power; not by persuading ourselves.
And for those in any doubt, have a look at this weekend’s polling by YouGov for the Sunday Times. Forty per cent of voters said the next Labour leader needs to position the party firmly in the centre ground of British politics, with just 21 per cent saying they should take it to the left.
In an interview with the Economist prior to the recent election, Tony Blair observed that May’s election was shaping up to be one ‘in which a traditional left-wing party competes with a traditional right-wing party, with the traditional result’.
He was right then and he is right now. Whatever people think of Blair, the fact remains that he won three resounding victories, one of only two Labour leaders since 1974 to have won elections for the party.
If opposition is what the party ,then, let’s pick up where we left off.
But if power, and the ability to actually change things, is what we want then we need to be challenged, we need to be modernised and we need to be reformed into a pro-aspiration party. We need to be a party that talks to the whole country and not to odd sections of it.
Ed Jacobs is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward. Follow him on Twitter
31 Responses to “Comment: Labour can only win from the centre”
James Chilton
Well, yes. But as someone once observed, philosophers have interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it.
You can’t change anything from inside a talking shop. You must have political power.
Ian
Staying n the ‘centre’ is not changing anything, it’s merely faffing about around the edges so, essentially, you’re arguing for power for its own sake. That’s not good enough, even as a Jobs For Spads scheme, which the Labour Party currently is.
Make the genuine Labour case forcefully or betray your roots and the working class.
PS. Sorry to bring the word ‘class’ into things, Very gauche of me.
madasafish
In other words, Poeple will not vote for a party which thinks it knows best what people want and ignores what people actually want.
And the comments below suggest that simple simpe message is thoroughly rejected..
Referendum ; NO
Welfare Cap: NO
Control immigration: NO
Menawhile in the real world, people reject you..
RobD
I believe that Labour made one colossal error as far back as 2010 which I contacted them about twice. They did not dispute strongly enough the Tory lie that their spending caused the recession. They needed to stress that much of their spending was to rebuild public services such as schools and hospitals which had been grossly underfunded by the Tories. Cameron and Osborne has pledged to match Labour’s spending when in opposition. But Labour seemed to hesitate in defending their record, allowing the Tory press to press home the lie through repetition. I don’t believe the Tories won the policy arguments during the election campaign – they won as they usually do, through repetition of a fear message – this time the fear of a Labour/SNP coalition and pure speculation over what might/might not have happened. So Labour shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to policy. The freezing of energy prices, cutting of university fees, action on zero hours contracts, repealing of Lansley’s health bill – these are things Labour needs to keep. I don’t dispute Tony Blair’s achievements in setting up the minimum wage (though I think he set it too low) and investment in public services, but I objected to his “public service reforms” which basically just meant getting the private sector involved which I don’t agree with. These services should be accountable to the people and publicly provided not turned into profit-making businesses. This is what seemed to be happening more and more when Blair took us into the “centre”. I remember the Tory benches cheering Blair on when he brought in free (unaccountable) schools and foundation (first step to privatisation) hospitals. A Tory opposition cheering a “Labour” government? Blair had two massive majorities where he could have moved the centre ground away from privatisation and back towards public service but he chose not to. He also adopted Tory policies like PFI. Is this what we can expect if Labour moves back to the “centre”? Miliband’s policies were modestly left of centre and were pilloried in the press and by some in his own party – yet the Tories can be as right wing and extreme as they like and don’t get challenged. Very depressing.
RobD
Blair and Brown DID listen to business. Probably too much, hence they didn’t regulate the banks enough, contributing to the crash when the banks world-wide took the piss. They also adopted Tory policies like PFI which has saddled the NHS with vast debts. The Tories in opposition pledged to match Labour’s spending targets…but they also wanted even more deregulation of the banks. And you accuse the left of not living in the real world? On immigration, what has Cameron done? Apart from miss every target he set, hence the rise of UKIP. The reason why is that most of the right, especially big business, does not want immigration clamped down on because it supplies cheap labour, undercutting British workers and leading to bigger profits for the companies that fund the Tories. I am in favour of withdrawal from the EU. That way we will be able to regulate our borders better, but you will find Cameron campaigning to stay in. So migration from within the EU will continue.