Letter to the Labour Party

I was canvassed last week about the Labour Party Deputy Leadership and read five statements as to the important attributes of the position holder. None of the statements resonated with me as essential skills or attributes for the current issues faced by the Labour Party. The question has, however, been with me over the week and I’m still not sure of who I will support as none of the leadership candidates for leader or deputy leader had mentioned or discussed the issues I believe are fundamental to the party’s revival in the coming years.

Leaders come in many guises – the leader of the party should set the tone but, at a local level, Council Leaders and councillors need to adjust their view of leadership and partnership.

Historically the Labour Party recruited from ‘working class’ people, working in partnership with Trade Unions to improve circumstances and conditions. The definition of Labour's core vote is now more difficult and, at the last election, the Conservatives won the vote from ‘working people’ by preceding that term with a number of ‘judgemental’ adjectives eg honest, hard etc. This, together with UKIP's fear mongering statements, led to large numbers of ‘traditional’ labour voters believing, and subsequently voting for, other parties. 

With the core vote abandoning the Labour Party how should leaders reinvigorate the party?

Do we continue to discuss inequalities and the ‘austerity’ environment created by the last Coalition Government and …to be continued by the current Government?The party was brandied as bad managers of the economy, soft on immigration and supporters of welfare and ‘malingerers’. The ‘hard working’ families, tax payers, etc. pulled up the ‘I’m alright jack’ ladder’ and voted Tory.  How do we begin to win back the voters lost at the last election?

Some of the current candidates for either leader or deputy are adopting the rhetoric of the victors –  the 'sensible economic management creates an environment where welfare can flourish' mantra.

It’s not a matter of whether the Labour party should be left, centre left or any other variety of left - for me it’s how Labour regains credibility in the communities it was born from and purports to represent. Labour's traditional ‘working class’ supporters have become the PR categorised ‘hard working families’. How does Labour define and represent its traditional community? What is Labour’s community?How does the party win back a core vote in an environment where its core values and beliefs have been vanquished in a soundbite and a PR election campaign that continues into the current administration and, more importantly, who is the core group or community it is trying to win back?How is Labour to regain the belief of those it was established to represent, those that have been ‘charmed’ away by sales of council houses, shares in nationalised industries and the decimation of the trade unions?

The economy and working environment that existed when Labour was created has gone. More people have become home owners with mortgages, more are self-employed or sub contracted – relying on agency or zero hour contracts. It is these people who have listened to and been taken in by the PR hype and rhetoric of Cameron and the Tories. 

Does Labour attempt to win back its political position through singular political argument, or does it explore another route, embedding itself in communities that are in need, not just campaigning for change, but undertaking activities that bring about change - community activity, and campaigning that supports people’s lives and affects their environments, a doing politics to add to and augment the verbal and cerebral politics of which we are so fond?

I’m not just talking about Ward or community meetings, listening events. I mean community focused activity – litter picks, community clean ups, safety campaigns and local events, as well as exploring service development in a new economic structure. I mean encouraging their activists not just to turn up but to offer their skills in developing and managing activities; in other words good old fashioned community development. Not shoving the Labour Party down people’s throats but being a part of a community, as a Labour Party supporter, listening to, working with, gaining the trust of, and ultimately representing, communities.

Groups in the community run their own campaigns to develop their own services, they develop representation to increase support. The ‘leadership’ within the Labour Party, at a variety of levels, has to accept that sometimes community activism may come into conflict with the ‘political and administrative’ duties of the Party when it is in power. 

We now have a Conservative government that will slash and burn the public sector, cut public expenditure in order to cut taxes, cuts that will have an impact on those who voted Conservative as well as those who didn’t. There is a need for a dual role approach, with Labour arguing and campaigning against those cuts, raising awareness of the impact as well as working constructively to save some services by exploring new funding packages, developing new economic partnerships between Councils and Voluntary and Community Sector groups. We may not save all services but we may re-coordinate some.  

So this brings me back to leadership, leadership across the party and not just at Leader and Deputy leader status. Leadership that recognises that the public sector does not have to do everything, acknowledging that some communities have become disempowered by public sector led projects, politicians engaging staff to deliver services, and in return the politician gets the recognition and applause. 

Many councillors see themselves as community leaders - they are not. Councillors are ‘governance’ managers and scrutinisers for local services and administration. Councillors can campaign for services in their Ward and make representation on behalf of groups and individuals in need. While they may come from, or belong to, groups in the community, as a Councillor, they do not lead the community or even the Ward.

Leadership is about recognising purpose and product, harnessing skills and experiences in a multi levelled process, working with a variety of individuals with skills to deliver processes that lead to identifiable outcomes, not just at a political governance level, but at a community and service delivery level as well.

Leadership is acknowledging that the political environment has changed forever. Labour had the idea of the Welfare State and over the years there have been additions e.g. equal pay, gender inequality etc. but we have lost this ground and we need to regain the communities most affected by its decline, communities that did not vote for Labour in 2015.

Leadership is recognising that things need to change, not just be tweaked. If all parliamentary and assembly politicians, Councillors, Councils, and the incoming Labour Leadership are sincere in focusing on change, it has to be real, wide ranging change that includes all facets of community engagement and development. Building support from the grass roots with purpose, engagement and a belief in shared skills, true empowerment and development.

Given the list of candidates however none of this answers who I should consider voting for in the forthcoming elections.