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Labour should rewrite clause four again, says Andy Burnham |
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Labour needs to explain mission in a way which will motivate people to join, says Cabinet rising star.
The Labour party should revisit its constitution again to set out a clear mission, said Treasury Minister Andy Burnham as the Fabian fringe opened in Bournemouth.
'When I joined the Labour Party as a 15 year old in Warrington in 1985, it was very clear, it was a question of identity: which side are you on?', said Burnham. 'What the Labour party stands for probably isn't as clear to young people today'.
There is a need for a new expression of our aims and values. We wrote that new clause four in opposition, It was very relevant to the time. I think ten years on, we should look at it again. We renewed our aims and values 10 years ago. We need to think again about how we can look again at that: how can we express what we are for, in a way that makes sense to young people in particular", Burnham told the Fabian fringe on Campaigning for Change.
I think that the best expression I think we have ever come to is 'the many, not the few'. It is then taking that idea and explaining it around equality of opportunity and fairness. We need to build on that strength with a new leader and reconnect and face out – but it is becoming urgent.
Labour's election coordinator Douglas Alexander said that he was "open-minded" about the call for a new statement of values, arguing that Labour must have a clear sense of mission.
'We must be the bearer of a distinctive vision of the good society. The challenge is to give clear expression to the values we have. How do we take forward our vision of the good society, and give expression to those values as a political party in government?' said Alexander.
'I think there will be an authentically value-based appeal in Gordon Brown's speech tomorrow, said Alexander, who contrasted Brown's 'authentic' appeal with that of David Cameron:'In many ways, David Cameron is very old fashioned. He is a constructed politician. He has gone to the pollsters and said: what do people want', he said.
The Fabian Society has published a text of a new clause four. |
