Rebuilding the contract
Labour's recovery will only be sustained if it is matched by a bold socialist programme that delivers meaningful change, write Neil Duncan-Jordan and Chris Hinchliff
Tony Benn famously said: “there is no final victory, as there is no final defeat – just the same battle to be fought over and over again.” While the battle may be the same, our fortunes have shifted dramatically since we launched Socialism26 a few months ago. We set out our platform in the context of some of the worst local election results on record, rock bottom poll ratings and a looming leadership contest. For months, voters on the doorstep had been quick to tell us that they simply didn’t know what Labour stood for anymore. Neither did they know whose side we were on or how we would go about bringing about the change they so desperately wanted. In short, we had lost their support and our idealism.
Today, the outlook is brighter. A Burnham-led Labour government offers a return to something more progressive, and Socialism26 represents a contribution from the left as to what his leadership should offer.
Our programme for change already has the support of 32 MPs, including 12 first elected in 2024, and five general secretaries of affiliated unions (Aslef, CWU, FBU, TSSA and Unison). Socialism26 sets out five immediate policy changes, five to be introduced before the end of the parliament and five that should be a part of the next manifesto. These policy initiatives include:
- Introducing emergency measures to keep down energy bills through an essential energy guarantee for all households, a nationwide social tariff, targeted support for business and an extended windfall tax on the energy sector.
- Dropping proposals to curtail jury trials, lifting restrictions on the right to protest and stopping retrospective changes to indefinite leave to remain.
- Funding local authorities to acquire and build enough genuinely affordable council houses to halve waiting lists by 2029.
- Rewiring the economy to secure national security and self-sufficiency in food, energy and medicines and public ownership of the essential utilities we all use.
- Properly taxing and regulating AI and social media corporations with protections for children, workers and our creative industries.
The winter fuel debacle demonstrated that we did not have a programme to change the country for the better – just a belief that we could manage capitalism better than our opponents. To avoid the nightmare of a Reform government, we need decisive action throughout the rest of this parliament and in Labour’s next manifesto. Our programme does not include everything Labour needs to do; it is the bare minimum to ensure that the public can see and feel the difference a socialist government makes. Many of these policies have been in our programme before, and they strike a chord with the public.
Ultimately, the 2024 election victory didn’t bring with it the programme of change that it promised. We were too timid when it came to taking on vested interests – including developers or private utility companies – and we mistakenly sought to balance the books on the backs of some of the poorest in our society. Any suggestion, then, that the party’s recovery lies in more of the same is not the answer – and neither is thinking that a single individual is going to improve the situation.
A Burnham-led government will need to be different to what we’ve had hitherto. Of course, that means a change in policy direction, but it also means tackling the toxic culture that has existed inside both the parliamentary and the wider Labour party. We must restore party pluralism and party democracy and bring back meaningful backbench involvement in the policymaking process prior to announcements being made.
We must also stop using the suspension of the whip as a threat and embrace the democratic value of debate. This means ensuring the government includes MPs from all wings of the party with the talent and expertise to serve. Members should be back in control at the constituency level and there should be an end to spurious de selection tactics ahead of the next election.
Socialism26 will conduct regular podcast interviews with MPs, trade unionists and campaigners from progressive organisations exploring the political issues of the day, cultural and artistic influences on their politics, big ideas for the Labour government to adopt, and insights into life in Westminster. Despite the challenges our party currently faces, we believe that our programme charts a clear route to defeating the radical right and gives us a solid platform on which to win the next general election.
