New Deal
Labour must set out a hopeful vision to overcome its current woes, writes Jovan Owusu-Nepaul
Despite the near tropical heat of the summer of ‘24, there was never much of a honey-moon period for the government. Before long, Rachel Reeves had laid bare the realities of her economic inheritance: sluggish growth, high inflation and under investment in our key infrastructure. Just two years on, polls now suggest that Keir Starmer has surpassed Liz Truss as the most unpopular prime minister in modern political history. Fairly or unfairly, this has resulted in the peeling off of Labour’s vote in recent elections.
It is hard not to feel sympathy for ministers, who by their own standards are following through with a solidly Labour agenda. The government has ended the two-child cap, lifting half a million children out of poverty. Train contracts reaching their natural expiration have now been brought into public ownership. Workers and renters have an enhanced package of rights, providing a greater distinction between exploitation and competition in both the workplace and in the private rented sector.
NHS waiting times are down and patient satisfaction up. Pride in Place funding has begun the process of community empowerment in our villages, towns and cities. And Starmer has kept Britain out of a catastrophic war, despite Trump’s protestations. It is hard to see Labour’s record as entirely disastrous. Yet, unfortunately, this view has become hardened in the minds of the public and pundits. We must therefore seriously consider the ailments of Labour in office and collectively work towards a solution if we are to turn things around.
Labour’s poor performance has expose dan underlying tragedy: values, vision and policy have become incoherent. For too long, the government has ruminated over the structural issues that limit our capacity, and in its timidity has only partially taken the bull by the horns. In the same spirit in which Thatcher embraced the power of economics to shape the ‘hearts and minds of a society’, this Labour government must begin to rearrange economic life in Britain to serve the needs of the many rather than the few.
In 1894, Walter Crane declared: ‘The cause of Labour is the hope of the world’. In that statement, he was able to tie hope and circumstance together, articulating a value system that would thread the Labour movement together over the next 130 years. At the heart of his call to arms was a recognition that dignity and opportunity for all can contribute to a more hopeful future. Hope is central to parties the across British political spectrum today. It would be foolish to pretend that Farage’s nationalism does not instil some sense of hope in the person who places all the country’s ills at the feet of immigrants. On the other hand, Polanski’s version of hope rests upon a loose belief that a big state, rather than an active one, will solve all domestic ills. While these platitudes may be seductive, real hope has to rest in efficient, effective and intentional delivery: an agenda which people recognise as a break with the political consensus that has defined Britain over the last 40 years, alongside a politics rooted in substantive policy rigour and an ideological anchor.
The recent Milburn review exemplifies the need for effective government. It is clear throughout the report that the government must rise to the challenge of a generation held in stasis. Given current projections of living standards those under the age of 40 today, it seems that the prosperity granted to those older generations may not trickle down to younger generations, leaving us all poorer. Labour cannot fall into same trap the Conservative party did, which, during its 14 years in office, failed to create a new generation of voters thanks to a fixation on property-owning pensioners.
Labour must offer a new social-democratic promise to the under 40s, including bold action on housing. After decades of right to buy, we need to establish a level of council housebuilding not seen since the second world war. To round out its ‘New Deal’, this Labour government must seriously explore stamp duty relief, family tax credits, student loan reform and public transport affordability while rebalancing regional opportunities.
This piece was published as part of our ‘Labour in Turmoil’ section of the Summer edition of the Fabian Review.
