Leading the way: Lessons for Labour from Europe

Leading the way
By Iggy Wood , Ania Skrzypek
Published 21 July 2023
Topics European Union , Labour party

As Labour prepares for government, incoming ministers would be wise to look beyond the UK for examples of progressive policy that have already worked. Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, has already promised to emulate the successes of the Biden administration in the US. But we should also look to our more immediate neighbours: in many places across Europe, socialists and social democrats never stopped winning, and have been exploring innovative solutions to the challenges a Labour government will need to address from Westminster.

The Fabian Society and the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) asked politicians and activists from across Europe for words of advice for UK Labour. The responses bring together insights from as far afield as Galați in eastern Romania and as close to home as the Labour government in Wales. Much of what Labour can learn aligns with its current policy priorities, including devolution, environmental sustainability and social housebuilding.

Contributors: Nina Abrahamczik, Lucian Andrei, Isabel Carvalhais MEP, Jane Davidson, Emma Fastesson Lindgren, Jernej Pikalo, Michaela Kauer, Beata Moskal-Słaniewska, Anne Van Lancker and Jens Zimmermann MdB.

Download now

Iggy Wood

Iggy Wood is the assistant editor at the Fabian Society. He previously worked in an NHS community health team.

@IggyWood

Ania Skrzypek

Ania Skrzypek is director of research and training at the Foundation for European Progressive Studies.

@Ania_Skrzypek

Our publications

View All

When I'm 64

A strategy to tackle poverty before state pension age

Fabian Society senior researcher Sasjkia Otto looks at the roots of pre-retirement poverty and presents a strategy to address it.

Caring for Carers

Policy options for carers' employment and financial protections

Fabian Society researcher Eloise Sacares and general secretary Andrew Harrop present a series of policy options for the employment and financial protections of unpaid carers.

Climbing the Mountain

Labour's key battlegrounds at the next election

This report identifies 150 non-Labour seats on the new boundaries which will likely make up a very high proportion of the constituencies that Labour will target at the next election.

Equal Footing

Why we cannot afford to ignore inequality

Anneliese Dodds MP explains how Labour's ambitious agenda to tackle inequality will benefit us all.

Whatever the Weather

A progressive strategy for climate resilience and adaptation

Fabian Society researcher Eloise Sacares makes the case for climate adaptation, identifying three key areas of life which will be severely impacted by climate change and in which practical changes in government policy could make a significant differe...

The Final Furlong

What do the public want from the next election?

In spite of Labour's extremely strong polling numbers over the past year, there has been continuing media speculation about a hung parliament. The Fabian Society undertook research during summer 2023 to understand voters’ preferred election outcomes...

By the People, With the People

How the NHS can work with us to make us partners in our own health

In this pamphlet, Charlotte Augst and Paul Corrigan set out to identify the factors that have scuppered progress on health system reform, and refine the calls for change into two simple questions. First, how can the NHS work with people to keep them ...

In Tandem

The case for coordinated economic policymaking

Michael Jacobs, Robert Calvert Jump, Jo Michell and Frank van Lerven scrutinise the lack of cooperation between the UK government and the Bank of England, and propose a new Economic Policy Coordinating Committee to help achieve the multiple objective...

Working Nein to Five

What can the UK learn from Germany about work-life balance?

Fabian Society senior researcher Sasjkia Otto asks what we can learn from Germany about work-life balance.

Equality and empowerment

A progressive proposal for fiscal devolution and economic development in England

Fabian Society research director Luke Raikes sets out to make a progressive case for devolving public spending, raising important questions about how public money can be used more effectively to deliver policy objectives.

Plans for Power

Fabian ideas for transforming Britain

This pamphlet is a compilation of some of the most important ideas developed and championed by the Fabian Society in recent years. It is a ‘mixtape’ of the best proposals, from early years to pensions and from the future of work to public service ref...

A good life in all regions

Uniting our country to end poverty

The report of the Fabian Society's Commission on Regional Poverty and Inequality concludes that the UK has two major regional economy challenges – ‘low growth’ outside the south east, where places lack good jobs; and ‘overheating’ in the capital, whe...

Lawful and fair

Building a better migration system

In this pamphlet, Will Somerville and Sarah Mulley set out robust proposals to reform our migration system. They argue that it must be based on sound principles: it must be fair, it must be grounded in democratic consent, and it must respect people’s...

Support guaranteed

The roadmap to a National Care Service

Plans for a National Care Service for England were first presented 13 years ago in the dying days of the last Labour government. Since then no detailed work has taken place to flesh out what the service might look like or how it should be implemented...

Britain Reconnected

A foreign policy for security and prosperity at home

In this publication, David Lammy MP identifies the major geopolitical trends that will shape the UK's place in the world, and sets out the next Labour government’s approach to foreign policy

Join the Fabian Society today and help shape the future of the left

You’ll receive the quarterly Fabian Review and at least four reports or pamphlets each year sent to your door

Be a part of the debate at Fabian conferences and events and join one of our network of local Fabian societies

Join the Fabian Society

Be the first to know

Sign up to the free Fabian Society newsletter

Find out about the latest Fabian Society research, publications and events with our regular updates

Fabian Society