The next step

The Attlee administration, Richard Crossman argued in the 1950s, “lost its way not only because it lacks a map of the new country it is crossing, but because it thinks maps unnecessary for experienced travellers”. Without an ideological compass, no government is likely to survive long in office. The Starmer government illustrated that all too well. The succession of Andy Burnham, a far more politically attuned leader than his predecessor, has created the conditions for a reset.

Two years ago in the Fabian pamphlet Power and Prosperity, we argued that Labour needed to have a coherent, two-term plan for reform based on a solid foundation of values. We highlighted the role of ideology in helping policymakers to choose between competing priorities while staying focused on the most important goals. We cautioned that, without it, the government could drift into managerialism, and warned that: “any paternalism or plaintive hand-wringing indecision from ministers should be seen as warning signs”. Regrettably, there was such a thing as Starmerism after all – and it was this.

Radical ethical socialism provides a rich ideological resource on which Labour politicians should draw to fashion a political narrative unashamedly driven by values. Doing so will enable the current government to plot the next stages of progressive advancement, formulate a bold second-term agenda, and deal with the difficult trade-offs and dilemmas it will, in all likelihood, face.

Ethical socialists, anchored in the writings of RH Tawney among others, value both the individual and the community. They emphasise the equal worth of every citizen and their right to flourish and enjoy freedom in fellowship with others. That stands in contrast to the individualism of the right and the dehumanising statism and collectivism of parts of the left. Ethical socialism emphasises the centrality of social justice and the importance of steadily eradicating the inequalities that still disfigure our society. At the same time, ethical socialists remain sceptical that social justice will be achieved by collectivist remedies and state expansion alone.

This worldview should resonate with Labour ministers as they contemplate the road ahead, especially since there is limited appetite for further tax rises among voters. In any event, central government interventions alone cannot attain social justice. The state can be unaccountable, particularly where it is highly centralised and remote from communities, and so the statutory public sector is not necessarily the best mechanism to deliver more ‘relational’ public services or to strengthen ties of citizenship and community.

The reform of social care, a major priority for the new PM, is an opportunity for fresh thinking. Resolving this issue would give people security and increase NHS hospital capacity. Following the 2024 election, rather than acting swiftly, Labour announced a multi-year review with interim recommendations due later this year, expected to be implemented over the next decade. That was quintessential Starmerism: the issue was put into the too-difficult box, and the box was then kicked past the next general election. Encouragingly, Burnham has shown greater urgency but he has less than three years to demonstrate delivery.

While there has been much focus on establishing a ‘National Care Service’, the guiding principles of ethical socialism should engender scepticism about another NHS-style bureaucracy. The priority should be the implementation of the Dilnot reforms to cap, at relatively low cost to the state, what an older person must pay for care, eliminating the ‘brute luck’ that requires some families to pay huge amounts. As Andrew Dilnot has argued, social care is a collective insurance problem ripe for state intervention. Resolution of the funding question should be used to encourage private and voluntary sector innovation under a “public control” regime. The opportunity should be taken to support the palliative care sector at the same time. This approach puts reciprocity at the heart of the care system. The funding crisis and the need for improvements in the quality of provision could be addressed by rationalising existing benefits and tax obligations for older people.

The Labour party owes its origins to the voluntary and mutualist organisations of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but too often it appears indifferent to their fate. It is important to remember how charities and community organisations support public services and their role in forging a more inclusive economy. The ‘voluntary sector’ is a label for a vast range of organisations that create social value and local resilience. Devolving power should not stop at councils and combined authorities, but reach into community bodies rooted in place.

The important ethical socialist value of the dignity of work is accompanied by a corresponding goal of providing employment for all who need it. Recent attention has focused on the proportion of young people not in education, employment or training (so-called ‘Neets’), estimated to be almost a million. There is enormous variation in the pattern of need, as Alan Milburn outlined in his recent interim report. Solutions need to be anchored in place: the neighbourhoods and ‘everyday economies’ in which people live and work, giving each locality the ability to shape services and support based on how people live rather than swallowing them up in monolithic welfare bureaucracies.

Ethical socialism also emphasises the importance of internationalism. Our strength in foreign affairs has been undermined by pressure on the international aid budget and poor funding and bad decisions in defence. The threats to national security have been increasing, yet there has been little urgency to adapt government policy in response, as articulated by John Healey in his letter resigning as defence secretary. This is not simply a matter of finding and spending more taxpayers’ money. We need the ability to fight a war soon – so the government and the private sector must adjust rapidly. The times demand a Ministry of Military Supply led by a dedicated cabinet member, taking procurement out of the Ministry of Defence, which has proved incapable of spending effectively or even knowing what it should be buying.

Solutions to all these challenges rely on improving the growth potential of the UK economy, but the state cannot deliver growth on its own. The correct approach is to promote a dynamic market economy which encourages employment and investment and where businesses and households have certainty about government policy. Brexit hit our growth prospects and, if we are not going to rejoin the EU, we must be radical on economic policy, even at the expense of additional spending or tax rises. The alternative is years of crisis management, disappointment, and decline – and the end of Labour as a serious party of government.

George W Bush may not be the first source of inspiration for a Labour prime minister. Nevertheless, when he said: “I earned capital…political capital. And now I intend to spend it,” he spoke wisely. If you hoard political capital, it fast erodes. The arrival of a new prime minister has boosted Labour’s political capital. Now it is time to spend it.

Image credit: HM Treasury via Flickr