“The Labour leadership needs to listen less to the corporate lobbyists and more to its trade union affiliates and members.”
By Andrew Fisher
Imagine a Labour government that, instead of cutting disability benefits, hiked taxes on the top 5%. That, instead of cutting winter fuel payments, just put up corporation tax by 1%.
Imagine where our polling might be if, instead of pulling back on the Green New Deal, or the £28bn Green Prosperity Plan as it was branded, we had delivered that investment in jobs, communities, and tackling climate change.
What about if, rather than pandering to Reform on migration with Powell-like rhetoric, we had built an immigration system based on compassion and dignity. Or reacted to the demand to ‘take back control’ by taking water, mail, and energy into public ownership – as supported by a majority of Reform and even Tory voters.
Imagine that, instead of defending and arming a genocide, a Labour government had put human rights at the centre of its foreign policy and stopped arms sales to human rights abusers like Israel and Saudi Arabia.
The thing is, none of this should be a pipe dream, because everything I’ve asked you to imagine was part of the 10-point plan that Keir Starmer stood on to become Labour leader in 2020. If he had stuck to that vision, Labour would be in a much better position today in the polls and, more importantly, working-class people would be better off and the economy would be growing faster as a result.
That same document said “public services should be in public hands”, yet Wes Streeting has siphoned off more NHS funding into the pockets of private funders. Every penny that goes to building profit margins for corporations is money that is not spent on investing in the NHS and better public health. Not only did Keir Starmer pledge more public ownership, but ahead of the 2024 General Election, both Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner promised “the biggest wave of insourcing for a generation”. Too many workers are trapped in insecure contracts, low pay and with poor terms and conditions on government contracts. From cleaners to care workers, security guards to catering staff, insourcing could save the taxpayer money, boost wages and improve services.
Labour’s first year has been characterised by unnecessary missteps that have alienated pensioners, the WASPI women, and disabled people, and disappointed core voters. A party of democratic socialism should never be picking the pockets of the poorest. Equalising capital gains tax with income tax could raise enough to fully reverse the winter fuel payment cuts, cancel the proposed cuts to disability benefits, and scrap the two-child benefit limit.
If a Labour government is going to succeed, it needs to listen to people like Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham when he calls for the “biggest and quickest” council house building programme Britain has ever seen, to London Mayor Sadiq Khan when he calls for rent controls, and to former Cabinet Minister Louise Haigh when she echoes the call of Richard Burgon for a wealth tax.
At Conference and afterwards, the Labour leadership needs to listen less to the corporate lobbyists and more to its trade union affiliates and members.
- This article is from CLPD’s annual briefing, which you can read here.
- Andrew Fisher is the former Executive Director of Policy for the Labour Party, 2016–2019.
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