“It is essential that Labour abandons the failed strategy, pushed by figures like Peter Mandelson and Morgan McSweeney, of trying to out-Reform Reform.”
By Richard Burgon MP
There is no sugar-coating it. Labour suffered some of the worst local election results in its history and, elsewhere, including in the Welsh Parliament, a totally unprecedented disaster for our party.
Labour’s vote has halved in the two years since the General Election to just 17% now. And let’s remember, it was not especially high even at the General Election. Labour won a landslide then on a historically low share of the vote. Yet even that level of support has now collapsed.
The defeat of so many good Labour candidates, many of whom have done wonderful work in their communities, has Keir Starmer’s name written all over it.
The reason is simple. Too many former Labour voters no longer believe Labour is on their side or shares their values. Put bluntly, they abandoned us because they think we abandoned them.
These results mean that, as a movement, we face two huge challenges.
Firstly, there is a very real danger that the Labour Party could cease to exist as a major political force. Look at what happened to the French Socialist Party. In recent years it went from being the historic party of government to electoral collapse and has never truly recovered.
But for communities across Britain, there is an even bigger danger: a Nigel Farage government delivering Donald Trump-style politics to this country.
A Reform government would be a toxic combination of turbo-Thatcherism and vile scapegoating. We would see the billionaire class benefiting while ordinary people faced attacks on workers’ rights, the selling off of the NHS, a draconian approach to civil liberties and many more dangers.
This is a deeply serious moment, and it requires a serious response.
Changing the leader is not enough
The days following the election have been dominated by discussion about changing the Labour leader. That is an absolutely necessary step. But it is nowhere near enough. Labour needs a fundamental change of direction.
I have been calling for Keir Starmer to go. But replacing him with somebody who sat around the Cabinet table while winter fuel payments were cut, disabled people were targeted, appalling language was used about migrants, civil liberties were attacked and the Government gave Israel a free pass over its genocide, simply will not cut it.
That approach repulsed so many people who would normally vote Labour. Those who failed to oppose it then will not be seen now as the clean break people are demanding.
Even somebody from outside the Cabinet, who could present themselves as a fresh start, will struggle to rebuild Labour’s support unless they also champion a policy agenda that understands why Labour lost votes and matches the scale of the crisis we face.
Where Labour actually lost votes
In looking at the alternative we need, we also need to be clear about what has actually happened electorally.
As I have repeatedly warned, Labour has mainly been losing votes to other progressive parties or to people who simply stayed at home. It has not been mainly losing them directly to Reform. That does not mean no former Labour voters switched to Reform. But most defectors from Labour did not. New polling shows this is exactly what happened last week.
As former Labour supporters shift to other parties or stop voting, sometimes Plaid Cymru or the Greens win. But much more often, Reform comes through the middle to take the seats. In short, Labour loses votes to the left but seats to the right.
So it is essential that Labour abandons the failed strategy, pushed by figures like Peter Mandelson and Morgan McSweeney, of trying to out-Reform Reform.
And in rebuilding our voter coalition, Labour should be adopting the progressive policies put forward by other parties, not attacking them as extreme.
The alternative policies Labour needs
So what should the alternative look like?
I believe the labour movement urgently needs to form a new 10-point manifesto that can become the basis of a new campaign to win back people’s trust.
At its heart must be a much bolder plan to end the rigged economy that leaves millions struggling while a tiny elite becomes ever richer. This was already needed, but given the looming crisis coming from the fallout of Trump’s war on Iran, this is even more urgent.
Polls show that a bold economic programme is the best way of winning back voters who have drifted to the Greens and other progressive parties, but also some of those who moved towards Reform.
Some great work is being done by the Cost of Living Actin, the new Socialism 26 initiative, the Trade Union Co-ordinating Group and elsewhere. We should bring together our entire movement — from think tanks, councillors, trade unionists and more — to thrash out these ideas.
For me that agenda should include:
- A serious push for wealth taxes and for the very wealthiest to pay their fair share, including equalising capital gains tax and a 2% tax on assets over £10 million.
- Windfall taxes on companies making super-profits from the war with Iran. Likewise, a windfall tax on banking super-profits could raise billions more. Banks have benefited enormously from higher interest rates while ordinary people have suffered soaring rents and mortgage costs.
- Such measures could raise many tens of billions that could be used to create a Social Emergency Fund to get people through this crisis, boost living standards and invest in our public services.
- Urgent action on the housing crisis through a massive council house building programme and rent controls.
- Ending the role of private companies leeching money out of the NHS. Labour also promised the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation and that should now be delivered across all our public services.
- Bringing water and energy back into public ownership.
- Given the impact soaring energy costs are going to have on people’s pockets, as well as across the wider economy, including by pushing up interest rates, we should be pushing for a proper freeze on energy bills.
- Universal free school meals would be a key way of helping families with soaring food prices. We must also look at ways to cap the price of staple foods, as the Scottish Government has said it will now do.
- We need a programme of student debt write-off and a shift to education being paid for by progressive taxation based on income.
- A big expansion of subsidised public transport would be a real help to people coping with soaring fuel prices. We could start with free bus passes for everyone under the age of 22, as already happens in some areas.
These are the kinds of interventionist policies that would materially improve people’s lives and demonstrate that Labour is back on the side of ordinary people.
And poll after poll shows such policies are popular.
There are also issues beyond the cost of living where Labour can make both the moral and popular argument.
So many people are deeply angry with the Government’s position on Israel’s actions in Gaza. Sanctions on Israel, as the Spanish government is calling for, that would bring the Government into line with its legal responsibilities under international law, would be a popular move. It is also welcome to see the trade union movement increasingly arguing for a “welfare not warfare” agenda.
At the same time, Labour must lead the call to clean up politics itself. The scandals around freebies, MPs’ “Second Jobs” (though it’s often four, five or six jobs), and the Mandelson appointment mean too many people now see Labour as part of the same detached political establishment they are angry with.
These types of policies can help Labour reposition itself as the authentic voice for change in the country.
Labour also needs democratic renewal
Finally, Labour must change its internal democratic culture. Some people say internal Labour Party democracy has nothing to do with Labour’s wider political crisis.
I disagree. Look at what happened in Gorton and Denton. Blocking Andy Burnham from standing helped lose Labour that seat. But more broadly it sent a message across the country that Labour does not tolerate different voices.
When debate is shut down, selections narrowed, candidates barred and MPs suspended for standing up for their community, the party becomes disconnected from the communities it is supposed to represent.
So when Keir Starmer goes, the anti-democratic rule changes introduced under his leadership should go too, including his thresholds needed to get onto the ballot in Labour leadership elections.
The rules shaped by Labour Together and others were designed to narrow leadership contests and prevent broad democratic participation. They should be replaced with a genuinely open and democratic process that allows different traditions and viewpoints within Labour to be heard.
Because Labour will not rebuild by shutting people out.
It will only rebuild by changing course, reconnecting with communities and once again becoming a democratic movement capable of offering real hope and real change.
- This is an edited version of a speech given by Richard Burgon at the “After the May Elections: What Next?” event.
- Richard Burgon is the MP for Leeds East, the Secretary of the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs and a regular contributor to Labour Outlook. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
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