“People need to feel the difference now: bills coming down, wages going up, services getting better, and fast.”
By Jon Trickett MP
Andy Burnham won the Makerfield by-election because he made a clear argument that Britain has been going in the wrong direction since Thatcherism. He made the case for a decisive break from the neoliberal economic model that has dominated for forty years. And he showed that he understood the deep social and regional inequalities that scar our country as a result.
But voters’ trust in Andy is not a blank cheque. Faith in Labour as a party has declined massively, and it was clear that the word Labour was barely visible during the by-election. Under his new leadership, the Government must now deliver real change, and it is the left’s job to spell out how this can be achieved. Indeed, it was the left which pointed out Starmer’s errors, and we should have been listened to rather than attacked and delegitimised.
Which side are we on?
The Socialist Campaign Group (SCG) has set out what a Labour government worthy of the name should be doing: tax and fiscal justice, public ownership, emergency action on the cost of living, stronger rights at work, a serious answer to the housing cri sis, rejection of Reform UK’s politics of division, action on climate, an ethical foreign policy, and the restoration of democracy inside our own party.
But lists of policies, however sound, are not in themselves a strategy. Behind them has to sit a clear argument about whose side we are on. That is the question Labour has obscured for far too long, and it’s one Burnham cannot avoid. Let’s be honest: the class divisions in Britain are as deep as they ever were. In many ways, they are more profound than previously. Fifty families own as much wealth as over 30m Britons. A Labour government ought to exist to shift power and resources from the extractors of wealth to those who produce that wealth – the working class. If it will not communicate that purpose, and deliver on it, then it will be extremely difficult to bring the public with us.
The test for whatever programme now takes shape is whether it’s unapologetically on the side of the majority who work for a living. In any event, we cannot be elected if we don’t deliver change to our voters, since they will not vote for us.
Labour has not been radical enough
There is a hard electoral truth here, which Andy cannot shy away from. The May local elections showed Labour haemorrhaging support not only to Reform UK but also in the other direction too – to the Greens, to progressive nationalists in Scotland and Wales, and to independents standing on Gaza. Those voters did not leave because Labour was too radical. They left because it was not radical enough, and because too many of them concluded the government would not fight for them on the things that mattered: bills, wages, public services, the genocide in Gaza. Rebuilding a winning coalition means convincing those voters as much as it means winning over people tempted by Farage’s reactionary brand of conservatism.
The good news is that radical policies are increasingly popular. Public ownership of energy and water has widespread support. So does taxing wealth properly, and a pay rise that keeps pace with inflation. And where necessary, taking action against big business putting up prices in order to make even larger profits is popular. There is no contradiction between radical economics and electoral credibility. The contradiction lies in pretending that living standards can be improved without bold economic reform.
None of this can wait for a slow burn programme unveiled before the next General Election in 2029. People need to feel the difference now: bills coming down, wages going up, services getting better, and fast. For a time, Burnham will have the political space to change the policy direction of the Government. But he needs some constructive pressure from the left – clear and unrelenting – to turn the promise of Makerfield into something that actually changes our country for good.
- Jon Trickett is the Member of Parliament for Hemsworth: you can follow him on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram and TikTok.
- This article is from CLPD’s annual briefing, which you can read here.
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