“Labour has been losing votes to the left but seats to the right. Yet the approach from Starmer, Mandelson, and McSweeney was to ape Reform UK. That strategy failed and must be abandoned.”
By Richard Burgon MP
We need a radical change of direction
We now have a new Prime Minister. Such a change was necessary after two years of unpopular decisions under Keir Starmer that squandered much of the hope people had in a Labour government. Andy Burnham faces the challenge of turning this round and delivering the change people are crying out for. And a key task for the new Prime Minister is to rebuild Labour’s support to stop Nigel Farage becoming the next Prime Minister.
Of course, stopping a Reform government does not answer all the challenges we face in our country. But if we fail to do so, we will have a Trump style agenda here, causing great harm to communities, whipping up scapegoating, and further enriching the billionaire class.
Stopping Reform UK requires a clear change of direction as well as a new leader. Keir Starmer’s vision led to Labour’s vote collapsing. We took a hammering in the May elections: our vote was down by half in the two years since the General Election, to just 17%. The reason is simple: too many former Labour voters no longer believed Labour was on their side or shared their values. They abandoned us because they think we abandoned them.
We lost votes to the left
Where did our voters go? All the data shows Labour under Starmer mainly lost votes to other progressive parties or to people who stayed at home, and not to Reform UK. That does not mean some former Labour voters did not switch to Reform UK. But the overwhelming majority did not.
As Labour’s vote fragmented and former Labour supporters shifted to other parties or to not voting at all, sometimes Plaid Cymru or the Greens won seats. But much more often, as we saw in May’s elections, it was Reform UK that came through and won.
In short, Labour has been losing votes to the left but seats to the right. Yet the approach from Starmer, Mandelson, and McSweeney was to ape Reform UK. That strategy failed and must be abandoned.
Rebuild around progressive policies
Championing progressive policies is the best way to rebuild Labour’s voter coalition. At its heart must be a bold plan to end the rigged economy that leaves millions struggling while a tiny elite gets ever richer. Polls show this is the best way of winning back both voters who have drifted to the Greens and other progressive parties and some who have gone to Reform UK. Tens of £bns could be raised through wealth taxes, windfall taxes on companies profiteering from the war with Iran, and on banking super-profits.
These could fund an emergency package of support to boost living standards and invest in public services. Rent controls, a proper freeze on energy bills, universal free school meals, and a major expansion of subsidised public transport could all help tackle soaring living costs.
We also need to show we will take on the structural changes needed to reverse the nearly fifty years of neo liberalism that have decisively shifted wealth and power in favour of big corporations and against ordinary people.
Rebuilding real Labour values
Bringing energy and water back into public ownership alongside a mass programme of council house building would help take life’s essentials out of the hands of the market and end the rip-off facing ordinary people. Beyond the cost of living, there are other areas where Labour can make both the moral and popular argument that will win back voters.
People are rightly appalled by the Government’s position on Gaza. Serious sanctions on Israel would bring Britain into line with its legal responsibilities under international law. They would also command significant public support. And Labour must lead the call to clean up politics itself. Too many scandals have left Labour looking like part of the political establishment people are so angry with. So, we need serious action against freebies, MPs’ second jobs, and the rest.
Labour must change its internal democratic culture. Under Keir Starmer, debate was shut down, selections narrowed, candidates barred, and MPs suspended for standing up for their communities. All that has left the party disconnected from the people it is supposed to represent. With Keir Starmer gone, the anti-democratic rule changes introduced under his leadership should go too, including his doubling of the threshold required to get onto the ballot in future Labour leadership elections.
CLPD has a vital role to play in securing both the policy and democratic changes we need in our party. Only by rebuilding around real Labour values can we deliver the real change people are crying out for and stop Reform UK winning the next General Election.
- Richard Burgon is the MP for Leeds East, the Secretary of the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
- This article is from CLPD’s annual briefing, which you can read here.
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