Politicians need to listen carefully
IN December 2019, at the last election, the Labour Party suffered the biggest defeat since the early 1930s. The leader at the time, Jeremy Corbyn, resigned and a new leader, Keir Starmer was elected.
Starmer acknowledged the party had a mountain to climb to win the next election, but notably he said the party had stopped listening to the voters, instead it was only listening to itself.
Turning the listening outwards was what the new Labour leader intended to focus on, then Covid and subsequent lockdown struck.
As soon as restrictions permitted Starmer and other Labour MPs went out listening to voters’ concerns, in all constituencies, and throughout all walks of life; leaders, workers, parents , teachers, the young and old, everybody.
From a career as a human rights lawyer, then chief public prosecutor, Starmer has spent most of his adult life listening intently to his legal clients and then the thousands of staff he presided over in the Crown Prosecution Service. Even the Conservatives acknowledged he was successful in reforming the CPS by listening to its thousands of staff, and for this he was awarded a knighthood.
Listening is about empathy and compassion, putting oneself in the other person’s shoes, ultimately it is about caring.
Recently on UK Talk Radio, a woman called Louise from Rhondda in South Wales phoned in with a question about mental health provision on the NHS, or lack of it. She had been waiting over five years for treatment.
Louise had to quit work as a result of symptoms. The call was fielded by Rishi Sunak; initially he addressed the caller as Rhondda. He was corrected, then the penny dropped. Louise was calling from Wales, the Prime Minister denied responsibility for Louise’s plight as the NHS in Wales is a devolved matter to be dealt with by the Labour administration in Wales.
At this point, Sunak appeared to stop caring and launched into a criticism of Labour’s handling of waiting times in Wales, then carried on to blame the ongoing dispute with the junior doctors for long waiting times.
The way the Prime Minister handled this call was a disgrace, to someone who was genuinely in long-term distress; he wanted to absolve responsibility and use it as an excuse for another political soapbox.
We, the voters, are fed up hearing the same old political lines and excuses, we realise a government cannot deliver instant fixes to many problems, however we just want to be genuinely listened to by politicians who genuinely care and want to make people’s lives better.
Adam Powell