‘Labour needs to reconnect with working class to win...’
A new book by Labour MP Jon Cruddas on what the party needs to do to woo back working class voters is being hailed as a blueprint it needs to follow if it wants to return to power at Westminster. Political editor-at-large Martin Shipton considers what lessons it may have for Welsh Labour
THE argument made by Jon Cruddas in his book The Dignity of Labour is quite simple, although the ramifications are huge for the party he represents in the House of Commons.
If Labour wants to reconnect with the working class voters it has lost, it needs to re-establish itself as the party which promotes worthwhile, fulfilling work.
At one time it would have been thought inconceivable that Labour would lose its link with the people it was set up to champion and instead be perceived as a party dominated by middle class professionals who had little practical knowledge of the struggles faced by ordinary people.
It’s that perception, coupled with a sense of alienation that led many to vote for Brexit, that has left Labour out of power at Westminster after three successive General Election defeats.
Cruddas represents the east London seat of Dagenham and Rainham.
It’s a long way from Wales, but in some respects there are comparisons to be made with the Valleys.
Just as many communities in south Wales were infused with the rich industrial culture created by coal mining, so Dagenham was defined by having one of the biggest car plants in Europe.
When the mines closed and Ford shed the great majority of its jobs, the working ethos that bound the communities was lost.
Cruddas doesn’t cover this, but it’s arguable that the meaning people derive from their Welshness made the Valleys communities more politically resilient.
For some years Dagenham had a worryingly high level of support for far-right groups like the British National Party.
His central thesis is that at a time when people need greater protection in their place of work, job creation has become depoliticised, with politicians concentrating on the numbers of jobs created rather than seeking to ensure that they will lead to happiness and fulfilment for those who get them.
Cruddas argues that many on the left have wrongly taken a fatalistic approach towards predictions that many jobs will be lost to robots as working environments develop into the next stage of technocracy that resembles science fiction.
He quotes statistics showing that the overall number of people employed has been increasing, not declining, as new processes and ways of working are introduced. The problem lies not in the numbers of new jobs, but in the quality of them. Equally he is critical of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown for their promotion of tax credits as a way of increasing people’s take-home pay by subsidising lowpaying employers. Cruddas also dislikes the concept of a Universal Basic Income (UBI), which he sees as an admission that creating fulfilling jobs of the number required will be impossible.
For him, like the founders of the Labour Party, having a job that provides satisfaction not just in monetary terms is something most people want to have – and he quotes polling evidence to back up his claim.
Returning to an understanding of the dignity of work and then encouraging it, argues Cruddas, is the way to defeat right-wing populism.
His message has resonances in Wales, where Welsh Labour strategists like Pontypridd MS Mick Antoniw and Deputy Economy Minister Lee Waters hope to pursue similar objectives.
Mr Antoniw, who before entering what is now the Senedd was an employment lawyer, has been involved in developing a social partnership bill that would begin by formalising the three-way relationship that already exists in Wales between employers, trade unions and the Welsh Government.
He said: “Under the devolution settlement we don’t have responsibility for employment matters, but we do have responsibility for the delivery of public services.
“That gives us the opportunity to decide how they should be shaped and the ability to set standards that swe expect contractors to comply with.”
Mr Antoniw said he took Cruddas’ point on the downside of tax credits.
“The tax credits introduced by Gordon Brown were a temporary measure – they were never the solution.
“Governments are not there to subsidise low-paying employers on a permanent basis.
“We want companies to be able to pay their employees well.
“Having said that, it has to be recognised that very large numbers of families have benefitted from tax credits and have been able to spend money in their local economy as a result.”
Mr Antoniw said UBI was not a silver bullet and should be seen as a potentially useful tool.
“It throws up very complex questions that need to be examined fully,” he said.
For Mr Waters, relying on a numerical creation of new jobs or awarding contracts to local companies simply isn’t enough.
“It’s all very well to create jobs for local people, but we want them to be proper jobs in which people can find fulfilment,” he said.
“The important thing is to work with good employers who realise that the best way to succeed is to treat employees well in terms of pay and conditions.
“It’s entirely reasonable to say to employers that in return for our helping them, we expect them to look after their employees.
“Wales has a smallish number of very big employers and a huge number of small operations.
“We want to develop more medium-sized companies and that means helping them to grow.
“Too often in the past, public authorities have decided to award contracts to the lowest bidder.
“That can mean that the pay and conditions of workers are squeezed, putting good employers at a disadvantage.
“In future we want to be in a position where the contract is awarded to the company that treats its employees well.”
Mr Waters said jobs would be lost when new processes based on artificial intelligence were introduced, but other jobs would be created.
He referred to Caerphilly council’s investment in “robotic process automation”, which had enabled it to relieve staff of the need to carry out mundane tasks and speed up the roll-out of free school meals.
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