Labour must show it is a strong and coherent force
BACK TO basics is an over-used slogan in politics, but the Labour Party should take it to heart at this week’s annual conference in Brighton.
Leader Jeremy Corbyn can talk about his “10 Pledges” all he likes, but unless he can convince the people of Britain that he is capable of forming a sensible Opposition and a credible alternative to Theresa May’s precarious grip on power, it’s all empty rhetoric.
Of course, we all need to know how Labour would ideally tackle inequalities in education, housing, the economy and jobs, keep the NHS safe and free at the point of access and deal with the clear and present threats to our national security and the environment.
We also need to know that the Labour Party itself is a strong and coherent force. It doesn’t seem two minutes since it was publicly ripping itself apart; thankfully disharmony between the hard left and the moderates appears to have calmed down over the summer. This week will prove whether this has simply been a case of clever spin.
I’d also like this major political event to give ordinary party members the chance to air their grievances and formulate ideas. Mr Corbyn is making much of this very thing, reportedly promising to prioritise public debate over token speeches from the mayors of both London and Manchester for instance.
What the leader must also do is switch
For too long now, the Labour Party high command has paid lip service to the issues which matter to ordinary people. It has also been in a state of denial. The party members attending this conference are a perfect conduit to help turn this situation around. However, Mr Corbyn must not be afraid to act on what he hears. He might not like what people tell him about immigration, for instance.
This difficulty with accepting certain hard truths about this tricky issue did not help Labour’s lacklustre Brexit campaign. Arguably, it led to many Labour voters backing “Leave” when an honest and unflinching approach from the party might have persuaded them otherwise.
I know it’s an annoying buzz-phrase, but he really does need to “drill down” into those basics I mentioned. Most people want a democratic country with enough safety nets to keep them secure should they need help.
This is not the country we live in; child poverty on the rise, use of food banks off the scale, unaffordable housing and personal debt and zero-hours contracts crippling those in work and a general sense that Conservative-led government has failed.
I’m not saying that Mr Corbyn’s party is unaware of all of this. However, if he wants to convince us that it could actually begin to tackle these serious difficulties, he needs to show us that he has proper, accountable plans ready to launch.
With all of the above in mind, I’d like to hear not only the Labour leader, but his MPs and leading party figures, speak not just to themselves, but to the whole of the nation. This is an affliction common to all political party conferences, but it seems to dog Labour more than most. Battered and bruised by Ed Miliband’s ineffectual reign as leader and local and general election catastrophes, the Labour Party of late has not shown its best fighting face at this most public of events.
To be fair, this year’s campaign did prove what Mr Corbyn is capable of; compassionate, concerned and full of conviction. His party, and his country, are crying out for a leader who can do this over and over again. This week he has to prove that it wasn’t a feverish one-off, but a cornerstone of his character.
There are millions of us, concerned people working hard and caring for our families, who want the Labour Party to show us that it has the leadership, unity and strength to be in charge. We’re not especially political, or even wedded to a certain party or iron-held set of beliefs. We just want a government which listens to our concerns, understands what we face and works with us, not against us.
When the last conference chairs have been put away and the podium dusted down, I’d like to think that the Labour Party has left us in no doubt as to why it is qualified to be regarded as a government in waiting.