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Everyone has a take, but mine is this: Labour is timid. Huge gap for a green jobs, devolved power and localism, housing reform, school buildings, infrastructure for elecric cars...
But they let Tories make the political weather, then hope you prefer a red umbrella...
But they let Tories make the political weather, then hope you prefer a red umbrella...
My guess is, everyone reading this can come up with 5 strong policies Labour is too timid to suggest.
But beyond that, the policies have to tell an overarching story:
"We love Britain, but we want to improve it, and improve the lives of those who live here. And this is how"...
But beyond that, the policies have to tell an overarching story:
"We love Britain, but we want to improve it, and improve the lives of those who live here. And this is how"...
And that story must be big, adventurous, simple, and persuasive. It can't be pipe dreams, and it can't be whiny. It has to embrace the sense of patriotism we feel, but acknowledge that however much we love Britain, bits of Britain are shit, and need reforming and building...
But that reform can't be abstract ideas about fairness or vague corruption in Westminster.
It has to reach into your home. Jobs. Wages. Homes. Schools. Transport. Life chances.
The NHS is great, but most of us don't live there. Focus on things we experience daily...
It has to reach into your home. Jobs. Wages. Homes. Schools. Transport. Life chances.
The NHS is great, but most of us don't live there. Focus on things we experience daily...
The problem Corbyn's Labour had was: the policies weren't a cohesive story, and there were so many it seemed impossible they'd ever get done. Nobody believed it.
But Starmer is learning the wrong lesson. He's suggesting NO policies, when he should be suggesting one big story...
But Starmer is learning the wrong lesson. He's suggesting NO policies, when he should be suggesting one big story...
I doubt anybody has hit on the definitive "take" on Labour's woes, and this isn't it either. But it feels to me like a big part of it.
Nobody knows what Labour is for, or how it will help them. Labour seems to exist to squabble, and tut vaguely at events it never controls...
Nobody knows what Labour is for, or how it will help them. Labour seems to exist to squabble, and tut vaguely at events it never controls...
And when it does talk about specifics, they're specifics about the technical honesty of contract law, which is all well and good, but disconnected from 99% of peoples lives...
And off the back of that, sure, let's do a federal UK, electoral reform, progressive alliance, de-colonialise museums... all worthwhile, important stuff. But not stuff that greatly worries Dave and Helen in Beaconsfield.
That's my bit.
That's my bit.
