"Reading the Room' is Crucial, but Labour Shouldn’t Be Afraid to Be Bold' - Ozan Erder

"Reading the Room' is Crucial, but Labour Shouldn’t Be Afraid to Be Bold' - Ozan Erder

The first two years of Keir Starmer’s leadership have been a period like no other and he has so far focused on rebuilding Labour’s internal strength and repairing the party’s tarnished image in the public eye. For a long time, this approach seemed reasonable. There was an internal mountain to climb following the last general election, which included resolving fierce legal disputes and erasing the blight of antisemitism from the party, which had lingered for far too long. In contrast to his predecessor’s approach, this also included a noticeable lack of policy development, which has led to criticisms that it is not clear what Labour now stands for, or what its plan for government would be.

At first, the onset of the pandemic strengthened the case for this strategy. Intraparty unity was deemed essential in making sure that the public had confidence in the strict and unprecedented restrictions imposed. But Starmer can and should have pushed harder on frequent bouts of govern-ment indecisiveness which may have cost thousands of lives and the dozens of dodgy PPE and test-ing contracts handed out to mates, without scrutiny, by ministers.

As the storm began to settle, the many faces of Tory sleaze began to reveal themselves, with Matt Hancock’s work-related activities being the first to catch the public eye. In November 2021 the floodgates finally opened, with Owen Patterson’s lobbying scandal being followed by wave after wave of Partygate leaks, investigations, fines, and the eventual toppling of Johnson. It is often said that, in politics, you should not interfere when your opponents are making blunders; this has per-haps never been truer recently than in the last year. It seems his successors plan to continue giving Labour this gift.

With a general election so far out and a government that is intellectually bankrupt, any ma-jor policies announced also risk being pinched. Precisely this happened with the energy windfall tax. The problem here lies not in policy implementation – they’re beneficial and we should give credit where it is due. The fundamental issue is that there is a risk that a perception emerges that the gov-ernment has a coherent plan, when it is actually limited to a handful of soundbites and half-baked bills. Much can change in two years and making firm commitments now, particularly on fiscal policy, with such uncertainty on the horizon can dig one into a hole. Starmer appears to have recognised these pitfalls; his pragmatic action, and the relative success of his strategy to date, is welcome.

But with a new Tory leader on the horizon, and the next election marching ever closer, the moment has come for Labour to begin to craft a vision of what it wants the country to be and communicate a vision of what it wants the country to be and communicate it in a “long and thin” way so that it resonates with voters and will be remembered. There is also a need to avoid the focus group trap, where a reluctance to upset the boat of public opinion leads to policy stagnation, and a lack of genuine enthusiasm or hope among voters. Recognising the state of public opinion and acting based on it is important. It is voters who elect politicians and there are valid reasons for treading carefully around certain topics. Opinion, however, is a two-way street and Starmer should not shy back from presenting bold, new ideas to voters, as he has so far, when the time is right.

This is especially important, because beginning to fix the myriad of problems this country faces will not be achieved by tinkering. As we move towards an election, a balance must be struck between a policy desert and the ‘shopping list manifesto’ of 2019. Despite some strong ideas, its breadth left many to feel its vision was incoherent and unrealistic. Labour’s strength lies in its ability to show the country that, in Starmer’s own words, “another future is possible”. An aspira tional but realistic policy vision will prove to voters that these are workable proposals that can ad-dress Labour’s core priorities of strengthening public services, reducing inequality, growing the econ-omy in an equitable and sustainable way and redirecting this growth to address the climate crisis among others; all of which have great potential to improve the lives of millions of people along sev-eral dimensions. Labour’s landmark historical successes have all come when it has done this effec-tively. It is time for the party to do so again.

There are three areas of policy that deserve particular attention. First, Labour should stick to and reaffirm existing popular commitments, including nationalising essential utilities and public transport services. State ownership is no magic bullet, but as infrastructure quality declines, costs for households surge yet shareholder profits continue to climb, it is clear that the private sector can’t deliver these services in the way that is needed.

Second, attention must be paid to policies that might not grab headlines, but remain essential. Reforming our flawed and unequal education system is one of them. Years of chronic underfunding and meddling by the Conservatives, from the botched expansion of academies and free schools to the underfunding of the arts and erosion of staff pay and working conditions, have left schools in dire straits. This has led to an educational postcode lottery, ever-increasing class sizes, understaffing and crumbling physical facilities, leaving vital opportunities out of reach for millions of young people. There is no quick fix, but improving teachers’ pay and conditions, providing more funding for sub-jects outside of core academic areas and reforming the curriculum into one that is fairer and less rig-idly exam-based are some steps in the right direction.

On a different note, the gradual erosion of workers’ rights, including restrictions on industrial action and unfair dismissal regulations should be halted if not reversed. They remain especially vul-nerable to the Tories’ post-Brexit deregulation bonanza.

Finally, addressing the climate crisis must be a pillar of the next Labour government and should play a role in every area of government, whether that involves strengthening energy efficiency guidelines for buildings, incentivising shifts in energy and transport use, or altering agricultural prac-tices.

In the US, Biden’s green agenda was designed to operate in a similar way by combining high and low-level action throughout all levels of government, showing it is possible to tackle climate climate change through state intervention. Nevertheless, Republican obstructionism has frustratingly led to a significant watering down of Democratic efforts. Such action will not always be straightforward and will require compromise, but it must be done and a Labour government is the only way it will be.

There is reason for optimism.

The Labour frontbench has recently begun to lay out, in broad terms, what the party’s economic and social plans will look like. With public trust and confidence in Labour recovering quickly and the Tory leadership candidates unsurprisingly offering no solutions to the problems they have caused, the large opinion poll lead Labour enjoys should not be difficult to maintain. Keir Starmer has shown the country what Labour is not and we can thank the Tories for helping him to draw a stark contrast. But now he must prove to voters that he can transform Britain for the better and show the country what Labour truly is about and what it is truly for.

[Ozan Erder is a second year PPEist at St John’s College.]