Last night my Labour Party branch (City of London) focussed discussion on how the Labour Party could rediscover its purpose and use Conference 2011 to focus on a handful of issues that now matter to the electorate.
During our discussion it was agreed that there were too many policy review groups (organised by Liam Byrne MP and the Shadow Cabinet in parallel with the Partnership into Power policy making process). The branch considered that that approach risked obscuring vital lessons that could encourage membership retention and recruitment, and restore Labour's electability.
Following extensive discussion, the Branch concluded that Conference 2011 should concentrate on :
A sustainable, fair economy; building adequate affordable housing; providing excellent, free at the point of access education, health and social care, and promoting international peace, economic and social justice.
We thought that the party leadership, including all frontbench spokespersons, needed to be much more effective rebutting coalition mantras about the state the economy at the time of the 2010 General Election, and the myth that public sector service provision is bad and private sector is good.
A crunch issue for us was that New Labour's uncritical readiness to contract with the private sector to provide both public services and infrastructure had proved to be flawed and possibly naive. We thought the Party should level with the electorate about this as soon as possible. Further, the branch agreed that while it would be essential to restore a high quality public service model and stop denigrating public service staff and professionals, this did not need mean excluding the private sector. Rather it would be important to debate and establish a new consensus for such contracting/regulation consistent with Labour's fairness and localism agendas.
Labour's achievements: investing in public service infrastructure – new under-fives facilities, schools, hospitals and transport links, social housing improvements and arts and leisure facilities should be lauded. But the means of financing them involved deceiving the public, and the political damage crystalised in the Tory mantra “the mess we inherited” are in danger of blinding the electorate to the evidence of our success in their own neighbourhoods.
In the wake of the banking crisis, (the underlying causes we thought remained largely unaddressed and must be grappled urgently) Labour did steady the economy. The Tories inherited faster growth, with debt falling more quickly, and unemployment and mortgage repossession lower than forecast. In 12 month they have squandered that with a singular obsessobsession about 'cutting public sector debt'. That has in slower growth, rapidly rising debt, and inflation, together with shaky job creation and dire unemployment prospects for the young.
The branch agreed that Labour's public policy challenges for debate at Conference 2011 should focus on how to achieve sustainable growth, fairmess for all from the cradle to the grave; as well as how to pay for public sector infrastructure and services whilst wanting to promote localism, mutuality, and developing a new viable public service model.
Leadership was also required to regain the initiative greening the economy, which the branch saw as a route to redirecting public sector investment into more effective technologies to meet future energy requirements without threatening the planet eg. Investment in geothermals, and other renewables rather than nuclear or fossil fuels.
In reaching out to and within local communities, Labour needed to enable and empower local governance reversing a centralist command and control model . This was was seen as offering real potential as a means of regaining the electorate's trust and demonstrating that Labour was learning from its mistakes in government over the previous 13 years.
In conclusion, the branch supported the efforts of the Party's new Leader, Ed Miliband to develop key themes for opposition: the squeezed middle, the unfortunately labelled 'British promise' (each generation's right to a better future than the last), the vital role of the state in shaping the economy and public services, and the country's place in the world.
But we agreed that Refounding Labour had to start with what Labour stands for now and in the future, rather than any rule changes that might arise from the current consultation. Though the form of the Party's organisation and its culture would have to mirror the sort of society Labour aspired to promote and enable - locally, nationally and internationally.