George's Blog

The past few weeks have contained a number of dispiriting events and reports for Labour members, but for me two in particular stand out. Firstly, party membership has now officially fallen below the psychologically crucial mark of 200,000. Secondly, according to a recent Mori poll nearly a quarter of Labour voters want their party to lose the next election to`rethink what they stand for and what their vision is for the... country'.

For a progressive party this is genuinely distressing- people are starting to believe we can progress no more. The choice that now lies before us is to achieve renewal in government or do so in opposition. Additionally, as we face a more confident and assertive Conservative Party we must be surer than ever of the dividing lines.

At the centre of Labour's renewal must be the creation of a new narrative, one that ties what we have done to our core values and one that articulates a vision of the good society that we can work towards. Sustainable progressive politics requires a consistent long-term vision for it this that motivates members and supporters in the wake of short-term difficulties.

A vital component of this must be equality. Of course the minimum wage and tax credits have made great strides in ameliorating inequality, however, too often Labour has failed to tie such measures alongside programmes like Sure Start into a wider framework of equality. We have allowed our opponents to set up a false dichotomy between equality of opportunity and a greater equality of outcome, when in practice any meaningful opportunity for all requires at least some lessening of wealth and income disparities. Wealth remains a crucial determinant of employment opportunities; think of the advantage enjoyed by those who supported by a wealthy family can afford to live in central London early in their careers.

Labour has shied away from promoting equality for fear of being seen to begrudge success or put a cap on aspiration. Instead, we should have the confidence to argue on the basis of the aspirations and potential blighted by poverty. As the Fabians have stated we should put the honest case for a rise in the top rate of tax, with the top 1 per cent now holding a greater proportion of wealth than at any time since the 1930s we must surely question whether such wealth could not be used more productively elsewhere in society. Such issues must be wrangled with if we are to have any chance of making child poverty history by 2020.

The party should also put the case for a reactivated public realm within the good society. Conservatives often remind us of the inevitability of self-interest and individualism as distinct from co-operation and collectivism. However, self-interest and the common good should not be seen as antagonistic but as mutually dependent. It is in all of our long-term interests to be part of a flourishing, just, cohesive society, for the products of a failure to secure this such as rising crime can easily rebound on us as individuals. The slogans of the last general election campaign appeared too much as a shopping-list of self-interest, notions of the good society and the common good were conspicuously lacking.

We must also be clear that any good society requires state intervention and here lies a potential dividing line with Cameron's Conservatives. When Cameron argues that there is such a thing as society, it's just not the same as the state, he is missing the reciprocity between the state and society. The faith he places in the voluntary sector has left his policy prescriptions inevitably vague. Gordon Brown showed an appreciation of this in The Hugo Young Memorial Lecture, `fairness can be advanced by but cannot, in the end, be guaranteed by charities, however benevolent, by markets, however dynamic...but guaranteed only by enabling government.' It is a message we should hear more often from Labour.

Cameron has sought to move the political agenda onto cultural issues such as happiness. Yet here too there is a role for the state, the Nordic countries, the most equal societies in Europe, are also shown by polling to be the happiest.

It is right for us to have these debates now, for the challenge of renewal after nine years in power is unprecedented for Labour. The quest for the timeless values of justice, freedom and equality is never over, it must be renewed by each generation in turn. We cannot duck the challenges that follow from this if we are to ensure thatLabour's achievements to date are to the foundations of the good society, rather than the footnotes of a divisive Conservative future.