It was shocking in some ways, but it has ben coming. And many of us could see it coming. On Friday 2 May Reform UK went from having not a single councillor on County Durhan Council to taking the council with a stunning 63 seats gained. The warning signs have been there since the General Election last July, but this is still a shocking result. So where do we go from here? And what should the government be doing to regain the initiative?
Acknowledge what has happened – and why
The first task is to acknowledge what has happened. Being in denial is always an easy option, but it is also a soft option that just leads to more mistakes being made. Reform seems attractive to people, because they appear to give them some sense of belonging and that they are being listened to. A cursory glance at their manifesto should be enough to tell any discerning reader that this really isn’t the case, but at this stage that doesn’t matter.
What Reform appears to offer voters who are disillusioned and fed up is a sense of change. Labour was elected last July on a promise of just such change, but the result in County Durham and elsewhere should be the final wake-up call that nowhere near enough has changed. And for that to happen Labour need to start making the real hard choices, taking on the kind of powerful vested interests such as water companies and wealthy tax avoiders, that can produce real change.
Labour must have a bold, but convincing vision
What is completely missing at the moment from Labour’s approach to government is any sense of vision and any idea of what a better Britain under Labour could look like. They seem determined to simply continue with the same failed fiscal policies as the Tories pursued for 14 long dismal years with the treasury stuck in its so-called orthodox position which does not allow for the kind of investment that is needed to put things right in this country and not least in a region like North East England.
Farage has a vision for the country, however false and damaging it may be, which people can hold onto. There desperately needs to be a competing vision of a fairer, kinder and more tolerant Britain coming from the left. It should concern us all that those on the front bench of the Labour government seem unable or unwilling to promote such a vision.
Don’t try and copy Reform – it just helps them
it barely seems credible that the Labour government seems to be making exactly the same mistakes as the Tories have made and centre left and centre right parties in Europe have made, in caving in and copying the policies of the far right, instead of challenging them.
It is not as if it hasn’t been shown many times before, that doing this merely legitimatises far right parties, in a way that somehow gives voters permission to vote for them. And why would voters support a party that seems to be Reform-lite when they can vote for the real thing? There are plenty of imaginative and constructive and positive policies out there that Labour could follow in government. They just seem unwilling or unable to do so. Hopefully these local election results will act as a catalyst and encourage them to think outside the box, especially the box held in the Treasury and in the notorious Green Book.
Connecting to voters on an emotional level
Another area where Labour is sorely lacking is connecting to voters on an emotional level. When the Labour government of Clement Atlee set up the NHS in 1945, it was a policy which clearly stated their priority of putting people before profit and was a policy that could connect with people on an emotional level. The NHS is still very important to people in this country, especially since the Covid -19 pandemic.
Labour needs to speak to people in a way that could connect to them and similarly need a raft of policies, which can convey different and better values than those of Reform. To do this they could start by looking at some of their success stories, such as the community wealth building in Preston and some of the ground breaking initiatives of Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester.
Return to grassroots work
The Labour Party and progressives generally need to return to grassroots work. And need to work in communities, listening to people’s grievances, and working with them to help them overcome their problems, while challenging the kind of racist views that Reform encourages. They need to have a much better grasp of the harsh realities of many people’s lives today and have to have imaginative and workable solutions to those problems. Most of all perhaps leadership of the Labour Party nationally needs to get out of London and the Westminster bubble and engage properly with people in areas like County Durham.
Redistribution of wealth and power
30 years ago New Labour rose to power on a wave of optimism, and with a growing economy were able to raise standards of living while not threatening the interests of the powerful and wealthy. After the 2008 crash and other events such as Brexit and the pandemic, that option simply is not available to Labour today however much Rachel Reeves might wish it was.
If the living standards of the majority of people in the country today are to be genuinely raised by Labour then they must grasp the nettle of redistribution. That is what the successful Labour governments of the 1940s and 1960s were involved in and that would produce genuine change that people could see around them and in their pockets. Chasing the ghost of ever-increasing growth so that’s people can be better off without the vested interests in the country being threatened simply will not work in today’s economic climate. Speaking of which it is of course not good for the real climate either.
Expose Reform
Labour has much to do and needs to change direction dramatically. However, there is also one other way they can start to fight back which has been available to them all along; expose Reform for what they really are, the Tories on steroids.
Labour should expose reforms real agenda, for privatisation of the NHS, tax cuts for the wealthy and Farage’s links with both Vladimir Putin in Russia and the ever increasingly unpopular Trump in America. As Trump’s approval ratings relentlessly go down then his chaotic government can be portrayed to the British public as an example of what will happen in this country should Reform win power nationally. Reform will make mistakes in those councils they control; Trump is unpopular in this country and Reform can be likewise in this country.
Conclusion
It is pointless for Labour to pursue a policy based on some magical growth that will lift all boats, especially with Trump causing havoc with his tariffs policy. People perceive injustices and are right to do so but are being persuaded to blame the wrong people. The only thing that will stop Reform is genuine, large-scale redistribution of wealth and power – which is what the Labour Party are supposed to be about after all.
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