red wall

A fascinating insight into the political agenda for “rural” within some parts of the principal opposition party. This think piece written by Lord Knight of Weymouth provides some very interesting context to the emerging political battle lines for rural England as we start the long run up to the next election. It tells us:

The Labour Party can only win as a truly national party, supporting people’s hopes and dreams. Individual aspirations can only be built in a stable nation where we equally care for ourselves, each other, and the natural environment. The future is bleak if our children have no prospect of being prepared for graduate level jobs in their own communities. We need to see jobs we aspire to in our own neighbourhoods, not in a distant city or virtual reality.

Secure local employment should also make housing affordable. It is not sustainable if only a few parts of the country, the economy, our politics, or our cultural life are thriving; and if those successful areas are having to bail out those we are failing. For Labour, success will mean that the answers for the “red wall” seats are also the answers for coastal and market towns. All share the same sense of being left behind by the economy and being on the periphery. Rural communities and former industrial towns both feel taken for granted by politicians.

Labour must be wary of different messages to different voters in different parts of the country. That spreads division. While that worked for the Tories and the nationalists, I believe that post-pandemic Britain will be ready for a vision of hope and unity. What are the steps to finding that vision? It needs to be more than a slogan. People have heard of “levelling up” but now recognise that it is empty of policy.

We must be embedded in, and listening to, the places we want to represent. Labour is the biggest political party and has members in every party of the country, the coast and the cities. Our members need to be encouraged and supported to be visible, as well as to be a source of ideas and understanding of the nature and state of their communities.

We must then commit to a better deal for those communities to have more delegated power, wealth and opportunity in their hands, out of Whitehall. The problems places have can only be solved locally by the people who live there. Giving power back to people over housing, skills, and infrastructure allows for bespoke solutions and strong local leadership.We have seen from the success of First Minister Mark Drakeford in Wales, Mayor Andy Burnham in Manchester and Sadiq Khan in London that place-based leadership works. Let us build that nationwide.