Josh Westerling
Policy Manager
Change. That one-word slogan was Labour’s message to the country at the election. I don’t know who decided on change as the party’s election slogan, it doesn’t really matter. They picked up on the mood of the country and reflected it right back at them.
Now, having taken office, change is not the reason to vote for Labour. Change is what a Labour government must follow through on. It has an impressive majority to help it do so alongside both an electoral and moral imperative.
Electorally, this is a precarious triumph for Labour. They won with a coalition that is broad but not very deep. As Starmer put it, “We will be judged on actions, not words”.
Morally, Labour needs to regain the public’s trust in government. People have voted for change before only to feel it’s not been delivered. Another failure will only add to the disillusionment in mainstream politics. It is important for change to happen, for it to last, and for people to feel it.
In taking the reins of government, Starmer bears the burden, responsibility, and promise of the power and control this brings. With this power he can do a lot. Setting up GB Energy, a new publicly-owned energy company is one example. So too is the New Deal for Working People and planning reform. All are expected to come in the first King’s Speech.
Questions for the new government
At the same time a question mark hangs over the new government. How can Labour govern a country that is too centralised at the same time as its capacity is compromised?
Starmer recognises this problem to an extent and has committed to continuing the trends towards further regional devolution. Rhetorically, too, Starmer has said that “with respect and humility, I invite you all to join this government of service in the mission of national renewal”. It’s a sign that Labour’s five missions could help wider society – not just government – play a role.
However, thus far the new government’s missions have a distinctly Whitehall flavour to them. Mission delivery boards are being set up to push progress on the five missions from within government. Even within the constraints mentioned above, using the state’s power effectively could lead to change.
It is too early to make a judgement on that front. But there are two questions that should be raised now. First, will this change last? Second, will people feel it?
Creating change that lasts
In his insightful essay for Renewal – the journal of social democracy – James Plunkett makes an interesting observation on New Labour’s record in government. He notes that the last Labour government made lasting changes with the National Minimum Wage and the Equality Act. He contrasts these policies with Tax Credits that were stripped away by the Coalition.
The changes that lasted were more systemic. Plunkett argues that “New Labour’s legacy was at its most enduring when at its least narrowly technocratic”. Others have made a similar point too. In a speech in 2022 the then Shadow Levelling Up Secretary (now Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport) Lisa Nandy said that, “This is the lesson of 13 years of Labour government – that the Sure Start conceived and funded from Whitehall doesn’t survive while the energy cooperative owned and run by hundreds of local people does.”
This tells us something about how the new government can ensure that change lasts. On one level it must make systemic changes. On another the changes it makes must be self-sustaining, to some extent outside the control of Whitehall, with power resting with communities and local people.
Putting communities at the heart of policy
To make change last, the new government should use its strength in Parliament to push through reforms that put communities at the heart of doing things differently. The proposals within the Community Power Act, for example, would mark a fundamental shift in power to local people. Elements of this Act have been supported by the Labour Party already. While a future government could theoretically roll back these changes, this type of legislative change tends to be sticky – the Equality Act is a good example of this, which survived 14 years of Conservative government despite scepticism towards aspects of it on the right.
Beyond these systemic changes, the new government needs to create new institutions that can outlast it. And no, I do not mean set up loads of quangos. Rather these should be community-level institutions like community businesses that are controlled by and in service to local people.
The new government could look back to previous governments for inspiration. The New Schools Network, for example, helped to support the government’s free schools programme. Many Conservatives might look to the programme as one of its successes in government. These schools will have an impact even once the Tories have left office.
Creating change people can feel
The new government should think in a similar vein. It is doing so already through GB Energy’s role in the Local Power Plan, which promises to see thousands of Community Energy Businesses created ensuring a local stake in renewable energy for the future. With a focus on growth, the new government should be thinking about how every place can contribute.
This might provide a new opportunity to move beyond the traditional social democratic means of redistribution. Instead, new community-level institutions like community businesses that are controlled by local people, would grant them a stake in the economy, help improve lives locally, and sustain themselves once Labour leaves office. The formation of these institutions could be supported by a national organisation – say a Community Growth Network – that provides support for people and communities who want to set up these institutions and can help develop capacity where it does not exist already.
Change can last. People need to feel it too. The Times has reported that Starmer’s aides have been influenced by the Biden administration, who have delivered change in terms of headline economic performance, but which has not translated into electoral support. Now the context is very different here, our electorate is nowhere near as polarised, but the crucial insight remains that delivery must be felt by people not just demonstrated by numbers on the 10 o’clock news that don’t resonate with their lives.
Morgan McSweeney, a key architect of Labour’s election win, has started talking about “connection” in place of “delivery”. This means that growth needs to be thought of both in terms of economic performance but also something that is felt in people’s everyday lives, something that they can see and experience in their local area. Supporting a new generation of community-level institutions like community business to form would signal not just an intent to make change last but so it resonates with ordinary people too.
Labour people like to look back at a speech Gordon Brown delivered to Labour conference in 2009. He lists the achievements of New Labour. Many did last, but others did not. And with the benefit of hindsight, we know that not all those changes were really felt by ordinary people, many of whom felt ignored. Labour has once again been granted the privilege of government. Having been trusted to deliver change, it needs to think about how to make change happen, how to make it last, and how to make sure it is felt.
