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I want to start by thanking Progressive London, Tribune and the CWU for arranging this important debate - a debate we ought to be having across all sections of the party, not just in the PLP. As a new MP, propelled into politics because of the damage I saw the Tories do to my community in the North West in the 80s and 90s, I believe the Labour Party was, and remains, the best vehicle for social justice in the UK. And I have been impressed and proud of the progress we have made in government, particularly for children, an issue close to my heart as a former campaigner for The Children's Society. As a Hammersmith councillor I saw firsthand what the Tories do when they're in power, and while I firmly believe this new right-wing coalition will be every bit as damaging and divisive as predicted, I also believe we on the left have been given a significant opportunity to rethink the assumptions that have underpinned the last 13 years, and reconnect with the 4 million voters, and many members we have lost since 97. We're a party formed from our grassroots and it is this that still fundamentally marks us out from the others, and this that gives us our strength. I have felt the anger of party members about the top-down approach that came to characterise our time in office, and I believe we have made a mistake; to divide ourselves from the people who live and work in our communities, who knock on doors and listen to the concerns of the electorate day- in, day-out is a problem because it has left us out of touch with the concerns of many of the people we were formed to represent. That's why I'm so glad to be sharing the platform with Billy, because our link to the wider Labour movement should be our greatest strength in the struggles ahead. We need a different kind of politics, led by those on the frontline. We need to listen to what people are telling us - that they do not want to live in a society where the gap between rich and poor grows ever wider and - particularly for those on low incomes - where they do not feel rewarded for working hard and trying hard. I have great hope for the future of the party, as there is clearly an appetite to reflect, learn and renew our sense of purpose. But I am concerned by the view of some, that the way to respond to the insecurity we are hearing on the doorstep about issues like immigration is by perpetuating the solutions that have failed us in the past. At best we have failed to explain how the immigration system works and failed to delve beneath the concerns people have raised with us to understand what lies behind the insecurity they feel. And at worst we have used immigration as an excuse for our own social policy failures - nowhere more so than in the area of housing. It is no surprise then that we are hearing our own language reflected back to us on the doorstep. Instead of legitimising or ignoring those beliefs and assumptions it is time we challenged them. If we have learned anything in this election it is surely that we must not fall back on the assumptions and myths that have caused the very problems we are now faced with. Instead we must bravely and urgently confront some of the failures of the new Labour era, nowhere more so than in the area of housing . To do so is not a betrayal of Labour values, or a rejection of the past - it is to embrace Labour values, and create a vision for future built on the values of hard work, tolerance and fairness that we and the people we represent want to make a reality. Lisa Nandy was elected in May 2010 as Wigan's first woman MP. |
