There’s no substitute for policy thinking and campaigning

By Brian Duggan / @TheBrianDuggan

As we move closer to election day and the polls begin to tighten one thing is increasingly clear. There is no substitute for good policy thinking. You can spend money on billboards, pollsters, glossy leaflets and even gimmicks, but if you haven’t done the graft and got the ideas and arguments together, you run the risk of the press tearing you apart quicker than voters put the leaflets in the shred pile.

As Labour begins to put the detail on top of the core narrative of securing the recovery, protecting frontline services and building the new industries of the future, we are already starting to see a Tory party run fast out of ideas as well as direction.

For Young Fabians, sometimes unfairly derided as being a little shy to campaign on the ground, this is a time to step in and do some scrutiny of the Torries’ policy and detail. That’s why we’re re launching Young Fabian Policy News and have included a brand new feature ‘Opposition Policy Watch’ to look at some of the thinking coming from the Tory right and put it to the test.

If you’d like to contribute to future editions of Young Fabian Policy News please get in touch and if you’d like to receive further information from the Young Fabians, you only need to join.

The press are right to say that this election will be a big choice, a big battle of competing ideas and visions. I think Labour has done the thinking and the graft in policy terms, and I don’t think that the Tories have – it’s up to all of us to expose that.

But whilst it is true to say that Labour is winning the battle of ideas, we must also win the arguments on the doorstep. There is no substitute for hard graft and thinking in the policy sphere, but there is also no substitute for knocking on doors and speaking to voters to communicate those ideas and I know that Young Fabians across the country will be helping Labour campaign on the ground as well as win the battle of ideas.

To read Young Fabian Policy News please click here.

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1. Catchphrase politics is no substitute for policy substance
2. Be bold with power and begin a debate with voters about policy
3. Kellner: we must start thinking about opposition
4. Just what is ‘left wing thinking’?
5. It’s been a full week campaigning – but we’re making a difference