We need to change to win again

By Ed Miliband / @Ed_Miliband

In the 1990s, Labour realised it had to change if it was to win again. Now, in this leadership election, we’ve again been having a conversation about how we can renew our party and reconnect with the electorate after a tough electoral defeat. We’ve talked a lot about where we went wrong in the past, as a political party and as a government. And none more so than in these last ten days, in which the old personality battles – the pyschodramas of the past – have again resurfaced.

What we need now is to move on from the division which contributed to our election defeat, to move away from the factionalism that got in the way of our common values and to change the old ways that too often held us back in government.

I’m standing in this election because we need to turn the page on that old style of politics if we are to win again. That means reconnecting the party, not just at conference but in the whole way the membership is involved in policy-making and in ensuring we are grounded in local communities.

This campaign seeks to embody that approach, so I’m humbled that 1,000 people have signed up to volunteer and be involved, and I’m inspired that more than 500 have made small donations to help fund our organisation in just the last few days.

Please watch the video, share it with your friends and sign up to our campaign.

But more than just a new way of doing politics, we also need a new set of policies if we are to win again, based on our common values. We cannot go into the next election still as the party that says the Iraq war was right or that tuition fees are here to stay. We cannot fight the Tories arguing that low-wage, low-skill jobs are good enough for our communities or that we don’t need to radically overhaul our banking sector. If we do that, the public will say we haven’t changed, we haven’t learned. And they’d be right.

So we need change. We need to establish a new vision for the future of our party and our country. We need to re-discover the radicalism that delivered the minimum wage, devolution to Scotland and Wales and the rebirth of our public services. And we need to re-find our values and our confidence. Because without our values and confidence in the Labour Party, there will be no victory.

It’s my values and my beliefs that have driven me to stand in this election. It’s my values that drive me to campaign hard for a living wage, and for a high pay commission, to address the gap between rich and poor that is so damaging to our social fabric. It’s my values that lead me to believe that we need stronger protections for people in employment, including by creating more time outside of work for families – because, as a father too, I will never forget what comes first for people. And it’s my values that guide me in my support of a Graduate Tax and a new political economy for the 21st century, one which seeks to fundamentally redress the inequalities of the system, rather than merely offset them.

I am standing at this election because I believe our party needs profound and credible change if we are to win back the trust of the British people; if we are to build an economy that works for people; if we are to create a more equal society with the space for everyone to flourish; and if we are to forge a more engaging, more accountable and more democratic state.

And our campaign is being heard. I am incredibly honoured that nearly 100 CLPs have voted to back me and that I have the support of UCATT, Unity, the GMB and, as of today, UNISON. Please watch the video above, sign up to join our growing campaign, and become part of the change.