We are comfortable with open debate again

By Lisa Nandy / @lisanandy

At long last voting has started in the Labour Leadership contest with ballot papers sent out on Wednesday. I took part in a radio panel programme on the day but the discussion was overshadowed by the publication of Tony Blair’s diaries. So, we spent an hour talking about whether politicians a) lie b) drink too much c) fiddle their expenses or d) all of the above.

I thought they might want to focus on the relationship between Brown and Blair but thankfully it seems even the media has become bored with that one. Instead the new, artificially constructed soap opera starring David and Ed Miliband has replaced it and seems to have the potential to run and run. Probably more remarkable is the lack of appetite for personal attacks amongst the candidates but I suppose that doesn’t make for such interesting reading.It is frustrating, because I think that what is being overlooked is an important, though subtle debate about the sort of society we want to live in. During the election campaign we came across people on doorsteps across Wigan who naturally allied with Labour but felt that we were no longer on their side, They were working long hours for low pay and were genuinely struggling to make ends meet. On the other hand they felt that because we had tied so much help to being in receipt of benefits, they were actually worse off in work. And many of them felt that the extremes of wealth that exist in this country were an insult to the work they were doing.

I think Ed Miliband speaks to that. He has shaped his campaign for the leadership around a vision of society where jobs aren’t polarized around low and high skilled work, but provide room for those in the middle. He sees the solution to the problem of low pay as a living wage and minimum income guarantee, not knocking down those on benefits. He shares the frustation of people in Wigan and across the country that there is increasingly a two tier workforce between agency, temporary and migrant workers and the rest, and sees that the solution lies in strong, responsible unions with wide membership and enforceable workplace rights.

I hope Ed wins this contest because I share that view, but whoever wins, we will have to tackle these problems. Tony Blair’s views seem outdated – the message of the doorstep was – at least in my constituency – loud, clear and consistent. The cheering prospect is that it seems the leadership candidates are in agreement that there is room for all of these ideas. Very shortly, the elections to the shadow cabinet will kick off in earnest and I expect all of these discussions will be played out again. The debate is far from over, but it feels that at last we are comfortable with open debate again.