10 top tips for the Labour leadership in 2015

Policy isn’t enough – Labour needs a strong offer to the British public in May, one that is based around the financial and societal security that the Tories aren’t offering. That means building the homes that Britain needs, getting people back to work in quality jobs with decent pay and ending the travesty of long-term youth unemployment. We’ll be looking for Labour to make this real with ambitious manifesto commitments on affordable housing, worker representation on pay boards, a living wage for all state employees and contractors (for starters) and much more besides. But if anyone thinks that policy alone will be enough to win the election they’re deluding themselves. Labour needs to offer much more than that – a clear and coherent vision of a better Britain that everyone has a stake in. To do that the party must seek to reclaim the one crucial component of electoral success that eludes all major parties at the moment – trust. That’s won back by a politics of working with people, not just promising Good Things with policy. Thankfully Ed Miliband has promised Arnie Graf’s return to help with this. But we need it soon – actually, we needed it six months ago.

Door knocking can’t do everything – in 2010 outright disaster was averted by ground campaigns in key seats. In seats where the Labour Party employed an organiser, the swing from Labour to the Tories was far lower, because the party’s organisational capacity – crucially in terms of volunteer action and voter contact – was far greater in those areas. However, whilst ground organisation can play a crucial role in tight races, it can only ever have a marginal impact. The voters that Labour activists speak to still need to have a sense that Labour is providing them with a credible alternative plan for government – that means trust (as above) and a simple narrative of why to fire the Tories and hire Labour. Ground troops without air cover lose elections. So Labour needs to start winning better media coverage too. It’s clear that over the Christmas and New Year period Labour HQ has been working a fairly tight “grid” to keep news stories that are positive for Labour (or more often negative for the government) ticking over whilst most people are on holiday. The government meanwhile seem largely to have taken two weeks holiday and put their feet up. This has not gone unnoticed. Labour’s press team have made the newscycle their friend over this notoriously quiet period, allowing them to catch the Tories off guard. To win the air war (or just to mitigate the difficulty of an election in a difficult media environment) Labour will need to be proactive as well as reactive to seize a chunk of the media turf each day. That means no more quiet days from now on until May 7th…at least…

Less time in Westminster, more time doorknocking – that said, one of the key advantages of doorknocking – or anything else that involves politicians and activists coming face to face with the electorate – is that it’s a handy way of not only taking the temperature of the country, but also disabusing yourself of any inaccurate impressions you might have about what “the people think”. The more time people spend in Westminster the more they think that people care about the foibles of SW1. They don’t. Nor do they hear most of the speeches, announcements and scandals that take place there. Go and listen to people. Spend as little time in SW1 as possible – you’ll benefit immeasurably. To this end, shadow cabinet and even senior staff should be encouraged to spend time on the doorstep. The key test for anyone in SW1 between now and May 7 is simple: does spending time here really help more than knocking on a door in a key seat?

Crosby may be strong, but the rest of them are weak – Labour faces one of the most formidable and unscrupulous campaigners in modern politics – Lynton Crosby. However, the rest of the Tory campaign is nowhere near as strong. Grant Shapps is the notional political lead of the Tory campaign as party chair, yet he’s a figure of fun in Westminster and his much-lauded “Team 2015” is still a weaker imitation of Labour’s ground game. As for the Number 10 political operation, it makes unforced errors that Labour attack dogs like Michael Dugher and Jonathan Ashworth are well placed to exploit. Let’s not underestimate the Tories – but let’s not overestimate them either. They can be beaten.

PPCs and Organisers should trust themselves – candidates and their organisers know their patches better than anyone else. The party should respect, empower and include them in campaign decision making. And we should encourage them to be creative in the way they handle the local factors that affect their seats. A “one size fits all” approach in the months ahead will mean suiting no-one’s requirements for an ideal campaign. We’re fighting 100 by-elections now – that means HQ need to let go and trust our troops on the frontline.

Don’t be too defensive – the three biggest issues with the electorate at the moment are immigration, the economy and the NHS. Labour’s campaign runs the risk of being defensive on all three. Clearly announcements in late 2014 on immigration and the economy were intended to “stop the bleeding” on areas of polling weakness for the party. But even on the NHS, Labour’s plans are all too often framed as “defending” the NHS or “stopping” the Tories. That’s far too defensive. So let’s talk about “rebuilding and improving” the NHS for example, rather than just aiming to take it back to 2010 all over again.

Ed: up your game on fundraising – yes the Tories have a huge money advantage but just as with the air war this shouldn’t mean we concede it. Instead we need to raise more money than ever before to fight back. And the lead should come from the top. One of the best ways Ed Miliband can put himself into Number 10 is to raise money direct for key seats. Perhaps even try a public appeal from him to big donors to match small donors for a couple dozen named seats?

No last minute stitch ups for selections – Sure there’ll be late retirements – but don’t think you can get away with parachutes. Those days are done. Finished. Finito. End. People will notice. Social media will amplify the complaints of local parties. The ensuring furore puts seats at risk. So far selections in this parliament have been better than usual with even respected military veterans like Sophy Gardner and Dan Jarvis as well as ex-Leader’s Office staff like Lucy Powell and Polly Billington having to fight hard to get selected. That’s how it should be. So let’s not even think about going back to stitch ups, it’s not worth it.

Scotland the brave – Murphy must be bold and fast. His early moves on Clause IV and income tax (acting with speed and force even without the permission of the “London leadership”) show he can do this. But the change needed is dramatic and time is almost out. That means change to party structures, policy and the party’s very relationship with voters. For too long Scottish Labour has appeared to care more about its own issues than those of the Scottish people. The SNP have presented Murphy with an opportunity though, as they seem to care more about the constitution than about the economy or schools and hospitals. Murphy must recast Labour as the party of ordinary Scottish voters real concerns – and put the SNP on the spot.

Learning from UKIP, the Greens and the SNP – rather than spending all our time complaining about these highly successful insurgents and saying that we can’t out-UKIP, out-SNP or out-Green them – instead let’s spend more time working out why they’re so successful and seeing what we can take from them. Be it the popularity of UKIP with blue collar voters, the success of soaring SNP membership or the passion of the Green’s political mission. Let’s figure out why they have these strengths and grow stronger as a result. Because if Labour is to succeed in an increasingly varied political marketplace, we need to do so by being the best option, not the least worst of the viable options for government.

Mark Ferguson is the Editor of LabourList. Marcus Roberts is Deputy General Secretary of the Fabian Society