Labour needs to set out its vision for Britain’s future – and challenge the Conservatives to do the same

By Robert Allen

The biggest internal threat to Labour winning the next election is not a lack of progressive policies but its inability to articulate these into a coherent narrative for the future. Put simply, not enough people have a clear sense of what Labour is about and how it plans to improve their lives. Worse, by failing to articulate a clear vision for Britain’s future, we risk allowing the Tories to seize the mantle of change.

Contrary to popular opinion, not all of this is the fault of Gordon Brown. Labour’s campaign in 2005 was notable for its lack of ambition and emphasis on past achievements, including our handling of the economy.

But if the challenges pre-date Gordon Brown’s leadership, then he has not done enough as Prime Minister to articulate his own vision for the future of Britain. Brown has often been at his boldest when defining himself and his policies against someone else. For ten years, that was Tony Blair; one of Brown’s first decisions as Prime Minister was to scrap the planned super-casino in Manchester, a policy popularly associated with Blair.

The problem is that, in some areas where Brown signalled a rowing back of previous policy, such as public service reform, there was no proposal to replace it. The result has been that many of the reforms which Brown was frustrated at as Chancellor, such as academy schools, are those he has embraced as Prime Minister. Admittedly, it took Tony Blair more than a Parliament to arrive at his ‘big idea’ for domestic policy – choice and competition in public services – but Brown has failed to provide an alternative.

Brown missed an opportunity with his conference speech in October. Although that speech – with its rousing recital of Labour’s achievements that brought the conference hall to its feet within minutes – contained some genuine new thinking, it was too easily dismissed by critics as a greatest hits of past achievements and a shopping list for the future.

We should be rightly proud of our achievements in government, but we cannot campaign on them alone. The world has changed since 2005 – Labour faces an electorate that wants to know what each party is going to do to improve their lives and an opposition that has overhauled its policies and its presentation.

So, if that is the challenge for Labour, how do we go about meeting it? A start might be to define why we’re in politics, and why we’re in the Labour Party. Thatt’s a question I’ve asked myself, and one that everyone in the party – from the PM and his cabinet colleagues to you and me – should be able to answer with clarity and conviction.

For me, I’m in the Labour Party because I’m restless for change. Though I’m proud of the achivements of my government since 1997, I don’t want it to rest on them. When I see problems in our public services, I want to respond – not by opting out of the system, but by trying to improve it. I believe our ability to effect change is stronger when we work together for the common good than when we go it alone.

That’s my answer – it’s not perfect, but if we as a party can explain why we’re in politics, then we will begin to define the choice facing the electorate at the next election. Rather than just listing our achievements, let’s emphasise the thread that links them. Labour has used the power of the state to improve Britain; the Conservatives believe the state is the problem.

For me, this is the inherent contradiction at the heart of the right’s thinking – if, like David Cameron, you think the state is the problem, then why do you want to be in govenment? It’s up to Labour to articulate a convincing vision for Britain’s future and then challenge the Tories to do the same.