We need a Labour government

By Joan Ryan

The Labour Party learnt a hard lesson in the 80s and 90s, that you don’t win power without presenting a platform that has wide appeal, across the social divides. There has to be something for everybody. Otherwise why vote Labour?

I know how devastating it is when middle class voters turn their backs on Labour. I was one of many Labour MPs to lose my seat in May. It wasn’t great news for me. It’s a lot worse for the millions of people who now find themselves under attack from a right-wing government. I believe Labour must once again build a broad coalition of support. That is why I am uneasy about the analysis suggested by Ed Miliband’s campaign. It appears to recommend a ‘core vote strategy’ that concentrates on the low paid and skilled working class at the expense of the middle class. Of course that is tempting, but it isn’t a recipe for victory.

We are told that since 1997 Labour has lost 1.6 million DE voters: the ‘unskilled working class’ and those who depend on state support. The loss of these voters, some in marginal seats, many more in safe Labour seats (but no less a loss for that) is a serious concern. However, we should be just as worried about the loss of 2.8 million C voters – the skilled working and lower middle class voters who make up a majority of the electorate.

Even when you add in C2s to the ‘core vote’ we’re still only talking about 44% of the electorate. We lost both working and middle class votes and we desperately need to win back both.

It’s very easy to turn in on ourselves and preach to the choir. But haven’t we been here before? This is what we did after Margaret Thatcher’s victory in 1979. We rejoiced in our own internal debates and arguments, failing to notice that the general public were looking on in disbelief. At the following election, in 1983, we lost even more heavily.

It’s silly to caricature the construction of the ‘new Labour coalition’ as the pursuit of middle class votes. It was more a recognition that Labour should not condemn the people who had climbed up the ladder in life and had ambition and aspiration. The party had spent decades trying to secure decent well paid jobs and comfortable homes for people left behind. Why should it despise these people now that they had reached those goals?

We should face up to the uncomfortable truths of the electoral landscape. The majority of voters are not working class. 50% of skilled working class women voted Tory. The working class voters that turned against Labour at the last election were lost overwhelmingly to the right. We cannot rebuild our coalition or return to power on the votes of the least affluent alone.

We cannot stitch together a series of transactional offers for narrow segments and hope it looks like a plan for government. We need to have wide appeal. When we’re not afraid of promoting enterprise and aspiration we win elections. When we win elections we end up introducing policies such as the minimum wage and recognition of trade unions in the workplace. We end up investing in schools and hospitals. We end up running Sure Start centres to help the less privileged, and we tackle poverty, bringing down crime.

It is as true as ever. If the less well off are not to be forgotten we need a Labour government. We don’t get a Labour government unless the majority of people can see a reason to vote for it. None of this is ‘new labour orthodoxy’ it is electoral common sense.