Lessons from the doorstep

By Lisa Nandy MP / @lisanandy

Last week was recess and a perfect chance to get out in the dark, cold, sheeting rain to canvass in the latest by-election. It’s not Barnsley (although I expect the weather is no better there) but Wigan where we have a council by-election.

It’s the first sustained campaigning I’ve done last May and it’s both easier and harder now I’m an MP and not just one of several candidates. On the one hand people appreciate more when you take the time to come and knock on their door but the anger over MPs expenses hasn’t abated and there is still a deep-rooted suspicion about elected politicians. The most dramatic change is in attitudes to the Lib Dems, and in particular Nick Clegg who attracted praise for the televised leaders debates during the election but has since become symbolic of the mistrust about MPs.

Though the economy dominates, there is much interest in how Labour will respond. My view – that Ed is right that after such a collapse in support we ought to take time to listen to people and work out where we went wrong – has some support, but the message on the doorstep is clear: we can’t rely on the government’s unpopularity. Labour has to stand for something worth voting for if we want to win again.

Wigan isn’t necessarily representative of the whole country but it is fairly indicative of an area where people identify fairly strongly with Labour but came to feel we weren’t always on their side. I’ve hear d loud and clear this week that we should be putting more emphasis on the people who work long hours for low pay and are squeezed from all directions with high gas and electricity bills, petrol prices, council tax and childcare charges. On the one hand they see their neighbours on benefits who they think are doing better off than them, and on the other they see bankers who earn more in their annual bonus that they will earn in a lifetime.

The mood is not of despair but of anger, and it encompasses every generation. The challenge for Labour is to take this anger, and turn it into hope. We could bash people on benefits or we could push for a living wage and minimum income guarantee, to lift people up not drive others down. We could attack the bankers, or we could tackle the structures that allow people to make obscene profits by playing fast and loose with our money. We could play to the chaos and division the Tories are creating or we could make the theme of our manifesto proper workplace rights, decent living standards and an economy that works for the many, not the few.

If we get this right we will go into the next election with a vision of a society that is united and optimistic, to counter the divided and fearful country the Coalition are creating. It’s a tall order, but after a week of listening to people in the rain I’m more convinced than ever that they need to hear this from us, and we’ve got to get to take the time to get it right.