Harnessing the New Generation

By Anthony Parker / @anthillel

When Ed Miliband became the leader in September, he announced to his audience that a “New Generation” had taken charge of Labour; optimistic about our country, optimistic about our world, optimistic about the power of politics. A powerful phrase indeed, however more could be done to harness this new energy in order to keep our party fresh.

As Chris Hughes has already said, many thousands have joined the party since the election, and “Young Labour membership in the North West has risen by over a thousand.” I count myself proudly as one of those new members, someone who wasn’t involved in politics before, but after seeing the formation of a Tory-led coalition which betrayed its voters (and the level of cuts planned) I felt compelled to join the fight. Despite this influx of young members into the party and despite the importance attached by our leader to the new generation, one question still occupies my thoughts, when will our ideas be asked for?

I posed this question on twitter earlier, shouldn’t Labour hold more consultations with young members about shaping policy rather than just have stand-alone groups, and the response given was one of agreement, a feeling that we were not being asked our opinions let alone having them listened too. Whilst it is true when people may say that there is a Young Labour wing, all too often we feel boxed away to the side and thus our views are not taken seriously in the wider debate. So much for a new generation.

What I propose is a process of engagement. We need more interactivity such as setting up group workshops for young members with Labour MPs present in which ideas on various ideas of policy, such as education, health and other issues are debated, so that we are given a chance to voice our opinions. The hope would also be that they take place outside the M25 in all different parts of the country in order to address the views and the needs of all of the country. Surely if there is the will behind setting this up, a way can be found.

When we see an attack on the future of this country, with the scrapping of EMA and the raising of tuition fees symptoms of an attack on the young people, surely our voices matter more than ever. We wish to take part in the debate of the direction of the party; we wish to take our place as the “New Generation.”