A progressive agenda to defeat the Tories

By Alice Perry

In August a by-election was held in St Peter’s, Islington, the ward where Boris Johnson lives. St Peter’s is characterised by extreme inequalities of wealth, where streets of £2m townhouses stand alongside large blocks of social housing. St Peter’s was the number one target local Conservatives. When the by-election was called their candidate said he “smelled blood”.

The by-election was called in challenging circumstances for Labour. The previous Labour councillor resigned over allegations of benefits fraud. Labour’s opponents, particularly the local Liberal Democrats, fought an extremely negative campaign. The cynical message of their literature targeting voters in social housing was all politicians are liars and crooks, there is no point in voting, your vote doesn’t matter, stay at home, don’t bother, politics is not for you.

Islington Labour ran a positive campaign. We focused on how the council’s progressive policies were making life better for ordinary people. One leaflet included “10 reasons to vote Labour” and listed easy to understand, popular policies. These included: introducing free school meals for all school children, cutting the chief executive’s pay, paying all council staff the London living wage, opening the borough’s first Citizen’s Advice Bureau, investing in apprenticeships and jobs for local people, building high quality affordable family housing and lifting a ban on barbeques in the parks.

The Saturday before the election saw rioting in Tottenham, which over the next few days spread throughout London and other English cities. We carried on campaigning every night that week. People were pleased to see Labour out. Voters we spoke to agreed that the recent dramatic events demonstrated the urgent need to build a fairer society.

One young mother told us that she had never voted before. Her mother had never voted. She hadn’t thought politics for was her. Now she felt it was time to get more involved. She decided she would do something positive and go out and vote Labour. She planned to take her daughters to the polling station with her so when they were older they would know how to vote too.

We spoke to lots of people who had never voted, or who used to vote Labour but hadn’t voted in any elections for years. Among voters we’d spoken to our turnout was over 90% in some estates. Islington Labour’s progressive policies and positive campaigning gave people reasons to go out and vote. If we repeat this on a national scale, talking to voters, block by block, street by street, with a progressive and positive vision for the country, we will win the next election.

Alice will be speaking at “A progressive agenda to defeat the Tories” on Monday at 7.30pm in The Abbey, Hanover St