This morning I’m delighted to bring you LabourList’s first pamphlet/ebook “One Nation Labour – debating the future”, edited by John Cruddas. It contains a wide range of contributions by some fantastic writers and thinkers, and as I say in the preface:
“Working with Jon on the production of this pamphlet has been a real pleasure, especially in terms of his willingness to engage with Labour Party members and supporters on equal terms. Only by doing that – and including them (and the public at large) in the conversation that the party needs to have about the way ahead – can Labour be sure of making One Nation into a way of governing, rather than just a political slogan.
It is my hope that this pamphlet is a step on the way to doing that, and that in some small way this may come to be looked back on as a step on the road to a manifesto for a transformative Labour government. But we’re not there yet, and the debate must continue. Over at LabourList we’ll be ensuring that it does.”
I’ll be publishing Jon’s introduction to the ebook in full later, but here’s an extract to give you a flavour of what the whole project is about:
To meet the challenges ahead Labour needs to broker new and durable alliances across civil society, developing its digital communications and initiating and sustaining campaigns that build up its capacity for electoral success. To achieve this, the policy review cannot just be an internal affair of the party nor can it wrap itself up in our own jargon and preoccupations. We need to go to where the people are and listen deeply to what they are saying, not just to the things we want to hear about banks and bonuses but to what we find difficult to hear, for example people’s sense of the unfairness of the welfare system and the recent years of immigration. And we need to respond to people’s concerns by creating public debates that engage with the issues. In the process we will define One Nation Labour and the political life of the country.
You can download the ebook here (or by clicking on the image below)- and don’t forget you can also join us for the launch event tonight.
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