We must use days like this to build our communities

St George’s Day is popular in Wigan. Scouts and Brownies take to the streets for an annual St. George’s Day Parade, and the town comes out in force to mark the occasion. Despite the sad efforts of a few far right groups, it remains a celebration not of division but of solidarity. That sense of community has deep roots here. It is almost 400 years since The Diggers founded by Wigan’s Gerrard Winstanley burst onto the political scene, arguing for equality amongst men and women and land for the property-less poor.

Those principles of equality and social justice – if not their methods – mean as much today as they did then. With nearly a million young people out of work and a growing army of people stuck in insecure jobs on low pay, these are values that are still worth fighting for. It’s why Labour’s policies like the living wage, extending free childcare and freezing energy bills strike a chord with people who are trying hard, but find a system that is rigged against them. In a former coalfield community like mine, people are used to working together and supporting one another through tough times and good. But this is based on more than just the need to survive. Our identities are shaped through collective endeavour, whether it’s the local women and men who coach grassroots wrestling, rugby league and football teams, or the volunteers who run credit unions, libraries and foodbanks. It’s how we get to know each other, support each other and build trust. That’s why it matters that our communities have the power to make decisions close to the ground, not just because we get better solutions to our problems, but because it makes our communities stronger.

It’s why Ed Miliband’s offer to devolve powers to city regions and re-establish regional ministers means much more than Cameron’s Big Society ever did. The Big Society was based on the assumption that when the state gets out of the way, communities spring up to fill the gaps. As a result, as numerous reports from Civil Exchange to the Centre for Social Justice have found, the most affluent areas have swum, while deprived areas have been left to sink. Labour knows that the state still has a role to play, to support and enable communities to make decisions for themselves. Because while communities like Wigan might be asset-poor compared to some parts of the country they are rich in precisely the things we need to build a stronger, more sustainable society and economy; neighbourliness, solidarity, energy and creativity.

Harnessing those assets in all towns, cities and communities is the way to build a better society and economy. So much of the Coalition’s rhetoric is negative and divisive, pitting people against one another, but up and down the country there are people striving to help themselves, their families and their communities, proving through their actions that they reject this view of Britain. They badly need a government that is as ambitious, optimistic and energetic as they are, that sees the potential people have, not the problems they pose, and is determined to give them the power and support they need to change their own lives and communities.