Diane Abbott: I am delighted to be guest editing LabourList

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I am delighted to have the opportunity to be guest editor of the week on LabourList.

Labour is often referred to as a family. For some, that has great connotations of warmth and togetherness. Unfortunately, for others it conjures up divisions, rivalries and perpetual arguments.

We do not have the luxury of allowing the Labour and trade union family to be the latter. We have a Tory enemy which has inflicted the worst decline in living standards in generations, which whips up racism as a distraction from that and which is itching to take sides with the US in some new conflict or another.

We are literally the best hope for millions of people that there is an alternative, that a better world for them and their loved ones is possible.

That means that Labour is currently preparing for government, and it needs to address the tasks ahead with the utmost seriousness.

Throughout this week, I want to allow the Labour family to discuss the big tasks ahead of us in every area of policy. I also want to show that politics is about winning for all our people, and engaging them in that task.

We need to look outwards and build alliances, and we need to look upwards to identify the great prizes, economic, social, cultural that are there for the taking.

All we need is a clarity of aims and a unity of purpose to achieve them.

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