Blue Labour can help Britain’s young people

Britain’s young people are playing a rigged game in modern society. Apart from those with access to the exclusive bank of Mum and Dad, school leavers and graduates alike face a grim world of expensive housing, insecure employment and low pay. And, as if this weren’t enough, the spectral Brexit demon continues to loom large on the nation, threatening to wreak further havoc on young people’s lives.

These issues have, of course, provoked a response from Labour, and the party has put forward numerous policy proposals to improve young people’s lives. Promises of reinvestment in education, of homebuilding, and to increase the pay of millions of workers – which would see a much-needed increase in the minimum wage and an end to the Public Sector Pay Cap – are excellent initiative that would undoubtedly help millions of young people in the UK.

But these policies are merely plaster over the cracks. Despite their merits, they won’t solve the structural problems that make life for Britain’s young so difficult. Increased school funding is imperative, but it will not necessarily reverse the high attrition rate amongst teachers, or end our class-ridden education system. Building more affordable homes is needed to liberate Generation Rent, but so is lowering demand for homes. Increasing worker’s pay will improve the lives of many, but it will not solve the cost of living crisis in and of itself. This is to say nothing of Brexit, either, and Labour’s lack of clarity on what it wants from Brexit (and whether it wants it at all) is cause for concern.

Simply put, the problems that Britain’s young people have to deal with are too complex to solve by simply tinkering with the current system. A new, revolutionary framework is needed, and I believe we should look to Blue Labour for the answer.

Yes, Blue Labour. The small, much-maligned political tendency that almost nobody has heard of. Formed in the aftermath of Britain’s financial crash, it believes in the value of work, the importance of the family and the need to maintain our communities. In practice, it’s a radical rethink of British society, from which Britain’s young can only benefit.

I understand that there are attractive alternatives for the young, and Momentum is a prime example. But Momentum is handing Labour a poisoned chalice. They may be able to marshal thousands of young people with their beliefs and their activism, but they also arouse the suspicion of Middle England, a constituency that Labour cannot afford to alienate. Blue Labour, on the other hand, offers an opportunity to bridge this gap.

Rather than just spending more on schools, Blue Labour believes in decentralisation and moving away from Westminster micromanagement to ensure that additional funding is spent effectively and schools are held to account by parents and the local community. Similarly on housing, Blue Labour recognises that building more affordable homes is only part of the solution. Community-owned housing and controls on immigration will reduce demand on our already limited housing stock. Blue Labour has also already decided to devote itself to the opportunities Brexit affords, minimising any damage it may cause. That aim is more comforting than Labour’s current ambiguity, and more in tune with what most of the electorate want.

Blue Labour isn’t a silver bullet, but its thinking is both radical and appealing. Little-known and small we may be, but it is Blue Labour that can best solve problems facing the young.

Archie Batra is chair of St Andrews University Labour Society.