Joe Anderson: If we stay united, Labour can govern for a generation

As I look out of my office window onto the iconic Liverpool waterfront, all is calm and bright. In five days’ time, as we gather few hundred yards down the dockside for the Labour Party conference, I hope things remain just as pleasant.

Speculation about the party’s future continues to spill forth from Westminster and television studios, with accusation and counter-accusation about the state of the party. The political has become personal. Bone grinds against bone. Bad faith abounds.

Having been in Labour and trade union politics my whole life, I have had my disagreements and rows, my setbacks and victories. But I’ve also learnt along the way that if you don’t stay united, defeat is already in the post.

As a party, we need to get past this bickering once and for all or – as we have seen before to great cost – risk our great party splintering. This doesn’t mean sitting cross-legged around the spacious conference hall in the Liverpool Arena, chanting and holding hands. Disagreements are fine and differences can be accommodated.

All that are needed are two things. First, some mutual respect and solidarity. There is so much more that unites the Labour tribe than divides us. Everyone in the party wants to reduce inequality. We all want to tilt the pitch towards social justice.

Labour people, of all hues, want to tackle unemployment and poverty and provide decent public services, free from the choke-hold of austerity. We want to create an economy that works for ordinary people. A country less divided and unequal.

We might have disagreements about emphases, or about what our priorities should be, but we are all marching in the same direction. Our political tradition is broad enough to incorporate different strands of thinking. There are no “red Tories” in the Labour Party.

And when we do disagree, let’s do so in a comradely manner. I felt Chuka Umunna’s assessment at last week that Labour is “institutionally racist” was wrong and said so on Twitter. But I also agree with him that MPs should not feel bullied about their place in our party.

The gap between the Labour family and the Tories remains vast. When all is said and done, they believe in balancing the books on the backs of the poor as we hurtle off a hard Brexit cliff edge.

The second thing we need to do is to stay focused on the prize. The Tories are literally falling to pieces before our eyes. We may be witnessing their demise as a political force for the next generation, with moderate Remainers and hardline Brexiteers going their separate ways.

There is an unprecedented opportunity for a united Labour to fill this growing vacuum in British politics. But we will only be able to seize this chance if we can keep the entire efforts and talents of our party focused on the task. This means healing our rifts by being as inclusive and collaborative as possible. The leadership, grassroots and parliamentary party fighting together as one. At its heart, it means recognising and respecting Jeremy Corbyn’s mandate as leader. But it also means no mass deselection of sitting MPs.

I say all this because Universal Credit is being rolled out in Liverpool this week. Having borne the brunt of austerity cuts for the past decade and sweated blood trying to protect our most vulnerable from the savage cuts we have endured, the self-evident failures of UC risk pouring petrol on the flames in what is still the fourth poorest local authority in the country. At the risk of stating the obvious, politics is about people and making their lives better. Let’s not get distracted with our internal divisions and petty squabbles.

When delegates arrive in Liverpool for conference, my plea is simple: remember why we are all in this game – and let’s play as a team.

Joe Anderson is mayor of Liverpool.