Faiza Shaheen: To win power, Labour must improve its storytelling

When it comes to speaking out against injustices caused by this government and arguing for radical change to improve the lives of the many, Labour wins hands-down. But the question I get asked a lot by smug TV presenters is ‘why aren’t we doing better in the polls?’ Listening to Philip Hammond deliver his Autumn Budget last week gave us a clue. He talked of paying off the debt of “Labour’s Great Recession”, perpetuating a myth that the Tories have expertly narrated. The truth is we are not always as savvy at storytelling.

Whether on the economy, immigration or the welfare state, our values and narrative just doesn’t seem to be sticking where we need it to – with the persuadables. As I’ve been campaigning as a prospective parliamentary candidate for Chingford and Woodford Green, I’ve grown increasingly aware of the need to better engage with what we’re hearing on the doorstep, and not just leave the job of storytelling to the Labour frontbench. That is why CLASS has organised a big event on Saturday 17th November, welcoming everyone to think about how we can win more hearts and minds together.

There is a whole science behind political communication and so-called “framing” –  the way ideas are packaged through words, phrases and visual cues carefully selected to trigger responses from recipients. Tories used it expertly, giving us a bad guy. Not the bankers, but the Labour Party. They told us we had to “tighten our belts” and coupled this narrative of austerity with comparisons between the government budget and a household budget.

While Labour plays a straight bat, the Tories are shameless in cultivating lies by soundbite. Progressive politics should never imitate the shameless illusions and delusions of the Right, but there’s a compelling need to change how we make our arguments.

There has been some good work on the Left, the first being a report my then colleagues wrote back when I worked at the New Economics Foundation (NEF) ‘Framing The Economy’ . But collectively we’ve not taken enough of this on board. Labour’s messages make perfect sense to its supporters, but we need to think how those ideas relate to people’s emotions. Is the language used convincing from a personal perspective? Just as importantly, what’s the story? Not just the facts, not just the moral outrage, not even just the case studies. But a story that ties values and justice with things people feel or experience.

At the CLASS Boot Camp, we’re asking great thinkers like Ha-Joon Chang and George Monbiot to set out their vision. We’ll be holding workshops on the stories we should be telling on the economy, housing, immigration, climate change, the NHS and academisation. I’d love for you to join us.

Visit classbootcamp.com for more info and tickets.

Dr Faiza Shaheen is director of CLASS, the Centre for Labour and Social Studies.

@faizashaheen