The power of localism is key to winning back communities across the country

Much has changed in our country since 12th May 2010, when David Cameron and Nick Clegg’s Rose Garden pact precipitated what has been, by so many measures, almost 11 years of national calamity. Cuts to police, rising crime, stalled wages, and increasingly insecure work have characterised over a decade of austerity which continues to damage the living standards of hard-working families from Perth to Penzance. 

Still the fifth-richest economy on Earth but: by 2018, rough sleeping had risen by 165%; by 2019, child poverty had increased by 22%; and by 2020, Sir Michael Marmot’s landmark review identified how for the first time in a century, life expectancy has stopped increasing, actually reversing for the most deprived women in Britain.

Many economists such as Nobel Laurette Paul Krugman warned about the economically illiterate austerity, commenting in 2010 that Britain “boldly goes in exactly the wrong direction”. But austerity was always no more than a political agenda designed to align the UK to American ‘Chicago Boys’ conservative doctrine.

Despite the damage, at the 2019 general election voters again rejected Labour as a national government. Instead, they gave the Conservatives their fourth consecutive general election win with 13.96 million votes, the second highest number ever recorded by any party. Contrast the largest number of Conservative MPs since 1987 to what is Labour’s lowest since 1935 and it’s heart-breaking.

What’s happened to cause this to befall our party can be examined elsewhere. But it’s clear, the party that founded the NHS then later saved it, introduced the minimum wage, cut crime, increased standards of living and brought peace to Northern Ireland was given a cold shower by too many voters. This places the onus firmly on all Labour members to do what’s needed to win back their trust.

While Keir Starmer is taking the actions to put our party back on the steep path to national government, it’s helpful to recall the advice of Thomas ‘Tip’ O’Neill Jr, the 47th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives: “All politics is local”.

Look around the country at local Labour councils, demonstrably on the side of their residents: Plymouth City Council’s young carers scheme; Knowsley Council’s growth hub for businesses; Durham County Council’s empowerment of community groups. Labour has stepped up – feeding children in need, strengthening communities, and providing the leadership to shape future prosperity around our country.

In my borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, as well as supporting residents with free home care, free breakfast for all primary school children and low council tax, we launched Britain’s first local industrial strategy with a world-leading academic institution, transforming our borough into a global hotspot for media and STEM industries, aligned with the aspirations of young and old.

But nowhere has the power of localism been more apparent than in our responses to the challenges thrown at us by the global pandemic. Time after time, as our inept government failed on looking after care home residents, failed on PPE and failed on testing, it was local government – led by Labour – that rose to meet those challenges.

And even as the government basks in the glow of the successful vaccine roll-out, we should not forget that the vaccine delivery is a triumph of the NHS and of the new engaged communities across the country working together for a greater good in a kinder world.

That unity of shared purpose stands a chasm away from the braying mobsters of the Conservatives’ Covid Recovery Group – the very same breed of politician that encouraged and promoted austerity and its damaging rewiring of the UK economy, and would do so again at the drop of a hat.

Britain deserves better. At our best, Labour’s values are Britain’s values. As the local elections approach, we must work with and win back each community at a time, with an insurgent, local, optimistic vision that builds on the learnings of the last 12 months, towards an alliance inspiring change that works for everyone.