How Momentum is deciding on its post-pandemic socialist platform

Covid-19 has revealed the stark need for change in our society at the same time as revealing the failures of the main political parties to offer that change. It is widely accepted across all wings of Labour that the pandemic has been a missed opportunity for our party, and that the leadership has not managed to redefine the terms of the crisis or what solutions should come after it.

Despite a commitment to significant elements of a left policy platform in his leadership election, it now looks like Keir Starmer has missed a chance to set the terms of debate and direction – just as Labour tragically did in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash. He has even been outflanked on issues as fundamental as corporation tax, with the Tory willingness to adopt a veneer of redistribution leaving him flat-footed.

Worryingly, evidence suggests that young people in particular – a key part of any successful Labour voter coalition – feel increasingly abandoned by a party moving to the right and often appearing timid in the face of a government using the pandemic as an excuse to accelerate the transfer of wealth to the very richest. This unwillingness to offer bold solutions to a clearly failing system may have serious consequences for Labour’s electoral prospects, and most importantly for working-class communities desperately in need of transformational change.

The Conservative government’s handling of Covid-19 has further exposed the deep divides that separate the rich from the rest of us as the burden of the pandemic has been forced on workers, carers and the vulnerable. The recession it has unleashed may last for years, while climate change and spiralling inequality will continue to expose the destructive nature at the heart of capitalism.

Meanwhile, the ‘Kill the Bill’ protests opposing the government’s authoritarian agenda also signal a growing frustration with a lack of meaningful parliamentary opposition. Though Labour eventually opposed the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill, its abstention on the ‘spycops’ bill revealed a worrying willingness to accept extremely regressive Tory policies on crime and security.

Unless the socialist left can reverse this direction of travel, and offer a connection between this growing movement and the party, it seems increasingly likely that a section of our core vote will simply stop voting Labour. Outflanked by the Tories and outpaced by social movements, Labour needs desperately to reassert its relevance by offering a practical alternative – a post-pandemic socialist platform.

It is in this context that tens of thousands of Momentum members will over the next week participate in our first ever policy primary. They will vote on the policies they want to see Momentum fight for at this year’s Labour Party conference, and the policies they want to see Labour take up, now and in government.

Member democracy such as this is central to our new strategy, which also outlines Momentum’s key role in campaigning for socialist policy in the party and across society, working with our allies across the labour movement. The motions in our primary have been submitted by local Momentum groups, campaign organisations and trade unions and cover proposals from building back fairer after Covid-19 to properly funding childcare and the introduction of a universal basic income, as well as comprehensive reform of our political system and a green new deal.

Organisations such as Labour Against Racism and Fascism, Zero Covid and the National Food Service are already hard at work campaigning for the motions that they have submitted, and Momentum will throw its full campaigning weight behind the most popular motions chosen by our members.

If we want to rebuild our voter coalition, we can’t abandon fundamental change. Timidity is not an option when the centre ground is falling apart. If Starmer’s leadership is out of ideas or focused on the wrong ones, Labour members need to step up and set the agenda. Together, we need to put together a new policy agenda for the Labour Party that responds to the pandemic. Let’s get started.