Labour must focus on local identities, Drakeford tells UK party leadership

Mark Drakeford has argued that the UK Labour Party should prioritise local identities in its approach, as Welsh Labour has done under his leadership, rather than pursuing a “pan-British sense of Labour”.

Speaking at an event marking 100 years since Labour won the popular vote in Wales in 1922, the First Minister said Welsh Labour had “maybe noticed a bit earlier than some other places the strengthening and importance of identity in people’s sense of political affiliation”.

He noted that Wales was naturally a “more receptive territory for Labour politics” because of historical factors. But he cited Manchester as an example of how Labour can extend a focus on local identities nationally, noting “how well Andy Burnham has managed to capture that identity for Labour”.

He added: “To be Labour and to live in Manchester are identities that go very closely with one another. So maybe the trick is less to try and emphasise that sort of pan-British sense of Labour, and more to emphasise the fact that wherever you live, the Labour party is there for you, on your side, working for you, earning every vote.

“So it’s Labour works for Manchester, but it’s Labour works for Norwich, and it’s Labour works for Exeter. Wherever it is, it’s that identification between Labour and locality which you then build up into a sort of coalition that gets you to where you need to be across the UK.”

On Labour’s manifesto at the next general election, Drakeford said: “I think it’s very important that we have a manifesto that speaks to the bread-and-butter stuff that people see [in] their everyday lives, that they can see the reasons we put those things forward is they reflect authentic Labour values and principles.”

He stressed that the media’s perception of Labour’s policies should not be a focus, saying: “You’re never going to persuade the Daily Mail. There is nothing they will not condemn if it comes from Labour.”

Discussing the national party’s current direction, the Welsh Labour leader said the context of Covid should not be forgotten. He said his response to people saying Labour needs a better policy programme is: “Where has been the space?”

Drakeford added: “Who has been interested in the conversation about what your housing policy or education policy is if all you’re talking about is how to stop people dying from a disease that we didn’t know anything about?”

He said he had been trying for “literally weeks” to secure a meeting with the government about planning for a resurgence of Covid in the autumn and winter but said he had been unable to because ministers were too focused on keeping Boris Johnson in office.

“Can you get such a conversation? The ordinary business of government that should be going on across the United Kingdom is very, very badly disrupted by what is going on. Trying to get time in people’s diaries that are not about trying to get through this week, surviving the next crisis, is very difficult,” Drakeford said.