‘Streeting’s right we must take on Farage – but wrong on how to do it’

Last week Wes Streeting was interviewed by Lewis Goodall at the Fabian Society Conference, and he had a lot to say.

The part I agreed with was when he said delivery alone wasn’t enough to defeat the far-right in Britain and that progressive parties must challenge them in the battle of ideas.

Correct, although entirely undermined by the rest of his arguments, which included regurgitating far-right talking points around diversity, equality and inclusion, so-called ‘anti-whiteness’ and (get your violins at the ready), the plight of men.

Challenging them in the battle of ideas doesn’t mean rolling over and appeasing all their unhinged arguments. If Labour continues kowtowing, minoritised people and community cohesion in the UK will continue to come under constant threat like we saw last summer.

Does the Dagenham model work?

I’ve written before about the influence of Labour Together, and particularly Morgan McSweeney on the Starmer project.

McSweeney’s lore is now well known, fawningly covered by journalists who have him on speed-dial in various outlets – the man who defeated the BNP in Dagenham by focusing on delivery, before crushing the Corbyn left and masterminding Labour’s historic rise to power. History truly is written by the victors, it seems.

It stands to reason then, that Starmer has embraced McSweeney’s philosophy – the way to defeat the far-right is simply by delivering for people. It worked in Dagenham after all, the argument goes – bins were collected, graffiti cleared up, streets cleaned and suddenly, the BNP threat disappeared.

This, Labour now argues, is how to defeat the coming storm that is Musk-backed Reform and the wider far-right movement in Britain. Govern competently and deliver for people, so they are no longer tempted by radical alternatives to improve their lives. It’s a neat theory with one minor but striking flaw: it won’t work.

READ MORE: Streeting and Farage spar over NHS fees as SoS vows to ‘take on the populists’

For one, the Dagenham model is not scalable. Residents will happily give their local councillors a kicking when the basics aren’t getting done.

Clearing up the bins and streets may have been enough to satiate voters locally, but realistically those same voters knew full well their local council was not responsible for the wider issues that drew them to the BNP rather than say the Greens in the first place, namely immigration policy. A national government won’t receive the same grace.

Secondly, Biden’s tenure shows that simply growing the economy and displaying a semblance of order and competence (before the end) are not enough to ward off the forces of the far-right. Whilst the US economy growth numbers were the envy of Europe, inflation meant middle-to low-income households didn’t feel the benefit, and Trump’s offer of a system overhaul remained attractive.

Reform’s popularity has not happened in a vacuum

How does Labour plan to radically improve people’s lot in life, when they now appear to be turning their back on the central premise that returned them to power – restoration of public services – in favour of a return to failed austerity?

The rise of Reform’s popularity has not happened in a vacuum. In the wake of the financial crash, Brits faced swinging welfare cuts, the degradation of public services, and the longest period of wage stagnation since the Napoleonic era, all the while surrounded by a media environment that constantly pointed the finger of blame at migrants (don’t worry, I’ll get to this).

Economic growth won’t cut it if people don’t feel the difference in their pockets and see it in their communities. Labour’s policy platform lacks the ambition or radicalism to deliver on either front.

Finally, and perhaps most crucially – even if Labour pulls off a miracle, and for the first time in recorded history austerity leads to improved living standards, infrastructure and public services (don’t hold your breath), by focussing on delivery alone Labour will have already lost the air war. What Streeting calls the battle of ideas.

By not tackling the far-right head on, Labour is allowing the hostile anti-migrant rhetoric and narrative that led to the horrifying events of last summer to fester and grow.

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Since the financial crash, the right-wing media in this country have ramped up their anti-migrant blame game, in scenes reminiscent of Weimar Germany. Aided by self-serving politicians, the media fed people who were struggling to make ends meet a daily dose of propaganda that blamed their woes not on the top 1% who triggered the Wall Street crash in the first place or who made a killing off the back of it – but on migrants.

Refugees who don’t look like you travelling from afar. And economic migrants from Europe. All here to take your jobs and your benefits (the irony of it being both seemingly lost on people), or even worse the old racist tropes of fighting age men coming to take your white women.

This is the environment that led to Brexit. That led to Go Home vans and the Windrush Scandal. That led to the ludicrous Rwanda scheme and the asylum system being entirely shut down by the Illegal Migration Act, and ultimately the racist riots on our streets last year.

The media have endeavoured to whip people into a frenzy for over a decade, the Conservatives have capitalised every step of the way, and now fertile ground has been created for Reform and the far-right to make hay out of.

If Labour continues to cede this ground, to lean into anti-migrant rhetoric (as they already have been at the behest of McSweeney’s brainchild Labour Together) and appease the far-right, it won’t matter what they deliver for people, Reform will grow.

Fighting the far-right

As I keep saying, cosplaying as Farage doesn’t work. Just ask Rishi Sunak, or the swathe of Tories who lost their seats not to Reform but the Lib Dems.

Employing his machismo shtick about ‘smashing’ gangs, ‘cracking down’ on small boats and ’rounding up’ people for deportation doesn’t work. Voters can opt for the real thing rather than your pale imitation.

If Labour is serious about defeating the far-right in Britain, their first real test lies ahead in the local elections. If they want to quell the rise of Reform they need to ditch McSweeney’s playbook and find another one.

One that doesn’t just focus on improving the economy but on challenging the anti-migrant rhetoric that has led us here. Embracing popular policies like lifting the ban on the right to work for people seeking asylum and making the positive case for migration.

READ MORE: ‘Starmer must learn from Trump: Act fast, prioritise visible change, and keep showing voters you’re on their side’

People move, they always have, always will. Britain is a country built on migration. Our public services were built by migrants from countries we colonised and brutalised, as were key pillars of British culture including our national dish (Chicken Tikka Masala).

Refugees, who our violent border policies are killing en masse in the Channel, are usually fleeing wars we started in countries we conquered. I mentioned Weimar Germany earlier, and comparing our times to the 1930s is a cliche but a cliche for a reason.

History tells us where the appeasement of fascism leads. Where Streeting is half right is that if Labour wants to defeat the far-right, it’s time to engage in the battle of ideas, but not by entertaining and appeasing far-right talking points.

Call out fascism and racism for what it is and challenge it. Conduct a national inquiry into the racist riots of the summer and turn the page on this shameful chapter of migrant-bashing. Start telling a positive story about a multicultural Britain which the quiet majority will embrace.

Fight the far-right. Or you will foster the conditions for them to win.

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