Andrew Pakes MP: ‘We need blue-collar Labour, not Blue Labour’

Taking pride in where you live and work defines our sense of place.

Its opposite – the lack of pride – was one of the driving forces behind Labour’s victory last year.

There was the sense that Britain was broken after the psychodrama of the Tory years: fly tipping, insecure work, antisocial behaviour, unaffordable housing, 8am scramble for a GP appointment and control of our borders, the list went on.

Yet the sense of despair goes deeper than a decade of decline and Brexit. Britain has a broken social contract. The promise for working class families, like my parents’ generation, was that hard work would ensure your children would have better life opportunities.

Blue Labour isn’t entirely wrong

But whether it is looking at the data or knocking on doors, the story in Peterborough, and too many other places around the country, is the same.

The pace of change and failure of politics has created insecurity that too many people are ill-equipped to ride, whether that is immigration, low-pay and rising inequality.

The ‘Blue Labour’ answer to this maelstrom of change is social conservatism, nostalgia and rear-view mirror ideology. The world is changing even in left behind communities where expectations, especially among a new generation are changing. Blue Labour isn’t entirely wrong.

READ MORE: Which ministers have done the most and fewest broadcast rounds in year one?

It has done good work in attempting to re-fashion Labour and to engage with the great challenges of our age. Too often, however, it confuses social conservatism as the answer to economic disruption.

That’s why we should be talking about an agenda for blue-collar Labour and the centrality of economic pride, apprenticeships and rebuilding communities through work.

Certainly, the challenges are manifold. Who can doubt that Putin poses a serious threat to western democracy, that technology is recasting the relationship between individual, society, and state, and that the looming threat of climate catastrophe forces upon us changes to our economic life.

For a Labour government to be sustained beyond a single term of office we need a constant flow of challenge, new ideas, new influences, and willingness to engage the intellect as well as to wear out the shoe leather.

So many are living to work, not working to live

British socialism is the product of many disparate forces and influences: from Marxism to Methodism, from utopianism to cooperation, from feminism to trade unionism.

Blue-collar Labour rose through the trade union movement and social democratic traditions of economic reward through secure, safe and good work. Trickle-down economics without a steer towards people and place helped to strip pride out of communities through creating economic deserts.

This isn’t nostalgic, trade unions fought hard to life conditions and create better jobs but for too many of our communities the pride in powers, moving and making Britain better has been replaced by zero-hours, low-paid jobs. So many are living to work, not working to live.

READ MORE: Labour’s First Year: Three mythbusters to use on the doorstep

The new government is making progress on this through its employment rights reforms, industrial strategy and reindustrialisation, often in new green collar industries that will create prosperity and apprenticeships across the country. But we don’t make enough of this in our national story.

Labour best traditions have always been patriotic and made that a driving force of our economic renewal, for example Wilson’s white heat of technology. Economic pride, good jobs and investment in our communities is how we take on Reform and demonstrate Labour can make Britain better.

We need, not only growth to fix the NHS, our libraries and parks, but also lasting prosperity to give economic security, and reboot the social contract that connects work to getting on life.

Blue Labour risks missing the role of industrial and economic pride. It says that the sweet spot in politics is between social conservatism and economic leftism.

This leads the Blue Labour adherents to various conclusions: a robust focus on the nation, advocacy of the primacy of the family, and nationalisation of key industries such as steel and water.

This is not identity politics

This central analysis ignores the rapidly changing nature of our society. For example, families are important but we must recognise they come in all shapes and sizes.

Our purpose should be in creating ways for families to thrive not making moral judgements on how people live their lives. Labour can be a party of equality and at the same time be a party for the working people.

This is not ‘identity politics’, but instead our age-old egalitarian impulse.

And what about nationhood? In these desperate times it is right that we focus like a laser on defence of the realm, and boosting our armed forces.

Subscribe here to our daily newsletter roundup of all things Labour – and follow us on  Bluesky, WhatsApp, Threads, X or Facebook.

We must play a full role within NATO and the western alliance. The threats we face from Russia, China, Iran and others who seek to harm us, are real and present.

In the famous formula of Orwell, you can love your country without hating other people’s. Labour’s patriotism is never nationalistic. You can have a close affinity with your own place, community, and family without fearing and hating others’.

Our internationalism is not in contradiction to our patriotism.

On the economy, there is nothing inherently Social Democratic about state control of industries. This is an ongoing and unresolved debate within the left, often seen through the prism of Labour’s founding Clause 4 and its subsequent revision after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

As a proud member of the Cooperative Party, I have never seen state control as synonymous with social democracy. Indeed, the part of our tradition that I revere most highly, and believe offers the best options for the future, is the mutual tradition – the tradition of locally-owned locally run, cooperative ventures and industries.
This runs counter to Blue Labour’s seeming advocacy of the postwar Morrison monolithic approach.

This may have suited the 1940s command economy but is not necessarily the best solution in our modern complex economy.

Marc Stear makes more eloquent points around this and more widely in Prospect magazine.

Appeasers get eaten

Then there is the dominant issue of our age: immigration. Labour must construct a firm and fair system of both legal migration into the United Kingdom, and also a system of asylum for those escaping persecution and war. But this cannot be wrapped up in the language of xenophobia.

As Neil Kinnock pointed out in his Prospect interview this week, appeasers get eaten.

Our approach must be about the efficiency and fairness of the system, recognising our international duties, and also making the case that migration brings strength to the economy.

We simply cannot win a rhetorical arms race with Farage. We can, however, show that we are competent and we can make the system work.

In the spirit of Hegelian discourse let me offer my own mini-manifesto: we must reskill the UK. That means a revolution in the way we teach our young people new skills and offer new pathways into work.

The factors that we don’t need a glut of university-educated 21-year-olds when the tasks ahead are so clear. To build the houses we need brickies, chippies, sparks and labourers.

To care for the growing numbers of older people we need people skilled in social care. As with previous generations we are going to need young people to enter the armed services in greater numbers than we have seen since the 1950s.

This skills revolution must be backed by enhanced apprenticeship schemes in every part of the country and investment in technical colleges and FE colleges like never before.

Labour must appeal directly to the spirit of ambition and aspiration innate in every working-class community. We must make the case for skilled jobs with decent pay and sound prospects. In short, we need less Blue Labour and more blue-collar labour.

• SHARE: If you have anything to share that we should be looking into or publishing about this story – or any other topic involving Labour– contact us (strictly anonymously if you wish) at [email protected].
• SUBSCRIBE: Sign up to LabourList’s morning email here for the best briefing on everything Labour, every weekday morning.
• DONATE: If you value our work, please chip in a few pounds a week and become one of our supporters, helping sustain and expand our coverage.
• PARTNER: If you or your organisation might be interested in partnering with us on sponsored events or projects, email [email protected].
• ADVERTISE: If your organisation would like to advertise or run sponsored pieces on LabourList‘s daily newsletter or website, contact our exclusive ad partners Total Politics at [email protected].