‘Unity isn’t built by silencing one side of the family’

Paula Barker is one of the candidates standing to be deputy leader of the Labour Party. LabourList has approached all candidates for their pitch.

I am running for Deputy Leader of the Labour Party because I am deeply concerned about the current direction and culture of our Party. I am worried about the lack of geographical and political diversity at the top of our Party. We are a pluralist party at our heart, and we cannot keep moving away from that.

We all know the scale of the challenge in front of us. Demographically, our movement is being pulled in different directions. In our great cities, populations are younger and increasingly tempted by alternatives to Labour on the left. In so many of our towns, meanwhile, we face a disenfranchised older working-class with deep, long-standing concerns over immigration and asylum. Both realities are true and both matter – if we want to govern, we cannot afford to ignore either.

Pluralism across our Party

That’s why I believe we must foster pluralism across our party in good faith. Not the endless dominance of one faction over another, but a genuine recognition that our broad church only works when every voice is respected. Harold Wilson understood that. Clement Attlee lived it. They didn’t always have agreement, but they built a common purpose that carried the whole movement forward – and delivered real, lasting change for working people. 

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As Deputy Leader, that is the tradition I would seek to carry forward. The Labour tradition. Because we must never forget unity isn’t built by silencing one side of the family. It’s built by recognising difference, bringing people together, and forging that collective sense of purpose.

I am also deeply concerned about the consistent watering down of our electoral promises – we have seen this with the Hillsborough Law.

Watering down ‘Hillsborough Law’ would be a betrayal

This is legislation the Prime Minister promised at Labour Party Conference, in my city of Liverpool. After over a year in Government, the delay has been one thing, but any watering down would be a betrayal. And not just a betrayal to my city and the families and victims of that fateful day in 1989, but to the victims of the Horizon scandal, Grenfell, the Infected Blood Scandal and the many other tragedies where the State has had a hand in the resulting devastation. 

We must deliver this legislation in full – no if, no buts. And as Deputy Leader this would be something I would pursue relentlessly. As I hope would any other of my colleagues running for the position. 

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Communication is central to this role. We need a Deputy Leader who can relentlessly amplify our mission, who can explain it in plain language that cuts through to both the young renter in Manchester and the pensioner in Middlesbrough. If elected, I can assure you I will be a voice that doesn’t shrink from the difficult conversations – a voice that consistently seeks to unite us. 

Finally, I just want to say the support I have received from colleagues has been deeply touching and humbling. It is an honour to run alongside so many talented women from across our Party. 

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