‘Change and the Labour Party: the need to keep up the spirit of campaigning’

A few days ago Emma Burnell, after reflecting on the changes coming into effect in workers’ rights and child poverty, wrote on LabourList that:

‘The temptation to move on to the next campaign can be overwhelming. People who spend their lives talking about laws, making laws, campaigning to change laws, abolishing laws and implementing laws sometimes forget that the process of making, breaking and changing the law is only the start of a journey of change not the end of one.’

Going on to highlight the importance of embedding the work that has been done, so that it cannot be undone, we are given an important consideration for how we approach policy. After all, lifting 450,000 children out of poverty is a far greater good if there isn’t a risk of them being plunged back into it by a future government. 

READ MORE: ‘Hold on to this feeling: Change is a journey’

But I contend that it is ‘the temptation to move on to the next campaign’ that is vital to the spirit and future of the Labour Party. Government and politics in general are Sisyphean, continuous although with an aim for progress and often a hope to not have to retread old ground, although some may wish to.

Keir Starmer was right to warn, in his 2023 conference speech, of a need for “a changed Labour Party. No longer in thrall to gesture politics. No longer a party of protest. A party of service.” So too though was Angela Rayner when she said that “as a party, and as a movement, we cannot hide, we cannot just go through the motions in the face of decline. There is no safe ground and we’re running out of time.”

There is a balance to be found. This Labour Government has shown that it can deliver for people. Whether it be in the health sector, which has seen reduced wait lists in the NHS, faster ambulance response times and more patients being seen in A&E within 4 hours. In Education, where free primary school breakfast clubs and library spaces are to be introduced or in house building where solar panels are to become more common on new homes.

Any list of this Government’s achievements I would have space to draw up here would fail to be exhaustive but it is worth considering that Sir Alan Campbell, Leader of the House of Commons, has noted that “this parliamentary session will see the delivery of over 50 Bills.”

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But we know more needs to be done. Still too many challenges exist. The cost of living leaves too many people straining, while the cost of business challenges industry far too much. There need to be more speciality training places for doctors and our graduates need to feel that their time of study was worth it. 

We do need good Government and progress that can’t be reversed at the drop of a hat. However, we also need that next step, that next commitment, to inspire and drive our efforts in government and in campaigning. When these are taken together, the Labour Party can be a gadfly, challenging and hopefully spurring action and progress.

That is why Branch Meetings, CLP Meetings, Conferences and Motions are so important. Not just because this can help maintain and build the activist and support base that parties like Labour rely on. But because discussion, questions and proposals are in the spirit and DNA of the Labour Party and so that we don’t lose ourselves I want to see us embracing this wholeheartedly in the future. 

Members attending meetings, raising ideas and issues, speaking and writing to their councillors, parliamentarians, mayors, assembly members and any other representatives that can be thought of. Taking every chance. With a genuinely listening ear on the part of representatives being the other necessary side of the coin.

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The National Policy Forum is one such opportunity, with the consultation open already and running to 11th June 2026. Members are able to make submissions across a range of subjects. More than an exercise this, like every meeting, motion, conference and correspondence, is a chance to affirm that the spirit and future of the Labour Party is one where members and representatives push forward together.

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