New beginnings, old problems, different solutions

I have been the editor of LabourList for just over a year. I still sometimes meet old friends I haven’t seen for a while who congratulate me on my new job. But when it comes to the leadership of Labour (or, in our case, Labour-facing) organisations I am a comparatively old hand.

Over the summer Labour got a new national leader in Andy Burnham and a new Welsh leader in Ken Skates. Yesterday, Joe Fortune was appointed as General Secretary by the NEC and tomorrow either Joe Fagan or Michael Marra will be elected as Scottish Labour leader (click on the links to see my interviews with the candidates).

Labour doesn’t have a new broom so much as a whole new broom cupboard. The eagle-eyed among you will have spotted that all five of those names have something in common. This might be the moment for a tongue-in-cheek reflection that it will be nice to see men doing the sweeping for once…

As our brilliant chair Karin Christiansen has set out in her second of three essays today (you can read the first here, the final part will be published tomorrow) there is a great deal of cleaning work to do. 

READ MORE: Labour Party Conference 2026: Full LabourList events programme, revealed

None of which is to criticise the individuals who came before. The vastly changed landscape has causes far bigger than can be laid at the feet of any one individual – or a handful of them. And, at the heart of Karin’s argument, is starting with understanding that each of the new leaders should recognise that the response will also need to be bigger than any one person.

It is also true that none of these leaders will start with a completely clean slate. I was extremely bemused by the slightly breathless tone of reporting about leaks from Downing Street showing overlap in some of the policies being considered by Keir Starmer and those announced by Andy Burnham. If two people are keen on leading the same party, then it just seems patently obvious to me that they might have certain policy goals in common.

But what people who are too deep in the weeds of politics sometimes forget (but never should) is that policy is only a small part of what makes politics work. Policy is vital of course. Policy is how we change lives. But policy is the end point of politics – not the starting point.

Become a friend of LabourList and join our community. Our friends support our vital non-factional work and get access to exclusive content and events. 

In order to enact our policies, Labour must get elected and we must aim to do this at every level in all the villages, towns, cities, regions and nations of the UK. In order to get elected, Labour must understand who we are asking to vote for us and what they want. In order to understand our voters we must be embedded in our communities, we must reflect our communities, we must live, work and socialise in our communities. This is a job for thousands of us. It will be in enabling each and every one of us to play our part that any of these new leaders will succeed.

Andy Burnham’s biggest mission is about giving power away. About devolving decision making to the lowest possible level to bring it as close as possible to the communities that are affected. Sadly though, the debate about devolution in Scotland and Wales all too often descends into a fight between parliamentary systems with the further devolution of power ignored in the bun-fight. But I would argue that building power in these nations from the bottom up will be essential to any strategy for Scottish and Welsh Labour. Just as it is in England.

What is good for the country would also be good for a political party seeking to run that country. Decentralising the party at all levels would energise members, enable a plethora of ideas to be discussed, debated and decided, and decisions to be made by a far greater number of people. It must be the case that what we are arguing is good for Rotherham, Raglan, Roehampton and Rutherglen is also good for Reading Central CLP, Rhondda and Ogmore CLP, Redcar CLP and Renfrewshire Labour.

As Skates and Burnham continue to find their feet and set out their stall and the new Scottish leader joins them, the first task for Joe Fortune will, perhaps, be to work with them to take some of their power out of their sole hands and put it into those of the rest of us.  

Subscribe here to our daily newsletter roundup of Labour news, analysis and comment– and follow us on TikTok, Bluesky, WhatsApp, X and Facebook. You can also write to our editor to share your thoughts on our stories and share your own. The best letters are published every Sunday.

• • 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.
  • BECOME A FRIEND: If you enjoyed this, why not consider becoming a Friend of LabourList? Help sustain our journalism, and of course Friends do get benefits…
  • 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].