Spirit of Britain, Purpose of Labour Building a Whole Nation Politics to Re-Unite Our Divided Country
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Spirit of Britain, Purpose of Labour Building a whole nation politics to re-unite our divided country Edited by Stephen Kinnock MP & Joe Jervis 1 Spirit of Britain, Purpose of Labour Building a whole nation politics to re-unite our divided country Published in 2018 by Labour Future Limited Labour Future is a broad campaign with a positive vision for the future of the Labour Party and the future of the United Kingdom. It is committed to ensuring the Labour Party campaigns as a broad church, representative of all communities and opinions to secure a Labour government. Labour Future’s mission is to help unify the Labour movement, and reconnect with our traditional heartlands. Stephen Kinnock is Labour MP for Aberavon. Joe Jervis is co-founder of the English Labour Network and writes here in a personal capacity. Copyright Foreword and Conclusion © 2018 Stephen Kinnock Copyright Editorial Selection and Spirit of Britain section © 2018 Stephen Kinnock and Joe Jervis Copyright individual chapters © 2018 Anna Turley and Charlotte Holloway, John Mills, Trevor Phillips, Dan Jarvis, Emma Reynolds, Justin Madders, Sunder Katwala and Jill Rutter, Rowenna Davis, Steve Reed, John Denham, Will Straw. Stephen Kinnock and Joe Jervis have asserted their rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998 to be identified as the editors of this work. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations with clear signposting, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise – without the prior written permission of the publisher. References to websites were correct at the time of writing. The chapters in this volume comprise the individual views of their respective writers and should not be read as an official statement of policy, or as an endorsement by the editors. ISBN 978-1-78926-631-3 Edited by Printed and bound by Scantech Solutions Limited, East Sussex TN21 8AW Stephen Kinnock MP & Joe Jervis Contents Family Education, education, automation: preparing people for the fast-changing world 100 Dan Jarvis Foreword 7 Homes not houses: fixing the market for future generations 110 Stephen Kinnock Emma Reynolds Beyond the sticking plaster: a long term vision for health and social care 120 Justin Madders Restoring The Spirit Of Britain Stephen Kinnock & Joe Jervis Community The Road to Brexit: Cosmopolitan Britain – and the Communitarian fightback 14 A country divided by age, education, place, wealth – and values 15 The Labour case for managed immigration 128 Liberal Britain: Cosmopolitan dominance and the Communitarian uprising 21 Sunder Katwala and Jill Rutter More in common: bringing communities and individuals together 138 Purpose of Labour: To become a ‘whole nation’ party once more 30 Rowenna Davis When two tribes go to vote: what the 2017 election told us 31 Power to the People: handing back control to local communities 144 Why Communitarians should matter to Labour 33 Steve Reed Six seismic shifts for Labour 36 Where Communitarian and Labour values might continue to clash 45 Why the Hard Left and Liberal Centre each struggle to be ‘whole nation’ 46 Country Work, Family, Community, and Country: Our plan for the Common Good 52 A brave new Britain: shaping the union for the 21st century 154 Work 55 John Denham Family 58 A Labour plan for security and influence: Britain’s role in a changing world 164 Community 60 Will Straw Country 63 Conclusion 175 Work Stephen Kinnock Investment beyond London: a Labour plan for inclusive growth and good jobs 70 Anna Turley & Charlotte Holloway Meet Our Authors 179 Make or break: driving a manufacturing renaissance 82 John Mills Driving a Better Capitalism: how Labour and Business can shape a new kind Acknowledgements 185 of growth 90 Trevor Phillips Foreword Stephen Kinnock Polarisation and Paralysis Britain is a great country, but we are more divided than we have been at any time since the Second World War. Young versus old, city versus town, grad- uate versus non-graduate – these are the fault lines upon which our nation precariously stands. Whilst the EU referendum did not create these divides, it certainly sharpened and deepened them. But we are not only polarised, we are also paralysed. Our entire political system has fought itself to a standstill over Brexit – the government is in disarray and parliament is stuck in stalemate. This is because polarisation always leads to paralysis: the more tribal our country, the more fractured our politics, the more frozen our democracy becomes. This deadlock is a deeply troubling state of affairs, but what is even more concerning is that it’s a short step from limbo to meltdown. As Westminster and Whitehall grind to a halt, there is a real and present danger of this polit- ical paralysis spilling over into the private sector and provoking an economic crash that could destroy jobs, livelihoods and communities across the length and breadth of the country. The stakes could not be higher: if we get this wrong the consequences will be dire, for generations to come. The aim of this book is therefore to make a contribution to the debate about how Labour can break the impasse, by healing the divides and re-uniting our deeply polarised country. In our introductory chapter Joe Jervis and I outline the deep- seated causes of the crisis, and our authors then lay out a plan for the common good, based around the themes of work, family, community and country. 7 The central premise of our argument is the Labour Party, along with many of ment, that we challenge each other, and that we see the manifesto as a basis our sister parties in continental Europe, is stuck between the anti-capitalist, for discussion, rather than as a tablet of stone. statist, protectionist politics of the Hard Left and the open, globalised, defeatist politics of the Liberal Centre. And it is clear to us that neither can restore the An EEA-based Brexit can build a platform to heal the divides and Spirit of Britain, and neither can serve the true Purpose of Labour. break the impasse There is certainly not a consensus across our team of authors about what to do Instead, we must forge a new kind of politics, based on a plan for the common about Brexit. John Mills campaigned for Leave, whilst Anna Turley has called good – a plan that ensures new technologies and the fourth industrial revo- for the exit deal to be put back to the public in a People’s Vote. But what this lution serve the many; a plan to build public services that are both smart and book shows is that Labour Leavers and Remainers are ready, willing and able compassionate; a plan to empower and unite our communities; a plan to restore to come together, to forge a new politics for modern Britain. our ability to stand tall in the world, with credibility, authority and integrity. My personal position on Brexit is clear. For the best part of two years now I Britain desperately needs a Labour government as soon as possible, but we have been consistently arguing that the safe haven of the European Economic cannot do this by doubling down on our Cosmopolitan support base, and Area is the only viable option, for the following reasons: indeed it would be an abdication of our moral duty if we were to do so, because this would lead only to the further polarisation and fragmentation • By becoming a non-EU member of the EEA, alongside Norway, Iceland of our country. and Lichtenstein, the UK would be leaving the political framework of the EU whilst remaining in the economic one. The analyses and proposals contained in this book are certainly not compre- hensive or exhaustive, and our authors are all writing in a personal capacity. • An EEA-based Brexit would enable us to address the concerns about It’s a collection of ideas, not a collective endorsement of any particular posi- free movement of Labour that drove so many to vote Leave, as articles tion. However, each and every one of us believes that our country is crying 112 and 113 of the EEA Agreement enable the unilateral suspension and out for a project of national renewal, designed and led by a whole nation reform of any one of the four freedoms that underpin the Single Market. Labour Party. • The EEA is based on a well-established set of political and legal insti- Our movement is packed to the rafters with people who have a diverse range of tutions, and the EEA countries also have automatic associate status on brilliant ideas about the future of our country, and about the central role that almost all of the EU agencies. The UK would therefore have a ready-made our party must play in building that future. Many of those ideas underpinned seat at the table when EU policies and legislation are being shaped. our 2017 election manifesto, which energised and mobilised the public in ways that we have not seen since 1997. An EEA-based Brexit would therefore reflect the aspirations and concerns of both the 52% who voted Leave and the 48% who voted Remain, lay the foun- My hope is that Jeremy and his team will therefore see and take this book for dations for a new settlement with the EU, and ultimately shape a consensus what it is – a set of constructive proposals that, if they were to be adopted, around which to re-unite our deeply divided country. would help to forge a new settlement between the Communitarians and the Cosmopolitans, and in so doing dramatically increase our chances of forming But perhaps the most compelling argument of all, given the utterly shambolic the next government.