BUILDING BRIDGES LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW FOR THE COUNTRY
SALLY GIMSON Fabian Society 61 Petty France London SW1H 9EU www.fabians.org.uk
Fabian Ideas 652
First published December 2020 ISBN 978-0-7163-0652-8
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To find out more about the Fabian Society, the Young Fabians, the Fabian Women’s Network and our local societies, please visit our website at www.fabians.org.uk FABIAN IDEAS NO. 652 BUILDING BRIDGES LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW FOR THE COUNTRY
SALLY GIMSON
INTRODUCTION 2 Lessons from Bassetlaw
SUMMARY 4
CHAPTER 1 6 From the grassroots
CHAPTER 2 13 On the edge
CHAPTER 3 20 An offer for the countryside
CHAPTER 4 24 The importance of connection
CHAPTER 5 30 Building stronger communities
CHAPTER 6 36 Skills and people
CHAPTER 7 40 Immigration and discrimination
CHAPTER 8 45 The future
CONCLUSION 49
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 51
ENDNOTES 52 INTRODUCTION
LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW
One of the features of Labour’s disas- having selected me, I was de-selected trous 2019 general election that has been by the national party a week later, and most commented on was the fall of the a candidate, considered to be more ‘Red Wall’. Labour lost 43 seats across left-wing and loyal to Jeremy Corbyn, the Midlands and the north in the 2019 installed. If there was to be an general election, adding to the six it experiment in whether the command lost in 2017. All were seats which had and control type of socialism favoured voted to leave the EU in the referendum by Corbyn and his supporters could and all were in manufacturing and win in the heart of England, this was it. ex-industrial heartlands. Their fall Labour did not just lose Bassetlaw, led to the end of almost 100 years of the constituency returned a Con- Labour dominance in these traditional servative MP Brendan Clarke-Smith working-class constituencies. with the biggest swing in the There has been a lot of debate about country to the Conservatives. From why those places were lost, but very being a Labour-held seat just two few practical suggestions about how years before – John Mann had won to win them back. Where better to look with a majority of 4,852 in 2017 – it has than Bassetlaw, a seat which saw the become a very safe Tory seat with the biggest swing to the Conservatives current MP there enjoying a majority of in the country? 14,032. The decline of almost a quarter For a brief moment in 2019 I was in Labour’s vote share was the greatest Labour’s candidate for Bassetlaw, the experienced by the party in any constit- northernmost part of Nottinghamshire, uency at that election. In December 2019 which first voted Labour in 1929. I was Bassetlaw broke all the wrong records. selected as an act of rebellion by the So what happened and are there local constituency party which feared any lessons that can be drawn to help they were going to have a “Momentum Labour next time? candidate” foisted upon them by the I came into Bassetlaw as an outsider national party. Despite the local party from London, although my roots are
2 BUILDING BRIDGES: LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW FOR THE COUNTRY much further north in Edinburgh. Labour can organise and build alliances But I built up links in the constituency between different kinds of voters, and and had already spent a lot of time in particular older voters who have in the East Midlands fighting the abandoned Labour for the Conservatives rural Tory seat of South Leicestershire all over the country.1 10 years before. Bassetlaw is a place There is much more in common which was once open to the world between people in Red Wall seats and with workers coming from all over those in cities where Labour did well the country and further afield to work than many would have us believe, in the Nottinghamshire mines. The not least because the smaller towns people, who remember working closely in the Midlands and north are where in dangerous conditions with others, are many parents and grandparents of city direct and to the point with each other dwellers live. Organising, and finding and with outsiders. policies and ideas which build wide Of course, each constituency has coalitions of voters against the Tories its own issues but some of the ideas across cities, towns and the countryside here from Bassetlaw will also be vital and across generations will be key to winning back other seats in other to winning in 2024. It will only be by areas Labour lost. There are lessons showing how we can build back for all about how to win here which apply of Britain that Labour has a chance of to the whole country, including how winning the next election.
3 SUMMARY
Throughout this pamphlet, I discuss of a green-centred, healthy, sustainable a number of policies to help Labour and affordable lifestyle, shared by all. reconnect with the voters it has lost, particularly with older voters in the My key recommendations are: East Midlands and the north, in places • Support local Labour parties to build like Bassetlaw. Labour needs to recreate structures everywhere which can relationships with these areas, town connect with voters, particularly by town, village by village, street by valuing the strength of members street. It should feel like renewing who can organise, campaign and old friendships, reconnecting with build life-long caring relationships the non-conformist and creative with neighbours to rebuild trust impulses of the Midlands and northern in the party. England and rediscovering the early • Devolve power to English regions 20th century socialist sensibilities of with local representation for smaller rural life. Bassetlaw and places like it communities, so that policy is built must become central to the story of around those in Northern and Britain again, and Labour needs to Midlands towns and villages as well respect what they have to offer and as those in cities and the south east. be rooted in them once more. This is • Develop a green new deal that uses about devolving wealth and democratic assets already on the ground: the control and giving areas like Bassetlaw old mines, connections to the grid, clarity of purpose about their role in and large tracts of land in places like the country’s future, as part of a whole Bassetlaw which mean the constitu- Britain strategy. As a priority we should ency could power the country again bring people together, particularly those with green energy. who are less well-off, older and isolated, • Invest public money in fast fibre making sure towns and villages are as broadband to every home in areas connected and as innovative as cities that most need it. like London. Labour should lead on • Set up a democratically-controlled, intergenerational projects, encouraging bus-centred, green, affordable the next generation to stay or return to transport system specifically the towns and countryside with an offer to join up towns and rural areas,
4 BUILDING BRIDGES: LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW FOR THE COUNTRY
so people can connect more easily • Make sure there is local and have access to public services control over the environment and a local nightlife. on issues which unite the coun- • Rethink town centres and villages try, including encouraging biodi- so they are places people want to versity, artisanal apprenticeships, live, work and study and enjoy funding flood defences, cultural activities. Learn from other incentivising sustainable countries about incentives to attract farms and protecting public and retain young people and fam- country parks. ilies: through grants, an artistic • Encourage and give financial offer, excellent schools, a life-long backing to local leaders to put on learning offer, forest nurseries education and community-building and specialist colleges to train programmes, working with CPRE, high-skilled nurses, construction, the countryside charity, to build engineering and digital workers. bridges between Black, Asian and • Build sustainable, affordable minority ethnic (BAME) residents, eco-housing and retrofit local younger immigrant communities houses so communities are powered and older white communities. by green energy. • Learn from the German • Ensure families and older people experience about financing and have easy access to well-funded welcoming refugees to villages out-of-hospital telemedicine and and small towns. local small shops. Sally Gimson December 2020
5 CHAPTER 1
FROM THE GRASSROOTS
For Labour to succeed, it needs to be is important. Safe jobs, safe streets and rooted in local communities. That is being safe globally are all linked to as true in London as it is in Bassetlaw. people’s need for security – and Labour We cannot take anywhere for granted. has an obligation to offer that sense of My first experience of standing as security as a bare minimum. The loss a councillor was in a supposedly safe of the Red Wall seats reminds us that seat in London. We lost it for the first we lose voters if they believe we are not and last time because the Tories built interested in building a secure future for a coalition against us which united Britain in the world. middle-class streets and working-class When the general election in 2019 was estates in local grievances – and Labour announced, Bassetlaw was not a serious did not have the relationships locally to Tory target seat, unlike the neighbouring counter that. It taught me that to win seats of Bolsover, Ashfield, Rother Valley trust as politicians we could not just and Don Valley. The local Conservative present people with a shopping list of party in Bassetlaw was in disarray after all the good things we had done for a dismal performance in the district them (or were going to do for them), we council elections in May (winning just had to talk to people and listen to them. five seats out of 48 seats). It had not even We had to work on building connections selected a parliamentary candidate. street by street, and between communi- In contrast, the election machine ties. It is what I have done as a politician that Bassetlaw CLP had built was ever since, convincing different formidable, mainly thanks to then MP communities that they have shared John Mann and to his wife, Jo White, interests reflected by the Labour party the deputy leader of the district council. and that we can act together for change. This was demonstrated in May 2019 Understanding grassroots values is when Labour gained four more council key to building these connections. For seats, including three new seats in rural many Labour voters across cities, towns wards, taking Labour’s majority on and rural areas, being safe and secure Bassetlaw district council to 26.
6 BUILDING BRIDGES: LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW FOR THE COUNTRY
Despite the scale of this victory, the leaders to be councillors and campaigns local Labour party knew that Corbyn on issues that matter to local people – and Brexit were huge issues on the like Bassetlaw Hospital – through doorstep, and that it had secured votes developing one-to-one relationships, on in a local election which would not be so a street by street, village by village basis. easily won in a national one. In Septem- They have successfully built alliances ber 2019, when John Mann announced between old working-class estates and he would not be standing again, many middle-class villages with typically Tory in Bassetlaw CLP quickly concluded voters. And they have begun to engage that its only chance of success was with the younger, newer communities having a moderate left candidate who with less attachment to the area, who understood the constituency. A handful are moving into the new housing of credible local candidates including which is being built. Councillors have the leader of the district council had put addressed concerns which matter to themselves forward, but none of them them like flooding and the adoption were expected to be shortlisted. of roads. They have a string of positive So when the application process was election results to prove it. reopened for 24 hours to encourage One of the most impressive examples more female applicants, some party of relational leadership in Bassetlaw is members took matters into their own councillor Josie Potts from the ex-min- hands. On a rainy afternoon in October, ing village of Manton, near Worksop. I received a call from James Naish, People respect her and when they are a young district councillor. “We are in trouble, automatically go to her. She looking for a good woman candidate,” became involved in the local Labour he told me. “You are our last chance.” party when she was a school cleaner I protested. I was an ex-Camden and joined Mann’s inquiry into heroin councillor who was ardently pro-remain. addiction which was wreaking havoc But it did not put him off. They wanted, in her community and directly affecting he said, a non-factional moderate her family. I remembered reading woman to be their candidate, someone Mann’s 2006 Fabian pamphlet The Real who could represent Bassetlaw strongly Deal2 arguing that heroin addiction in parliament and who understood should be treated as a medical problem community organising. The applications to help people rebuild their lives. Josie closed at 5pm that day and by then it helped formulate that approach. And was 3.30pm. I knew what I had to do. she remembers Mann afterwards In hindsight, it was odd that James literally tapping her on the shoulder approached me – a complete stranger – to ask her to stand as a councillor. In but that has been the style of the Labour Manton she has relationships built over party in Bassetlaw. The leading activists many years and which she continues are smart, direct and rely on commu- to nurture. She raises money for local nity organising principles. The party football teams to go on tour to Brazil, typically identifies and recruits local deals with problems from anti-social
7 FABIAN IDEAS NO. 652 behaviour to benefits, and makes the being selected by the local party, there- Easter bonnets for the annual parade. fore giving their favoured candidate She commands thousands of votes for a free run. How could a middle-aged, the Labour party. middle-class woman, and a remainer, On the other end of the spectrum possibly have a chance of being selected is councillor Kevin Dukes, an ex-city in a working-class Red Wall seat? businessman and IT teacher. He too It was wrongly assumed that the had roots in the area having been to Josies of this world wouldn’t dream of secondary school in Worksop. He had supporting a middle-class Londoner. found Mann one day in his kitchen And it was her backing that helped asking him to stand in the villages me win others over. “I say it as I see it,” around the Welbeck ducal estate, an idea Josie said in her gravelly voice when Kevin first thought preposterous. But he I first met her. “I don’t mess about.” knew many people on the estate and the It was a nerve-wracking experience nearby villages because his wife runs when I first met her because no one the Harley Gallery for the estate owners, wins anything in Bassetlaw Labour and he lives in the old gardener’s party without her. She is in her 70s, cottage. As a result, Kevin became only she has seen everything, and she is the second Labour candidate to win a no pushover. She climbed into my car council seat in the ward. He is a leader, and we spent the afternoon on the although of a very different kind to Josie. estate chatting on doorsteps, winkling It turned out I was another attempt reluctant party members out of sheds at finding a leader to create a coalition and standing in kitchens discussing bus around. Admittedly I was recruited stops. All the people we met had worked when all credible local options had for Josie at election time, for which they been blocked. But I was a person were rewarded with boxes of chocolates whom the local party believed might left in their porches. Only at the end be able to build an alliance between did Josie pronounce her verdict. “You’re Bassetlaw – a constituency which felt all right. I’ll support you.” Josie and forgotten, neglected and badly treated Jo’s support and their ability to bring nationally – and London, that might others with them was enough to swing help bring in investment. Constituencies it for me at the selection hustings, like Bassetlaw feel cut off and want where we won by a close margin in people who have connections and the final round. networks outside the area. For the local The unwavering support of Josie, Jo, party, particularly one which has been Kevin and many others – and a properly so successful with relational politics, constituted democratic ballot – meant having their candidate, supported by nothing in the end. I was deselected by their activists, was essential. party HQ barely 10 days after official When I was shortlisted, I was Labour photos of me as the candidate considered by NEC representatives had been published in the local press. to be a candidate who had no hope of I fought back with lawyers. We enlisted
8 BUILDING BRIDGES: LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW FOR THE COUNTRY the help of the media to challenge the villages, for Corbyn and “Momentum” party, but to no avail. as Josie explained, was widespread. My deselection was not just about me When I was canvassing, women on though – Bassetlaw CLP as a whole felt estates round Worksop would politely like it was being punished. Josie issued come out and explain why they could a plea to Corbyn on local television. not vote for the Labour party and then She rang senior shadow cabinet the men would emerge and shout about ministers, including Emily Thornberry Corbyn, Hamas and the IRA and how MP, to give them a piece of her mind. they could never vote for the party while Jo White told local TV networks and he was leader. There was a visceral newspapers about her dismay. A team distrust in many local households of the of activists went to Nottingham to fact that Corbyn had met with Gerry demonstrate against my deselection Adams and IRA volunteers openly at with placards. Jo remonstrated directly the height of the Troubles in the 1980s with the NEC. The local Labour party’s and that he consistently refused on TV unique character was being directly to specifically condemn IRA violence, attacked and Bassetlaw residents quickly saying instead that he condemned cottoned on. And local people saw the all violence.3 They also distrusted his Labour councillors and activists who support for organisations such as Stop they respected publicly humiliated by the War. Yes, these perceptions were the central Labour party. undoubtedly stoked by the popular Ultimately the swing against Labour media – but a large number of people in the country was too great even for in the constituency are ex-servicemen the best MPs and the strongest CLPs and women. I spoke to people on the in Nottinghamshire. Brexit, combined doorstep who had been sent to Kosovo, with Corbyn, crystallised into a distrust Afghanistan and Iraq by a Labour of the Labour party generally. Even government, causes for which their Gedling, where a popular Labour MP friends and relatives had died and they worked with an excellent Labour district had been injured. Above all, in spite of council, fell to the Tories, who now hold the toxic legacy of Iraq, these residents eight seats in Nottinghamshire: a clean lamented the weak, anti-interventionist sweep except for the three seats in position that the party had adopted over Nottingham itself. But in Bassetlaw the recent years including scepticism even result should have been closer and now towards Nato. the mountain to climb to come back is It is not just in Bassetlaw. The army steeper than it should be. historically has recruited young men Labour under Corbyn lost because and women from areas across the it did not share the values of its Midlands and the north and asked them voters in Red Wall seats, particularly to risk their lives when the country about the armed forces and the royal was under threat. Their children and family. The hatred within the ex-mining grandchildren no doubt will be asked to villages, not to mention the Tory-leaning do so again. Numerous small villages in
9 FABIAN IDEAS NO. 652
Bassetlaw from September and October many sitting Labour MPs who under- onwards are decked with war memorial stood their constituents persuaded their displays, often designed and set up by voters that Corbyn would never win and local residents. The latest trend is for that they would personally make sure black aluminium cut-out “Tommies” the party changed if electors trusted and knitted poppies. During VE day them locally. When that did not happen celebrations this year on the Manton and indeed Corbyn and the central party estate all social distancing was aban- appeared strengthened by Labour’s doned while people partied. relative success in that election, voters Remembering the fallen is a saw their Labour MPs – including many unifying community activity across they liked and admired – as powerless. class and political sympathy, and As indeed they were. especially among older people. And There are important lessons for the local Labour party which is still the national party to learn from the so embedded in Bassetlaw understands grassroots here. that. Labour members and councillors First, relationships are important – in the constituency run the Royal between the party and voters on British Legion and many remembrance the ground, and between local and activities. The biggest event I went to national parties. Polling, while vital, is was the Legion’s gathering in Worksop not a substitute for relationship-build- organised by Labour activists for the ing, particularly as we can end up, as anniversary of the D-Day landings. The Deborah Mattinson admits in her book Worksop Miners Welfare Band and the Beyond the Red Wall, not polling the Seaforth Highlanders pipes and drums people we take for granted.4 Although band from Mansfield were the main the Conservatives have been winning attraction. Loyalty to the Queen is also since 2010, it masks the fact their a Labour value in Bassetlaw and what relationships with voters have been I thought of the monarch was the first fraying at the edges too. Their party question that Audrey, an activist in her has been hollowed out locally, and they 80s asked me. On this too, Corbyn, the have relied on a centralised machine, republican, was distrusted. money, good messaging and the The Tories were able to turn that international momentum of nationalism distrust of Corbyn – together with to win so decisively. Brexit – into a coalition against Labour, If local Labour parties can maintain creating a populist English nationalism and build relationships with voters in which squeezed the party, just as Labour places like Bassetlaw and, importantly, in Scotland had been squeezed by are supported to do so from the centre, Scottish nationalism five years earlier. the party can win and hold on to seats. What also became clear during the To do this, the party has to identify and election campaign was that Labour did champion local leaders who understand relatively well in these East Midlands what is going on and what is changing and Northern seats in 2017 because on the ground. Our biggest relationship
10 BUILDING BRIDGES: LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW FOR THE COUNTRY assets, and those who are often old friendships. In Bassetlaw, people do overlooked and taken for granted in believe in Labour values of fairness and local Labour parties, are the older and equality for everyone as the support for retired women who know everyone footballer Marcus Rashford’s campaign in the community and their families – for free school meals over the holidays and bother to chat to them. One of the has shown.6 The Labour party has to things which working as a community have faith in people, particularly older organiser at Citizens UK taught me, is people. We need to understand and that it is easy to overlook real leaders woo them and take an interest in their in communities because they are often lives, their families and the things that not the loudest people in meetings, matter to them, wherever they live in the or those who hold office or positions country. Keir Starmer has understood of power. But if you ask them to bring this in his initial positioning in which 30 people to a meeting, they can do it he has distanced himself from Corbyn because they know everyone and people with op-eds in the Daily Telegraph will go out of their way for them. Most about VE Day and talking about his recently we have seen female organising own patriotism. be incredibly successful in the United Having these conversations is States at signing up voters in Georgia. not just about better messaging and We need to recognise and celebrate an effective digital campaign on those local leaders on the ground in the Facebook directed from the centre, UK Labour party too. And make sure nor can it be pandering to what people that we are also using digital tools to in London think it is that people in reinforce the relationships they have the East Midlands want. It needs to already, learning from the success of this be informed by what is happening in the US. on the ground and be a respectful Second, having a relationship with two-way process. older voters does not mean always Third, the party must build organi- agreeing with them. In fact, it can mean sation where there is none, and reward agreeing to disagree and winning the parties which create relationships across wider argument to build a coalition communities, develop local leaders and around the country. Labour Together’s win elections. Surprisingly perhaps Election Review 20195 is clear that Labour failed to think this infrastruc- Labour should be finding the things ture was important in “safe seats”. we have in common between cities, The tragedy of Bassetlaw was that it was towns and the countryside rather than winning locally in 2019 because it had what divides us. It does mean taking a local party which had organised to the views of the north and Midlands do just that. It had resisted what had seriously and being able to have happened in neighbouring Ashfield, the argument and understand how Bolsover and Mansfield where the people and views shift. Our relation- Labour party had imploded and the ship-building should feel like reviving independents had taken over locally.
11 FABIAN IDEAS NO. 652
The local party had recognised that candidates also need to be credible Labour’s decline in support was directly and high calibre leaders who know aligned to seasoned Labour voters how to create coalitions both within growing old and dying and no longer their communities and within the leaving the workplace gates on election country. The seats Labour needs to day and being told to go to the polling win back will demand the strongest, stations and vote Labour by the local most enterprising MPs the Labour union activists. party can offer because the scale of the They had watched seats like challenge is enormous. We should not Sherwood and Mansfield turn Tory and be afraid to stand Black candidates in understood that it was because members white-majority constituencies. And we were relying too much on the traditional must never again make assumptions working-class communities to come about what people want. We also need out and vote when in fact the housing to identify ‘the Josies’, the key workers estates which were built on the collieries who are leaders and who have done were bringing new people into the area. great things in their communities and These were people with fewer local kept them going during the Covid-19 connections where the umbilical cord crisis. Constituencies like Bassetlaw had been cut and generational loyalty want MPs who can strongly represent to Labour had gone – and to whom it them in parliament and understand was also essential to appeal in order the local community. This way, policies to win a majority. can be designed which do not leave But it seemed as if no one nationally their constituencies behind – whether much cared one way or the other. This that be proposals to evenly distribute was not only an insult to the local wealth, tackle climate change, or parties and MPs, but to the people who embed public services that work for were expected to vote Labour regardless. everyone. That process of identifying That respect for local parties talent cannot just be done from London. who represent and understand their Regional offices and constituencies communities means we need to retain need to be empowered to work with the principle of a local party choosing its organisations within the Labour party parliamentary candidate. The candidate from the trade unions to the Fabians does not necessarily have to be a local, and Labour Women’s Network to start but does have to be chosen locally. talent-spotting local candidates for We cannot go back to a command and 2024 and building a pool of candidates control system where candidates are who can be both local champions who imposed on local parties just because understand their communities and they are loyal to the leadership. New outstanding policymakers.
12 CHAPTER 2
ON THE EDGE
Like many Red Wall seats, Bassetlaw employees working in Bassetlaw in stands on the edge of places. It consists 2019 were paid a gross average wage of two towns, Worksop and Retford, of £489.10 per week7 which is reflective and an emerging new town built on of the preponderance of low-skilled the site of an old colliery, Harworth jobs and an under-qualified population, and Bircotes, where housing and though when compared with other employment growth has been targeted. places now in the Sheffield city region The constituency boasts no fewer than like Chesterfield and Doncaster, average 72 villages. Although the Bassetlaw is pay in Bassetlaw is higher.8 Only an in Nottinghamshire, it is too far from estimated 16.3 per cent of residents Nottingham to feel very connected to are qualified to NVQ Level 4+ (ie to the city. The Worksop side of Bassetlaw degree level and beyond), compared to is almost in South Yorkshire and people 40 per cent of the English population, go to Sheffield to do their shopping and and only 29.1 per cent of residents work to Doncaster when they need trauma in high-value managerial, professional care. Most importantly in Worksop they and technical occupations.9 Some support Sheffield football teams. In 22 per cent of the population are over Retford the people look south towards 65 compared to 18 per cent nationally. Newark and east towards Lincoln. By 2036, 30 per cent of the population Being on the edge of other places is forecast to be over 65 compared means losing out on infrastructure, on to only 16 per cent in Camden and good jobs and on power. People who live 20 per cent in Sheffield.10 The median in Bassetlaw in full-time employment age in Bassetlaw is the highest in earned £553 a week in 2019, around £34 Nottinghamshire at 45.7, though all the less than the average in the UK, with seats in Nottinghamshire lost to the women earning almost £90 a week less Tories have a median age over 40 (the than women in other parts of the country. national average is 40). In Nottingham But wages for jobs actually in the by contrast the median age is 29.7. constituency are much lower. Full-time Life expectancy is a little bit lower
13 FABIAN IDEAS NO. 652 and childhood obesity a little bit tribution centres have been built there. higher than in England as a whole. But Trains run through Retford towards more people own their homes – around London, Edinburgh and Doncaster. 70 per cent – and fewer rent privately But the east to west rail connections (only 11 per cent) than in the country between Worksop and Sheffield (which as a whole. In 2016, 68 per cent of the is half an hour away in the car) are slow population voted to leave the EU, well and unreliable. Although Bassetlaw above the national average. is in Nottinghamshire, the rail links to Despite its closeness to Sheffield, Nottingham are not direct and even by Bassetlaw is not part of Sheffield city road it takes 45 minutes to reach. Buses region nor indeed, is it a part of the are expensive and run intermittently, so-called northern powerhouse because and, although a substantial proportion it is not quite in the north. It is a constit- of the population do not have a car, uency which is mostly described as an there are many places that cannot be ‘ex...’: ex-mining, ex-industrial. reached without one. The transport This is the fate of many areas outside infrastructure is still from a pre-1983 cities and city regions all over Europe. era where it was accepted that everyone Jobs which pay well are in cities and would have at least one car, petrol was are high-value service jobs such as relatively cheap and most people wanted finance, tech, culture and advertising to travel north to south by train to go which attract graduates and younger long distances. This was also a time people. Researchers from the Centre for when high streets were thriving, and European Reform highlight this and the a youngish population lived in villages higher productivity among graduates with pubs; many could still walk to and argue in their report The Big work and bring home wages which were European Sort?11 that policymakers have comparable to other parts of the country. two choices for places like Bassetlaw. In common with many rural areas, Either they put more investment into huge cuts to public services have meant their towns and rural areas so that they even more services have been pulled are not “left behind”, or they increase into nearby cities and the two towns. investment in cities – their transport Much to the disappointment of local systems, skills and housing to encourage residents, large new developments more people to go there. at Harworth and Bircotes have been Bassetlaw‘s population has increased built with unadopted roads, and with by around 4,400 people in the last few few shops. People have to drive out years from around 113,000 in 2011 to to Ikea or to malls like Meadowhall 117,400 in 2019.12 Cheap land means near Sheffield. thousands more houses are slated to be As Lisa Nandy MP, Britain’s most pow- built in the constituency: 10,000 by 2037. erful voice for towns, points out, these are Like many Red Wall seats, Bassetlaw communities which struggle. The people is relatively well-connected, mostly by who live there find it difficult to pay their the M1, A1M and A57 which is why dis- mortgages. They feel that they “survive
14 BUILDING BRIDGES: LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW FOR THE COUNTRY rather than thrive”. Most hurtfully of all Sports Direct in Shirebrook is they often feel they are no longer central just over the constituency border in to the story of Britain, because that story Bolsover which packs and dispatches has been given to cities. goods around the country. During the If Labour is to unite the country Covid-19 pandemic, staff were worried and win back these seats, it is going that safety precautions were not being to have to convince people that their followed which they claimed might lead lives can change for the better. This to outbreaks on the crowded warehouse means plans to create a green industrial floor.16 B&Q and Amazon are also large economy across Red Wall seats with local employers – and another ware- proper regional tax regimes and house for logistics operations has been financial incentives, building on former given planning permission in Harworth industrial infrastructure. Bassetlaw in the north-west of the constituency.17 could have high-skilled jobs and help It is an economy based on large power the country once again as it did sheds and the Tories are now doubling in the past. down trying to pretend that they have The quality and pay of jobs in high hopes for a freeport around East Bassetlaw started to decline propor- Midlands airport in Leicestershire which tionally to London and the south east will most likely just exempt companies in the early 1990s with the closure of the like Amazon from more tax18 rather than mines. The rush to replace mining jobs help local people with good jobs. first by the Tory government and then Even if jobs in logistics were by New Labour led to the construction well-paid with good terms and condi- of large distribution centres because tions, none of these companies are likely of the area’s rail and road links. Wilko to be major employers in the long-term. (which was Wilkinsons at the time) While e-commerce has driven up opened on the site of the Manton Pit in demand for logistics and warehousing, 1994 to employ up to 1,800 people who operations are already cutting staff and had been made redundant the same replacing them with robotics and digital year. Wilko is still a large employer, but sorting systems. Wilko itself has auto- offers hard, repetitive work, packing mated 85 per cent of its “e-fulfilment and sorting boxes of hardware to be centre” in nearby Ollerton.19 transported around the country.13 The decline of the high street It is also low-waged and for most, is affecting the profitability of some low-skilled work. Despite long-standing of these firms too. Wilko and Sports trade union recognition, pay and Direct rely on an in-store presence. conditions are getting worse. In 2019 It is particularly tragic for Wilko, an workers threatened strike action14 after iconic northern hardware store and the company introduced compulsory it represents a double whammy for weekend working. Then in 2020, in the communities which are losing out on middle of the Covid-19 crisis they were both jobs and shops. The business saw told that sick pay would be cut.15 a 65 per cent decline in its profits in
15 FABIAN IDEAS NO. 652
February 202020 and cut thousands of its low wages, worsening conditions and lines even before Covid-19 which partly instability in the logistics industry – explains the local squeeze on workers’ up and leave, to go to the big cities of terms and conditions. Sheffield, Nottingham or even London. For logistics companies that survive It is the older generations who remain. like DHL, the development of automat- Labour needs to create plans for ed systems, autonomous vehicles and in a new industrial base to keep younger some cases 3D printing-based manufac- workers in the area and make sure turing mean there will be little need for their jobs are highly paid. The party a large workforce. Bassetlaw and places needs a strategy which looks for the like it may well see yet another wave strengths of areas, rather than seeing of job losses in the near future. Other them as problems. One obvious source sectors in the north and Midlands, like of those new jobs in Bassetlaw is the automotive industry, are also likely energy production, building on the to see huge job losses. area’s long tradition of mining. An As well as low-paid caring jobs for energy-producing base would give new the ageing population funded mostly purpose again to the area and restore by the county council through private pride to its population. It will not be contractors, the other major employers good enough – as Labour did when it locally are public services – Bassetlaw was in power – just to offer top-up tax Hospital, Ranby Prison and Rampton credits and public services like Sure high-security hospital, which is the Start centres to poorly paid workers. biggest employer in the area, with These were short-term measures 2,500 jobs. Rampton holds 274 inmates without a longer-term strategy. Indeed, including many of the country’s most in Bassetlaw, children’s centres were dangerous killers. Before his retirement set up in the larger population areas, in 2005 Ray Fielding, a Labour activist and some local politicians felt that they and leading light in the local British did not benefit less well-off children Legion worked there as a mental health in smaller villages. As the Institute for nurse for many years. Although Government pointed out in its report terms and conditions are not as good on the implementation of children’s when he was employed in the early centres, there was some rural-proofing 2000s, a nursing assistant who works done, “but it took effort and adjustment maximum overtime can double their to make it work in practice and some basic £25,000 salary and a qualified of our research participants felt that mental health nurse can earn a lot more. government policies would benefit from It is though, difficult and sometimes more consideration of such specifics.”21 dangerous work. In other words, Labour was seen to be Given the local jobs market, is designing services for cities rather than not surprising then that some young for towns or rural areas. Then when people who do not want to work in the Tories swept many in-work benefits public services – and do not fancy the away and starved local government
16 BUILDING BRIDGES: LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW FOR THE COUNTRY of money, children’s services closed and others to move to the area because or were reduced and the flimsy gov- of the expertise that would have to be ernment protection workers and their developed. The relatively cheap housing families enjoyed evaporated. would be an incentive, particularly if The infrastructure is there. It is it was built to the highest sustainable just not being used. Three power standard. When the Nottinghamshire stations in the constituency contain pits needed more people, workers and connections to the national grid and their families came from Scotland, could be repurposed for green energy Newcastle and around the world to work production: West Burton, Cottam in them and provide services. There and High Marnham. The cooling could be a development corridor across towers of West Burton and Cottam still the East Midlands and South Yorkshire dominate the landscape in the east of taking in the towns and the old mining the constituency and rise up to meet areas, building on the vision Dan Jarvis, you as you drive down the A620 out mayor of the Sheffield City region has of Retford. They have only just closed. in Sheffield, Rotherham and Barnsley EDF owns them and has said it will clear for green energy generation. the sites within five years. There are no Many local councillors in Bassetlaw incentives for the French company to do see the possibilities. Councillor Kevin otherwise. It could be different if there Dukes, who worked for a major were regional or national industrial international company before standing plans and interest from the government. for local office, walks around the rural The railway lines that connected mines area he represents every day. He says and power stations are still there too. how dismayed he is to see the old power Wind turbines could be erected on stations and the many connections to mining sites. Solar panel farms and the national grid which exist, the old battery technology be developed there railway lines, the abandoned mines. too. As a recent IPPR report on building He just sees wasted opportunities. back after Covid-19 suggests, we should The heat which lies beneath the be investing in carbon capture and old mines might also be extracted to hydrogen technologies.22 Again, these warm the villages around them and former mining sites would be perfect new housing estates which are being places to do this. As housing has already built. There has been a lot of discussion been built here and thousands more about extracting heat produced by cities. houses are planned on brownfield land In Camden, for instance, a project was in the constituency, there is an opportu- carried out to bring heat from the local nity to use the green electricity directly hospital to a nearby housing estate, to heat and power those homes. and Islington has proposed extracting Research and manufacturing hubs heat from the tube network. But there is to build the materials for turbines and much less national discussion in policy solar panels could be set up by nearby, circles about extracting geothermal heat encouraging talented young people from old mines. The area is perfect for
17 FABIAN IDEAS NO. 652 working out how to develop new tech- even further if new planning laws nology. The Coal Authority understands are approved by parliament). A small the potential23 and already pumps water local strategy is emerging because of from ex-mines to stop them flooding, councillors like Jo White and Kevin but the heat goes nowhere. There is, Dukes. The council wants to have engineering academics say, a heat a housing development on the site of capacity in the UK’s mines of 36 billion the former power station in Cottam with GWh of heat storage capacity, more than the ex-power station in High Marnham annual demand. As a report by Durham developed as an energy hub for solar Energy Institute24 puts it: “Britain’s energy and battery development. These abandoned coal mines have often been two projects would create homes and viewed within the lens of the negativity highly-skilled jobs, whilst producing of the 1970s and 1980s. We now believe enough energy for local power, with these hold the key to a new community electricity left over to be fed back into responsible approach to decarbonisa- the grid.26 tion.” The biggest project in Europe is There are individual projects dotted at Heerlen near Limburg in the Nether- around the countryside, including lands. There, 200,000 square metres of a handful of solar farms producing local new and retrofitted buildings are heated energy up to 8 megawatts each. And with a seven-kilometre network from small solar community energy schemes a circular district heating system. are powering local businesses from But in the UK there are no large-scale the Harley Gallery to the local sewage projects which have been built. The only treatment works outside Worksop. There proposal currently in Nottinghamshire are only two mini-wind developments is for a 60-home project in the city of in the constituency. Nottingham. There is one other project The story of Rampton and Woodbeck in County Durham where engineers are Parish council – an area on the border investigating whether water from the between the constituencies of Bassetlaw old Dawdon mine could be used to heat and Newark – and their foray into a proposed 1,500 home garden village renewable energy is an example of in South Seaham.25 It is still being how, without a regional and national consulted on. There should at least be vision, it is so difficult on a micro-level a national and regional feasibility plan to be ambitious about any renewable looking at the possibilities in the whole energy schemes.27 area including across Nottinghamshire The parish council there owned land and South Yorkshire, where there is near to the psychiatric hospital and the also interest in heat extraction from old Cottam power station, and council- old mines. lors wanted to use a renewable energy Currently, development is piecemeal. grant they had received from the Rural It is led by Labour-run Bassetlaw district Community Energy Fund to develop council whose powers are limited to solar and wind energy. They hired an planning (and are likely to be limited environmental engineer to look into it.
18 BUILDING BRIDGES: LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW FOR THE COUNTRY
But he concluded, “that solar and wind It needs regional democratic leadership, were not viable at the moment due through a devolution settlement which to both the large connection costs by grants tax-raising powers to incentivise Western Power Distribution [£18m] and change and regional green investment the inability of the network to cope with banks to bring in public and private the additional load of the solar or wind money. The national grid needs to be farms.” This was despite the quarry land able and willing to take the additional they wanted to use being opposite the old power generated. Cottam power station. The parish council It could be a huge part of bring- ended up consulting on a biomass district ing not only good, well-paid high-tech heating project which was abandoned jobs to the area but also a sense of because there were not enough local belonging and importance to the whole people who wanted to take it up. country. It would make a place like Time is short, the power stations are Bassetlaw essential to Britain’s future being closed now. The window to act rather than its past. And that would is narrowing. Even by 2024 things will be the most important achievement of all. have moved on and an incoming Labour But it would need a completely dif- government will need to act fast to start ferent way of doing things and thinking creating high-tech energy jobs in this about geography and investment. part of the country. Labour will have There will never be a coalition between to put forward incentives to replace semi-rural constituencies and cities some of the large logistics sheds with until there is a more equal settlement big green energy plants and specialist between London and cities in the north research and development parks. and Midlands – and those cities and Bassetlaw and surrounding their rural and ex-industrial hinterlands. areas need to be designated a renew- This has to be at the core of Labour’s able energy generation powerhouse. plans to build back after Covid-19.
19 CHAPTER 3
AN OFFER FOR THE COUNTRYSIDE
Bassetlaw is essentially a rural can come up with a credible rural offer constituency full of little villages, for people who live in areas where the although the population lives mostly countryside is a large part of their lives, in Worksop, Retford and the emerging then it will not only help in marginal town of Harworth and Bircotes. Like seats and those the party lost, it will so many other areas in the north and mean the party can think about making Midlands from the bellwether seat of inroads into Tory constituencies in the North West Leicestershire to Bishop north and south and challenge the Auckland, industrialisation took place Tories on their home ground. in the countryside. Understanding and owning the Some 77 per cent of land in Bassetlaw language and the emotional meaning is used for agriculture of some sort of the countryside is important, as according to the latest the Department well as addressing the feeling many for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs voters have in places like Bassetlaw (Defra) statistics from 2016.28 Agriculture that Labour is simply not a party for is fundamental to the area, more so than them. One of the successes of the many neighbouring constituencies, SNP in Scotland has been tapping although the number of people who into the romance Scots feel about the actually work in farming is small. Around Highlands,29 though few voters actually 1,000 people are employed: half of whom live there. Welsh Labour has done the are actual farmers (full and part-time) same. Labour in England, and in places and the other half labourers. The major- like Bassetlaw, need to connect with the ity of the land is used for arable crops, romantic socialism of the English coun- mostly cereals. A smaller proportion tryside of the north and the Midlands, is for grasslands and keeping livestock. while putting it into a British context. Pig farming in particular has increased The 2018 Fabian Society report Labour in Bassetlaw in the past 10 years. Country30 tells a strong story about If Labour, which has essentially the language, connection, sensibility positioned itself as an urban party, and message which Labour needs to
20 BUILDING BRIDGES: LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW FOR THE COUNTRY develop. The report reminds us that the Labour needs to explore its old emo- Labour movement started in the English tional connection to these quiet radical countryside with the Tolpuddle Martyrs, impulses, which are often suspicious the agricultural labourers who set up of the establishment. They run strongly the first trade union, and many of the through a lot of the population of the mutual improvement societies. And Midlands, and are reflected in the values more recently, the cultural radicalism of many older local members of the of John Ruskin, William Morris and Labour party. We need these sentiments the arts and crafts movement, formed to be an important part of our Labour a creative basis for a kind of socialism story again – and part of that bridge to which challenged industrial production be built with the radicalism of cities. and the extreme poverty found in cities The fundamentals of a rural offer in the late 19th century. These are values are about creating a countryside which of equality, nature and community; promotes the glories of the natural world wellbeing and happiness which have (be that through tourism or leisure). resonance in the modern age and across Bassetlaw is full of those wonders – social class. from the National Trust land at Clumber Methodism, to which the Labour Park through to Sherwood Forest itself party is said to owe more than it does and the limestone gorge at Creswell to Marx, runs deep across the area. Crags with its caves which were lived in In Bassetlaw, the numerous chapels during the ice age. These tracts of nature attest to its importance. The chair of need to be valued across the north and Bassetlaw Labour party is a leading Midlands for the health and wealth of light in his Methodist church and the the nation as a whole. Crossing community hub in the centre Sustainable food is also one of the of Worksop has performance space new battle-lines where Labour will need which bills itself as one of north Not- to have strong policy proposals because tinghamshire’s top public concert halls. it goes to the heart of the country’s The Harley Gallery in Welbeck just future stability as we leave the EU. outside Worksop is devoted to crafts, Labour will need to make sure that and the Worksop ramblers are still going we have good, secure, affordable food. strong. Methodism and other non-con- We have already seen fears both formist Christian denominations like in the countryside and in cities about Quakerism have a tradition of public a trade deal with the US which might service and volunteerism which is not drive down high British animal welfare showy, not overtly political but strongly standards including the introduction felt. My family on my mother’s side is of chlorinated chicken into the poultry from the Staffordshire countryside. market. Labour needs to do what the My great grandfather was a gardener government has promised and focus and Methodist lay preacher and that money on climate, eco-systems and non-conformist idea of public service tourism, encouraging farmers to deliver still runs deep more than 100 years later. for the public good.
21 FABIAN IDEAS NO. 652
Leaving the EU should present an devastating reminder of how vulnerable opportunity for Labour to rebalance towns are to massive swings in the subsidies from large landowners and weather. Worksop and surrounding big farms to smaller greener farms. villages were severely damaged after New research by academics from the river Ryton overflowed, and flooding Sweden and the Netherlands shows remains a danger every winter. But there that the most EU farm subsidies now go has been little financial support for flood to the richest farmers, who employ the defences for the town either from fewest people and are among the most the government or the Environment polluting and least biodiverse.31 Some Agency. The Labour district council EU farming subsidies even go to urban leader Simon Greaves believes this is areas. These are the kind of things that because assets in Bassetlaw are not seen infuriate those struggling in Bassetlaw. as being as valuable as those in Sheffield Labour must be at the front of driving or wealthier cities, and that support change and creating a more equitable has been given to places with higher countryside policy over which Britain ‘gross value added’ in terms of the has control. goods or services they produce. These But this cannot be done from Lon- are strongly-felt grievances, and local don. Indeed some of the perversities of people believe that money, not human the EU system are because of over-cen- need, accounts for such decisions. tralisation and poor monitoring systems. Nationally the party has to press for British scientists, while welcoming the more protection for local residents as potential opportunities for redesigning well as making the case that there needs agriculture policy now Britain has left to be an international effort to control the EU, are concerned that what the EU the change in the climate which leads did will be replicated on a Britain-wide to freak weather conditions. level and Defra will not manage the If Labour is to make sure that delicate balance needed to subsidise the leaving the EU creates a more equal right things and the right farmers which countryside, the party has to consider will lead to perverse outcomes. And that how more power could be devolved and was before Covid-19. must realise what it takes for places like Biodiversity and climate change are Bassetlaw to genuinely feel they have left-wing causes which can unite cities an equal share in the whole country’s and towns in a common purpose. These future. Local residents in Nottingham- issues should be led by the countryside, shire need the tools to control the big not left to the individual and free mar- decisions which affect their area. They ket. The real effects of climate change cannot be dismissed because the value are felt most strongly in the countryside, of their land and houses is less. not only its impact on farming but also That could mean introducing on local housing and infrastructure. a system of hyper-local village and town In Bassetlaw the massive flooding mayors, paid a full-time salary as is in November 2019 was a visible and often the case in Germany or investing
22 BUILDING BRIDGES: LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW FOR THE COUNTRY town and parish councils with more a Strategy for the Rural Economy points power on a micro-level, not just to run out too little policy is “rural-proofed”. their communities but also to argue It is centrally decided and designed regionally for local needs. Such mayors around cities and urban populations, could raise the alarm if biodiversity is and this affects infrastructure develop- getting worse, pollution is increasing ment including transport and internet or small farms are being driven out of connections, as well as services and business by inequitable subsidies. access to jobs. All this entrenches rural Labour has to work out how to and town poverty as well as a feeling get rural voices at the table. As the of being left behind. Labour will have House of Lords 2019 report from the to tackle this if it is to govern for the Rural Economy Committee, Time for whole country.
23 CHAPTER 4
THE IMPORTANCE OF CONNECTION
The development of modern infrastruc- cities, like Bassetlaw. Labour needs plans ture in Britain has been uneven over to address this grossly unfair imbalance. many years with most development in Infrastructure should be based on London and the south east. In its report people’s need and not just where it will on regional and economic inequality, the bring the most bang for its buck. Bennett Institute for Public Policy argues One of the biggest national invest- that the disparity in Britain is extreme ments we need is in fast broadband compared to other OECD economies and across all rural and town areas. Com- that the official methodology for apprais- muters already live in Bassetlaw because ing investment (the Treasury green housing is cheap and they enjoy village book) has reinforced regional inequality, life. But with the Covid-19 crisis, more with most infrastructure – including rail people are likely to want to work from and fast broadband – in London and the home and if we are to have a real green south east.32 revolution with less reliance on the car, This extreme centralisation has been then regularly driving long distances to bad for northern cities. Mayor Dan Jarvis work has be a thing of the past. has been infuriated about green book People cannot and will not work rules for many years and wants this from home without access to very in-built bias in Treasury calculations to fast broadband and comprehensive change. He sees it as an enormous block mobile coverage. to investment or development in his area There are, according to the latest round Sheffield and regionally.33 There figures, still two per cent of households has been an acknowledgement from the in Nottinghamshire which are “too re- government of the problem in recent mote” for broadband, and for those industrial strategies and now by the with a connection, the average speed of chancellor Rishi Sunak, who announced 30mbps is quickly becoming inadequate. green book changes in November 2020. Already it is not enough for a family of If that bias is bad for Sheffield, it is five and this will soon be the case for even worse for all those areas outside everyone as data use rises rapidly.
24 BUILDING BRIDGES: LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW FOR THE COUNTRY
A recent National Audit Office report of court in places like Bassetlaw. People warned that the current broadband did not believe that nationalising BT was coverage is not future proof and that necessary, possible or even desirable. It rural and hard to reach communities was certainly eye-wateringly expensive. are still not getting adequate broadband And they did not see why wifi should be coverage from the current superfast free since most people could afford it. programme because the government As the people who Deborah Mattinson had prioritised coverage over quality.34 spoke to for her book Beyond the Red The government has committed to Wall said: ‘gigabit capable’ coverage which relies on 5G or fibre to the doorstep rather “Where Labour went wrong last than full fibre which is easier to main- time was promising lots of things tain.35 The report warns that: that we knew they couldn’t do. It has to be affordable and it has to be “The department is working towards realistic.’ Others agreed. ‘Free wifi finalising its plans for its future for everyone!’ someone remembers programme to support nationwide and the whole room laughed at the gigabit coverage. In doing so, it sheer folly of it all.” 36 must manage the tension between meeting a timeline and serving In their eyes, modern technology those in greatest need. Failure to possibly needed to get ahead in do so risks leaving those left behind the world was being made unattainable by the superfast programme even because the Labour party was more further behind and widening the interested in ideology than in pragma- rural divide.” tism and would be unable to deliver on its promises. Indeed, the UK has the lowest rate But prioritising full-fibre broadband of full-fibre broadband connection in Eu- at reasonable prices to homes and rope. And the East Midlands, the north businesses with private and public east and the east of England lag behind money would certainly not be laughed the rest of Britain, including Scotland. out of court. There are lessons here from According to Ofcom, not only will Spain, where the government is trying full-fibre broadband help with data-in- to address a big rural depopulation tensive streaming services and the crisis. More than half of Spanish homes internet of things (where you can control now have full-fibre broadband and rural your fridge and heating system through areas are being connected up thanks to wifi), but it will create jobs in infrastruc- financing from public-private partner- ture, increase productivity and help ships. The Tories under Boris Johnson remote working. To achieve these aims have substantially watered down their Labour committed at the last election to proposals for full-fibre broadband to nationalising BT and making the service go to every household in the country free. Both the ideas were laughed out by 2033, instead concentrating on their
25 FABIAN IDEAS NO. 652 gigabit programme. And secondary This way of working at least part of the legislation to oblige housebuilders to put time from home is one of the proposed gigabit broadband to every home has yet new working models.38 to be enacted despite being promised in Fast connections which allow lots March 2020. of data to be downloaded would also So there is space here for Labour mean that research parks connected to to make full-fibre broadband part universities could be set up with teams of a package to connect up northern of specialists outside cities enjoying and Midlands constituencies with a better quality of life but also within the latest technology, putting reach of large universities in Sheffield, people in greatest need, and those Derby and Nottingham. in the most rural and least accessible Having more connectivity helps areas first. Labour should also be elderly people in towns and in villages making it a requirement for every who have poor access to health services new house built to be connected and care, a problem endemic where to full-fibre broadband. the population is ageing. In Bassetlaw, Excellent connectivity allows work some 15 per cent of people live more hubs to be set up in converted agricul- than 30 minutes away from a GP tural and industrial buildings in villages surgery and many hospital services are and towns, similar to the shared work- in Sheffield and Doncaster. Full-fibre ing spaces in cities. During Covid-19 stable broadband would mean pubs have done this on a very small telemedicine becomes more possible, scale37. Rural areas like Bassetlaw have so that GP consultations and hospital lots of people setting up small business- appointments can happen online. And es and more could be encouraged to do a technology-enabled home can alert so. They are often single traders and doctors and carers if an elderly person allowing them to come together would has a fall, among many other things. also help some of those businesses grow Covid-19 is driving these developments and learn from each other, replicating faster and Labour has to follow the lead the kind of networking that happens in of other European countries and make larger urban centres. The disappearance connections accessible to everyone using of post offices means there are far fewer public and private money. commercial community spaces where One other priority for connecting everyone regularly goes to carry out up the countryside is getting full business. Such rural hubs, as well as 4G coverage – at the moment only workspaces, could offer room for local 91 per cent of the country is covered public services and support the elderly and this particularly affects rural areas. and young families. Developing 5G in rural areas will also Indeed it is perfectly possible to live be important if farming is to become in Bassetlaw and go to London or Shef- more automated: not only can 5G field twice a week for meetings – many enable fields to be harvested without people who live there do that already. a single person on the tractor, but it
26 BUILDING BRIDGES: LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW FOR THE COUNTRY also allows data to be collected about to vital antenatal appointments a short the environment in real time including drive away, simply because they did not whether crops need watering, fertiliser have a car. or pesticides. It can help increase The lack of transport affects young biodiversity. New technology may mean people too. Partly due to the high cost even fewer unskilled jobs in farming, of insurance, only 38 per cent of 17 to but other jobs such as data analytics and 20-year-olds now have a driving licence farming management would increase. in the UK. Technology, of course, is no substitute So, as well as the economic pull for human contact but fully developed of cities, a better transport system technology outside cities allows people is another reason to move out of the of all ages to live there. Labour needs to countryside for the young. In Bassetlaw be at the cutting edge of this technology as in many other areas, buses are not and arguing for it as a way of connecting always reliable, run infrequently and people both metaphorically and literally stop before 6pm. Nottinghamshire and putting the communities of places county council which is responsible for like Bassetlaw first, rather than London buses has cut a third of funding from its or the south east. For older voters in the bus services over the past five years.40 Midlands, this is about creating a mixed When it comes to rural buses, there community with young people and is little central planning and none of the families encouraged to stay near to their digital technology that exists in cities, parents, without sacrificing good jobs. with only a few piecemeal pilots around The other way to connect is through the country. Bus services fall into public transport. The lack of bus services a spiral of decline, as fewer people use in rural areas has left many young the buses, fewer bus routes are put on people, single parents, the disabled because private bus companies, which and older people who do not have a car have seen their subsidies slashed over stranded and reliant on the kindness the last 10 years, are losing money. Extra of neighbours or their parents. A fifth money for bus services across the board of households in Bassetlaw do not have in England has fallen by 43 per cent access to a car or van according to the or £162m. The way some subsidies are district council profile.39 designed around diesel fuel also makes Local people say they find it difficult it difficult for existing bus services to to do shopping or to get jobs which convert to renewables. involved any kind of travel or shift work. Local authorities are stymied by The Rhodesia Children’s Centre has legislation even if they had the money. many single parents living around it. Government has made it illegal for It has been frequently saved because municipal authorities to run their own of the intervention of local councillors, bus services. Franchising – which allows but when I was campaigning there, the local areas to decide how their bus midwifery service was no longer visiting services are provided, determine routes, their village. Women had stopped going as well as setting fares and standards
27 FABIAN IDEAS NO. 652 of services – is against the law outside driverless electric shuttle buses to take metropolitan areas in England, except people the last mile or so from a town in Cornwall where it was brought in as to their village or home. In many parts part of their devolution deal. of our country these could run along If Labour is to show that it really old railway lines – and Bassetlaw cares about rural areas in the East has plenty of disused lines round Midlands and north of England, it its old collieries. will have to deal with the bus problem In rural Japan where lots of older and do something radical. Piecemeal people live, taxi subsidies have proved voluntary schemes which exist up and successful, popular and only slightly down the country, however worthy, are more expensive than bookable bus not enough. Sorting out the buses is services. In places like Bassetlaw, not only electorally necessary, but fair electric shuttles and cars could be part because it is the most disadvantaged, of a strategy combining renewable including many women, who are the energy and battery technology, with most affected by the catastrophic electric vehicles being used to balance collapse in services. Indeed, buses the supply and demand of a town or could be considered a feminist, as well village’s energy supply. as a socialist issue. As one ex-Labour Modern ticketing infrastructure MP from a Red Wall seat told me: “It’s which Transport for London uses, and seeing all those women on the buses technology like London’s CityMapper that really brings it home to you.” which tracks when various modes of Moreover, if we are to reduce transport are arriving, combined with carbon emission from cars, it will ride-hailing technologies including be increasingly important to have a cooperatively-owned Uber-style clean, planned transport services. service, could make planning and The Campaign for Better Transport paying for journeys a lot easier. Britain in its report The Future of Rural is ahead of so many countries on this Bus Services in the UK identified technology and we are trialling much European examples of central planning of it in cities, particularly in London, of bus services in the Netherlands and and yet completely ignoring the needs Germany which are built around the of towns and rural areas as if it is not needs of the town and rural communi- necessary to have innovation here. ties and answerable politically to local For Labour there is an opportunity people through democratic control. to devolve government and give local This includes making sure the bus politicians the power to design account- service matches local demand, as well able transport services built around as integrating buses and trains so the the needs of local people. The fact that timetables connect and they do not run this could be integrated into a strategy on similar routes. and investment for renewable energy Technological solutions are being makes it even more attractive. And trialed around the world, including it might also fulfil another objective,
28 BUILDING BRIDGES: LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW FOR THE COUNTRY which was to make it more attractive in or near home, with lots of green space for younger people to live outside cities. and a much improved quality of life. It would also make the countryside This kind of semi-rural idyll can be built around places like Clumber Park or outside big cities. It is not a question of Sherwood forest much more attractive looking back but making sure Bassetlaw to tourists and be part of the rural and is central to Britain’s future and part of cultural offer. Imagine if electric bike a strategy for the whole island. hire schemes could be integrated into One of the characteristics of the politi- trains, shuttle buses and taxis from town cal landscape, and that is true in Bassetlaw hubs like Retford or Worksop so that as elsewhere, is that it is extremely volatile tourists could explore the local parks and political allegiances are quick to and forests. shift, even among older voters. Labour There is a Labour vision to be built urgently needs a forward-looking offer of a semi-rural society: extremely well for them. And if Labour is going to claim connected, but also low density, with low to represent the whole country, it has to carbon emissions, socially inclusive, with represent the 17 per cent of Britons who sustainable food, where people can work live in the countryside.
29 CHAPTER 5
BUILDING STRONGER COMMUNITIES
One of the biggest worries in places shopping in cities or to large out of town like Bassetlaw is the loss of commu- shopping centres. nity. Civic institutions which make up Even those older people who still communities are disappearing across go to Retford or Worksop to shop do the country: the social and sports clubs, not stay for long. They might miss the churches, and chapels; the post the last bus. If you come by car, even offices, pubs and markets. Severe cuts though parking is free, you often do in public funding over the last 10 years not stay because you won’t be able to have led to the loss of community have a drink with a meal. As a result, centres, health centres and youth clubs, town centres find it difficult even to and where they do still exist, they are encourage nightlife. Many restaurants fragile. High streets in towns, which where people might have gone have are so important to people’s sense of morphed into takeaways. Nightclubs belonging, are full of boarded up shops. have closed. Without efficient green And stores like Marks and Spencer, public transport systems, towns do not which represent for many older people act enough as busy hubs where people happier and more prosperous times have can come and go to make connections long gone. out to surrounding villages. Communities have become more Bassetlaw hospital in Worksop is atomised in a way that is striking if you important for the healthcare and jobs are used to living in a city. When you that it offers, and it is also one of the few meet up in Bassetlaw, it is mostly not large institutions which still exists local- in the towns of Retford or Worksop let ly. It is a focal point which unites local alone in Harworth and Bircotes. People communities and to which they all have meet in the café at the out-of-town access. Areas without a hospital do not Morrisons supermarket; at the Starbucks even have this community institution. next to the Shell station; or in the If Labour is to have a plan for Lock Keeper Inn on the A60 next to communities, the party is going to have the Chesterfield Canal. Local people go to reimagine town centres and work out
30 BUILDING BRIDGES: LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW FOR THE COUNTRY how to build places which attract people be a new Festival of Britain to celebrate to them and make them stay. Otherwise building a different kind of country towns will continue to decline and the after Covid-19. And arts funding for new houses that are being built will the National Theatre to be a theatre simply become part of a commuter belt for all the country which brings live dormitory settlements full of people performances to towns and villages. who have little attachment to the area. Labour needs to have a policy of A first step is to encourage the arts. bringing the arts industry to every Public libraries are vital here – Bassetlaw corner of the UK, and particularly to district council has made sure to keep neglected communities outside cities as those in Retford and in Worksop. The a way of restoring pride and connecting Savoy Cinema in Worksop is still going us with each other. strong. But there is a possibility of going People also need to be encouraged to much further to encourage performing live in the centre of towns, to boost the arts and training. Storyhouse in Chester, nightlife. Old shops could be converted for instance, is a charity arts centre into flats and houses as part of a policy which combines a library, cinema to reinvigorate the centre of towns like and an outdoor and indoor theatre Retford and Worksop. This could be and works as a local cultural hub. It is affordable housing for those working funded partly by the arts council and is in healthcare and education, or for a huge local success story. It is fragile young people studying at new colleges and the Covid-19 pandemic may mean to be built in town centres. This is what it has to close. But it is a blueprint for John Lewis is intending to do with some bringing arts and performance out from of its shops in cities. cities, as well as providing a place to Filling towns also helps to stop teach performing arts. outward migration by young skilled Centres like this could also host people. Pilot programmes for such publicly funded programmes of festivals a repopulation are being trialed all over to help reinvent Northern and Midlands the world, from Tulsa Oklahoma which towns. Small festivals of music and offers $10,000 to digital workers to settle literature happen already, but it is not there for a year, to the village of Candela a systematic policy of renewal. Empty in Italy which is paying people to move shops in high streets could host pop up in. Görlitz, a city of 54,000 people in poetry performance and exhibitions. eastern Germany, ran a project last Theatre could be brought to big, unused year called “testing the city – living and civic buildings – for instance there is working in Görlitz”.41 German authori- a glorious but under-used town hall ties wanted to see how a medium-sized in the centre of Retford. But this will city could encourage more people to need arts leadership, and projects live there. Making the place feel more which encourage artists to come to important was also one of the stated towns which would not normally be aims, and Görlitz has a major problem considered cultural hubs. There could in attracting people because of the
31 FABIAN IDEAS NO. 652 presence of the far right anti-immigrant it is on a private estate and in “heritage party, the AfD which polled 37 per cent buildings” protected by planning laws. in the elections last September. It was The district council is doing this at a federally funded project involving only a small scale in Worksop with a new 54 people. business hub development in the centre The preliminary conclusions were of town. It might be replicable in some that the town needed better transport of the 72 local villages where there are links and that cultural and leisure people doing everything from pottery activities were crucial to attracting making to property development. One what they call ‘nomadic workers’ those village in Bassetlaw has a local post researchers, analysts and digital and IT office and shop which travels round to experts who go from place to place and local village halls to provide a weekly work from home. Crucially part of the service to isolated residents. Some of the Görlitz strategy also involved setting up small business owners and families have two centres for highly skilled workers, moved to the local villages because there a data analysis centre and a hydrogen is more space and houses are far cheaper technologies innovation campus. Towns than in the city, some are entrepreneurs in the Midlands and northern England who have stayed. But much of what of a similar size (Worksop has 42,000 they produce would be prized by the inhabitants) do not face anything like young green-minded liberals in cities the depopulation of places deep in and provides a new point of connection eastern Germany, but there may well between places. As discussed earlier, be things we can learn about attracting part of the socialist tradition is for small people with skills to settle by creating scale artisanal business and specialist new jobs and opportunities for young crafts from furniture making to people, while not taking local jobs away. cheese-making, and that tradition could Another way to strengthen commu- be encouraged to a much greater degree. nity is to create developments which These small rural enterprises provide bring together food production and a bridge between the old and the new, artists. This is the basis for an artisanal the young and the old, the city and the community on the Welbeck estate in town and countryside. Bassetlaw. The businesses are built Another key component in creating around the art galleries there and include stronger communities is building arts and pottery studios, a micro-brew- sustainable homes for people to live in. ery, a pizza-making business, a plant The district council, under Labour, has nursery and a cooking school as well as an ambitious local plan.42 Bassetlaw an investment management company has been told by government it needs and a green deal provider. There is to deliver 10,000 houses in the area by also a forest school kindergarten. Here 2037, and it has identified several sites, are the beginnings of what a business including a ‘garden village’ it wants and arts community might look like constructed near Worksop. Councillors although its expansion is limited because are suggesting a sustainable green
32 BUILDING BRIDGES: LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW FOR THE COUNTRY development with shops and services, further limited. The reforms will remove but it remains to be seen with all the 106 agreements which are usually the changes in planning laws whether such only way local councils can get devel- a development is possible or viable opers to agree to affordable housing, as and whether the district can attract well as further erode the local politicians’ a suitable investor. power to demand well-designed, Centrally the government simply sustainable homes that places like seems to want to houses built come Bassetlaw so desperately need. what may, and neither seems to know Although the government has nor care about the quality of homes blamed councils for not approving which are being built, as long as they housing applications, numerous studies hit certain targets. They do not mind have shown that it is developers who whether the roads exist for these new simply hold onto land without building homes, whether they are being powered on it to keep the price of the houses they by renewable energy, properly insulated want to sell artificially high. A recent or even whether they have local shops, analysis by Shelter from September 2020 children’s nurseries or schools; and showed 40 per cent of houses granted certainly not whether those homes are planning permission go unbuilt. The actually affordable to the people who charity analysed data from the gov- live and work in the area. ernment and from the House Builders Indeed, a key concern about new Federation and found in the last year housing developments in some parts of alone, 100,000 houses granted planning Bassetlaw is that they are too expensive permission had not been built. for local people and have been priced If places like Bassetlaw and across the in order to tempt people out of Sheffield East Midlands are to be at the forefront and other cities. Because of local low of the green revolution, then there wages, there is an identified need for needs to be legislation to force land with 2,578 affordable homes over the same planning permission to be developed period, including specialist housing for in a way that is future-proofed for the the ageing population, but these will environment and suitable for local be impossible to deliver unless an in- people. That could be through giving coming Labour government commits local authorities more powers to act to massive investment and a serious where housebuilding has stalled, commitment to affordable housing. through a tax on land which is slated The current Tory government has said for development, and giving power to Bassetlaw can only have 660 affordable a democratic regional authority with homes because of low land values and much more control over the types of the “viability” of housing developments houses which are built. Local authorities for private developers. need to be able to legislate for the If the government’s planning reforms kind of materials that are used, what go through, the power of local authorities powers the houses and heats the water to ask for affordable housing will be even and whether new developments are
33 FABIAN IDEAS NO. 652 affordable. Green transport links, deliverable for the public and non-profit green energy, electric charging points, sector. There should be regional plans full-fibre broadband and small shops for similar strategies to build real, new and work hubs must be set up to ensure communities in England. these housing developments become There is also the opportunity to be real communities. This infrastructure much more innovative in the type of should be built first, before the houses houses which are built: to look at the are put up. With borrowing so cheap at advantages of high-quality, highly-insu- the moment, all this should be possible. lated, pre-fab housing. Such high-quality, There also need to be incentives to pre-fab houses have been built for dec- build generous amounts of affordable ades in Germany, and families who want housing. And the houses need to be the to live outside cities often buy and plan right size, built to match the demo- them (rather like you might plan a new graphic of the local population, so that kitchen) and have them installed on their Bassetlaw is building both for its rising plot of land. In Sweden, 95 per cent of elderly population as well as attracting new build housing is created in a factory. younger people. Again, this means In the East Midlands, the warehousing houses which have the right infra- space and outstanding transport links structure. And as previously discussed, are there. So is the expertise. A local this means full-fibre connections for firm, iHus, already works with Bassetlaw telemedicine, local shops and easily council to produce disability-friendly accessible transport. extensions for existing housing. Although It is possible, as in Scotland, to there is some provision in Bassetlaw’s make a political decision to deliver social local plan for this kind of housing, and affordable housing in areas like Bas- most of what is envisaged will be built setlaw. It would give people an incentive by large developers. to stay local and offer them the security There is an opportunity to experi- that comes with an affordable home. ment with both private and affordable North of the border, there is an housing in ways that are much more affordable housing supply strategy difficult to do in the middle of cities. which aims to deliver 50,000 homes If Labour were to develop plans both by granting housing associations to introduce capital funding for council and councils capital grants to build, and housing association building, give abolishing the right to buy and incentives for factory-built houses in removing borrowing caps for housing these areas, plus green heating and authorities. According to a report by the full-fibre broadband, then it might really UK Collaborative Centre for Housing start to challenge some of England’s Excellence43, this strategy has enabled vested interests. This could produce a whole mid-market sector to evolve for housing and communities which key workers, as well as shared equity serve more precisely the needs of the models. The price of land in Red Wall local population and respond to future seats makes schemes like this more than climate change challenges.
34 BUILDING BRIDGES: LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW FOR THE COUNTRY
Labour district councils already like to grow older in Bassetlaw? How do some of that thinking and consult- you do you see the future for you, ing through planning and place-shap- your children and grandchildren and ing because these are the powers they how collectively can we make that have. But the prism of planning is work for all of us? How can Labour, limited; it is dependent on developers together with you, build a society which and it is always easy for local residents you would want to live in and which to say “no” because they do not others round the country might want to want a new housing development share – whether that be the houses you on their doorstep. live in, the culture you have access to, There also needs to be a publically the energy which powers your home, funded retro-fitting programme, the transport you use, the way you earn which aims to insulate existing houses, money and the way the health and connect them to green energy supplies care system works? If we can begin to and possibly also install full-fibre answer those questions, we can begin broadband. This needs to be a very to form a future political agenda. But simple programme and should prioritise Labour in opposition needs to empower older people in the Midlands and and finance Labour councillors and north. It cannot be dependent on Labour community leaders to have individuals signing up to a byzantine these conversations locally to shape grant application process but has the national picture. to be run as a capital programme We have an opportunity to create with incentives driven by new local places which belong to people, where they and regional governments. As Ed are proud to live and work. And places Miliband MP has argued, such a scheme with good connectivity like Bassetlaw as part of a national green recovery plan could well prove to be more attractive would create hundreds of thousands of than cities, rich villages and towns in new jobs. the south east: much less expensive, with Labour needs to be thinking about a slower pace of life but with the same the places where people live in a internet infrastructure as a city. totally different way and start to build Covid-19 has made many businesses relationships street by street with local re-evaluate how they operate, and residents to understand the kind of more people are working from home. community they want to help build. Now is the time to develop environmen- These have to be discussions which tally-friendly homes with ultra-modern go beyond the traditional Whitehall internet infrastructure and a strong departmental silos of housing, community with outstanding public transport, benefits, infrastructure, services and access to beautiful country- business, environment and education side. With some imagination, towns in and look at the whole. There is an the East Midlands could be re-invented opportunity while we are in opposition to become the future of modern living to build those relationships. What is it both for the old and young.
35 CHAPTER 6
SKILLS AND PEOPLE
If Red Wall seats like Bassetlaw are do badly at school. Labour today can to thrive, they need to retain their learn a lot from Jenny Lee’s determi- young people. The number of elderly is nation to set up the Open University already above the national average and in order to modernise the country, as set to rise. well as her support for Arts Council A good education is key to supporting projects across the country. young people in towns and the country- In Bassetlaw the academies are some side, but it all too often becomes a route of the best in the area. Indeed, they out for many young people. They do are better than some of the schools in not return or they commute into cities. neighbouring cities and GCSE results Towns and villages not only lose their are well above the national average, al- best students, but if a potentially skilled though in 2016, the only year for which workforce lives elsewhere, there is no there are local figures available, only reason for employers to invest in jobs. half achieved a full level 3 qualification – The older workforce also find they lack ie A Level or advanced NVQs (while the the skills to work in new industries and national average was 60.5 per cent). This can become stuck in local lower-paid speaks to a problem locally of post-16 work. If places like Bassetlaw are to be education and aspiration. places where green energy production is Nevertheless for academic students, based, then a local workforce will need schools can provide a route into to be trained to do it. university and further education. The Labour needs to develop ideas for improvement in the schools up to 16 has a national programme to coordinate been a local success story. But Bassetlaw skilling up workers so they are ready finds it difficult to retain its talent. There for the well-paid jobs of the future. are few programmes to do so. Higher But a Labour government needs to be wages are mostly to be found outside the committed to lifelong learning to retrain constituency, unless you run your own older workers for new jobs and give business or work in a skilled healthcare young people a second chance if they job. A mental health assistant and nurse
36 BUILDING BRIDGES: LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW FOR THE COUNTRY at Rampton as previously discussed, can or drug-taking and dealing. Without earn good money. In common with most qualifications they find themselves places across the country though, there unable to get anything but menial, is little attempt to match young people’s unstable and poorly paid jobs. This is skills with the demand of industry. a problem in towns across the north As Edge Foundation research shows, and Midlands, including places like there is a gap between what employers Bolton to Teesside where young people want and what skills students have and are falling out of education and those there is no organisation keeping track children with special educational needs of the size and shape of those skills and on free school meals are most shortages in the UK, let alone on a local likely to be excluded. Not that it is easy level. If Labour is to bring skilled green to measure any of this on a granular jobs into Bassetlaw this will need to district level and is mostly measured change and Labour will have to set up county-wide. programmes not only for current jobs Labour needs to address this kind but for future ones. of disparity in outcomes urgently and The problem starts early. Those who really understand what happens on fare worst are the least well-off, ie the a district level in places like Bassetlaw. students on free school meals according We have seen educational divides to the child and young people’s profile.44 narrow in places like Camden where And it starts very young. The percentage a third of children live in poverty, so of children on free school meals it is possible, but the ways of doing it attaining a good level of development may be different in a large city than in at the end of reception (at 5-years-old) towns and rural areas. When we talk was, in 2016, one of the lowest in the about “the white working class” it is country – at 38.5 per cent. The national often these children who are referred average in England was 51 per cent to in places in the Midlands and north and in the best local authorities it was where the population is predominantly 71 per cent. white – rather than any racial divide. And it is these pupils who are most There are very few safety nets for likely to find themselves being excluded these students in Red Wall seats, and by academies and dropping out of the very few opportunities locally once the school: it is a problem which exercises school route is closed. This entrenches district councillors who see local schools inequality locally and a feeling that achieving higher academic standards by after failure at school that there are few narrowing the curriculum and excluding second chances. It is interesting that students. The network of Pupil Referral the annual Good Childhood Report Units – specially tailored schools for identified fearing failure was one of excluded pupils – has been dismantled the biggest contributors to unhappy and teenagers end up out of school and children45. In Worksop and other on the streets. If they are unlucky, they ex-mining areas, there was a tradition get involved in antisocial behaviour of men leaving school at 14 or 15,
37 FABIAN IDEAS NO. 652 starting their working lives in the mines, families cannot afford to move. As the and then retraining, either funded Fabians’ New Tricks report46 into adult through the nationalised coal board or learning pointed out in 2018, France and through the trade unions. Now those other countries have shown how the UK routes are for the most part closed, and could make quick gains with a variety the multi-national warehouse operators of courses and incentives to cover living which are the big employers have no and study costs. incentive to increase local skills. Indeed, Bassetlaw has started to tackle some they are investing in automation in of the educational challenges with plans order to eventually shed their current to build a specialist training centre workforce, rather than upskill it. in Worksop. The centre which will A Labour government would have also train health workers, as well as to address these complex and often construction and digital workers, will hidden educational problems head-on. be near the district hospital and has There has to be renewed investment the dual aim of keeping the hospital in early years which specifically going and skilling up young people. target youngsters in rural and town The council would like to bring in other communities between the ages of 0 and further education and specialist skills 4, particularly looking at how a Sure centres into the centre of the town, Start model would work in areas where where traditionally they were on the the population is more spread out than outskirts. Having colleges which run in cities. There must be a widening of courses from high-skilled cookery and the education system to teach a broader hospitality to engineering skills for the curriculum without watering down new green industries could be part of the academic successes of schools in helping to revive town centres. And it Bassetlaw. This must include art and is important that the new skills taught music, so that young people can follow really do lead to jobs. different routes to success. There also Excellent, highly-prized training needs to be more investment in special colleges might also be a strength that educational needs support. Academies a town could become known for locally, need to be held to account for exclusions so that young people come to Worksop and off-rolling and proper psychological from Sheffield, for instance, to learn and academic support must be provided skills. It could be part of building a coa- for those who are excluded from school. lition between towns and cities, working Young people also need to have with local employers, and attracting new a second and even third chance at ones to offer good apprenticeships. learning, as those who fall out of the Future-proofing cities has often education system young can find it meant bringing in affordable housing difficult even to meet the most basic cri- combined with universities and art teria to re-enter it. Those opportunities schools. The universities in Sheffield to re-enter the system have to exist in for instance have transformed the centre towns because young people and their of the city and become more involved in
38 BUILDING BRIDGES: LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW FOR THE COUNTRY city life. At the huge redevelopment of skills are needed where, particularly King’s Cross in London, the University for a green industrial revolution, has of the Arts prevented the area from to be part of Labour’s plans working simply becoming a soulless rich on a regional and national level. Towns shopping and housing development. and the countryside need to be joined The college not only brings in young up – with cities not pitted against them. people and exhibitions, but has made Asolder people have been telling Labour itself a hub for arts innovation, helping on the doorsteps over and over for the the local council and local businesses last 10 years, they are worried more reimagine the whole borough. about their children’s future than their Losing the Red Wall seats needs to own. We need to understand and be a wake-up call about the dignity, not address that fear about what happens if just of work, but of skilled work, creative the next generation is less well off than work and life-long education, learning the last. In Bassetlaw that is particularly and skills which gives people a sense poignant because the middle-aged of control over their lives. People, par- feel they have had a bad deal and that ticularly older populations in the north it might be worse for their offspring. and Midlands need to know they are not And that is tied up not only with trapped or subject to seemingly arbitrary whether their children can do well external threats be that Covid-19, global locally, but also whether they have the warming, automation or immigration. skills to survive in the globalised world. Of course, there is no way of stopping Control and sovereignty – which change, but there are ways of giving Northern and Midlands voters felt the communities the educational tools UK had lost – are what was promised to weather change rather than being by the Brexit vote. Labour’s task if it overwhelmed by it. Labour and the La- is to win in 2024 will be to redefine bour movement including trade unions what that means for individuals and have traditionally stepped in to fill the communities and a life-long learning skills gap and that needs to happen programme for 21st century skills which again systematically. Working out what leaves no one behind will be key.
39 CHAPTER 7
IMMIGRATION AND DISCRIMINATION
Liam Palmer is a Sheffield Wednesday the world wars and so turned to the player who was born and brought up in commonwealth for workers. Gedling Worksop. He plays for Scotland because colliery in Nottinghamshire was known of his Scottish grandmother and also as the “pit of nations” because it was has the right to play for Jamaica because thought that a quarter of the miners of his Caribbean heritage. He has set between 1950s and the 1980s were up the Palmer School of Excellence in black. Hundreds worked in deep mines Worksop to encourage boys and girls in Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, to improve their footballing and social Yorkshire, Lancashire, Kent, Durham skills, giving something back to the and South Wales. Nowadays there are community which raised him. fewer black people living in the north of When the pits were at full capacity Nottinghamshire, and only 2,500 people workers came from all over the country (out of 104,000) in Bassetlaw identify as and beyond. The Seaforth Highlanders black or minority ethnic. pipes and drums band based in neigh- But many local people are angry that bouring Mansfield are still living proof their area is written off as undiverse and of the Scottish influence. And miners even racist and believe that it fuels yet also came from the Caribbean islands, another negative stereotype of the place Italy, Lithuania and Poland. When the where they live. Those who remember coal mined in Nottinghamshire and working down the mines with miners Yorkshire was powering Britain and the from the Windrush generation would world, local labour was not enough. But have liked to be part of that campaign that story is only just beginning to be but were not asked and there was hurt told. The National Coalmining Museum among some Labour members who felt in Wakefield had its first ever exhibition that they were not included. to focus on migrants’ contribution to In many ways the injustice done the mining industry in January 2020. to the Windrush generation can be The mining industry was particularly understood and empathised with by affected by labour shortages after those whose patriotism is connected
40 BUILDING BRIDGES: LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW FOR THE COUNTRY to the armed services and the Queen the very local mayor of Golzow who and by extension the Commonwealth. provided local leadership and made The Labour party should be leading the political case and got the funding. on anti-racism campaigns across towns By contrast in the UK, the least and the countryside and giving people well-off areas had refugees sent to them, the confidence there to challenge it. not to revive them, but because the If young people of all ethnicities are to housing was the cheapest. Little help or move to or stay in towns and villages, funding followed and local authorities they need to know that their more who were already affected by austerity liberal attitudes to race will be accepted. often did not have the money to cope, If the countryside charity the CPRE including the resources to help the can run a series on diversity and access most vulnerable of them integrate into in the English countryside, so can the schools. That is not to say there have not Labour party. 47 been very successful Welcome Refugees Alliances built between the projects in the north and Midlands, and LGBT community and the older indeed nearby Sheffield has designated generation during the miners’ strike itself a city of sanctuary, but the Brexit are an example of how minorities, vote was as much about local people mainly associated with cities, can make feeling that they did not have local common cause. They faced the same control over these kinds of decisions enemies, Thatcher, the tabloids and the and were not given financial help to police and it was solidarity which united plan for them. them. The same commonalities might be The most visible immigration in found between minority communities Bassetlaw is from Poland. Poles came in the city and people in more rural because there was already a small com- communities who also face economic munity here who had remained after and educational disadvantage. the war. In Worksop in 2016 the local It will also be important if the Labour community erected a bench in memory party decides to welcome more refugees of ex-fighter pilot Wladyslaw Jan Nowak to have the support of the whole as part of a Wings over Worksop event. country and not just cities. Germany is He was the first Polish fighter pilot to a good example of how, with leadership shoot down a German plane and a blue and appropriate financial support, plaque has been erected on the front refugees can be welcomed into small of the delicatessen he ran. Like many communities. In Golzow, a village in immigrant communities, the still small eastern Germany, the mayor brought Polish community have their own shops in 16 Syrian refugees and their families and live in one part of town. They bring with the argument – against opposition benefits. Local politicians say that one from the far right – that the refugees large block of flats in Worksop, which would stop the village school being used to be plagued by anti-social closed and the refugees would revive behaviour, has been transformed by it.48 The project is working. But it was the influx of Polish families who now
41 FABIAN IDEAS NO. 652 occupy the estate. They have brought Lives Matter protests. She told the BBC, order and stability to the community. “It’s a sad day. It will be emotional for But seeing Polish families with children a lot of people in the town, they do not forming communities and setting want it to come down … But possibly it up thriving Polish businesses can be should be replaced with something more difficult for longstanding residents. appropriate. We don’t want to cause any We should not underestimate the upset.” The local Labour councillor Sue anger some people feel who have Shaw said there needed to be a debate suffered a relative decline in living about the sign and pub name, even standards compared to the south east though it did not sit well with her. and London. They believe the younger Clarke-Smith on the other hand better educated Polish workers, however issued a lengthy statement on Facebook small they are in number, drive down stoking up anger against BLM protestors wages, use up limited public services calling them the ‘loony left’. “This and benefits, and are a threat to their is not a ‘debate’, this is an attack on precarious livelihoods. Politicians like our culture, our heritage and our the new local MP Brendan Clarke-Smith history. It needs calling out for what it actively encourage this feeling. And is and challenging head-on.” Yet only people deeply resent being told that 13 people turned up for a protest outside immigration is good for them by the pub about the removal of the sign much wealthier Londoners who live and the issue has since died down. in a capital city which has had untold Local people told the Lincolnshire Live money and investment poured into it website the MP had gone too far and over the past 40 years. was creating anger and distrust among The fear of change and displacement government supporters as well as people is very real especially for an older who disagreed with the government. community which is not affluent or The local leader of Nottinghamshire mobile. But there is acceptance too. Labour Alan Rhodes called for A local charity in Worksop which unity. Although on Facebook, the local houses vulnerable young people, trained population had been divided, some up some of their staff to speak Polish were convinced in the end the Black Boy so that they would be able to deal with referred to Charles II, the ‘black boy’ Polish young people who might be King than an actual black boy. The pub’s referred to them. name is staying in the meantime and Clarke-Smith has – with limited the sign has been removed. success – tried to stoke up local ‘culture Attitudes to race are nuanced wars’ on race, most recently around and fluid, and do not conform to easy the Black Boy pub in Retford. The stereotypes of small towns in the north pub sign, depicting a young African and Midlands. Labour nationally needs man in a red fez was removed by the to be strong on racism, and not be landlady after she heard of violent afraid to talk about racial discrimination threats online following the Black and discrimination against immigrant
42 BUILDING BRIDGES: LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW FOR THE COUNTRY communities. Local Labour parties, the interests of those in towns and which are predominantly elderly and villages with more immigrants: not as white need training and support too a way of abolishing jobs or outsourcing to challenge new Tory MPs who want (and thereby driving down terms and to sew racial and other divisions on conditions), but as a way of opening a local level in a much cruder and more up our country and bringing wealth violently abusive way than would be to everyone. This is yet another reason acceptable on a national stage. for Labour to introduce strong job The party cannot buy either into security and protections, so people the narrative that the troubles of local enjoy employment rights which cannot people in seats like Bassetlaw have been be undermined by employers bringing caused by a Labour metropolitan elite people in from abroad or creating who do not care about (English) white agencies through which to employ working-class men. This is a dangerous people and bypass labour protections. story of racial and misogynist grievance Labour must not use immigration as as well one of English exceptionalism. a quick fix to solve a lack of skills, in The flight to cities from small towns order to get around what seems in the and the countryside is an international short term the more costly approach of phenomenon. And this profoundly training up the population. The learning anti-Labour narrative links a deep skills centre in Worksop, which is being distrust of cities, and particularly the set up will hopefully provide training capital London, with immigration, for health care, construction and digital minority communities, socially liberal workers, people who can be trained to values and women. work as nurses at the hospital and on We know from our experience in house-building, so that these industries cities, and campaigns like those in do not need to recruit from abroad. Barking and Dagenham, that only by We must also invest in health and challenging racism can it be defeated. other public services so that everyone Local leaders have to be given the mon- has access to the best care and there ey and financing to put on education is no longer a feeling of fighting over and community-building programmes, limited resources. working with the CPRE to build And Labour needs to play a leading bridges between BAME residents, role in international institutions which younger immigrant communities and guarantee peace and security abroad, older white communities. Labour needs as we guarantee peace and security at to make sure that we learn from the home. This plays into the patriotism German experience about financing felt so keenly by people, particularly and welcoming refugees to villages older people, in Bassetlaw, who feel they and small towns have sacrificed their lives for Britain, If we have more immigration, and who have a clear sense of collective the Labour party also needs to think British values which includes caring for carefully about how we can align others and being internationalist.
43 FABIAN IDEAS NO. 652
We need to develop a ‘whole It is one which is welcoming rather Britain’ project which cements Britain’s than exclusionary, adapting diversity place internationally, protects its and community programmes to the citizens and democracy and ensures countryside and towns from what economic equality and fairness for all. we know works in cities.
44 CHAPTER 8
THE FUTURE
The Conservatives having been others are angry. There are several successful in gaining seats in the north things to bear in mind. and Midlands, the question is whether First, the Tories are not going to give they can hold on to them and what up Red Wall seats without a fight. Tory Labour can do to make sure they do not. MPs, although they are a motley bunch, A recent report by the European Council have their feet under the table and they on Foreign Relations based on YouGov are going to make the most of their and Datapraxis national polling49 shows status as local leaders. They profit from voters “lent” the conservatives their vote a first term incumbency effect. Basset- and that with the leave and remain line law hospital has been given £14.9m by blurring, the electorate may well judge the government and £3.5m has been the government on its handling of the given for a health training centre in pandemic and how good the recovery Worksop. The constituency has also is. Around half of those who voted been given £104,654 for the reopening Conservative last time (46 per cent) high streets safely fund.50 None of told the pollsters that they were now this is transformational money, but undecided who to vote for. Those who it is enough for the MP Clarke-Smith flipped from Labour to Tory were also to say that he has brought investment predominantly older voters over 45 who into a neglected constituency. These were in May at least, more likely to kinds of gifts of money are being made blame the Chinese government and in Red Wall seats across the north and people not following the rules for Cov- the Midlands. Tory MP Ben Bradley id-19 than the government. The polling in neighbouring Mansfield has been showed the Labour party’s image has trumpeting the £83,780.44 that is going also not improved in Red Wall seats to be spent on schools there; Don as much as it has among voters more Valley is getting an unspecified sum generally. Certainly, in Bassetlaw people for flood defences; Ashfield has been are still quite divided. Some defend the promised money for Eastwood, one government handling of the pandemic, of its most deprived areas. The Towns
45 FABIAN IDEAS NO. 652
Fund has been another way of giving they think will represent their interests. money to deprived towns as part of the Party loyalty has been eroded and government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda. changing demographics with the large The 40 most needy towns around the house-building programmes will erode country got funding, but there was that loyalty still further. This is a danger still a feeling of unfairness about the for the Tories. The Red Wall Tory MPs, whole process with Tory ministers using who have been stuck in their constitu- their government positions to shore up encies because of Covid-19, are worried their own seats: the secretary of state for about whether Boris Johnson will housing Robert Jenrick secured millions deliver his promise to ‘get Brexit done’ of pounds for Newark-on-Trent, a town in 2020 in a way that will satisfy their in his neighbouring constituency, while constituents and not be an economic more deserving places like Worksop disaster locally. These MPs have now with a Labour district council got formed a Northern Research Group and nothing. The National Audit Office they are worried that the money being report which looked into the matter spent on Covid will lead – whatever says that: “Ministers deviated from the promises are made – to the aban- recommended numbers of Town Deals donment of the ‘levelling up’ agenda per region, but within a tolerance which and that the north will yet again be officials decided was acceptable”.51 disadvantaged by government policy.52 The first Afro-Caribbean Tory MP Bassetlaw’s MP did not catch the mood Darren Henry who now represents the in his constituency either when he Tory/Labour marginal seat of Broxtowe opposed moves inspired by footballer had Boris Johnson open his office at the Marcus Rashford to provide free school end of July, with Johnson promising to meals for deprived children during the invest in infrastructure and technology school holidays. He said he did not “in every part of our United Kingdom believe in “nationalising children” and and above all in the East Midlands”. it was the responsibility of their parents There does not appear to be much of to feed them. a systemic levelling-up strategy at play But not having an MP is also a prob- here, but a lot of tactical and piecemeal lem for Labour. Bassetlaw Labour party gifts of money for individual projects. has been very successful in recruiting Nor is there any indication of how the councillors from different communities government is going to make up the EU and building a party round the district grants all these areas were eligible for council and the MP. But the loss of an before Brexit. As mayor Dan Jarvis said: MP means the loss of an organising base “I knew the EU funds I did have, but and a national representative who is in I don’t know what I am going to have.” the local newspapers and discussed in Politics in Bassetlaw and many of Facebook groups. Communication with these seats is increasingly volatile with constituents in the form of casework lots of voters prepared to vote Labour, has also gone. John Mann’s two very Tory or Independent depending on who efficient local staff boasted of doing the
46 most casework of any constituency in ham and its surrounding region. If this the country. Other local Labour parties happens Bassetlaw will be out in the were in a much more parlous state, taken cold, neither part of Sheffield city region over by the hard left, hollowed out or nor Nottingham city region, but in just ineffectual because their activists a kind of no-man’s land. This is a fate and councillors defected to become that it shares with many other con- independents. Now all the Labour MPs stituencies on the edge: semi-rural, in Nottinghamshire except in the city just outside a city zone, not included itself have gone, local Labour parties are in the northern powerhouse – and likely to face financial difficulties and hence forgotten. This highlights what problems building any kind of campaign- a difficult problem Labour will face ing structure. And they are going to lack when it seeks to devolve powers. the leadership, organisation and finances But in the meantime where it has a local Labour MP brings. councillors, Labour must build on District councils are likely to be that grassroots presence. We need to abolished when the government identify those older voters who went creates unitary authorities (ie one to the Tories and woo them back. That layer of local government), in what has might mean employing local organisers been billed as the greatest shake-up to help recruit and motivate activists. of local government in 35 years. If this It might mean developing a training happens it will be a further blow to programme, including getting local Bassetlaw and areas like Mansfield, members to take non-political positions Ashfield and Gedling which will lose in the public life of communities. very local representation. For local In Bassetlaw it is telling that Labour run Labour parties it will be one more nail the Royal British Legion for instance. in the coffin. In Bassetlaw’s small CLP Being embedded in local campaigns for instance, most of the activists are and institutions help make Labour the the 37 district councillors – and the natural party of government. We can council provides a structure around no longer do things “because we have which to organise. always done them like this” or tell The Conservative leader of Notting- people to vote for us because we are hamshire county council, who has since morally right. We need to look outward resigned, was pressing for a unitary and build broad-based campaigns authority in the early Autumn. But on issues which appeal way beyond because of a lot of local opposition from what might be thought of as Labour’s both Labour and Tories, the government traditional base, and combine that has put off the decision in Nottingham- with a vision of real change which the shire and is piloting local government practical people of the Midlands and the reorganisation now in Cumbria, North north have helped us design and believe Yorkshire and Somerset. we can deliver. The government could seek instead But with that relationship building, to introduce a metro mayor to Notting- we need to make sure we understand
47 FABIAN IDEAS NO. 652 the numbers and use data to understand them our attention and show that we what works. We need to show respect are prepared to fight to win them over to those in Bassetlaw and seats which and that we have earned the privilege flipped to the Tories. We need to give of representing them.
48 CONCLUSION
To win again, Labour is going to have for highly skilled jobs but it also gives to do more than just understand and Bassetlaw a place in the future. acknowledge the cultural reasons Place is important and towns and people voted Tory: it is going to have villages outside the south east of to have a compelling account of how it England should be nurtured as the best will address the economic inequalities places to live and work. Labour should between cities, towns and semi-rural be concentrating on re-inventing cities, communities. Devolution cannot just be town centres and villages as places to to cities and any plans for decentralising live, meet, study and enjoy culture, as power needs to look hard at places well as work and shop and live ecologi- which are on the edge and make sure cally and sustainably. that they are not excluded from a new It means taking the political decision settlement yet again. not just to invest the bulk of public Labour must develop policies infrastructure money in London and that build coalitions between voters the south east, but to use it to connect in cities, towns and the countryside up the whole country particularly those and which keep all of them safe. people who are currently left out. This means making sure there are There should be full-fibre broad- well-paid skilled jobs, a strong culture band for the whole population and of lifelong learning which appeals a green bus and shuttle system to join to older voters and a stronger NHS places together. which is adaptable to local needs. It We need a whole Britain policy to means investing in building affordable connect people up too so that they again ecologically sustainable housing, feel part of the story of country. They and keeping people safe in the world cannot be divided by a narrow English, with Britain being a full participant in Scottish or Welsh nationalism or by international alliances. what they look like, by their religion, or In the Midlands and north, we need what their sexual and gender orientation to manufacture and drive the green rev- is. That means remembering Labour’s olution. Places like Bassetlaw powered roots as the party which was known for the country in the past, they can power building peace at home as well as in the the country again. This is important world, whether that was through Nato,
49 FABIAN IDEAS NO. 652 through European alliances or through they are dumping plans for “levelling international aid. up”. Labour must have practical The Tories have proved to be innovative solutions, that work for the unstrategic and incompetent over whole country including for towns and the past year. They are worrying the countryside. We need to identify our their Northern and Midlands’ MPs common interest – so that Labour de- because they do not look like they velops an agenda which fosters alliances can develop a Brexit which will satisfy and brings the country together rather constituents and the MPs are afraid than divides it.
50 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to thank and St Pancras. I owe particular thanks all the people who helped with to Susie Gilbert, Cllr Rishi Madlani the project in Bassetlaw including and Sagal Abdi-Wali who read councillors James Naish, Josie Potts, and helped with early drafts and to Kevin Dukes; Jo White; Sue Shaw; Keir Starmer, Cllr Georgia Gould and Maria Charlesworth; Sybil Fielding; Baroness Glenys Thornton. I’d like Alan Rhodes and all the other activists to thank the donors who made this and councillors who talked to me about pamphlet possible: Sonny Leong Bassetlaw and supported me last year. and another donor who would like I would also like to thank Ray Fielding, to remain anonymous. Thank you too Sir Nic Dakin, Mayor Dan Jarvis, to Andrew Harrop and Kate Murray Lisa Gee, Griff Wynne and Lord Willy from the Fabian Society for supporting Bach. I would also like to acknowledge and encouraging me to write this. everyone who has stood by me Thanks also to Vanesha Singh for all through thick and thin in Holborn her work.
51 ENDNOTES
1 Adam McDonnell, “How Britain 10 Melissa Randall, Overview of the UK voted in the 2019 election”, YouGov, population, ONS, July 2017, ons.gov.uk December 17, 2019 11 Christian Odendahl, “The Big European 2 John Mann, The Real Deal, Fabian Sort? The diverging fortunes of Europe’s Society, January 2006 reg ions”, Centre for European Reform, May 8, 2019, cer.eu
3 Patrick Worrall, “Corbyn on Northern Ireland”, Channel 4 Factcheck, 12 Population Estimates, Nottingham- May 30, 2017 shire County Council, mid-2019, nottinghamshire.gov.uk 4 Deborah Mattinson, “Five Things Labour should do to win back 13 Wilko Employee Reviews for Ware- the Red Wall”, The Times Redbox, house Worker in Worksop, Indeed, 2020, September 21, 2020 indeed.co.uk
5 Martin McIvor, Election Review 2019, 14 Wilko workers to strike over ‘brutal’ Labour Together, June 2020 weekend rota, BBC East Midlands, September 4, 2019 6 John Smith, “Marcus Rashford: Big support in Bassetlaw for Manchester 15 Emma Munbodh, “Wilko to slash sick United star’s child food poverty petition”, pay for 21,000 workers amid coronavirus Worksop Guardian, October 16, 2020 outbreak”, Daily Mirror, March 5, 2020
7 “Labour Market Profile – Bassetlaw” 16 John Grant, “Sports Direct sparks fury June 2020, Nomis, nomisweb.co.uk by keeping Derbyshire warehouse open despite health risks”, Derbyshire 8 Stephen Clarke, “Forging ahead or Telegraph, March 26, 2020 falling behind? Devolution and the future of living standards in the Sheffield 17 Ben McVey, “Huge new Bassetlaw City Region”, Resolution Foundation, logistics park set to create 3,000 jobs”, January 2017, ResolutionFoundation.org Worksop Guardian, January 23, 2020
9 District Profile – Bassetlaw, Notting- 18 Tom Pegden, “Fresh call to create hamshire Insight, November 15, 2020, Freeport next to East Midlands Airport”, nottinghamshireinsight.co.uk Leicester Mercury, July 22, 2020
52 BUILDING BRIDGES: LESSONS FROM BASSETLAW FOR THE COUNTRY
19 Maria Highland, “Automated 29 Julie-Anne Barnes, “Nicola Sturgeon packaging for Wilko”, Logistics Manager, asks Aviemore artist to paint masterpiece March 12, 2019 after falling in love with painting of Highlands cottage”, Daily Record, 20 Grace Bowden, “Wilko profits and February 1, 2015 sales fall in ‘incredibly difficult’ year”, RetailWeek, April 30, 2020 30 Tobias Phibbs, Labour Country, How to rebuild the connection with rural 21 Peter Bouchal and Emma Norris, voters, Fabian Society, March 2018 “Implementing Sure Start Centres”, Institute for Government, 2015 31 Murray Scown, Kimberly Nicholas, Mark Brady, “EU subsidies benefit big farms 22 Carsten Jung and Luke Murphy, “Trans- while underfunding greener and poorer forming the economy after covid-19 plots – new research”, The Conversation, a clean, fair and resilient recovery”, August 21, 2020 IPPR, September 2020 32 Diane Coyle and Marianne Sensier, 23 Mine Energy Team, “Geothermal The Imperial Treasury: appraisal energy from abandoned coal methodology and re appraisal m i nes”, The Coal Authority, 2020, methodology and regional economic https://www2.groundstability.com/ performance in the UK, University of geothermal-energy-from-aban- Cambridge and Bennett Institute for Public doned-coal-mines/ Policy, July 2018
24 Jon Gluyas, Andrew Crossland and 33 Dan Jarvis, “Let’s build an economy Charlotte Adams, “36bn GWh: the that works for all”, Yorkshire Post, ‘limitless’ Geothermal from old UK January 22, 2020 coal mines”, Energypost.eu, May 3, 2019 34 Gareth Davies, Comptroller and Auditor 25 Roger Harrabin, “Homes to be heated General, “Improving Broadband for All”, by warm water from flooded mines”BBC National Audit Office, October 14, 2020 Science and Environment, June 9, 2020 35 Summary of UK FTTP Build Progress 26 Emily White, “New green energy Across Broadband ISPs UPDATE25, jobs set to be created at former High IS Preview, April 14, 2020 Marnham power station”, Lincolnshire Live, February 26, 2020 36 Deborah Mattinson, Beyond the Red Wall, (London, Biteback Publishing, 27 Rampton and Woodbeck Parish Council, August 2020) Rampton District Heating System Consultation, January 8, 2019 37 Hazel Shearing, “Pub desks: Sick of home working? I made the pub my office 28 Detailed annual statistics on the for a day”, BBC News, October 11, 2020 structure of the agricultural industry at 1 June in England and the UK, Defra, 38 Christine Ro, “Why the future of October 15, 2020 work might be ‘hybrid’”, BBC Worklife, August 31, 2020, BBC.com
53 FABIAN IDEAS NO. 652
39 District Profile – Bassetlaw, Notting- 46 Cameron Tait, New Tricks, Innovative hamshire Insight, November 15, 2020, Approaches to Lifelong Learning, nottinghamshireinsight.co.uk Fabian Society, December 2017
40 Budget Books, Nottinghamshire 47 Louisa Adjoa Parker, “Why black lives County Council, 2020/21 and 2014/15, matter in the British countryside”, Nottinghamshire.gov.uk CPRE, June 26, 2020, cpre.org.uk
41 Testing the city – living and working 48 Kathrin Benhold, “Syrian Children in Görlitz, http://stadt-auf-probe. Saved a German Village. And ioer.eu/english/ a Village Saved Itself” New York Times, September 19, 2019 42 Draft Bassetlaw local plan, Bassetlaw District Council, 2020 49 Mark Leonard, “The Brexit parenthesis: Three ways the pandemic is changing 43 Kenneth Gibb, Funding new UK politics”, European Council on Foreign social and affordable housing, Relations, August 12, 2020 UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence, November 2, 2018 50 Allocation of Reopening High Streets Safely Fund, D2N2, June 2020 44 Performance, Intelligence and Policy Team, “Bassetlaw District, Children and 51 Gareth Davies, The Comptroller and Young People’s Profile”, Nottinghamshire Auditor General, Review of the Town County Council, September 2016 Deals selection process, National Audit Office, July 21, 2020 45 The Good Childhood Report 2020, Children’s Society, August 27, 2020 52 UK News, “Boris Johnson facing blue rebellion in the ‘red wall’”, The Week, October 27, 2020
54 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sally Gimson was selected to be Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate for Bassetlaw in November 2019 but did not contest the 2019 general election. She was the Labour parliamentary candidate in South Leicestershire in 2010. Between 2011 and 2018 Sally was a Labour councillor in Camden, responsible for adult social care and the environment. Sally previously worked at a senior level in charity communications, policy and advocacy focusing on parenting, criminal justice and international freedom of expression. BUILDING BRIDGES
SALLY GIMSON
One of the features of Labour’s disastrous 2019 general election that has been most commented on was the fall of the Red Wall. There has been a lot of debate about why those places across the Midlands and the north of England were lost, but very few practical suggestions about how to win them back. Where better to look for answers than at Bassetlaw, a seat which saw the biggest swing to the Conservatives in the country? In this pamphlet, Sally Gimson puts forward a range of policies to help Labour reconnect with voters and build a wide coalition across cities, towns and the countryside to defeat the Tories in 2024.
FABIAN IDEAS NO.652 ISBN 978-0-7163-0652-8 £5.95