FABIAN REVIEW The quarterly magazine of the Fabian Society Winter 2018 / fabians.org.uk / £4.95 REACHING OUT New ideas to renew the centre-left from Liz Kendall, Daniel Sleat, Matthew Laza, Anthony Painter, Polly Mackenzie and more p10 / Lisa Nandy on healing the UK’s divisions p20 / Nick Dearden calls for a truly left-wing trade policy p23 / Emma Dent Coad debunks the myth of choice p26 #FEPSFAB19 Saturday 19 January 2019 Friends House, London NW1 2BJ FEPS-Fabian New Year Conference Brexit and Beyond Featuring: Keir Starmer MP Nia Griffith MP Louise Haigh MP Barbara Keeley MP Luciana Berger MP Kate Green MP Lord Alf Dubs Miatta Fahnbulleh Prof. Anand Menon and many more Visit fabians.org.uk/events for information and to book online Fabians New Year Conference Advert 2019.indd 1 10/12/2018 16:11 Contents FABIAN REVIEW Volume 130—No. 4 Leader Andrew Harrop 4 Bridging the divides Shortcuts Diana Johnson MP 5 Northern promise Martin McCluskey 6 Restoring trust Sarah Owen 6 Universal misery Stephen Twigg MP 7 Path to peace Amna Abdullatif 8 Voices from the street Stephen Bradley 9 Poverty of expectation Cover story Liz Kendall MP 10 Positive vision Anna Round, Anthony Painter, Daniel Sleat, 12 The seeds of recovery David Coats, Eunice Goes, Maria Freitas, Matthew Laza & Polly Mackenzie Paula Surridge 16 New dimensions Karl Pike 18 Keeping the faith Interview Kate Murray 20 Power player Comment Nick Dearden 23 Tricks of the trade Features Melanie Simms 24 Working progress Emma Dent Coad MP 26 Competing priorities Books Reema Patel 28 Viral politics Fabian Society section Nan Sloane 29 Revolutionary spirit Kate Green MP 30 A Fabian future FABIAN REVIEW FABIAN SOCIETY Events and communications Membership Fabian Review is the quarterly journal of the Fabian 61 Petty France officer, Robin Harvey Membership officer, Society. Like all publications of the Fabian Society, London SW1H 9EU Shehana Udat it represents not the collective view of the society, 020 7227 4900 (main) Editorial Local societies officer, but only the views of the individual writers. The 020 7976 7153 (fax) Editorial director, Kate Murray Deborah Stoate responsibility of the society is limited to approving [email protected] Assistant editor, Vanesha Singh its publications as worthy of consideration within the www.fabians.org.uk Media and communications Finance and Operations Labour movement. manager, Rabyah Khan Finance and operations manager, General secretary, John Rafferty Editor, Kate Murray Andrew Harrop Research Cover illustration © Dàlia Adillon Deputy general secretary, Scotland www.daliaadillon.com/ Events and Partnerships Olivia Bailey National manager, Printed by DG3, London E14 9TE Director of partnerships Senior researcher, Jason Brock Katherine Sangster Designed by Soapbox, www.soapbox.co.uk and events, Researcher, Josh Abey ISSN 1356 1812 Alex Sanderson Researcher, Ben Cooper [email protected] 3 / Volume 130—No. 4 Leader Dàlia Adillon © Bridging the divides The centre-left’s renewal is starting – and that can only be good news. For when both sides of Labour’s broad church contribute ideas, Labour and the country will be better for it, argues Andrew Harrop ABOUR’S BREXIT DEBATE has exposed tensions and The proposal for a universal basic income is a case in cleavages within the party that have nothing to point. But, more broadly, both extremes of the movement Ldo with left versus right. Among centrist social are home to statist and anti-statist tendencies: radical plans democrats there are proponents of both globalist for decentralisation, mutualism and grassroots democracy liberalism and working-class cultural conservatism. have a home in centre left as well as Corbynite thinking. And on the Corbynite left there is striking disagree- Across the Labour family, people are trying to answer ment between Momentum’s green internationalists and the same questions – and often coming up with the same the Bennite ‘lexiteers’ who seek sovereignty for social- answers – even though they may be reluctant to acknowl- ism at home. One of the most important developments edge it is a shared conversation, because of the party’s of 2018 has been the emergence of significant diversity factional fissures. and disagreement within the Labour left, on both ideo- This is not to underplay the distinctions between logical worldviews and political practicalities. Labour’s left and right. There is a different tone and mode In terms of ideas, Corbynism is a badge for a broad of politics, with the moderates more likely to champion spectrum of thinking. Some of the Labour left’s priori- change from within and more preoccupied with winning ties have hardly changed since the 1980s – fighting cuts, a hearing from voters who don’t share the left’s convic- extending free services, nationalising industries. But there tions. And when it comes to economics, moderates don’t is genuine innovation too, especially when it comes to share the Labour left’s heady dreams of post-capitalism; economic thinking. instead they want a steady, practical journey to a more To date the moderate centre left has struggled to productive, egalitarian variety of capitalism. respond to the intellectual challenge from the Corbynites. But it is often the rhetoric more than the policy that Sometimes when defending the orthodoxies of the last marks the two ends of the axis apart. Indeed, on some Labour government, social democrats have sounded stuck questions traditional social democrats appear more radi- in the past themselves. But there are signs that the centre cal than the Corbynites. On equality, MPs have attacked left’s renewal is slowly starting. Labour’s leadership from the left and pointed out that the Self-styled moderates are proposing radical and party’s social security, tax and higher education policies politically contentious reforms to challenge our gross do too little to close the gap between rich and poor. inequalities of wealth and power. They want to reduce In the years to come the centre left will have a key the UK’s huge wealth disparities through new taxes and role to play in demanding intellectual honesty within market interventions: even Tony Blair now backs a land the Labour family and calling out the leadership where value tax. They seek to place agency and control into there are gaps in the party’s thinking. That might mean people’s hands by reducing concentrations of power demanding rigour on the tax policies required to fund a within public services, workplaces and consumer mar- Scandinavian welfare state; or getting beneath sloganeer- kets. And they are searching for practical ways to achieve ing to the sort of real-world curiosity and nuance needed balanced growth and to secure good work, in a way that to reform failing markets, workplaces and public services. embraces new technology and delivers shared prosperity This all adds to the case for the British left remain- across Britain. ing one movement not two. The Labour party should be In all of this the moderates are not so moderate: politi- a broad church not just because it is an electoral necessity; cal voices on opposite wings of the labour movement but because, when there are more voices sharing in the agree on much more than they admit. To add to the story, conversation, all sides benefit and stronger ideas emerge. there are lots of ideas which unite people divided by the A labour movement that offers a comfortable home for tribal left-right split, but which do not command consen- Liz Kendall as well as John McDonnell is one that will sus within each rival camp. shape a brighter future for our troubled country. F 4 / Fabian Review Shortcuts £500m Canary Wharf Crossrail Station and government’s spin to justify this. However, Hull’s Paragon Station. London’s Canary bi-modal technology is not ‘new’, it is Wharf has state of the art facilities – even environmentally regressive and dashes any a roof garden. Hull station meanwhile was hope of delivering truly high speed services recently voted by a passenger group as the for passengers and freight. UK’s ninth worst station – and that was after Chris Grayling famously told the north £1.4m of ‘improvements’. to ‘get in the driving seat’. However, we’ve Rail isn’t the only problem. Local bus seen more devolved blame than devolved NORTHERN PROMISE services have been cut and roads in the power. Transport for the North’s powers are north account for a large chunk of the only advisory and feeble compared to those The north needs a fairer share of potholes backlog. The new national roads of Transport for London. transport investment, and more fund promises investment from the mid- In recent decades, in other parts of the 2020s. That’s jam tomorrow, but jams today. UK, such as East London’s Docklands, power to spend it as it sees fit Since the launch of the ‘northern we’ve seen what’s possible when govern- —Diana Johnson MP powerhouse’ in 2014, transport spending ments get serious about long-term local has risen twice as much per person in regeneration. For 1980s London Docklands, The dogma-driven austerity we’ve lived London than in the north; and under cur- ministers didn’t invent pre-conditions through since 2010 has shown that we rent government plans, London is set to get about adopting one made-in-Whitehall cannot cut our way to a broad-based, five times as much transport investment per model of regional government and then resilient economy that balances the books, head as Yorkshire and the Humber over the cite insufficient co-operation as an excuse while funding decent services and a modern next few years. for withholding investment. welfare state. Rather than acting to end this unfairness, But now, the real power is held in Asking the super-rich and corporations Grayling portrays a north enjoying a lavish Whitehall – and it’s unclear whether to pay their fair share is only part of the spending bonanza.