Labour should embrace a bold agenda to counter opposition

David Lynch, The Independent

Labour should not mimick right-wing populist strategies following disappointing local election results, a new report from The Institute For Public Policy Research (IPPR) has warned. Instead, the influential think tank urges the party to embrace a bold, progressive agenda to counter the rising tide of populism. The IPPR, which played a key role in shaping policy during the Blair and Brown years, argues that simply rehashing past Labour approaches won't suffice in the current political climate. Titled “Facing the future” and backed by former Labour Foreign Secretary David Miliband, the report serves as a counterpoint to groups like Blue Labour. The campaign group has suggested that Labour should adopt some of the rhetoric and policies of their right-wing opponents to combat the surge in popularity of parties like Reform UK.

Following significant losses to Reform UK in May's local elections, Labour has emphasised action on issues like migration and crime — areas where Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has taken a hardline stance. However, the IPPR warns that this approach risks playing into the hands of the populists. The think tank, which has seen several staff members join Keir Starmer's team, contends that the "forward march of populism is in full swing" and requires a different response. The report advocates for a forward-looking, progressive agenda as the most effective way to challenge the populist narrative. Labour should "shift from defence to offence, from reactive to proactive, from apology to confidence", and show itself to be "a disruptor, not defender, of the status quo" in order to combat its insurgent political foes, it said.

The report, which is directed not just at Labour, but progressive parties across the Western world, suggested ministers face a hard task because "the progressive engine of ideas seems to have run out of steam".

"When parties don't have new ideas, they reach back for old ones, or imitate others. Neither of these approaches will work at a moment of great change and challenge," it said.

In a stark warning not to rehash the ideas of New Labour, or even older Labour governments, the IPPR added that progressives "cannot simply reach back to yesterday's men in search of their ideas, goals and policies".

"Their world has dissolved, so their ideas are out of date," the report added.

The rising importance of national borders, broken faith in the global financial markets, and a lack of common public ground due to the fragmented way people now read the news, are among the reasons Labour cannot simply attempt to re-hash the so-called "Third Way" of politics it championed in the 1990s and 2000s, the IPPR said. The populist right's brand is meanwhile boosted when Labour and other progressive parties attempt to ape their ideas, the think tank warned. "The challenge is to address the changes and grievances they speak to, but with progressive ideas and solutions," it added. David Miliband, the former Labour foreign secretary and brother to Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, gave his backing to the research.

Mr Miliband, who wrote the report's foreword, said adopting new ideas could lead Labour to oversee a "virtuous circle of social, political and economic renewal, in which security and opportunity reinforce each other". He added: "That is what happened after Labour was elected in 1945 and 1997, and what is needed again. The policies of those periods are time-bound; no one is suggesting those policies should be regurgitated. But the lessons in how new ideas can power new politics are important."

The report concludes by saying Labour and its political allies around the world must now discuss and share progressive ideas for governing in the near future, a period which could be "destabilising". The Labour Government, because of the long period before the next general election is expected to take place, has a chance to play a "co-ordinating role" in these efforts, it added.