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‘The centre left needs a new vision’
It’s 9.30pm in Miami, 2.30am in London, and I’m sat in a bar at the Miami-Dade election night party with Labour Party friends after a week of campaigning to help Hillary Clinton’s White House bid.
The US election being so close, with a Republican candidate as repugnant as Donald Trump, spells a much longer term problem for the centre left of politics than it does just for the outcome of this Presidential election.
Chat of Trump doing so well in Michigan feels like Labour nearly losing Newcastle. The working class – which arguably affiliated with Labour and the Democrats out of class and not just political ideology – seems to be shifting to a politics of nationalism, protectionism and fear.
is needed now More than ever
The cause, in my view, is globalisation and the start of the fourth industrial revolution. And the centre left needs to start spelling out its vision for the future now before it’s too late.
Take a breath and think back to 1939. World War II ensued and, after our victory, the left in the US and UK brought about the post-war era of politics – an interventionist state which delivered security, housing, education, health and jobs.
Fast forward to 1979 and the era of Thatcherism and Reaganomics. Suddenly the state was no longer serving this purpose. It was all about the market, and you were on your own.
Now fast forward to 2008. The global financial crash, the state floundering with how to cope. Big business bailed out and the people hammered with austerity to pay for it.
As we approach the 2020 general election we approach too the start of a new political era. Post-war consensus, post-Thatcherism and now pre-fourth industrial revolution.
The “take back control” slogan of the Leave campaign worked magically because of this. People feel that politics has lost control. They want those of us involved to set out how we’ll secure the future. The centre left is failing at this and failing hard.
Regardless of the outcome of the election tonight we have a much larger problem on our hands. The outcome of failure is frightening. The challenge for the centre left is to stand up and lead with a vision for the future that rings true to the people, and clearly sets out why hope should win over fear.
Darren Jones is the Director of Future Labour and was Labour’s PPC for a Bristol North West last year. This blog was first published on Labourlist.org.
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