Labour risks handing a gift to right-wing populists if it continues to avoid structural change, a senior commentator has warned in the New Statesman. The piece argues that by tinkering around the edges of a broken system, the party confirms the populist narrative that “the establishment can only do more of the same”.
Two years ago, the British people voted for a Labour government not just to oust the Tories but for political change that touched their lives, the article states. Yet since then, the government has too often left the impression that it is defending the status quo rather than challenging it, “leaving the seeds of anger, frustration and resentment to be harvested by those promising something far more toxic”.
“Labour warned that avoiding structural change plays into right-wing populism, needing real devolution.”
The root cause, according to the piece, is over-centralisation. The UK is one of the most over-centralised countries in the developed world, with regional leaders lacking the tools to build fair and sustainable economies and too few regions having any leader at all. Local government is threadbare, struggling even to meet statutory responsibilities, while national government has grown, particularly since the pandemic.
The answer, the article insists, is “real devolution” – not the “begging-bowl culture of the past where regional politicians came to Whitehall with their caps in hand, asking permission to run their own bus routes”. Real devolution means someone is genuinely accountable, so the buck cannot be passed.
Labour governments of the past have laid foundations. Under the last Labour government, Gordon Brown and the late John Prescott delivered devolution settlements for Scotland and Wales and oversaw the creation of the mayor of London and Transport for London. Hazel Blears created Combined Authorities after Greater Manchester proposed the model. The article notes that current Labour administrations are proving what this can deliver.
The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act, introduced to parliament last year, was designed to unlock the biggest transfer of power in a generation. But the commentator warns that without bold action, the party will leave itself vulnerable to the toxicity of right-wing populism.