{"id":9959,"date":"2011-05-10T17:36:54","date_gmt":"2011-05-10T16:36:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=9959"},"modified":"2011-05-10T17:36:54","modified_gmt":"2011-05-10T16:36:54","slug":"what-labour-needs-to-concentrate-on-are-ends-not-means","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2011\/05\/10\/what-labour-needs-to-concentrate-on-are-ends-not-means\/","title":{"rendered":"What Labour needs to concentrate on are ends, not means"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have a lot of sympathy with this comment by\u00a0Sunder Katwala, the general secretary of the Fabian Society, writing on the Labour Uncut blog<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Labour needs a compelling political narrative and project again. It won\u2019t get back to power by the alphabet soup of electoral segmentation. Finding the argument and strategy that can build a broad enough electoral coalition to provide a coherent governing project is not going to be easy.<\/p>\n

Still, that is the price of political power.<\/p>\n

The one thing that is a recipe for permanent opposition is yet another debate about which voters Labour would be better off without.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Tories must be delighted by three things right now. The first is Labour factionalism. The second is that the\u00a0factionalism\u00a0seems entirely process (or means) focussed. The third is that the narrative reason for engaging in the debate is missing.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, as the SNP proved, narrative matters.<\/p>\n

New Labour had one, for better or worse, and I think worse. It can't be revived (although an attempt is being made). The need is for a new narrative.<\/p>\n

A narrative that says the state is a good thing.<\/p>\n

That only the state can get us out of the mess we're in.<\/p>\n

That\u00a0if we have full employment we can repay debt, easily.<\/p>\n

And what's more we can supply all the services our changing demography demands.<\/p>\n

That's a narrative in a nutshell, and I know it can work.<\/p>\n

Labour has to believe it until it is red in the face.<\/p>\n

Then \u00a0people will vote for it.<\/p>\n

It's ends, not means, that matter in politics. And Labour's ends are all on the left.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have a lot of sympathy with this comment by\u00a0Sunder Katwala, the general secretary of the Fabian Society, writing on the Labour Uncut blog: Labour
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