Labour’s divide between aspiration and reality

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/13/labour-divide-between-aspiration-reality

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In their rush to judgment over Labour’s defeat, a number of commentators overstate their case. It is right that Labour should reflect the aspirations of those who shop at John Lewis or Waitrose, or wish to own their own homes (Leader lineup, 11 May), but a healthy society should also reflect the aspirations of those who shop at Aldi and Lidl or need affordable homes to rent. Such a society would recognise the necessity of realising the aspiration to relieve a million people from their dependence on food banks as part of the drive to reduce inequality to which Tony Blair refers.

Those who describe Labour as anti-business should explain how regulating the banks, limiting energy costs, reducing business rates for small enterprises, or tackling the abuse of the tax system by non-doms would damage business.

Of course Labour must listen to those who failed to vote for it, but turning into a pale imitation of today’s Tory party, destroying public services and deepening inequality, is no recipe for electoral recovery.Jeremy BeechamLabour, House of Lords

• Despite calling for a period of patient reflection on the election result, the Labour right wasted no time at all wheeling out a string of key figures to argue that Labour was too “leftwing” to win an election. There can be little doubt that this is a concerted campaign by them, with the use of the coded phrase “aspirant voters” being repeated again and again. Of course, what this actually refers to is people who voted Tory in the south-east of England, so in fact a repeat of the Blair strategy of pursuing the centre ground (even as it moves to the right) in the south but not worrying about the core Labour vote elsewhere. It surely hasn’t escaped their notice, however, that the core Labour vote has in fact collapsed in Scotland and is being seriously eroded elsewhere due to Ukip.

Those who say Labour should become the party of aspiration must remember aspiration based on inequality will fail

So far I have not heard a single advocate of the “aspirant” cause explain how this will help Labour win back confidence in Scotland. Perhaps the New Labour revivalists are worried that the decimation of one centre-right party (the Liberal Democrats) and the readiness of many people to vote for a more radical SNP exposes some of the problems with the New Labour strategy. For the Mandelsons and Blairs, a turn to the left is worse than writing off Scotland and other traditional Labour areas in the north and in Wales. They would rather that Labour was a party more like the Lib Dems. 

The New Labour revivalists remind me of the die-hard Thatcherites after the fall of Thatcher herself – desperate to defend their legacy even though the situation has changed all around them.Joe HartneyLondon

• You report that Liz Kendall, Chuka Umunna and other Labour leadership hopefuls think that Labour needs to appeal more to “aspirational” people in the middle classes. I don’t know how to tell an aspirational person from a contented person or an apathetic person, but I do know how to identify Londoners and pensioners. Are voters in London less aspirational than the UK average? London voted heavily for Labour. Are young voters (aged 18-44) less aspirational than the UK average? Young people voted heavily for Labour, and middle-aged people tended to favour Labour. Only the over-65s voted heavily for the Tories. Based on the evidence from the Ashcroft poll, Labour polled well among “aspirational” age groups and hard-working families.

The easiest way for Labour to win is to gain votes in the south of England (outside London) and among pensioners. The policy most likely to achieve this is probably a promise to increase NHS funding, so that no local hospitals will have to close in southern towns, and GP surgeries will be able to provide appointments on the day. Renationalising the railways might also gain votes for Labour in the south-west and among commuters in the south-east.

Labour doesn’t need to move to the right. As the Lib Dems have just found out, being Tory-ish or Tory-lite is not a route to electoral success.Dominic RaynerLeeds

• The Labour party is now entering what we must hope will be a period of genuine and profound reflection – rather than kneejerk reaction genuflection at the altar of Blairism. As it does, those who argue it should become the party of aspiration for all must remember that aspiration based on inequality is doomed to failure.

Labour’s disproportionate wins in London reflect the understanding of many of the so-called aspiring classes that reducing inequality is a precondition for creating a healthy, safe and prosperous society. Despite their high levels of education and well-paid jobs, increasing numbers of those living in our obscenely unequal capital – who at any other time in Britain’s history would have been viewed, and regarded themselves, as having “made it” – cannot afford housing or childcare. What hope for hundreds of thousands of others whose aspirations have been reduced to hoping that “zero” this week means enough hours to pay the bills?

If the Labour party aspires to lead a better Britain, the battle against inequality must be its priority. Any candidate for leader should be required to set out how they propose to achieve this. Laura ParkerLondon

• In our English south-coast seaside constituency, 42 % of the votes were cast for a politician with a track record of extra-parliamentary action against nuclear weapons, Blair’s illegal war in Iraq and fracking, running on a manifesto opposing austerity, renationalising the railways, abolishing tuition fees and proposing urgent action on climate change. Achieving a massive 11% swing, Caroline Lucas’s victory did not just vacuum up Labour’s previous core voters but reached out to voters from all walks of life and all localities in the city.

I trust that this vote for jobs, affordable housing and defending the NHS was “aspirational” enough for Peter Mandelson and his approved candidate.Simon HinksBrighton

• As an ageing pensioner, I for one am happy that voters have now been redesignated from “hard-working” to “aspirational” (Letters, 12 May) since I am finding being the former increasingly difficult whereas I can still easily manage the latter, even while sitting in an armchair.Isabella StoneMatlock, Derbyshire