Website:

www.labourtogether.co.uk
E-mail: info@labourtogether.co.uk
Twitter: @labourtogether

Political renewal and the future of Labour

10.00am 3.00pm Thursday 3 November 2016
Attlee Suite, Portcullis House, London, SW1

Labours crisis

Two election defeats in 2010 and 2015 have left Labour in crisis. It is lost in Scotland, losing ground
in Wales, defeated in England, and distrusted by the over 55s. Victory for Brexit has further
estranged the pro-EU party from its socially conservative working class base. It is increasingly
identified with a socially-liberal metropolitan segment of the electorate from which it currently
draws most of its support.

Labours historical purpose is to be the party of the labour interest. Its task is to defend working
people by redressing the balance of power between capital and labour for the common good. The
party has lost this sense of purpose. Many voters hold what they believe are labour values but
they no longer recognise these values in the modern-day Labour Party.

Labours political coalition is fragmenting as it loses the partisan loyalty of the working class. Its
crisis lies in the fact that it can neither reverse this trend, nor renew itself. The partys exclusive
liberal progressive identity separates it from the everyday experience of a majority of the
electorate. Political renewal begins with understanding what matters to people, but the party is
out of touch.

Labours future

To survive and prosper Labour must rediscover its sense of historic purpose. It must create a new
public political philosophy drawing on values that are widely shared amongst voters: family, hard
work, decency, and fairness. It needs a vision of a post-Brexit economy framed by the traditions
and cultures of the country. Shared national traditions and collective experience create a powerful
bulwark against the ideology of laissez faire.

The task of a labour leadership is to build a national coalition that links together big cities, small
towns and countryside, north and south, business and workers, liberals and conservatives, young
and old in a sense of national community. But first Labour must understand who it speaks for and
what they want.

Website: www.labourtogether.co.uk
E-mail: info@labourtogether.co.uk
Twitter: @labourtogether

Political Renewal and the future of Labour

10.00am 3.00pm Thursday 3 November 2016
Attlee Suite, Portcullis House, London, SW1

10.00am 10.05am: Welcome from Steve Reed MP and Lisa Nandy MP

10.05am 11.15am: What is Labour for?

Labours historical purpose was to represent the labour interest but it has lost its role. What now is
its future?

Speaker: Maurice Glasman (Labour peer)

Respondents: Lisa Nandy MP, Sharon Taylor (Leader, Stevenage Council)
Chair. Jon Cruddas MP

11.15am 12.30pm: A Labour post-Brexit economy

Can Labour harness the popular values of family, work, fairness and patriotism to shape a postBrexit political economy?

Panelists: Tom Kibasi (Director IPPR), Rachel Reeves MP, Duncan Weldon (Resolution Group).
Chair: Jonathan Reynolds MP

12.30pm 1.30pm: Lunch

1.30pm 3.00pm: Building a new Labour Coalition

How can Labour create a process of political renewal and build a winning electoral coalition and
who is going to do it?

Panelists: Marc Stears (CEO New Economics Foundation), Ruth Davis (environmentalist), Nick
Pearce (University of Bath), Jane Wills (Queen Mary, University of London), Olivia Bailey (Fabian
Society).
Chair: Steve Reed MP

Organised by Labour Together in association with the Fabian Society; the School of Politics and International
Relations, Kent University; the Political Studies Associations Labour Movements Group and History and Politics
Group; the LGA Labour Group; Renewal Journal.

To avoid being late please give yourself time to pass through security at the Portcullis House entrance. The Attlee
Suite is accessible to the public and can be reached through the doors and up the stairs to the first floor.

Places are free but limited in number. To register a place please email info@labourtogether.co.uk