How Labour’s next leader can succeed

There is a radical but credible pro-growth agenda waiting to be seized

Today on Arguably, I explore the new ideas that Labour’s next leader could take into No 10. This piece is paid but you can read it now by becoming a full subscriber or signing up for a seven-day free trial.

(Svet Foto/Shutterstock)

Until yesterday the only place the Labour Party appeared to be going was round in circles. Keir Starmer was at once too weak to command authority and too strong to be dislodged. But the impasse has finally been broken. Andy Burnham, by far the most popular leadership contender among both party members and voters, now has what he previously lacked: Starmer’s consent to return to parliament. Victory in Makerfield is far from guaranteed: based on current polling, Nigel Farage’s Reform would comfortably take the seat. But Burnham’s personal appeal – he has a +20 approval rating in the north-west compared to Starmer’s -40 – may be enough to carry him through and provide proof that he could win a general election (Ben Judah and David Lawrence wrote on the lessons of “Manchesterism” earlier this week).

Meanwhile, having resigned as health secretary, Wes Streeting will now be free to give full voice to his distinctive brand of Labour revisionism, representing a tradition that stretches back to Tony Crosland, the author of The Future of Socialism (1956), who Streeting has long identified as his political hero. In the most ideologically notable section of his resignation letter, he spoke of Labour’s “historic responsibility of defeating racism” and of the need to prove that “Britain’s best days lie ahead through social democracy”.

Here at Arguably, we’ve focused from the start on the “what” rather than the “who”. The charge that Labour has long faced is that while it has no shortage of clashing personalities, it has a dearth of ideas. Yet this week has also seen the liveliest policy debate since the general election – and the beginnings of a new progressive consensus.