Why Labour ministers and rebels need to make peace with each other, and quickly

The UK had enough chaos and drama under the Conservatives. Labour needs to focus on good, stable government

This coming week the Labour Party should be celebrating a year in office. The new era they have launched, turning the country away from the chaos and sleaze of Boris, Liz and Rishi.

But instead, they will be picking through the rubble of what was their welfare reform plan and presenting a patched-up alternative forced on them, not by an impotent Tory opposition, but their own MPs.

Around the echoing corridors of Westminster, nobody is talking about Labour’s Industrial Strategy, Spending Review or trade deals clinched where the Tories couldn’t. The gossip is all about the U-turns and how a government which promised so much has disappointed so many.

I can only imagine the frustration that many on the benches behind the Prime Minister must be feeling at the jibes that this is not the change we expected from a Labour government. But perhaps what has actually changed, or is at least changing, is that we no longer see or experience our politics in terms of left, right and centre.

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Keir Starmer is shown a fast-jet trainer during a visit to RAF Valley in Anglesey on Friday (Picture: Paul Currie) | PA

Do the right thing

The idea of a widespread, trade union-supporting, working-class movement thirled to the idea of a mutually exclusive relationship with the Labour party belongs in the past. The soft-left, progressive ideals of New Labour still hold some of their attraction, but for many people even the notion of any of class-informed rhetoric is anathema.

It is no longer enough to be the party of the working person or of business. Increasingly our political thoughts are dominated by issues that demand a new paradigm: climate change, immigration, international tensions, gender conflict and societal violence.

I, and many of my colleagues, regularly find ourselves in cross-party agreements on issues as varied as energy licenses and China. This past week has been a case in point. The opposition to the welfare reforms which would, by Labour’s own calculations, have pushed 250,000 people into poverty had support across the House.

But there is another, less discussed issue. We have become too dominated by spin doctors and professional political analysts whose motivation is all about target groups, positioning and ‘the message’.

All of those things have their place, but should never, I believe, take the place of genuine political instinct and motivation. Doing the right thing.

Welfare reform required

I know what I believe, and in this week’s drama I was firmly in the same camp as those fighting to preserve support for those who need it. For me, there were no political points to be won, or positions to be taken.

It was only about doing the right thing. Yes, our welfare bill is exploding. Yes, the system needs to be reformed. But no, that should not be to the detriment of those it was set up to help in the first place.

Agreement appears to have broken out in the Labour party but that’s no guarantee that tomorrow parliament will be presented with something which meets the needs of those it is elected to serve.

Labour will now have to make peace amongst themselves and establish just what it is that they want to stand for in power. For the next four years, the country needs good, stable government. We had enough drama with the Tories.

Christine Jardine is Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West