Complacent progressives must find answers to voters’ anger and frustration

Labour needs a new agenda for an electorate losing confidence in politics and governance

Labour’s landslide victory in the general election has meant exposure to a harsh and hysterical Tory press, no surprises there. They must also contend with a sequence of poor economic indicators, which are understandable as the incompetence of the last Tory government and the economic mess they left behind will continue to dash expectations for the foreseeable future.

Nigel Farage, the crown prince of opportunism, who will be hoping to become the next British PM in 2029, has “kindly” offered to assist Peter Mandelson, the new UK Ambassador to the United States, in getting on Donald Trump’s good side. You couldn’t make it up!

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But are voters seeing what we progressives are not, and what could be the electoral consequences in the years ahead? In this age of anger, our politics and governance are being questioned, as is the legitimacy of our elections. The challenges to democracy from populism, nationalism and authoritarianism are real.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage holding a phone displaying the number of Reform UK party members whilst speaking during the Reform UK East of England conference at Chelmsford City RacecourseReform UK leader Nigel Farage holding a phone displaying the number of Reform UK party members whilst speaking during the Reform UK East of England conference at Chelmsford City Racecourse
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage holding a phone displaying the number of Reform UK party members whilst speaking during the Reform UK East of England conference at Chelmsford City Racecourse | PA

There is pent-up anger and frustration amongst Britain's volatile voters. Enthusiasm for democracy has waned as progressives have become complacent. People feel taken for granted and left behind. The ideas of Trump, Dutch politician Geert Wilders, France’s Marine Le Pen and Farage are anathema to progressives, but are more easily embraced by an increasingly dissatisfied and insecure electorate.

Voters in Britain are losing confidence and trust in our politics and governance. The narrative which kept post-war Britain together and democratic now seems threadbare and hopelessly outdated. A deeper analysis of the current plight of Britain is required as the madness of America crosses the Atlantic. Our democracy is vulnerable.

Voters deserve new answers to some exceptionally large questions to which we are currently paying lip service. Credible and just solutions are needed for the problems of an unequal, fragile, and divided UK.

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The new government has made some debatable decisions in the first six months, but this country’s troubles go much deeper and cannot in any serious way be blamed on the aftermath of one election. Surveys suggest voters are restless and unpredictable as a populist virus lurks around. People are losing faith in established institutions.

The Budget was a missed opportunity. Labour could have signalled a more upbeat and hopeful vision of the future. The key message of Labour’s election campaign was “change”, but many still find themselves asking “what kind of change?” Labour needs a strategy to shift the public mood.

Four questions seem appropriate. First, what is the long-term vision for Britain’s future at home and abroad, acknowledging the multiple crises currently engulfing the planet? Second, for the long term, what kind of country do we want Britain to become over the next half a century?

Third, could Labour collaborate with other progressive parties to create an attractive public philosophy based on justice, equality, and the common good to confront the divisive policies of the Conservatives’ Kemi Badenoch and Farage? Fourth, how do we shift Britain from a feeling of decline and despair to one of hope and optimism?

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A new and inclusive agenda, involving other progressive political parties, based on tackling the grotesque inequalities and injustices that blight Britain today is now necessary. So what does this agenda look like?

The first-past-the-post voting system is an anachronism, a corrupting and divisive influence in our democracy. In July, Labour won a landslide election victory with only 33 per cent of the votes cast, but if you include those who didn’t vote in the second-lowest voter turnout since 1918, less than 20 per cent of the UK electorate supported Labour. This doesn’t make any sense. The votes of millions just don’t count. Why did 43 per cent of all voters not bother to vote? The current electoral process is broken.

A fairer voting system would open up the possibility of a more European style of governance where progressive political parties could form broad coalitions of interest and better reflect a wider and more diverse electorate.

Whatever happened to progressive taxation for income and wealth? Low-income earners often pay a larger percentage of tax on their income than billionaires do. Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee recently called for a wealth tax. With a 5 per cent tax on the combined £795 billion wealth of the top 350 richest people in the UK bringing in around £40bn, this is common sense, not socialism. It is called fairness.

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Why is the world’s sixth-largest economy tolerating some of the most grotesque levels of poverty in the Developed World. Is it moral or just for one-in-four children to be living in poverty? The answer is obvious, so why are we not resolved, as a rich nation, to do the 'decent thing'?

And what about Europe and having a serious, inclusive and informed debate about Britain’s need for much closer ties with the EU, with the prospect of rejoining? Brexit was insane. A new debate must regard our electors as citizens whose best interests are not furthered by delusion and lies but by openness and truth.

Scotland is unfinished business. A new phase of devolution, setting out a vision for the next quarter of a century, is long overdue. More Britishness will not answer the Scottish question but a new discussion about Gordon Brown’s ‘Union of the Nations’ could help convince Westminster that the debate has a long way to go. The 2026 Scottish elections loom large and much of the nationalist vote is a protest. The future of the devolved nations must move up Labour’s Westminster’s agenda.

Let a thousand citizen assemblies flourish as we reinvent our democracy and rethink Britain. Political well-being requires a new prescription.

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Britain is so shackled by the past, with little enthusiasm for the future, and seems extremely uncomfortable with the present. This is the source of our discontent.

Henry McLeish is a former First Minister of Scotland

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