The Fabians's have stood the test of time and are the best think-tank on the centre-left. These words are wise and from a critical friend of Labour. However, Uncle Arthur would suggest a few words of caution. The Fabian's link this call to a call for a'Progressive Manifesto', this is not a word used by the working-class base. Also road pricing schemes are bound to be a vote loser in many core Labour areas. This saddens me but I am afraid it is cold, harsh reality.
Brown must win back working-class voters, says thinktank
A key Labour thinktank has warned Gordon Brown that his attempts to rise "above politics" risk alienating crucial working-class voters.
A new paper by the Fabian Society cautions that core working-class support is critical to Labour winning another general election and beating a resurgent Conservative party.
By attempting to be "all things to all people" to win cross party support, the government could end up fatally neglecting traditionalists, it says.
Instead, the Fabian Society's general secretary, Sunder Katwala, said a "bolder Labour vision" was now a strategic necessity.
Tackling child poverty with multi-billion-pound funding and standing firmly against any US plan for military action against Iran should form part of a new policy platform to reinvigorate party loyalists, the paper recommends.
Mr Katwala said: "Brown's initial positive appeal was built on leadership, competence and authenticity.
"But political vision is central to the authentic Gordon Brown. The message to his advisers should be 'let Gordon be Gordon' - and that must mean letting Gordon be Labour, too."
Thursday, 1 November 2007
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